A battle in a blood red sky

((Confirmed disclaimer please refer to first chapter.))

The six people stood on the loading deck, four of them staring in wonder at a new, entirely black Gundam before them.

"H-how..." Tamuril began, stammering, staring at her Gundam, it was smaller then the other Gundams, but the purpose for that will be seen later.

"It was delivered last night, so, you'll be flying today, like a test, let's see just how well you fly." Le Crueset said."T-this is wonderful! Thank you sir!" Tamuril ran over and gave Le Crueset a hug, then seeming to pop some mental bubble she was absorbed in, jumps back, blushing and rubbing her stomach self consciously. If le Crueset was not wearing a mask, he would have been blushing, he was infact...you simply couldn't see it --

"Eh-heh...erm, yes, of course Miss Elensar." Smiling, Tamuril eagerly climbed up the stairs and entered her Gundam, sitting comfortably in the cushioned seat that fit her body perfectly. The boys had stood there dumb-struck after yet another hug incident, wondering who would hug or be hugged next, before climbing into their own Gundams. One by one, they were cleared for launch and exited the launch bay.

Communication usually filled these battles, but all anyone could hear from the Yamiichi Gundam, Tamuril's Gundam, was low, soft, piano music. The Strike was the first of course, to appear inside the range of coordinates. Kira radioed to the ZAFT Gundams.

"One of your pilots attacked the Archangel while negotiations were happening! What is the meaning of this?!" All the pilots were shocked, as well as the people listening on the ZAFT ship.

"Yeah right, and when exactly do you suppose we would have done that, while docked?!" Yzak yelled at Kira furiously," Did you ever assume that maybe it wasn't from our ship?!"

"W-well...no, But you're the only ship in the ar-boom" . At that moment, the Strike was hidden by an immense cloud of billowing smoke surrounding the Gundam, apparently from a slash. Suddenly, they saw what appeared a wraithlike shadow emerge from behind the Shrike to attack again, it was the Yamiichi.

Everyone except Kira, who was preoccupied with trying to somehow reroute power, stared in wonder at the slight Gundam. When had it gotten there? They realized now, that the eerie music seemed to float all around them in space, therefore the movements of the Gundam itself, unless being closely tracked, could go unnoticed, because of its small size and advanced speed. Yzak laughed a harsh bark and quickly began firing at the shrike, but was surprised when the Yamiichi began taking his shots, suddenly they could hear sounds fomr inside the Gundam, the sounds of Tamuril body being thrown against the back of the seat with each shot. The surrounding music clicked off.

"Uhh...w-wait Yzak. Whoever attacked the Archangel could be a threat to us." Yzak stopped his firing, realizing from her faint moan that she was serious about protecting that stupid earth pilot Kira. "Alright then, earth pilot, go ahead. You have, three minutes. Even if I have to knock the girl out she can't stop me from getting to you. All the pilots heard from the shrike was a sputter at the word girl, and suddenly he was speeding off into the distance. "Wait, no one follow him. He only came toward our ship because he thought we had attacked theirs...Negotiations are in place, we shouldn't interfere."

Suddenly, the Shrike reappeared, directly in front of Yzak's Gundam, and the lazer sword sliced directly into the cockpit. Yzak began screaming, writhing in his seat-belt harness."AHHHHH! IT BURNS, BURNS! AHH!" (( I understand this is not what happened in the series, I apologize if this upsets anyone, I did not actually see the episode where Yzak's eye was hurt so I am not sure what happened, and cannot accurately portray it in the story )) Yet again, the Shrike sped off and docked in the Archangel.

The other three Gundams began dragging their comrades back to the ship. Yzak could not pilot his, and Tamuril's appeared to have been shutdown automatically by Yzak's shots. The sword had damaged communication to Yzak's Gundam but even in space they could hear his faint cries from the pain in his eye.

Once they reach the ship, medics come and remove Yzak from his Gundam, his screams echoing all around the loading dock. Athrun helped Tamuril out of Yamiichi, and l;et her lean on his shoulder to help her out. She could walk, she was just very dizzy. Some sort of gas had come loose in her cockpit and had gradually soaked into the oxygen, not enough to really hurt her, but enough to make her half conscious.

Had she known of this, she would have been very embarrassed, but as it was, she though it very comfortable to rest her head on Athrun's shoulder. As they made their way down the hallway, Athrun kept his arm around her waist so she didn't float away from him in the anti gravitational atmosphere. When they reached the hospital wing, Tamuril had begun to sleep, her breath moving soft pieces of Athrun's hair across his face, making him blush. (Can anyone tell I'm an Athrun lover XD ) He placed her gently in an empty hospital bed, trusting someone would eventually get to her, Yzak had been forcefully tied down to his bed to prevent him further damaging his eye, which was now bandaged, and the anesthetic administered had made him drift into an uneasy sleep alongside Tamuril (Adjoining hospital beds)

- Thank you for reading! I know it isn't that good, I really am trying, I hope this one seems longer then the others I tried my best. For those of you who are reading, thank you for waiting so long for this chapter, I am very very bad at writing fights I'm afraid, and yes, the Shrike's disappearing act trick will be explained in a later chapter.

-Tibby