Chapter 3: The Awakening

By the time Miriallia made it to the bus, Kira had already boarded as was now fast asleep in his seat. She took the seat he had saved for her and took the opportunity to study her friend a little closer. Kira was wearing a pair of black pants, baggy enough that he had the cuffs tucked into his black soft-soled boots. For a shirt, he wore a black muscle shirt. "Always napping." She muttered.

The bus ride to the dig site was relatively short, and as it pulled up, Miriallia nudged Kira awake. "Wake up sleepy head, we're here." Kira groaned and stood, standing behind Miriallia. Simon apparently decided that the line was moving too slowly so he shouldered and elbowed his way up front, and in the process knocked Milly backwards.

As she fell back, a pair of strong arms caught her and she looked up to see Kira scowling at Simon's back as he grumbled. Miriallia noticed the line ahead of them clearing. "Uh Kira, I think we're holding up the people behind us." Wordlessly he set her on her feet and followed her outside to where the backpacks were being unloaded.

He hefted his out of the pile and walked off silently. Miriallia grabbed her own bag as she contemplated Kira's sudden and massive mood swing. Tolle grabbed his bag and looked at Kira's angry form. "What's wrong with him?" Miriallia couldn't answer.

They walked over as Carl and Cyril were explaining what the students would be doing today. "We are going to split you all up into two groups, one will follow Doctor Ryan to a chamber that is most likely their version of a prison, and the other group will follow me to their burial chambers."

As both men started to separate the groups, Kira dropped his bag to the ground and started to dig through it. He found what he was looking for and triumphantly held the object which looked similar to an arm brace. Kira was strapping it on as Athrun walked over. "Hey Kira." He greeted and then took notice of the thing strapped to Kira's arm. "What's that?"

Kira stood and put his backpack back on. "It's a computer." That got Athrun's interest and he motioned for Kira to continue. "It's got nothing on a good desktop, or even on a laptop, but it does have a 50 gig hard drive and just over 3 gigs of ram, along with two of the new 3.5 USB ports and an Ethernet card capable of receiving wireless signals. It has a built-in GPS system and an active mapping sensor capable of mapping an area that I'm in, and with the ability to project 3-d displays along with 2-d, I can choose how I look at things. With the mini-keyboard and shock-resistant case, I can do almost anything anywhere."

Athrun was absolutely amazed. He loved to tinker with machines and electronics on his spare time, but to build something like that, it was simply extraordinary. "Wow! Where did you find the time to do all of that? And where did you get your hands on those USB ports? I've looked everywhere but I could never find any for a reasonable price!" he exclaimed.

"Trade secret." Kira smiled. "We built it during our electronics class, me and a few friends and I did most of the programming myself." He managed to explain just as the Professor and the Doctor got to their names.

As it turned out, Kira, Athrun and Matthew were in Professor Cyril's group heading to the burial chambers while Miriallia, Tolle, Sai, Kuzzey, Simon, Flay, Nichol, Dearka, Yzak, Rusty, Miguel and Olor were in with Doctor Carl. The rest of the students in his group Kira barely knew, and in total honesty could care less, and the feeling was more than likely mutual.

Kira typed in a few commands on mini-keyboard and then closed the display. The students separated into their respective groups, but before Doctor Ryan started to lead his group, Kira gently grabbed Miriallia's arm to get her attention. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?" he asked softly.

She smiled genuinely and nodded. "I'd like that." She rejoined her group as they went first down into the ruins. Professor Ferguson started his own group down, informing the students that they could leave their backpacks in the Main Hall, but he also advised them to bring along a jacket. "It can get a little chilly in there, and it's better to be safe than sorry." He reasoned.

Descending the steps leading to the Main Hall, Kira took one last look at the bright blue sky and noticed the black clouds forming on the distant horizon. Shrugging in indifference, he followed his group to start the tour.

Athrun set his back down and grabbed a coat as Matthew set his pack down and took out a sweater. Kira dropped his pack like the others but grabbed a deep red cloak and swung it around onto his shoulders and secured it, leaving the hood down.

As they continued on, their light source began to dim and the occasional drops of water could be heard. It was damp and dark and more than a bit chilly, forcing all of the students except Athrun, Kira and Matthew to don their coats or sweaters. The three of them were at the back of the group, and Athrun and Matthew were chatting quietly.

"Kiiiiiirraaaaaa …" something hissed, causing Kira's hand to twitch violently.

Kira looked around, narrowing his eyes in suspicion, but saw nothing other than dank walls. "Did you guys here something?" he asked to Athrun and Matthew. Both of them shook their heads and then continued their conversation.

"I know you can hear usssssssss …" it spoke again.

"You didn't hear that?" Athrun rolled his eyes and ignored Kira. He inspected the walls a little closer, seeing only the worn stone and odd shadows being cast on them.

Continuing their travel down the corridor, a flash of motion caught Kira's eye so he turned to see it. Something had gotten his attention, but the other students continued on, oblivious to whatever it was. Kira raised his hand and slowly walked towards the wall now in front of him. Mere inches from the wall; he hesitated, but then extended his arm to the wall.

It passed right through the stone his eyes saw. Shocked, he pulled his hand back quickly and took another step towards the wall. It looked like it was real, like it was there, but he thrust his hand through and met with no resistance. Steeling himself, he stepped through and emerged in an even darker and small hallway.

"What is this place?" he whispered to no one.

"Heelllllllppppppp ussssssssss …" it whispered.

The hallway was short and it led him to a room that was, if possible, even darker than the hallway. "Woah." He breathed, taking careful steps while looking around. Finally, an object registered in his mind and he crooked his head as he examined it. It was an outstretched hand, fingers poised like they were about to grasp or choke something.

Kira brushed his fingers along the hand. "Cold." He muttered. It wasn't too surprising given the temperature in this room. He felt the fingers and suddenly and quickly withdrew his hand as his forefinger and middle finger ran over the thing's finger nails.

"Sharp." He said, watching with detached interest as blood slowly seeped out of the cuts on his fingers. Moving past the arm, he realized there was an entire body going along with the arm. "This is too realistic looking to be carved from anything. Maybe whatever it was got mummified …"

Whatever it was, short it was not. The chest was just at Kira's head height, and he could see a gaping hole in it. "That looks painful." He reached out again to touch the chest, not remembering he had cut his fingers. Tracing around the edges of the gruesome wound, he noticed that he could see the being's organs. Fingers traveled into the gouge and brushed against what had to be the heart if the being was similar to human anatomy.

He could feel some warmth from the heart and suddenly realized that he was still bleeding. "Way to go Yamato." He berated himself, wiping the excess blood from his fingers on his pant legs.

"Kira!" someone called out.

"Oh shit! The tour!" he retraced his steps and entered the main hallway just as Athrun and Cyril came into view.

"Mister Yamato! Where the hell did you wander off to?" Cyril demanded.

"Sorry!" Kira apologized, running to meet them. "Had to make a pitstop." He said sheepishly.

"Never do that again without asking permission."

Had Kira stayed for just a few seconds longer to examine the head, he would have seen the mouth, once frozen and contorted in a gruesome and painful way, slowly shift into something that could only be described as a feral grin.

Both groups made it back to the Main Hall at about the same time for lunch, and the students would swap guides and explore the either the prison or the burial chamber after lunch, whichever the group hadn't yet seen. Emerging from the hallway, Kira saw Miriallia waiting for him and waved to her cheerfully.

"Athrun!" a feminine voice called out and a fast moving flash of pink quickly embraced the stunned boy. "Lacus? What are you doing here?" he asked, obviously perplexed. She looked up with a hurt expression.

"Did you forget already that I signed up to lead one of the tours later on today?" she asked him with a pout on her lips. Athrun scratched his head nervously. "I guess I did. I'm sorry Lacus; it must have completely slipped my mind."

Yzak and Olor came over. "Miss Clyne." Yzak greeted formally, even bowing in respect. Olor took a slightly less formal route. "Miss Lacus" he said, tossing off a casual salute.

She giggled and let go of Athrun. "I've told you both many times to drop the formality, we're friends, you can call me Lacus, I don't mind, in fact I prefer it." And then she caught notice of Kira, in all of his violet-eyed and scraggly dark brown haired glory, his muscle shirt revealing nicely developed biceps and triceps. "And who is this?" she asked him.

"I'm Kira, Kira Yamato from Heliopolis." He introduced himself, taking notice of her long white jacket with golden trimming and the short kimono-like purple and pink skirt.

"Oh my, I'm Lacus Clyne, from the PLANTs." She giggled again as he gently kissed her offered hand. Athrun interrupted. "Come on, we'll miss all of the lunch if we don't hurry."

Once again, the prospect of food captured all of Kira's attention and he made his way to join Miriallia and Tolle, both of whom were waiting for him. "He's a cutie." Lacus told Athrun, and then linked her arm in his. "Now what was that about lunch?" As they walked towards the food, Athrun caught sight of Rau Le Creuset, and the masked man with long blond hair nodded slowly to Athrun.

Catching up with Miriallia and Tolle, Kira apologized. "Sorry for making you wait, what's for lunch?" Tolle looked thoughtful for a second. "That is a very good question that can only be answered by looking."

"Who was that?" Miriallia asked quietly. Kira looked at her oddly. "Huh? Oh, you mean Lacus. She's one of Athrun's friends from the PLANTs."

"So how was the burial chamber?" Tolle asked, curious to know how good his afternoon would be. "It was different, I'm more than a little glad we don't use the same practices as they did. How was the prison?"

"It was neat! All sorts of cool little tools and things like that!" Tolle replied enthusiastically. Miriallia had a more somber answer. "It wasn't neat Tolle, it was disgusting. I bet if you lived with them and committed a crime you'd think it was horrible too."

Lunch was simple, consisting mainly of sandwiches and some cut vegetables and dip. When the remains were cleaned up, Professor Cyril took the other group down to the burial chambers while Doctor Ryan took Athrun, Kira, Matthew and the others to the prison.

"As you can see this society kept everything neatly organized, every tool and implement within a second's reach and all of them designed for maximum pain while doing the least amount of bodily damage."

There were four slabs of stone raised to about mid-chest level, all big enough to fit almost two humans, and there were the small tables beside the slabs with the tools neatly arranged. Along one was were many shackles, made out of some unknown metal, and they were still gleaming like they had been cleaned just the day before. Off to another side was a deep circular pit at least seven meters in circumference with several large and menacing spikes planted in the bottom and hanging two feet above the pit was a metal bar which could at one point be raised or lowered.

Lacus wandered over to look at the pit as Athrun and Matthew looked at the various torture tools and tried to imagine just how they would work. Kira moved from place to place, trying not to attract the attention of Doctor Ryan like he had Professor Ferguson.

The sound of pebbles falling caught his attention and he turned his head in the direction of the noise, which was the pit Lacus was standing over. Sure enough, one of the stones she was standing on became dislodged and she let out a strangled gasp of surprise as she lost her footing and fell.

"Lacus!" Athrun screamed from across the room, running as fast as he could to catch her, but he wouldn't be able to make it in time, she was going to fall and more than likely be impaled on one of those spikes.

Kira whipped off his cloak and took a running jump from where he was standing, making it look like he was going to do a belly flop into the pit, but his arm right arm shot up and grabbed the pole suspended over the pit and his left hand grabbed one of Lacus' flailing arms. "Gotcha." He grunted as his body was pulled in opposite directions.

Lacus held on tightly and managed to bring her other hand up to grab a hold of his wrist. Kira looked down at Lacus, and then focused on the bottom of the pit which was more than 15 feet away from the bottom of Lacus' feet. Then he looked around the top of ledge as Athrun and the other students gathered around.

"Are you okay Kira?" he asked. "Just peachy." Kira replied, still looking around. "We're enjoying the sights down here." Finally he stopped looking around and looked directly at Athrun. "Get ready."

Tightening his muscles, he brought Lacus up to his height. "Hold onto me tightly." She obeyed, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. His hand sneaked its way up and grabbed the front of her clothes. "I hope this is strong material. When I say, you have to let go of me, okay?" Lacus nodded, but she was unsure of what he planned to do.

"Ready …" he said quietly as he began to pull himself up with his right arm. He paused mid-way up and then shouted "Now!" and pulled himself up with his right arm quickly and then as soon as he felt Lacus let go he threw her over the top of the ledge and into Athrun, who caught her and fell onto his back to make sure they didn't fall back in.

"Got you." Athrun said to Lacus.

Seeing that Lacus was safe, Kira lowered himself so his arm was straight and then grabbed hold of the bar with his left as well. Saving only one person was far easier than trying to save two, so when Kira pulled himself up, he shot upwards and performed a back flip to clear the ledge and landed with practiced ease.

"Are you okay Lacus?" he asked her. She stood and bowed gracefully. "Yes I am, thank you very much for saving me."

Kira picked up his cloak and put back on. Carl addressed his student group. "It's about time we started back, I'm sure many of you are anxious for your evening meal. I want to personally thank you all for being patient and attentive, and I really hope that you've learned at least three things from today."

Lacus learned certainly learned three things today, one, Kira was cute, two, Kira was fast, and three, Kira was strong. The short walk back to the Main Hall was rather uneventful, save for Athrun and Matthew not leaving Lacus alone as they walked. Once both groups were reunited, they all walked out to the buses, noticing the difference in the weather from the morning.

It was dark, cloudy and windy. Thunder could be heard from a distance and lightning could be seen striking out. Halfway to the parked buses it started to rain, the winds driving the rain down. "Back to the temple!" Ron ordered. The students didn't hesitate and fled back to the warmth and dryness of the Main Hall.

Being one of the last people to enter the temple again, Kira took a look at the parked buses in time to see lightning strike down and hit the engine of one bus, setting it aflame; the fire quickly spreading through the fuel line. "No! The buses!" he cried out.

It was too late; the first bus exploded dramatically, the fire and shrapnel spreading everywhere. "Inside! Now!" Ron had to drag Kira away from the entrance even as another explosion was heard.

The researchers and the aides came running at the sound of the first explosion, demanding to know what was going on. "We'll have to stay the night, hopefully the storm will clear up overnight and we can send some people back to the hotel for more buses." Ron said, trying to calm the delicate staff down.

The researchers were used to sleeping in the temple and thus were prepared for it, with sleeping bags and pillows for themselves. The students were caught pretty much with their pants down, and were not even considering the possibility of staying the night in conditions such as these.

Of all the people, Rau was standing beside a large storage container passing out grey blankets to the students. The other students from the PLANTs, Lacus included, were maintaining order throughout the lines, assuring the frightened students that things would be okay and that there were enough blankets for them all.

It seemed so … militaristic. Behind Le Creuset were several more crates stacked neatly. Miriallia returned from the line with her blanket and looked at Kira. "Are you going to get a blanket? The Professor says that it can get really cold in here at night." Kira nodded. "I'll go get one in a second." He groaned in pain and clutched his head, stumbling forward a few feet before Miriallia supported him. "Kira! What's wrong?" there was no mistaking the concern in her voice.

"It's … it's nothing. Just an eventful day, that's all." He told her, managing to stand straight again. "I'm fine, really." He wiped the small amount of sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. Miriallia grabbed his hand. "Where did you get these cuts?" she asked, pointing to the healing cuts on his forefinger and middle finger.

He looked at them with curiosity. "You know, I can't remember, but it must have been today because I swear they weren't there yesterday." He shrugged. "Oh well, it's not like they'll be there in the morning."

Kira fetched his blanket as Miriallia picked out a more private spot for them to sleep. She was trying to decide how best to position the blanket so that it could cover both her and the floor. Kira walked over and tossed his blanket on the floor and then took off his cloak and handed it to her. "Sleep on this, and you can use the blanket to cover yourself." He offered. She gratefully took it and laid down to rest. "Thank you."

He spread out his own blanket and then moved it right beside hers and flopped down as well. "Sleep well." He said fondly as her eyes closed. Soon after Kira fell asleep as well, but his sleep was restless and haunted by images and sounds.

"Weeeee … have awakened …" images flashed too fast for Kira to comprehend what they were. "No …" he whispered.

"Weeee … have sssssurvived …" one image focused a little more than the rest, showing him the same gruesome form that he had seen in the hidden room. "No." he mumbled again with a little more force.

"Your friendsssssss will be oursssssss …" Kira easily recognized the next images; it was Sai, Tolle, Flay, Kuzzey and all of the students from the PLANTs. In his sleep, Kira gritted his teeth and growled out a "no."

"And her …" the last image was of Miriallia, looking frightened and cowering in a corner. Kira's eyes snapped open. "NO!" he sat up quickly and a cool hand placed itself on his shoulder. "Kira, what's wrong?"

Slowly his vision focused on Miriallia, also sitting up and looking very worried. His breathing came in a slow form of hyperventilation. Sweat dripped off his brow as he struggled to comprehend his dreams. Milly wrapped her arms around his chest to try and calm him down. "It's okay Kira, everything will be fine." She soothed.

His breathing came under a better form of control and she let him go and looked at him again. "I … it's too hot in here." he stood up shakily. "Fresh air …" Miriallia jumped up after him. "It's still raining out there!"

Kira didn't care; he stumbled to the temple entrance and let his head become soaked by the pouring water which was like a waterfall over the entrance. He pulled his head back and ran his hand through his hair, getting some of the water out. "Much better." He said, facing Miriallia.

It was then he took his first good look at what she was wearing. It was an orange dress with sleeves that left her shoulders bare but covered her arms, the skirt portion stopping just below her knees, and a pair of white knee length socks with tiny orange bows to cover the rest of her legs. Even with the worried look on her face, she looked absolutely beautiful.

'I am such an inattentive idiot some days' he thought to himself. "I'm fine." He announced before she could ask. "I promise." Miriallia didn't say anything but instead continued to look at him with sad eyes.

Kira looked down at the stone floor and then back up at her. "Can I … I need to tell you something." He started. "What is it?" she asked. He took a deep breath. "I've carried this knowledge, this secret around all of my life. You're the first person to know."

"You can trust me Kira, I'm your friend." She assured him. Kira nodded in relief. "I'm a Coordinator."

The silence hung in the air, thick enough to be cut with a knife. And then light laughter could be heard. "That's it? That's your big secret?" Miriallia asked, trying to hold in her laughter. "What do you mean 'that's it'?" he asked confusedly.

She controlled her giggling and looked up at him. "I was expecting something big like 'I'm gay' or 'I was once a girl', not this." She spoke with absolute sincerity. "I wouldn't care if you were a Natural, you're still Kira Yamato, my friend and nothing will change that."

'Nothing but friends?' Kira quickly pushed that thought aside. Miriallia had just accepted him no matter what he was. "I'm glad you're my friend Milly." He drew her into a hug. "I'm glad you're my friend too Kira." She said, returning the hug.

They both turned to go back inside the Main Hall, only to see their friends a few feet away. Tolle had a betrayed look, Flay was hiding behind Sai who had a sad look, Kuzzey looked like he couldn't care less and Simon … Simon had a predatory smile.

"Hi guys." Kira greeted uncertainly.

And the third chapter is up. I apologize if you were looking forward to another session of V90, but my OS on my desktop computer (the one will all of the V90 stuff) crashed, rendering it to be a very large paper weight. In the meantime I will continued with Icess, and in a few days I'll be sending in an order for a new computer.

Until then,
Prayer

P.S. Please Read and Review.