Chapter 8: The Fangs of the Enemy

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Milly screamed "no!" as Nichol pulled the trigger, firing a shotgun slug into Kira's chest. He flew backwards, propelled by the powerful shot and hit the floor with a dull thud, his limbs flailing before succumbing to gravity and hitting the floor as well.

All at once, the scene replayed itself in real time in Miriallia's mind. "KIRAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Everyone stood frozen in their spots as Kira lay motionless on the floor. It was a shock even to seven trained soldiers and a veteran commander to see one of their own turn on another like that, alien entity or not. Finally Tolle ran to his friend. "Get his vest off! He's not breathing!" he ordered, trying to get the flak jacket off.

Athrun lowered his head in defeat. "He's dead." He whispered. Still struggling to get the vest off, Tolle eyed Athrun despairingly. "He's got a pulse damnit! Now help me!" Athrun snapped into action, undoing the sides of the vest and pulling it over Kira's head. Tolle placed his hands one on top of another on Kira's chest and started pumping and counting.

"There's no blood." Rusty noticed.

He was performing CPR, hoping to resuscitate his friend. Kira's dry and lifeless eyes stared upwards at Miriallia as Tolle kept trying. "Please Kira …" she whispered sadly. His eyes widened and blinked multiple times as he drew a hungry breath. Stunned by their success, Tolle kept the pressure on Kira's chest.

"Hey …" Kira rasped, "that hurts a little you know." Tolle jumped up in surprise, apologizing as he stood. Kira stood up slowly, and Milly approached him, wanting to say and do so much, but instead barely managing to hold her tears back. He could hear the gasps of surprise from everyone, and he was quite shocked himself, so he took off his shirt, revealing a large and ugly bruise on his chest.

"But … how?" Carl wondered. Rusty tossed him Kira's combat vest which was nearly in tatters. "He was lucky, if Nichol had the armor-piercing rounds that we did, Kira would be dead instead of confused."

It made sense, and it just went to show just how far a little preparation went. "Yamato, get checked out by the medics, we'll reconvene at 19:00 hours tonight, after the evening meal."

Miriallia waited quietly and patiently as a few of the impromptu medics examined Kira. She thought back to the hectic events of the last day and a bit, Dearka's unwanted advances, the news of Lacus being engaged to Athrun, the surprise that even a girl she barely knew thought Kira would make a good boyfriend, and finally her own feelings becoming clear upon his return.

She was so lost in thought about her close friend that she jumped when Kira tapped her on the shoulder. "They're done with me for now." He said, putting his shirt back on, covering the bruise once again. Together they walked silently and somewhat nervously back to their blankets, sitting down and facing each other.

"So …" Kira wasn't to sure how to proceed, expressing his warm fuzzy feelings to a girl was never his strong point, especially to the girl he had warm fuzzy feelings for. "I'm sorry if I made you worry." He knew there was no 'if'; she was more than likely worried sick when he was shot.

"I … I was worried when you didn't come back with the rest of them. There was this little fear in the back of my mind, nagging me, telling me that you'd been killed already, or maybe worse. When the students started their attack, I thought for sure the voice was right, and you were already dead."

She paused to contain the tears. "And then you came back, all alone, like a hero out of a book or movie and saved us all. I couldn't believe it, it was almost too good to be true, and then I didn't even think about what I was doing, and when I did, we were already kissing."

Kira took one of her hands in his. "I hope I wasn't too forward with that, it just seemed so right." Her tears built. "It was right Kira, and I thought for a minute that I was never going to get the chance to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

Miriallia looked him straight in the eye as a tear rolled down her cheek. "That you mean so much more to me than I realized, that I want to be with you, to be closer to you." Kira wiped her tear away. "I feel the same way about you Miriallia, and to be honest, I think I've always felt this way about you."

A warm feeling erupted within her, prompting her to crawl into his arms. Kira, who couldn't quite believe he had just admitted his feelings for Miriallia, fell onto his back, letting the girl of his dreams stare down at him. "So does the hero get the girl in this story?" he asked her teasingly.

"You tell me …" Milly leaned in close. "Hero."

Kira lay on the floor, sleeping, holding Miriallia close as she remained awake for the time being, tracing the outlines of his bruise gently with her fingers. She had to admit, being with Kira gave her a sense of fulfillment, a feeling that she never wanted to lose. Oh how she realized just how much she loved his hairless muscular chest, or his beautiful violet eyes, especially his kind demeanor.

But the reality side of her brain kicked in, reminding her that they were all still stuck in a temple fighting off monsters that could control people, the same monsters that nearly killed Kira. That same part of her mind tried to rationalize their relationship as nothing more than comfort during a crisis, and once the crisis was over, so too would end the comfort of their relationship.

She stopped tracing the bruise for a second and sighed deeply. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea … "Hey, sleep is important for everyone remember?" Kira said, his eyes still closed. Kira was right. Commander Le Creuset would be sending them off again after dinner, so whatever time they could spend together was time well spent. "Yeah, but you need it more than I do." She pecked him on the lips, and then settled in and eventually fell asleep.

Kira woke up to an annoying tapping feeling on his bare shoulder. He considered pretending to be asleep, but discarded that idea when he realized that it could be supper time. An eye cracked open to see Athrun poking him. "Stop that." He said grumpily. Athrun complied. "Come on, you're going to miss dinner and then you'll have to hungry tonight."

"Right, give me a minute." Kira asked, opening his other eye as well. Athrun was confused. "For what?" Kira paused for a second, debating on what to tell Athrun. Finally, he decided. "To get dressed." He said simply.

Athrun's mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water, and then he snapped it shut a final time and walked away, giving Kira the privacy he needed. Once the blue-haired Coordinator was out of sight, Kira rolled over and gently shook Milly awake. Her eyes lit up as they saw Kira in front of them. "Hey, it's time for dinner." He said almost sadly.

Every other day Kira would have been happy to go eat again, but not this day. No one knew what Le Creuset had in mind, or what the Forsaken still had in store for them. Kira wasn't afraid to die, but if he did then it would hurt Miriallia a lot, and that was something he intended to avoid.

Mir nodded and they quickly got dressed before proceeding to where some food had been set out. A bleak silence had settled throughout the room, it was as if everyone knew something big was going to go down. Once dinner was over, the soldiers and volunteers assembled near Rau. "We've gone up against their Warriors, and we've seen their slaves and drones. According Doctor Ryan, there are two more types we need to be on the lookout for."

Doctor Ryan stepped up. "The Forsaken operate much like a beehive, with a Queen at the top, Males forming a small portion of the population, and then the Warriors and Slaves. The Males are faster and more powerful than the Warriors according to the text we've translated thus far."

"And Icess?" Kira asked. "What can she do?"

Carl Ryan drew a breath. "The text indicates that she has very powerful mental abilities, like being able to influence and control up to several individuals at a time. Her physical abilities are nothing to laugh at either; she's faster than her Warriors and probably stronger as well. I believe for the time being that the Males will act as bodyguards unless the situation becomes so dire that she's forced to send them out."

Kira raised his hand. "Does she have ability to talk to people from distances away?" Carl nodded. "It's probably one her easiest mental tricks she has." Kira raised his hand again. "What about altering or erasing memories?"

Doctor Ryan paused. "I'd say it's very possible, probably derived from her ability to control people." Rau stepped forward. "Here's our game plan. We're going to cull their ranks, start from the bottom of their food chain and wipe out the cannon fodder. From a distance the slaves can be mistaken for students, and I want to eliminate that problem. All teams will search and destroy, concentrate on the slaves, then go for the Warriors. Keep your six clear at all times."

Everyone nodded, but then Dearka spoke up. "Why don't we just let our resident Hero deal with all of this? He seems to have a knack for it." He suggested. Though everyone stared at Dearka, Dearka continued to stare at Kira only. "Why don't you tell us how you killed two of the Warriors, Hero?" he nearly spat out the last word.

Kira narrowed his eyes at Dearka; the blond Coordinator was really beginning to piss him off. "The armor-piercing rounds are much better for dealing with the Warriors than our previous rounds."

Rau accepted that answer. "Prepare to depart in 30 minutes, make sure you have everything you need."

They dispersed, but Dearka managed to painfully grab one of Kira's shoulder. "You can't fool me with your cock-bite stories, I'm going to find out what happened, and then you're going to pay."

Kira wrenched Dearka's hand into a wrist-lock. "I don't know what I did to you, but get off my case." Dearka looked defiant. "And stay away from Miriallia!" Kira released Dearka and walked away.

He made his way back to Miriallia. "What was that about?" Milly asked, referring to his little confrontation with Dearka. "Nothing important." He lied. They spent their time together quietly, trying not to think of what could happen. The call to assemble was sounded and Kira got up.

Miriallia hugged him tightly. "I'm afraid, Kira what if you don't come back?" she asked, voicing her fears. Kira looked at her and smiled. "I'll come back, I promise." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him passionately, and just as he started to kiss back, she stopped. "I'll be waiting for you." She whispered.

Thanks to Kira's active mapping sensor, the teams located the largest concentration of slaves, located two levels down and about a mile away. No one spoke as they ran towards their target area, but they all stopped when Kuzzey stepped out in front of them.

"Kuzzey!" Kira cursed. "What the hell, are you trying to get yourself killed?" he demanded. "I don't suggest going down there." He replied calmly. Yzak shouldered his way forward. "Out of the way Buskirk."

"I'm doing this for your own good." Kuzzey said, still calm. Matthew raised his rifle. "You'd better start thinking about your own good. Out of the way kid, we won't ask again."

Kuzzey stepped aside. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He said as they ran past him. When they had disappeared down the hallway, he turned and started walking. Shouts of surprise and panic could be heard, followed quickly by gunfire and screams of pain. "I did warn them after all." He said, smiling.

Rau and Lacus were monitoring their communication's device when Rau felt a pressure on his head, like something was squeezing from the inside. But it wasn't just him; Lacus felt it, along with everyone else in the Main Hall. He still managed to form one last rational sentence. "This can't be good.

Icess smiled, showing her sharp teeth and then laughed. Mankind hadn't changed since the last time she reigned supreme, and she had no reason to believe that they would change anytime soon. To reinforce her point, Dearka, who was standing in front of her, flanked by two Warriors, spoke up. "Well? Is it done?" he demanded.

Icess laughed again. "Oh yes young one, it is done. It's been a long time since I've met someone like you. Off you go, we all have important business to attend to." She shooed him away.

Dearka grinned as he left, feeling victorious. "One way or another Kira, I'll find you out."

A/N: Well that certainly took a while. The part of me that borders on genius and insanity managed to create an Original Story, so I'm dividing my time between that and all the works I have in progress. Please Review after reading, thank you for waiting.

Prayer