Disclaimer: Gundam SEED and related characters are not mine.

STOLEN

A GSEED fanfiction by Pluto-mint

Ratings: T, should I make the rating go higher?

Pairings: AthrunKira.

Summary: AU. Destiny, love, and friendship.

Warning: Shounen ai themes, don't like, don't read, don't flame. Unedited fic and… of course, an irregular updating schedule.

Stolen

Chapter Two: Oblivion

---

Like a jar you housed the infinite tenderness.

And the infinite oblivion shattered you like a jar.

—'The Song of Despair' by Pablo Neruda

---

He found himself standing alone on a deserted field. The vast white expanse of snow stretched before his eyes. He felt the chilling wind slapped his face, but his feet, though they were bare as the day he was born, were not cold. He looked up to the night sky above him and found himself standing amidst the fallen white feathers, instead of the fallen snow.

This… this must be a dream.

He stretched out his hands gingerly, feeling slightly amazed by the sight. A feather fell into his palm. Its soft white texture touched his skin and melted instantly to the touch. The drops of water slide between his fingers. His brows furrowed in curiosity as he brought his finger to his lips. Tears… the droplets tasted like tears. But whose tears is it?

Mine. Always mine.

Soft spoken words were whispered into his ears. A shiver ran through his spine. Long pale fingers grazed his chin as he was caught in a fierce embrace from behind. An arm wrapped itself around his torso, the white puffs of breaths swirled along the cold biting wind. He closed his eyes in bitterness. No… No more. Please… Why are you doing this to me?

A low chuckle was his only answer. The icy cold fingers stopped in the middle of their caressing as he trembled in fear. In an agonizing slow touch, the fingers found their way into his neck.

You are afraid, my beautiful one.

He let out an unconscious gasp as they started to graze the skin.

And still so beautiful… So fragile… So very human. Let me be yours, I will protect you.

"Don't. Please…"

He felt the mysterious figure smiled upon hearing his words. Why? We can be good together.

"No. I won't let you. Leave. Don't do this to me."

The cold lips curled in distaste. You… the voice was now roughed by anger and hurt… How dare you to deny me!

He bit his lips as the fingers tighten their grip upon his neck.

What can I do to make you see? That there's nothing left for you and me…

Those fingers slowly wrapped around his neck, draining his strength. And weaken him from his inside as they flooded him with the bitterness of being left alone.

Nothing.

The dark empty void swirled before his eyes. And as the last drop of air left his lungs, a wave of unconsciousness came crashing into him. He fell and leaned to the figure behind him. His lungs were struggling to breathe and he felt himself losing. Fading.

Through his gasping breaths, he can feel the fingers loosen their grip around his neck and moved to caress his cheek. Silent tears were falling through his closed lids. A pair of cold lips tracing their paths along his cheekbones, kissing the tears away, as if they were trying to apologize for the previous act.

ShhDon't cry. We're together in this…

Alone.

And the feathers kept on falling, descending upon the pair in silence.

---

The drizzling rain fell so softly on the sidewalk. The usually hectic morning ceased itself into silence as people rushed their way quietly under the rain drops. The pitter pattering sounds of the raindrops gave the morning a rare sense of peace. And though the sky was all shaded in gray, but the umbrellas, shaped in many different colors, seemed to make the gray-blue duskiness a little bit lighter.

In between the umbrellas, there's a boy who was safely hidden inside his own green umbrella. The water splashed around his feet as he made his way through the crowd. The boy was average in height and had a green mechanical bird perching quietly on his left shoulder. His chocolate brown hair framed his handsome face perfectly, his beautiful violet eyes can be seen peering through the fringe of his bangs. The eyes are beautiful but they looked so distant now that the boy seemed to be lost inside his own thought. And it wasn't until someone patted his shoulder in a friendly manner that the eyes sparkled with something akin to innocence.

"Kira-chan, what's with the long face?" said the other boy who was at the same height as his, the curly brown hair matched perfectly with the childish smile plastered on his face. "What was it that preoccupied your mind this early in the morning? I wonder if it's Flay that you were thinking about…" The boy's smile was now turning fully into a teasing smile.

A deep shade of red graced Kira's face as he blushed upon hearing the latter statement. "Tolle! No… I wasn't—,"stuttered the poor violet eyed boy helplessly before a stern voice cut his words.

"Wasn't what Kira-kun?"

Turning his back to see the owner of the voice, Kira came face to face with Miriallia Hawke, another classmate of his. "Na Tolle, did you just tease Kira-kun again?" Hands on her hips, the brown haired girl was now giving curly haired boy a full blown glare, her orange trench coat slightly wet due to the rain.

"Millie! Really, it's not my fault. Kira is just too damn cute sometimes." The pout in Tolle's lips went unfazed by the glare that was given to him. "Besides, Kira-chan doesn't seem to mind at all. Right, Kira?" And Tolle draped his arm around Kira's shoulder to convince the girl some more.

The girl was about to gave Tolle another glare when another voice chirped from behind the group. "Ohayou minna. Na, what's with this commotion?" said a beautiful red haired girl with pink umbrella on the background. And Kira blushed once again as the girl slowly came into the view.

"Flay! You know, they're just bickering to each other as usual," Millie smiled almost sheepishly to the long haired girl. The latter girl just stared at her with an odd look in her face, "Funny. I don't see it that way."

"Ahahaha…" Millie's words came along with her nervous laughter, "That's very observant of you, Flay."

"Ohayou Flay-chan. I can see that you are as charming as always."

"You're not trying to flirt with me in front of your girlfriend, aren't you Tolle-kun? You're not really my type, anyway."

"Na… Flay-chan, I'm hurt. You know that Millie is my one and only and nothing can ever change that. Period. But someone here seemed to think that you're his type, Flay-chan." All the colors drained from Kira's face and Tolle's grin widened. He seemed to be pleased in seeing his best friend's reaction. "I think Kira should be the one to break the news for you."

The beautiful redhead blinked and giggled upon knowing the possibilities of having another boy as her admirer. Flay turned her eyes to Kira and smiled almost too sweetly, "Na kira-kun, care to tell me who the boy is?"

Kira quickly hid his face inside his umbrella as he felt the blush started to deepen, "Anoo… I—" but his words was soon lost inside the high pitched excitement squeals that was coming from a bunch of flocking girls in front of them.

"What the—?" All of their attention was suddenly drawn into the bunch of squealing girls before them. Craning his neck to see what the commotion is all about, Kira felt the once so quiet Torii stirred from its rest before flipping its wings and flew over the crowd. "Torii!"

Kira moved past the crowd and finally saw a red sports car pulled over near the school's gate. Its shiny appearance seemed to be rather off place comparing to the humble looking school and thus it made everyone gaped to the sight. Kira's eyes widened as he saw a familiar blue haired boy came out from the said sports car. "Ath—"

The crowd was getting frenzy again and Kira lost the sight of the blue haired boy. Just in a blink of an eye the boy was gone and so was the car, leaving only a bunch of squealing girls and Kira at the school gate.

Athrun… And Kira felt something stirred inside his heart as the rain splashed under his feet.

---

The day moved in its usual dull and boring pace. There were assignments to collect and quizzes to do, but so far nothing special really happened. The day almost turned into just another ordinary day until the principal came knocking at the door. The teacher promptly stopped his lecture and went outside the classroom, leaving the class on a loud buzz.

It appeared to be that a new transfer student was going to be placed on their class for there was a stranger standing behind the principal. The excitement was high on the girls; it can be easily seen from their look and their muffled squealing. Knowing who the transfer student might be, Kira's heart too, beat in something close to excitement as the teacher entered the class room once again. But this time the teacher's not alone, a tall blue haired boy was walking behind him. And Kira immediately recognized the boy, Athrun

"Attention please," the teacher hummed and the class went silent instantly, "This is Athrun Zala. He is a transfer student from Orb and he will be your classmate for the rest of the year. I hope that you'll make his stay in Heliopolis enjoyable." The teacher then turned his face to the handsome youth and said, "Do please introduce yourself, Zala-san!"

The blue haired boy nodded and moved to the front of the class. His voice was clear and steady as he introduced himself, "I'm Athrun Zala and I'm very pleased to meet you." The boy bowed politely to his new classmates and smiled. Only in seconds away, hands were shot up to the air as the loud buzz return.

How old are you? What's your hobby? Are you Patrick Zala's son? Are you having a relationship right now?

Despite the chaotic scene, the boy simply smiled and answered the entire questions politely, "I'm 16 going 17. I don't really have a specific interest and yes I am his son. And about the relationship thing, I can't really answer that since it's complicated, but yes I can be considered as a single."

The teacher cleared his throat as more hands shot up to the air, "I think this will be enough. Now, Zala-san you may take the empty seat next to Ssigh."

Kira watched as Athrun sat next to Ssigh. The seat was actually located just two seats away in front of Kira's seat, thus it gave Kira a clear view of the blue haired boy's back. The violet eyed smiled secretly as he watched the wind, which was coming from the window next to Athrun's seat, ruffled his hair. He wondered if the boy still remember him or not and the truth is he wanted Athrun to remember him. But Kira's wandering was lost when teacher told the class to open the history text book and started to return to his previous lecture.

---

"… And so after a very long lost battle, both the Coordinator and the Natural decided to do a truce that was soon followed by a peace pact that led us to what we are now. And since the animosity never really gone between the two fighting sides, the peace pact also ruled the secret assimilation process between the Natural and the Coordinator. The process itself begins on the second generation that was born after the war. Parents are prohibited in telling their children about their genetic type. A certain device was implanted inside the parent's cranial part to erase the knowledge of their genetic type but—"

RIIIIING

The bell rang loudly and the students started to shift anxiously on their seat. There was a loud groan when the teacher closed his book and said, "Class, I want a full essay about your opinion to the peace pact next week. The paper should be on my desk on Tuesday morning. Good day."

As soon as the teacher left, a loud commotion happened inside the classroom. The girls were flocking in front of Athrun's seat, all squealing and blushing. The blue haired boy seemed to be rather confused upon seeing the crowd in front of him and Kira watched this from his seat secretly. He was actually considering to give Athrun a welcoming greet but he was too shy to do that. Besides what if Athrun doesn't remember? It will be awkward. And so Kira took the sandwiches he'd bought this morning from his bag and slipped out of the classroom.

Outside the rain has stopped falling; the sunshine is shyly seeping through the thick branches of the tree. Students can be seen running around everywhere, they can be found sitting, talking, and joking with each other. Tolle waved his hand to Kira animatedly from under a tree, signaling Kira to sit with him and Ssigh together for lunch. Kira rushed himself to the group when a high pitched tone was heard from behind.

It was Flay's voice. She was screaming when another student unintentionally crash into her, making the food in her bento box flipped open and scrambled around her feet. And to make it worse the food also left a stain on her uniform.

"Are you alright?" Kira asked the girl as he helped her to her feet.

"Kira-kun, the boy just made me lost my lunch and I have a full period today," Flay whined to the chocolate haired boy, her eyes glinted with annoyance.

"Umm… here you can have my lunch. It's just sandwiches. I just bought it this morning from the cafeteria," said Kira as he handed her the package. The blush started to adorn his cheeks once more.

"But Kira-kun, what are you going to eat for lunch?"

"I'm not really that hungry," Kira took a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the red haired girl, "Anoo… and this is for you to rid the stain."

Flay beamed at Kira and kissed his cheek before she turned around to leave, "Oh Kira-kun, you're so sweet! I will return this to you. Thank you!"

Kira, who was too stunned by the act, remained frozen on the spot but soon he started to smile like a fool when he touched his heated cheek. His heart was now leaping up to the sky of happiness.

---

The evening light cast upon the sky when the day ends and lighten up the empty halls of the school. Most students already left the school during this time of day and thus the school was almost empty save for a few students and Kira.

The said violet eyed boy was now can be seen walking with a backpack slung in his shoulder; his footsteps were light as he headed back to the classroom. Kira was just finishing his club activities when he suddenly remembered the history textbook he'd left on his desk. Apparently he was too busy in keeping a watch on a certain someone that he forgot to collect the book in his bag.

It's been a weird day with all of the things that happened between him and Flay and of course… Athrun. The name somehow kept on resounding in Kira's head, making his heart beat a little faster and everything. Maybe it's because Kira was curious about the boy, intrigued by his smile. A small sigh escaped from his lips; the lack of sleep must've kicked in because Athrun's smile somehow kept on playing along with the memory of Flay's kiss in his head.

He only wanted the day to end, but when he opened the door, he suddenly found himself welcomed by the sight of a sleeping Athrun that was being illuminated by the flowing sunlight from the window. Kira gasped by the sight, it felt almost like a déjà vu. Athrun looked so peaceful in his sleep with his head laid upon his folded arm, and his slightly parted lips made Kira blush for some unknown reason.

After retrieving the book from his desk, Kira found himself standing once again before the sleeping boy, but this time, instead of flying away, Torii only perched quietly in his shoulder. Should I wake him up? Kira was caught inside a moment of hesitation before he finally decided to wake the blue haired boy from his sleep. Gently, Kira shook the blue haired boy shoulder but the boy was barely moved. Kira shook the boy harder and made the blue haired boy moaned in his sleep, and yet the boy himself was still fast asleep.

"Athrun… wake up," whispered Kira, "Wake up. Athrun…"

Suddenly the taller youth gasped and bolted from his sleep, his eyes was now wide open. But still, through his bleary eyes, the boy could barely recognize the outline of the person who had been calling his name. And being a trained soldier that he is, all of Athrun's senses automatically went alert to the touch and within seconds his body moved accordingly to attack the stranger.

The sudden movements surprised Kira, he jerked his hand away from Athrun's shoulder and found himself falling and trapped between the floor and Athrun's body. There was a stillness in the room as the two boy caught each other eyes, the two of them were breathing hard. Such beautiful eyes… where did I see them before?

But the silence was finally broken when Kira frantically started to move under the taller boy's body, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just want to wake you up."

Athrun's eyes widened upon realizing who the owner of the voice is. "Yamato-kun, I'm sorry. I'm just…" Athrun was about to finish his words when he realized the whole situation and quickly moved away from Kira. But Kira, who was too dazed by the new revelation, only stared at the taller youth and thinking, did he just call me by my name?

"I'm sorry. I hope I didn't hurt you," said Athrun whose hands was now pulling Kira to his feet. He smiled apologetically to the violet eyed boy but the smaller boy was only staring at him. "Ya… Yamato-kun, you're not mad aren't you?"

Kira blinked and answered, "No… No. I was just surprised that you remember my name." Athrun's smile was bright and that made Kira blushed lightly, "Of course I remember you. We've met before, haven't we? And you are my classmates."

"Uhm… yeah," Kira was surprised that Athrun remembered him and even recognized him as his classmates. A blush soon graced the violet eyed boy's cheek, wait… why am I blushing?

An awkward silence hung between the two as they caught each other's eyes once again. The taller youth shyly averted his gaze to the window and frowned as he's realizing that the night was soon about to fall, "It's already late. I didn't know that I sleep that long."

The evening light cascaded upon Athrun's figure, illuminated him with some ethereal glow. Kira could almost see a pair of transparent wing stretched out from Athrun's back and unconsciously gasped to the sight. Beautiful, intriguing, and dangerously deadly. The thought occurred inside Kira's mind as he watched the evening breeze played with Athrun's soft and wispy hair.

A faint ruffling sound can be heard from the outside and the shadow of the trees seemed to merge inside the abounding darkness. Kira felt a shiver ran through his spine. "Umm... Zala-san, anoo… I think we should be going now."

"Yes. I think we should." Athrun answered him with a smile and grabbed the bag from his desk. Kira only nodded and returned the smile, his heart started to beat in a frantic pace. Though Athrun's smile was bright and beautiful but the smile was unable to kick out the heavy stirs inside the pit of his stomach. Something is just isn't right. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but his instinct told him to get away quickly. Torii perched almost too quietly in his shoulder and he suddenly has the urge to run, I need to get away from here. No. We need to get away from here.

"Ki… I mean Yamato-kun, are you okay? You seemed a little bit pale."

"I… I'm fine!" Athrun was slightly taken aback by his words and Kira soon regretted the harsh tone of his voice before smiling weakly. "I'm fine."

"Aa."

The two youths walked in silence, unable to form a word between them.

---

Soon the two boys were greeted by the pale moonlight that was flowing from the almost night sky. The air was sharp and biting and Athrun shivered as a breeze passed him by. He turned to see the other boy and saw that Kira was almost as pale as a ghost. "Ki- … Yamato-kun, are you alright?"

The smaller boy fell to his knees and wrapped his hands around himself with a pained look in his face. Kira was trembling as a course of pain surged into his bone. Half panicked by the sight, Athrun dropped himself besides the other boy, "Kira! Are you alright?"

The violet eyed boy was slowly losing his consciousness as he grasped the front of Athrun's shirt in order to prevent him from falling further. His lips were becoming pale and chalky as the breathings came in short gasps. Athrun quickly held himself together; catching the boy in his arms, his eyes quickly scanned his surroundings. There was something different about the school, the trees, the street lights, and everything. It's too quiet, no sounds of footsteps. The green mechanical bird is nowhere to be seen, there's no other existence but us. It was as if they were trapped inside another dimension, a parallel world? Their surroundings were completely empty save from the two youths and another figure that was standing atop the school tower. The darkness cast a shadow upon the figure.

"Who are you? What did you do to him?" A blaze of anger can be seen in Athrun's eyes, his arms moved into a protective hold around the violet eyed boy.

The figure simply raised their hand and soon an energy ball formed in their palm. The swirls of energy were so strong that Kira immediately realized what the figure was about to do. "Athr…" Kira said Athrun between his gritted teeth. He struggled inside the hold and tried to free himself in order to warn the other boy. No! Run Athrun!

But as the ball of energy hit the two of them, Kira gasped and found himself tangled inside of a protective hold. The attack shattered the wall around them and yet Kira felt safe inside the embrace. Athrun tightened his hold around him and Kira soon found himself lost inside the scent, the warmth, the touch. Warm… so warm.

"Sleep… and forget." Athrun's voice was low and comforting. Soothing. He wanted to stay like this forever, when there's no one but him and Athrun. His head felt heavy and he started to feel so sleepy… Athrun, what you do to me…

---

The attack blasted around them. A pain seared through Athrun's chest, he gasped and the blood trickled from the corner of his lips. Kira struggled in his arm and so he tightened the hold around him.

"Sleep… and forget." He whispered those words in his ear, comforting the trembling boy in his arms. Soon Athrun felt that Kira's breathing was started to get even and the tremble was gone. And when the sleep finally claimed the smaller youth, Athrun finally did lose his hold around the boy, but that never made his hold around Kira less protective. Cradling the boy in his arms so gently, Athrun looked up to the figure atop the school tower. "Who are you?" His eyes glinted with anger.

The figure didn't answer; their robe was billowed by the wind. They clasped their hand and started to chant. The energy swirled and drained into an invisible force inside the figure's palm, the shattered walls slowly returned to their undamaged form along the process.

Athrun watched in disbelief as the school, the trees, and everything returned to their normal state. "What the…" The blue haired youth turned to see the mysterious figure once again but the figure was no where to be found, leaving the moon alone atop the tower.

Who are you? A frown marred the emerald eyed boy's face as the boy was lost inside of his own thought. And it wasn't until Kira stirred in his arms that the reverie was finally being broken. And so, though he was reluctant about this, Athrun let go of his arms and asked, "Ya…Yamato-kun, are you alright?"

A flying Torii suddenly appeared and started to peck the boy's hand affectionately. Kira's sleepy violet eyes slowly started to open. The wind brushed pass through them, bringing the sweet scent of summer along the way. A blush quickly found its way to Kira's cheek as the boy realized the whole situation. "A… Zala-san, what happened?"

"Umm… You tripped along the stairs and fainted. I was just trying to wake you up." Athrun shrugged and helped Kira to stand up. "Are you alright?"

Kira smiled and nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed to the fact that he was fainting in front of Athrun. The blue haired boy smiled at him and said, "Good."

"Anoo… Zala-san, I'm sorry to bother you again."

"Don't be. And don't call me Zala-san again, just call me Athrun okay?" The taller youth smiled to the boy. Kira nodded though he felt like he was missing something. The smaller youth was about to ask another question when he saw Athrun by the window and realizing that Athrun seemed to look a little bit paler under the moonlight, his skin almost as white as a porcelain doll and a faint trace of dried blood can be seen in trickling down his chin. Blood?

"Za—Athrun! You're hurt."

"Oh. This? Umm… you sort of fell and I was trying to catch you when I hit myself to the wall." Carelessly, Athrun wiped the blood with the back of his hand, but Kira caught the hand and proceed to wipe the blood with his own finger. Athrun gasped from the sudden touch, "Yamato-kun, what are you doing?"

Alarmed, Kira dropped his fingers abruptly. "I'm sorry. I've caused you so much trouble, haven't I?" The violet eyes were downcast as Kira spoke those words, his eyelashes dropped in an almost shy gesture. Athrun had to smile upon seeing this, "Not really. But I can call you Kira, can I?"

The violet eyed boy lit up upon hearing the request, "Yes. Yes, you can."

For a moment, the two caught each other eyes and everything seemed to be lost inside the silence. A chirping Torii was the one thing that brought them back to the reality. Both boys blushed for some unknown reason.

Athrun cleared up his throat and asked, "Well then, shall we go home now?"

"Aa."

Together they walked under the cast of moonlight, oblivious about the awaiting fate before them.

---

The feathers were falling so softly upon the two figures that tangled inside each other's arms. Long fingers caressing the cheek of the smaller one gently, whispering in his ears with soft and quiet words, "You have come to meet your fate, my little one. Don't you know that he'll be the death of you? He'll hurt you like no one can…

"But no matter. I will protect you from the pain… from him."

Slowly the feathers danced and swirled along the breeze, gracefully descending upon the two in silence. He looked up to the moonless sky and said, "I will protect you from our fate…"

The figure wrapped his arms along the sleeping figure, enveloping him with his warmth—as if he was trying to protect his little one from the pain, before quietly whispered in the sleeping boy's ear with an almost broken tone, "And that will never change…"

And the feathers kept on falling, like the tears of a broken lover.

TBC

A/N: Hmm… Let's unveil the mysteries! So far, we got some mysterious figures, feathers, a mysterious past between Kira and Athrun, and of course a mysterious ending! Hahaha! Oh geez, writing a fic like this is tiring. Should I continue? Because I'm sort of lost in here :sighs:

And review please? Review will lighten up my days; review will make me want to write more ;) !