Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny.
A/N: Thank you Arienna Natalitha, hira-nera, Princess, Flay Joule, raisayusefin, and Passivity for your support. Have a advance Happy Holiday everyone!
I apologize for bad grammar. Worked on this chapter really-really fast.
Generals : part 6 (Snap)
Day 4. Time 06:03. West Boundary.
Team Archangels 26 kills (140pts / 4spies, 19privates, 3Sergeants).
Team Le Creuset 17 kills. (110pts / 2spies, 1Major, 1Captain, 13privates).
"Well?"
"Nope..."
"Well, is he up yet?" Yzak asked again after three seconds.
"Nope. Still no. Damn, Athrun surprisingly sleeps like the dead." Dearka revealed before softly poking Sleeping Beauty on the cheek again and again to no effect.
Rusty was crouched on the other side of Athrun. And while amused too, "you know... Athrun does look kind of like a girl..."
"He does, don't he..." Dearka agreed, studying the teen's sleeping face. "... Maybe that's the reason why girls and guys naturally follow his lead..."
"Hmm... Now that I've gotten a closer look... He's actually my type..."
"You serious?"
"Yeah... Isn't he yours?"
"Hmm... Now that you've mentioned it... Athrun does kinda look like me type too..."
"Think he'll wake up if you give him a kiss?"
Contemplating the idea, blond and redhead fell silent for a moment. Dearka stared at Rusty; Rusty smiled back at Dearka. One plus one. Two plus two. What in the world was the math for?
"Dude! Gross! No matter how you look at it— he's still a dude!" Dearka argued.
Rusty puffed out a laugh. "I was only kidding."
Third person there, and who's actually occasionally teased for having a girl's face, Nicol made no comment, just depressingly adverted himself from the two and returned to the task at hand.
"Hey Athrun, wake up." Nicol tried to help by giving their leader a hard nudge on the shoulder. Amazingly, that didn't work either.
"For heavens sake, move out of the way!" Yzak demanded.
The rest complied and moved aside.
Completely out of patience, Yzak yanked Athrun by his collar and started roughly shaking him back and forth like a rag doll. "Wake up already you lazy ass!"
"Mmm... I love you too," Athrun replied in his sleep.
"The hell are you dreaming about!" Yzak spurted angrily before deciding to slap the guy cheek to cheek too; left first, then right. DIE! Yzak repeated the process thrice as fast.
Watching the wild scene from the side and musing, "you know... Yzak kinda looks like a chick too..." Rusty whispered to Dearka, who couldn't help but nod his head with tears of agreement in his eyes.
Two seconds later. Finally! A silver lining in the clouds; Athrun rouse from the swell and throb of his cheek.
Blinking once, twice, "Huh? Yzak, Dearka, Nicol, Rusty, what are you guys doing here?"
Unbelievable!
Yzak dropped Athrun's collar. And wanting to get this done and over with, he glanced at Rusty, who nodded.
"Right. To put it simply, we're out of the job. Heine and the others have started the assault and we're told to stay out of it because we are quote, according to them: still banished from the team," Rusty explained, wrapping his arms over his head. "So the four of us agreed that— if we can't participate then we would like to at most watch the game at the sideline or something. We just came here to pick you up since you weren't answering your communicator."
00000
Day 4. Time 06:28. Girls' Base.
It was an ambush. From the back, from the sides, from the front, the guys rushed out of the trees, taking them all by surprise.
Most of the girls had been separated due to the panic, but "I can't give up," Cagalli vowed. She could only hope that most of her teammates were okay.
Cagalli leaned her back against the wooden crates, trying to ease her raising heart now that she finally had the chance. Only a few seconds ago, she herself had ran, fought her way against the enemy just to hide behind these barricade of boxes. The barrier was not large, but she was alone and the size was enough for snipe and shield.
No. Not again! Cagalli thought in horror as her wristwatch gave off another buzz. How many had died this time?
Bypassing her hideout, "four down!" Cagalli heard one of the men announced.
"Three here!" Another guy from a different group added after jogging over to join the first.
Breathing in deep, Cagalli lifted her chin to peek at the situation and she felt as if her limbs had turned to iron. There were six of them. She shouldn't act too reckless or she'll give away her position.
Dammit. She was pinned like a small animal.
"Guys, more of them ran this way!"
"Okay."
And then the guys were gone.
And then she heard the screams.
And then came that dreadful buzz of her wristwatch again.
Shit. Anna and Emi! Cagalli held her breath after recognizing the voice of her fallen comrades. Then suddenly another scream made her head snap up.
"KYAAAA!"
"Lacus!" Cagalli called out.
"Cagalli help! NOOOO!"
"Meyrin!"
"OUCH! Get off me!"
"Meer..."
"EEEEKKKK! Cagalli where are you!?"
"AHHHHH!"
"KYAAAA Cagalli!"
Cagalli shut her eyes as sweat broke out on her forehead and hot tears welled up, spilling down on her cheeks.
No. This can't be happening. Her wristwatch won't stop vibrating! Why won't it stop vibrating!? Everyone was counting on her to keep them safe yet- why? Why can't she do anything!? Why can't she save her teammates!?
Again. There came more screams.
And finally cracking under the pressure, with a cry, Cagalli fell onto her knees, "fuck you, Athrun! I swear if the girls loses, you and I are through, do you here me!" She yelled her heart out until the threat howled in the trees.
00000
In the middle of infiltrating the female camp, Shinn and some of the other guys couldn't help but laugh their heads off from overhearing Cagalli's outburst.
"Did you guys hear that?" Yolan laughed.
"The mighty Cagalli has finally snapped," Shinn announced with a wide grin before nailing two girls on the shoulder. "Hate to break it to you Lady General, but your precious Athrun can't save you now!"
"Heck, Athrun's not even in command anymore!" Vino added causing all three boys to laugh in unison.
00000
On another side of the big commotion, Athrun stood frozen in the middle of the crossfire, color drained from his already pale face, as a man when he felt heavily wounded.
The battleground was full of figures and screams, the cold wind and the chaos around him made him feel as if he was lost in his own isolated world. Suddenly, Athrun had no idea how long he'd been there and why until someone had tackled him to the ground. It was Nicol.
"Athrun, get down!"
Get what? Athrun couldn't follow; everything around him was a blur even until roughness and pain had swamped his back. And for a reason unknown to him, he found himself spread against wild grass, suddenly able to see the sky. It was a pure cerulean blue with a cluster of trees at its edges.
"Athrun. Athrun, you okay? Snap out of it!" Nicol was yelling and that's when Athrun remembered like a hammer blow— how exactly his world had collapsed.
Life was cruel.
"Cagalli's going to break up with me..." Athrun croaked, his mind and body spent as if waiting for the death blow. "Cagalli's going to break up with me..."
"Tsk. then let her," Yzak snarled.
And that's when Athrun gnawed his fingers on dirt. No. Anything but that!
Must- not- give- Cagalli- a- reason- to- dump- him!
Making an effort to pull himself together, Athrun sat up, muttering, "I- have to do something... I have to stop team Le Creuset..."
Dearka, Nicol, Rusty and Yzak stared at Athrun as if he'd sprouted a horn, then Rusty shook his head.
"I think he'd lost it."
Athrun said nothing, just stood up, obstinately took his equipment, and began walking to another direction. The guys followed him with their eyes.
"Hey, where are you going? Athrun, wait. You know it's useless. Heine, Miguel and the others aren't going to listen to you now," Rusty reasoned.
"... If they won't listen then I'll kill them... Every last one of them..."
The darkness and seriousness on Athrun's reply dumfounded the rest of the team. Thus, the guys frowned as if they weren't sure they'd understood him.
"Athrun..."
"Go ahead and laugh. Call me crazy all you want! But remember this. For every miserable minute I don't get to spend with Cagalli, I'm going to take it out on your lives and make it a living nightmare! So are you guys going to help me sustain my love life or aren't you!?"
Again, the guys were made to stare at Athrun's impenetrable profile, then at each other.
"... I think his serious," Yzak whispered for a moment.
"... Well, Miguel and the others did throw us out..." Dearka thought through.
"... Hmm... I do want to kill Heine..." Yzak muttered, considering.
Athrun looked up at his team astound. "Are you guys really going to help me?"
"... Still though, how are we going to track down the position of the entire team?" Rusty added.
Nicol let out a sigh. Smiling, "then I guess it can't be helped," he said, unhooking his bag from his shoulders and began to unpack. First out were some canned goods and bottled water. This was then followed by several jacks and plugs. And last, a portable computer!?
Athrun, Dearka, Rusty, and Yzak were left stunned.
"Woah, Nicol, you've been carrying a computer with you all this time?" Dearka hovered over the teen's shoulder as the machine was set to start.
"Yeah, it was not like we weren't allowed to so I thought it might come in handy when I get bored," Nicol laughed.
Touched by his friends, Athrun smiled enthusiastically. "Nicol, guys, you are all a life saver! Can you hook us into the system?"
00000
Day 4. Time 07:02. Boys' base/Advisor's office.
Monitoring the students, system, and flow of the game, Mu laxly took another a bite of his breakfast sandwich until he caught a change in one of the monitors. He sat upright.
"Hey Rau, I think you'd want to take a look at this," Mu said, waving a hand in front of the LCD with the red flashy pop-up notice that warned administrators of tampered software and/or hardware.
"Seems like someone has tapped into our GPS," Mu informed after checking for damages.
Rau studied the screen for a while before lifting his gaze to find one to two more surveillance monitors that have now began flashing red as well. Then smiled, "Ho, how interesting."
**To be continued? ... 11/18/2012