A book can never be judged by its cover. This saying is often times true, especially when that someone or something is excessively peculiar. Betrayal is not something most would gladly endure. When trust is broken, it is not easily mended either.

Curtains Up

"Damnoen Saduak floating market…It's typical for those sort of people to set the meeting in one of Thailand's crowded places. I feel really vulnerable without my guns" Heval whispered into a micro-transmitter hidden underneath his casual attire of a flowery collared shirt and khaki cargo pants.

"You don't think Djibril himself will come here, do you?" asked Kira, who is situated a distance away from his partner, while keeping close watch of Heval's surroundings through the scope of his VSSK Vychlop Ver.137 silenced sniper rifle.

"I'm more inclined to just his henchmen being here. That lipstick wearing homo would not risk himself down here. Damn, it's hot" he began shaking his shirt to allow air to flow through.

"That shirt is more suited for Hawaii. You are sticking out like a sore thumb" Kira observed.

"Really? Well, it's better, right? They can notice me better" he cheerfully said, glancing briefly to a window of a housing building nearby, where a non-reflective scope is aiming at him.

The reason Kira is only backing up Heval is because of an earlier experience, their first mission together. The other trading party is an anti-Coordinator group, so to fulfill their sadistic resentment and to test the two's sincerity, they had placed a requirement for the closing of the deal: only one of the two must remain breathing. The two had not known each other yet at the time, and their mindset was to accomplish a mission no matter the cost, so they gladly went at each other. However, when the duel ended outside the night-club, with both being exhausted and after numerous gun bursts and some grenade explosions, their client lay dead, struck by the stray bullets and explosive the youth flung around. As the club collapsed, they looked at the building and then back to each other, before attempting to suppress a chuckle. Patrol car sirens prompted them to leave the area. Although they failed that mission, the two earned each other's trust and respect. With that said, since the current assignment involves LOGOS, it would be better for only one person doing the negotiations just in case a repeat of the earlier instance happens. Heval is the better speaker of the two, while Kira is more proficient in sniping than Heval is, so it all works out.

Then, after a few minutes of wandering around, a long blond haired man wearing sunglasses, sporting a diagonal scar over his nose and donning a tourist-like get-up walked up to Heval and picked off the earpiece in Heval's earcanal, preventing Kira's transmission from getting to him. However, the transmitter was left unchecked.

"No weapon, good. It seems you are not an amateur, but you are not an expert either. Follow me" the man said. "You are lucky. The lord is interested in your proposal. If not, you, and your associate would be dead right now"

"What happens now?" Heval calmly asked, noticing that the man used the singular form of the word 'associate' indicating that Kira may have been spotted.

"Oi, oi…slow down. I'm hungry. Let's grab something to eat first. Come on, I'll pay" the man said as he stopped next to a boat selling some fried tidbits such as spring rolls and fried tofu.

He then ordered two bags of the mixed food before saying, "eat up. You'll need the strength. We are leaving for Honiara"

With the last word of the sentence spoken, the blond stole a glance directly at Kira's position. They looked straight at one another before the older man returned his attention to Heval. The sniper and the man each felt a tinge during that split-second eye contact.

Heval, for the few times in his life, became extremely cautious at the person. The older man acted and looked carefree as if they were just on a friendly trip. The younger remained silent as he took the bag and bit a peculiar chili-shaped fruit out of obligation. But the moment he did so, his mouth burned like an inferno. Though he did not express it vocally, his reddening face showed that the chili was very hot.

"No, no, no… you are supposed to eat that with this. Like this" the man said while stuffing the chili inside a tofu before eating it. "Right, no more joking around. Let's go"

Kira packed his gear and dissembled his rifle when the other two are leaving the marketplace. At the same time as he exited the room he had occupied, however, a couple of men started walking in his direction. He kept a casual expression and took out his PDA/PSP and began playing Ace Combat: Skies of Deception with the volume cranked as high as possible. They walked past each other in the corridor but right after a few steps, one of the men stopped him. His right hand readied to grab a combat knife on his waist under his Thai-style shirt.

"Hey, kid. Did you notice any strange individuals nearby?" asked the man.

"No"

"Anyone with a strange bag or some sort of gadgets?" another asked before noticing the very things he inquired being carried by Kira. "Wait-"

The man wasn't given a chance to finish his sentence when a blade came brandishing itself past his throat and opened the passage to his lungs directly to the outside atmosphere, thereby equalizing the pressures and preventing him from breathing. The other scrambled for his gun but received nothing but a skewer to the neck. He slipped out of existence staring at a pair of violet eyes.

With the disturbance gone, he entered a command on the PDA and a map replaced the game window. With a red spot blinking on the map signaling Heval's position, he began tailing a SUV in which the blond man and his partner is currently riding. He discovered the plane name and number for their flight for Guadalcanal of the Solomon Islands through their conversation. It was a clever plan, for only one airfield, the Henderson, is on the whole island. Escape will not be easy. However, since this mission is of the utmost importance, the other two FAITHs, codename Fleur and Aurig, will be providing support as well as securing an exit route based on their agreed plan.

Sometimes life can be so busy that one forgets the small things that seem trivial. But it might be actually important in the heart and important to others who care about that someone. However, the showing of that concern is frequently difficult. Nevertheless, after contemplating various courses of action for May 18, CE 73, he made up his mind.

A family-type sedan pulled up into the driveway of Boshoku Restaurant, one of Orb's newly established seaside ambient restaurants. A navy-colored man dressed in a black suit walked up to the vehicle and opened the rear left door for a lady in a light-green dress.

"Good evening, my lady. How was thy journey?" he asked, offering his hand.

"…T.e.r.r.i.b.l.e. And it's all your fault. Why do you have to insist of me wearing this thing?" she replied with a hint of discomfort as she shifted her foot around her high heel shoes the moment she alighted from the car.

"I truly apologize. On the bright side, this building's serenity would most definitely lift thy mood. I'm aware thou are concerned by heaving places, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah…Why are you talking funny?" she touched his forehead to check his temperature. "Are you sick?"

"Err…I speak funny? Strange, I don't feel like it. You must be imagining things. Haha…ha..hahaha" he tried to laugh it off.

"Are you sure? Well then. Let's go in. The wind's been blowing up my skirt" she said before putting her hand on his arm and pulling him, instead of the male leading the lady.

"Ca..Cagalli" he stammered, always caught off-guard by her unladylike behavior.

"Evening, sir. Do you have reserva-" the well-dressed maître d' stopped upon noticing the female beside him.

"Table for two under the name Alex Dino, please" he quickly interjected to prevent any complications.

"Ri, right this way, sir" the waiter recovered himself from gazing at the Representative, truly attractive in a dress.

"See? I don't like going out in this get-up" Cagalli whispered.

"I know, I know. You want only me to look at you" Athrun said.

"There's something really wrong with you. Your speech isn't like this usually. Are you really okay?" she grabbed his arm with both hands.

"Eh…nothing, nothing…It…it's been a while since Isawsomeonesobeautiful" his cheeks reddened slightly while slurring through the later phrase.

She squeezed his arm tighter before whispering, "Idiot"

The attendant guided them to a private sheltered balcony on the third floor of the building. Upon the waiter's opening of the double Victorian glass doors, the horizon of the coast came into view while stars glittered overhead on the night sky. A solitary round table about 60 centimeters in diameter lay in the middle of the veranda. The lighting is provided by the stars above, and the candles on the table. Like a gentleman, Athrun offered her seat first before taking his. After hearing them deliberating their meal choices, the waiter took their orders and left.

"How was your day?" Athrun asked.

"Other than this evening, it was as usual as daily. Signing papers, debating with other representatives, and planning a new budget plan for Morgenroete. Yours? How was the orphanage?"

"Reverend Malchio, Lacus and the children are well when I stopped by. Other than that, the discussion about allowing ORB to use the Giga-Float mass driver during emergencies went very well. Both parties reached a mutual agreement"

"One of the few upsides of the week…By the way, you haven't explained the occasion yet"

As if on cue, a 4-person group of musicians entered the terrace and took their place to the right of the doors, making them face Cagalli and Athrun's back.

"May I have this honor?" Athrun asked as a slow instrumental began playing.

She is initially reluctant but was drawn in by his smile and by the familiarity of the song: the same one they first did a slow dancing to. The male guided her to the other end of the balcony and held her close at the waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck before they began motions as by the music. Athrun placed his forehead down to the top-front of her head and closed his eyes.

"You are being overly romantic tonight. What's going on?" she whispered as she laid her head to the side on his chest.

However, her answer wasn't words, but a set of eye-catching glowing words on the sea waters. Those words were a result of organizing buoys in perfect locations. The yellowish neon lights of the buoys were then activated simultaneously by a nearby boat carrying a compact battery generator. 'Happy Birthday, Cagalli'

Upon discerning the words, she jerked up, smacking Athrun's nose against the top of her head, and causing him to say "Ow!" With that mishap, the song ended abruptly, adding to the awkwardness.

"I'm okay" he assured while rubbing his impacted facial protrusion.

"Sorry" she embarrassedly said before holding his face, looking at him, and contacting her lips to his as a sign of appreciation.

With that recovery, the instrumental team resumed their song with smiles on their faces at the sweet scene. The entrance of the food then prompted the two to return to their seats. The meal time proceeded wordless. Only the melody prevented silence from lording over the time. As for dessert, a birthday cake was presented. It wasn't extravagant, just an ordinary cherry vanilla layered cake with 18 candle sticks mounted on top of the icing.

"Make a wish" Athrun said.

She did as he advised and closed her eyes in silence for a moment before blowing the candles out. The musicians had not been playing anything since the cake was placed on the table, but once she extinguished the 18 tiny flames, the group burst into a congratulatory applause.

"This has been one of the few wonderful evenings in my life. Thank you" She said.

Athrun gestured for the group to grant himself and his date some private time, before walking up to Cagalli's side with his right hand on his pocket and touching a small cube-shaped object. He dropped to one knee and held her right hand with his left while looking deep into her eyes.

"Cagalli…uh…this…I…would" he stumbled on his own words.

The coloration of his cheeks seemed to be more evident as seconds passed. She too felt heat traveling up her face. He was about to draw his right hand and present her the box when someone with purple hair barged into the veranda.

"Cagalli! There you are! I've been looking for you. I just found out that today is your birthday. Happy Birthday!" he blurted out without first accessing the situation.

Athrun quickly got up while muttering, "Nice timing, Jona"

"Oh, Alex. What are you doing here?" the date-crasher asked, making Athrun and Cagalli wonder at how thick his skull is.

Being without a weapon to defend himself is enough to leave Heval paranoid, let alone being surrounded by anti-coordinators and the maester of Blue Cosmos, Djibril. Probably the only thing keeping him alive is a disk containing the information which caught Djibril's liking.

"I was surprised the person I will be coming face to face with is so young. Then again, you coordinators are super humans, right?" he commented the moment Heval entered into the living room of a private estate on the outskirts of the capital of Honiara. "Please take a seat, so we can get this going"

Heval did as 'instructed' and took the sofa across the lipstick-wearing man. A glass table separated them. The room was about 400 square meters with 3 large Regency-style, curtain covered, double window doors facing the north. A 5 seat sofa set surrounding the mentioned glass table was set in the middle of the room. A fireplace lay on the east wall. The remaining white-painted walls were decorated by pieces of fine paintings. The flooring of the room, except for the carpeted sofa area, was tiled with white marbles. The only door out on the east wall is guarded by two men. In addition, the estate is swarming with bodyguards and two-man teams were assigned patrols on the perimeter of the building.

With that observation during his travel from the airfield, and the trust that his partner is out there looking out for him, Heval began the most dangerous part of his mission. Since the correspondence with Djibril's group a few weeks ago had laid out the procedure of the trading, words were not needed as both men entered their disks into each respective laptop and entered the password for the intel they have expressed interest to. With the pressing of 'Enter' button on the keyboards, both men closed the lids of the notebooks and push them forward to one another. The whole time, Djibril displayed a slight grin while Heval kept his face straight. Outside, the sun was setting.

The windows he saw on the computer Heval handed opened Djibril's eyes wide and his grin turned slightly curlier. The same thing, except the grin, happened to the coordinator. In front of him is the blueprint and specifications of a mobile armor with the designation code 'Gressorial Fortress Armament Strategic – EXperimental' and the operating system 'Gigantic Unilateral Numerous Dominating Ammunition Fortress'.

"Hahaha…when you implied that this is a good deal, I was very intrigued. So this is what you mean" Djibril started. "The 'Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System' operation system, three new prototype suits specs, LHM-BB01 specs, and the most interesting one, Operation Break The World? Durandal didn't pull any stops, did he?"

"It is in his interest for PLANTs and LOGOS to be in good terms. I presume you are satisfied with the status of this transaction?" Heval asked.

"I could say I do. But," he threw the dreaded negation, "why is someone as professional as you working for the likes of a traitor. Didn't he tell you that he was a LOGOS too?"

Heval kept his surprise suppressed but the reaction within the first second wasn't left unnoticed by the Blue Cosmos leader. At this time, Djibril's henchman entered the room and recovered the laptop in his boss' hands before exiting.

"I am sure that you were told LOGOS wants nothing but fighting, correct? Isn't it hypocritical for him to appear as a peace-loving PLANT Supreme Council Chairman, while his past paints him as a war proponent?"

"People learn from mistakes in the past. I believe in the chairman that his actions, even this one, will bring about true peace"

"Is that your true belief, or a result of subconscious indoctrination?" he asked to which Heval kept silent. "There's no winning you to my side, then? Very well, if you would excuse me. Nature's call"

The silver haired man walked past the two door guards and whispered a brief command to them. The two then drew their guns and approached Heval from behind. Outside, his partner was distracted by the wearing off of his conditioning and was therefore forced to inject himself to stay on top of the situation.

"Man, I hate it when these things happen" Heval said. "Come on, Kira. Anytime now"

More men entered the room to fill the post left open so as to ensure no escape is possible. As the same time as two guns were pointing at him, two holes appeared on the glass doors, produced by two bullets that punctured through the window and the linen before striking the men squarely on the forehead almost in rapid succession. With that radical change of events, the guards in the room grabbed their sidearms. Heval responded quicker by grabbing the guns from the falling dead bodies. He then began filling the room with lead as long as the weapons' magazines could. But, with his trigger happy fingers going auto-full-burst mode, he was done within four seconds. When more men crowded into the room, his death was stalled for a couple seconds as Kira's sniper shots silenced more tangos. However, the support ceased when the six bullets magazine was exhausted.

Nevertheless, the sniper wasn't alone. As he was rushing to reload under the cover of the forest bushes surrounding the estate, the engine noise of an invisible aircraft boomed overhead. The low altitude flying of the Mirage Colloid-equipped fighter craft blew the trees and grass violently as well as shook the estate. With the noise and the surprise, the dropping of a bunker buster bomb on the south driveway side of the building went unnoticed until it was too late. The buried explosive regurgitated its deadly composition, tearing a sizable hole on the soil, melting several foundational steel columns and shattering windows.

"Aurig here. Herfst, begin next phase" transmitted a male voice who referred to Kira by codename. "I will extract Ertel"

Through the scope, he noticed one black-haired bodyguard hijacking a light armored vehicle and drove it to under the three glass doors of the room Heval (Ertel) was before tossing upwards a flashing green light, which is an 'approach this point' signal of FAITH. The gray-hair leaped out of the second storey window and onto the open turret of the Humvee-type vehicle. Heval popped back out of the turret and began volleys of suppressing fire using the attached KPVT-62 heavy machinegun, Aurig accelerated off and away from the hectic situation of the estate. On the way, though, the driver ran over several straggling guards recovering from the explosion. The treaded bodies fled like speed bumps to the car's occupants.

As Kira was getting ready to begin retreat, however, the sound of a breaking twig to his rear alerted him to another presence. He swung around just in time to parry a claw-type weapon from slicing his flesh to pieces.

"Look what I found here, a mousie" the man wielding the weapon growled.

A quick observation revealed the man to be of skinny frame, lazy eyes, and disgustingly long tongue like a snake. That tongue is currently licking part of Kira's hand holding the rifle. The friction between the rifle body and the two 4-prongs claws generated sparks as both sides attempted to gain a more advantageous position but to no avail. The sound of approaching footsteps reduced Kira's options. With only a knife as a short range weapon, the sniper is in a bad predicament. However, after realizing the location of shell ejector of his rifle, he pulled the trigger and fired one off to nowhere. The used shell struck the face of the man and opened a window of opportunity. He wrestled the long rifle off the hooking of the claws and spun the gun vertically while drawing his knife. With the rifle muzzle now pointing straight point blank on the claw man's face, Kira threw his dagger into the shadow behind the leaf branches, striking an enemy in the forehead. Then, he clicked on the trigger, sending a forceful load of large caliber anti-armor bullet into the organic target directly ahead. Brain matter and blood splattered all over the area, including onto the sniper. He ignored the more disturbing mess on his clothes and proceeded to wipe his licked hand on a clean fabric part of the now headless corpse.

"Fleur, coming in" transmitted a female voice this time before the support aircraft made another pass.

Just as he sped off in a motorbike, another bunker buster struck the building squarely and demolished it for good. The four FAITHs' planned escape plan will be initiated by their meeting at a remote location within the forests of Guadalcanal. There, disguised commercial VTOL aircrafts will provide the means to get off the island. Of course, to prevent all of them from being taken out at once and so as to confuse any pursuers, they will spread out with distinctly deviating destinations: Sentosa Island of Singapore, Pearl Harbor of Hawaii, and Carpentaria of Australia. Since Fleur's plane is armed and stealth, she will provide cover for Heval, the bearer of the disk.

Although Aurig had an early headstart, Kira's two wheeled transportation is more versatile in the rugged terrain of the island. He sped down a 70 degrees angle of depression slope, almost being trashed by the speeding armored car at the base of that slope. Wasting no time, each of the males boarded their assigned planes and branched off in separate directions.

"See you around, guys" said Heval.

"Be careful, Aurig" whispered Fleur to which the addressed responded in kind.

"Hey, are you guys an item?" Heval asked a question which is obviously out of place.

"Another word, and I'll shoot" said the only female out of the four.

"Right, right….Zip…I got it"

The rest of their flight was uneventful. There weren't any pursuers. However, that wasn't the case with one plane. When the pilot thought he was home free after about 1500 miles of humdrum flight that brought him in the vicinity of Marshall Islands, a sudden beep originating from somewhere in his plane threw a curve ball at that false sense of tranquility. He wheeled his head around to finally notice a tiny timer on the navigation panels to the rear of his seat. When he first saw it, it was displaying the current time. But, the problem now is that the timer is at 00:00. No words could express the shock when his plane was torn apart by a large explosion in the cargo bay.

"Hey, Tori!" called a little boy playing with the green, Athrun-made robotic bird when it suddenly flew out through the open lodge window and into the night sea breeze.

"I won't accept it, I won't accept it!" cried a pink, Athrun-made robotic ball as in bounced in Birdy's direction, but was hindered when a pair of pale, fair hands caught it.

"Don't go out too far" the owner of the hands said in a gentle female voice towards a group of children who just ran out after the robotic bird.

She walked towards the porch so as to keep the kids in sight. Birdy reached the edge of the beach and circled around a specific point. When the kids caught up to it, they abruptly ran back to the lodge screaming in fright before taking cover behind the female. With that anomaly, and the mechanical ball in her hands spouting oddities, she decided to investigate the cause of the children's scare. Some braver brats followed her while gripping onto her skirt while the more timid ones remained on the porch with a blind reverend.

As she approached, Birdy is still circling the same area. With each step, an outline of a person became clearer. He was lying prone with the kinetic energy of the waves moving the otherwise motionless body. A gaping wound to the head was the first evident characteristics of the person.

Knowing that salt water will do more harm than good to open lacerations, she pulled him back a short distance towards a more dry area before time stopped for her when she turned him over.

"Kira…?"

A/N: Mucho thanks for the three precious reviews. I wasn't expecting more than one, so hoch appreciated. How was this chapter?