"Oh my, what was that?" said a girl with long, flowing pink hair. She had been staring off at the sky, until she felt a small tremor, along with the sound of a crash. Maybe it was a monster coming, or a group of soldiers. Her thoughts are soon interrupted as a little girl was pulling on her blue skirt.

"Miss Lacus! That huge boom woke me up and now I can't go back to sleep!" said the child to Lacus, looking at her with an innocent pair of eyes. Lacus smiled down at the child and patted her head.

She kneeled down to the child's height and looked at her with a brightened smile. "Go back inside, get a glass of water and go back to sleep. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" said Lacus. The little girl nodded and smiled. She then ran back inside the orphanage.

After the little girl ran inside, Lacus turned her attention back to the direction in which she heard the crash. "Before I go back inside, I should checkout the source of that crash first." thought Lacus to herself, as she grabbed her staff. "I have to protect these children." She then ran off in that direction.

MEANWHILE…

"Um….Ca….galli?" said Kira, with a bit of panic in his voice.

"Behind you…" said Athrun, pointing behind Cagalli. The blonde turned around, only to get freaked out by a dancing cactus that had come out of nowhere. As the creature shot out a bunch of needles at the three, Kira and Athrun drew their weapons and jumped out of the way, along with Cagalli. Unfortunately, the Cagalli was barely able to dodge it, as the attack had torn off her shirt and bra, exposing her.

Cagalli was as red as a tomato, as she covered herself with her arms. She felt an explosion of from within and charged the huge cactus.

"Cagalli, wait!" said Athrun, which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

"YOU BASTARD!" screamed Cagalli.

She jumped to the air with a clenched fist and uppercutted the cactus, sending the unfortunate creature flying. Kira and Athrun, dumbfounded, both sweatdropped at what they had just seen. Both put their weapons away.

"Well, that ought to show him not to mess with the Princess of ORB…" said Cagalli, hands on her hips, unknowning exposing herself in front of Kira and Athrun.

"Um…Cagalli…?" said Kira, who was as red as a tomato. Athrun, also red, pointed at what Kira was trying to tell her about.

Looking down, Cagalli saw what they were looking at and immediately turned a dark shade of red. She looked at the two, with rage filling up inside of her, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"PERVERTS!" screamed Cagalli, as loud as she could, followed by a crash.A few seconds later, both Kira and Athrun had huge bumps on their heads, and had Athrun's coat was missing, appearing on Cagalli to cover herself.

"Now let's get out of here…My father must be worried sick about me…" said Cagalli to the two men, walking away as she was still red. Kira and Athrun nodded and walked off with her. Athrun walked up next to Cagalli, while Kira took the lead.

"I'm sorry about before with the staring…" said Athrun to Cagalli, with a shade of pink on his face.

"It's no problem…As long as you don't do it again…" said Cagalli.

"I…uhhh…No promises kept…" whispered Athrun to himself, within the hearing distance of Cagalli. She soon gave him a death glare, causing Athrun to panic in fear.

"What was that?" yelled Cagalli, with anger in her voice.

"Nothing, your highness, I was only kidding! It was a joke! Please don't kill me!" said Athrun, with intense fear in his voice, shaking his hands. Kira sweatdropped while he was walking, as he was listening to the entire conversation and sighed to himself. "Athrun never changes…" thought Kira to himself.

The three stopped in their tracks, as they are approached by a pink haired girl holding a staff. Silence filled the air, as they stared at each other. The pink haired girl could tell instantly that they were good people by looking into their eyes, especially Kira's. She walked up to them, deciding to break the silence.

"You three aren't from here, are you?" asked Lacus to Kira, Athrun, and Cagalli. "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lacus Clyne."

"I'm Kira Yamato," said the brunette. "This is Athrun Zala, and the other one is Cagalli Yula Attha, whom we just met."

"Nice to meet you all," said Lacus, smiling at the three. The smile was enough to make Kira's heart melt. "You three must be tired from walking around in the desert. Why don't you guys stop by my place? I'll fix you guys up with a good meal." Kira turned to the other two, and they both nodded.

"I think we'd like that, Lacus," said Kira, smiling. After a few minutes of walking, the four ended up at a small house. Kira looked around and saw a few children playing around, chasing each other around the house.

"Are these children-?" started Kira, until he was interrupted by Lacus.

"They're orphans from the war…" said Lacus, as if she was reading Kira's mind. "It's sad…These kids are innocent and they have to suffer at such a young age…" Lacus looked at the kids with a sad pair of eyes. Kira frowned as he looked at the children. He knew what it was like to be a war orphan. He remembered his birth parents being taken from him when he was 4, but he barely remembered their faces or names. Athrun was also an orphan thanks to the war, except he was orphaned at the age of 16.

"Come inside! I'll be with you guys shortly." said Lacus, as she smiled and went upstairs. Kira, Athrun, and Cagalli entered the small house. Athrun sat on the couch, while Cagalli was looking around. Kira went upstairs and looked around the halls. He soon saw Lacus reading a book to a little girl.

"Miss Lacus…When am I gonna see my daddy again?" asked the little girl. "I miss him…"

Lacus looked down at the little girl with a sad pair of eyes, but tried to keep a straight face. She gave the little girl a small smile and patted her on the head. "You're father is gonna be fine, Alicia. The truth is…I don't know when he's gonna back, but's going to be just fine…" said Lacus. She pecked the little girl on the forehead. "Now go to bed, okay?" Alicia nodded and fell back down in bed, closing her eyes. Lacus left the room and closed the door, not noticing Kira was behind her.

"That little girl…her father…Is he-?" started Kira, but he was interrupted yet again.

"I'm afraid so…" said Lacus. She turned to Kira. "And I know what she's going through…" A moment of silence came between the two. They stared into each other's eyes. After a minute or two, Lacus broke the silence.

"Tell me, Kira…Are you a Coordinator?"

"You can tell?"

Lacus nodded. "Yes…for I am a Coordinator as well…" Kira looked at Lacus with sorrowful eyes. Noticing the way he was looking at her, Lacus put on a smile. "But you and Athrun aren't like the ones who work for ZAFT. You two are kind-hearted…"

"Lacus…"

All of a sudden, the ground trembled, causing Lacus to fall forward. Seeing this, Kira came in front of her, preventing her from hitting the ground. Lacus blushed a bit, as she was so close to Kira's face, yet she barely even knew him.

"You guys better get down here! We got trouble!" yelled Athrun from downstairs. Athrun ran outside with Cagalli. He pulled out his guns. Kira and Lacus ran down the stairs, with Kira pulling out his blades and Lacus taking out her staff. Outside was the same Cactuar from earlier and beside it was an even bigger Cactuar with a huge flower on its head.

"There they are, Momma! They're the ones that did this to me!" said the Cactuar, pointing to the bump on its head. The bigger Cactuar glared at the four, stomping over to them.

"SO YOU'RE THE ONES THAT DID THIS TO MY BABY BOY!" said the giant cactus to the four, with Kira, Athrun, and Cagalli sweatdropping and laughing nervously.

"I'LL YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY BABY BOY!"

"Talk about over-protective mother…" said Kira. All of a sudden, the ground under Kira collapsed, causing him to fall.

"Kira!" yelled Lacus, with worry in her voice. She tried to grabbed his hand, but ended up falling in as well.

"Kira! Lacus!" yelled Athrun. He and Cagalli were about to jump in, only to be blocked by a few needles launched at them from the Cactuar. Luckily, they managed to dodge it in time.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

"Damn it!" said Cagalli

"Shit!" said Athrun. The two prepared to fight the Cactuars on their own.

To be continued…

Preview: While Athrun and Cagalli are taking care of the giant cactus, Kira and Lacus find themselves in an underground cave with fire everywhere. There, they find an Altar with a statue of a demonic-looking creature with a flame amulet around it. As Kira removes the amulet, the demonic creature comes to life, telling Kira that he is now it's master, but he has to pass a test, first: defeat the creature.

Next Chapter: The Flames of Freedom