:Sorry about the wait everyone, with my mom in hospital on and off since a few weeks ago over Christmas and just 2 weeks ago, things have been insanely pushed back. So, that's why I havn't gotten around to it until now, but, here is chapter 7, have fun! It's a friggin long one ;)


"Oh, shit," Dearka muttered as he looked up at the blocked entrance to the cave.

They were trapped in a cave, all of them, a cave that wasn't much bigger than an average sized living room.

"The air supply in here isn't going to last very long, we need to find a way out before we need to start worrying about breathing," Mu announced to everyone as they nodded quickly in response.

"Alright, this cave isn't very big at all; we can easily find a way out. Milly and Dearka, you two cover the perimeter if the cave for a gap or cracks in the walls, anything. The rest of us will start pulling out the rocks at the entrance, but we have to be careful so that we don't start a rockslide, or we'll all be dead," Mu gave them all directions so that they could get out as soon as possible.

"What happens once we get out?" Dearka spoke up, startling them all. "What I mean is, what about those things? They'll be out their for sure, we have no way of telling if their gone,"

"They are gone," Murrue spoke up from her position on the ground next to Mu, everyone turned to look at her.

"I can sense them, and as of right now, they're gone,"

"Murrue," Mu whispered so that only he could hear.

"When I sense them again, you'll all know," She finished as she stood up, a serious glint to her eyes, and almost angry touch.

Mu got up and stood beside her, but he didn't touch her, he was almost scared to. Everyone just stared at her, not moving or doing anything Mu had told them to do.

"Well, you herd the man, let's find a way out of here," Murrue barked out at them, her Captain's voice lacing around her words. If that didn't put anyone into motion, who know what will.

Milly and Dearka quickly jumped into movement as they began scanning the perimeter of the cave carefully while the rest made their way over to the now blocked off entrance.

"Alright, let's do this and get the hell outta here," Yzak snorted with a smirk and began pulling the rocks out.

Everyone followed suit and pulled at the rocks. Mu and Murrue were at the very end working at a quick pace, confident to get out.

"You know, Mu, a rockslide might be the only way to get us out of here," Murrue said as she stopped pulling at the rocks to train her attention on him. Mu then looked at her.

"You're absolutely right – HEY GUYS, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Milly and Dearka, get over here!" Mu hollered once Murrue's ea fully made sense to him.

"OK, we have to dig until we find the rocks holding up this mess. Then we need to quick pull them, run like hell to the back of the cave, and pray that we don't get crushed. The only way we're getting outta here is if we cause a rockslide," Everyone looked at Mu like he wasn't speaking English," "I know, I know, it's crazy, but either we go down fighting or e suffocate, either way we're risking our lives here, understand? Besides, this wasn't my idea, it was all Murrue," He said the last part suer fast, but Murrue caught it and elbowed him in the gut.

Everyone then turned to stare at the offending rocks.

"This could take a while," Kira muttered,

"Yeah, but either we do it this way, or we all sit here and die," Mu explained again, confident that this would demolish any doubt that the young coordinator might have.

"I choose life," Yzak decided as he began pulling at the rocks once again.

Everyone followed Yzak's well set example and began to put their plan into action. Milly and Dearka returned about 20 minutes later, not so much as a crevice in the surface of the cave uncovered. They turned to help the others once briefed by Mu on their objective. The rock started to get bigger toward the bottom, which posed as a problem.

"Kira, these rocks are too big, I can't move it," Lacus called to Kira as she pulled with all her might, but the rock wouldn't budge for her.

Kira chuckled at her efforts. "Don't worry about it Lacus. Hey Mu, what do we do?" Kira hollered over to the ex-commander.

"We'll have to work together. Milly, Dearka, and Yzak, you 3 go over to the far end and do the same thing that we were doing before. Kira, Athrun, Cagalli and Lacus, you guys work in the middle. Me and Murrue will stay over here and work, got it?"

"Gee Mu, fancy you and Murrue are over there alone," Milly smirked as she noticed that they were the only two alone.

"Yeah, Mu, wonder how that happened," Murrue beamed once she caught on to Milly's joke. She loved to watch Mu struggle underneath their pressure when they got the chance to turn the tables on him.

"Huh, I have no idea what you're talking about, ladies," Mu ruined their fun as he saw they were undeniably trying to squash his ego.

"So are you guys all ready to go?" Mu asked once Milly and Murrue got a last laugh out before they got back to work.

He got a variety of different answers which all pointed to yes. Everyone turned to their respective posts and began to work.

"Damn, and I though we were done taking orders from you, La Flaga," Kira laughed at how ironic it all was. The war was over and they were all very capable people, but they were still under the Captain and the Commander's jurisdiction.

"Shut up kid," Kira saw Mu's head pop out from behind Murrue to tell him off. He couldn't tell if he was serious or if it was his usual demeanor coming back for a spin.

By now everyone was laughing at the two's childish behavior. "You two argue like brother's you know?" Cagalli pointed out. "But you're still not as good as me, got that old man?"

"Hey who are you calling old? Let me remind you that I'm about twice your size," Mu waved a finger in front of his face playfully.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya'. And let me remind you who's responsible for the signing of your paycheck back in the military," Cagalli laughed at his taken aback expression and now hushed mouth. He was looking somewhat wistful, as if trying to think of a comeback that would never come, that mad her laugh more.

They were all quiet for a while, amusement for the hour all dried up. Things were almost boring; the only music to their ears was of the rocks falling to the ground, some rolling a few feet before stopping in a corner or on a bump somewhere. They were all working at a healthy pace, a system worked out in each group. The next rock Mu and Murrue pulled was the last one that they needed to pull in their section, a single rock holding up the fort for the rest. It was then that Murrue wavered on her feet.

"Murrue?" Mu questioned as he let his hands rest on her waist.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," she answered as if it was nothing, and turned to see how the others were doing.

He wanted to reach out and grab her wrist, but reeled the idea back into his mind once her realized that he should just let her go, even if it went against the uneasy feeling in his stomach about it. He let his back rest against the wall as he watched the rest, figuring that they were fine on their own, they were almost done anyway, it'd be best for him to just stay out of the way.

"Ouch, that was my foot A-hole!" Dearka barked as he kicked the rock that had been dropped on to his foot out of the way.

"Sorry, didn't see ya' there bud," A laughing Kira replied, Dearka looked up and saw Lacus suppressing a laugh as well.

"Fine, go ahead and laugh at me, sure, cuz it's real funny when people hurt me. Bu if I dropped a rock on Kira's foot and I laughed you'd go all super chick on my ass," Dearka went on and on about it. Murrue gave him a questioning glance towards him before Milly spoke up.

"Nice to see you're handling this well, Dearka," Murrue laughed when Dearka gave her a look and Milly glared back at him.

"It's best you wipe that rebellious look off you're face before I wipe it off for you personally," Dearka then put a goofy grin up in it's place, waving at her cutely.

Milly sighed muttering something about needing to do something about his radical behavior. She looked over to Murrue who was looking kind of dazed.

"Murrue, you ok?" She asked as she touched a hand to Murrue's bare arm. Murrue didn't respond right away.

"Murrue!"

"Oh, sorry Milly, I'm fine," Milly gave her a look that said she didn't believe her.

"Don't worry, I think I'm just getting a little claustrophobic in here, which means we need to finish this quickly," Murrue ushered Milly over to the rocks. Milly still wasn't convinced, but she continued to work anyway.

"Ouch, CAGALLI!" Athrun's voice echoed off of the caves narrow walls, causing it to bounce around for a few seconds before dispersing into the air. He grabbed his foot and began hopping around on the other

"Ah, I'm sorry, Athrun, I didn't mean to!" Cagalli apologized while grabbing onto Athrun's arm to he could stand properly without all the hopping.

Mu chuckled at the teens, finding their antics quite amusing. But, he also had an eye on Murrue, thinking that something bad was going to happen, seeing her behavior hasn't been the same lately.

You're being paranoid; she can take care of herself.

His mind tried to reassure him, but there was still a part of him that felt uneasy about it. He turned his attention back to the others to watch Athrun continue to hop around on one foot swearing to the rock that had crushed it. He was so caught up in watching that bunch that his attention on Murrue was cut off until he heard Milly's voice.

"Murrue, what's wrong, Murrue!"

Mu turned his head to see Murrue on her knees and Milly besides her trying to find out what was going on. He pushed off the wall he was leaning on a sprinted over to the girls.

"Milly, what's going on?" Mu questioned frantically and he put his hands on Murrue's shoulders to look her in the face.

"I don't know, she said something about it being really warm in here and then the next thing I know she's on the ground saying that she can't breath," Milly was starting to get frantic until Mu rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, it's not your fault, the air's getting thin, we need to get out of here and fast," His full attention as then turned onto Murrue while Milly stood up and collected herself.

"Hey, guys, we need to move and fast, Murrue's not doing well," Milly announced and everyone stopped and spun around in their places.

"Why, what's wrong with her?" Kira spoke first, worried about his former Captain.

"She's hyperventilating," Mu answered as he picked Murrue up so he could set her up against a wall.

All the kids watched her as she struggled to breathe. Mu looked on, not knowing what to do, al of the first aid and CPR training he crammed into his for the military slipping away from his grasp. He then realized that he can't help her, but she can.

"Murrue, you're gonna have to do this on your own, there's nothing I can do for you to help. You have to control your breathing. Calm down and concentrate on this," Mu coaxed her through it, but she didn't hear much.

"I…can't,"

"You can!"

"Mu, does she have asthma, or an inhaler that didn't know about?" Kira came up behind him to have a closer look at Murrue.

"I- I don't know. I don't remember her saying anything about it," He answered as his mind raced. As he sat there thinking of what to do, Murrue is quickly running out of air.

"Alright, everyone except the kid back off and give us some space, get back to work so we can get out of here," He snapped, kicking himself into action, finally.

"Ok, Murrue I'm gonna guide you through your breathing, there is only so much can do to help though, ok?" Murrue nodded her head slightly.

"Ok, when I tell you to breathe in, you breathe in, when I say out, I want you to exhale for me. You're gonna be ok, we're gonna get you through this," Mu then directed his attention to Kira.

"Kid, can you help her sit up straight, I need her to keep her airway as open as possible,"

"Sure thing, Mu," Kira moved behind Murrue and kneeled so that she could lean her back against his chest.

"Ok, Murrue- in," Murrue took a sharp gulp of air, but none of it reached her lungs.

"Try again, slow it down though, you need to get your regular pace back," She tried to breathe slower, taking in a mouthful of air, this time, in went in.

"Good, now out…slowly," She let a hurried breathe out.

"It's ok, do it again," Another slow breathe in.

"Out," This time, she took her time to release it.

"Alright, do you think you can try it on your own?"

"Yes," She could speak again, which was a very good sign.

Mu smiled thankfully knowing that she was ok. "Alright, go ahead,"

She went over the 'ins' and 'outs' in her head as she began to breathe normally again. After a few more minutes she could stop directing her lungs to breathe as they did it on their own.

"Murrue?" Mu questioned, voice trembling if only slightly.

"Thank you Mu!" She exclaimed as she leaned forward to hug him tightly.

He returned her hug by wrapping his right arm around her back and his left arm rested on her head. Their moment of peace was quickly disturbed however.

"Mu," He heard a breathless cal form Dearka.

"What is it?"

"The airs getting low and we need more hands over here," It was then Mu realized that he couldn't breathe well either, it was either they got out now…or never.

"Kira, can you sty here with Murrue?" Mu asked Kira as he began to stand, reluctantly letting go of Murrue.

"Yeah, no problem, just see to it that we get out of here,"

"Right," Mu nodded his agreement and he was off, leaving Kira and Murrue behind.

Soon after Mu went to help, everything was finished and set up so that they could get out. Kira stood Murrue up and walked her over to Mu. After that he went back over to stand by Lacus.

"Kira, I'm scared," Lacus clasped Kira's dress shirt between her fingers and lo0oked up into his violet eyes.

"Don't worry Lacus, we'll all be outta here before you know it, I promise.

"Ok, guys, you all ready?" Mu questioned, his fists clenching and unclenching in his nervousness.

"As ready as we'll ever be, let's just get this done and over with," Athrun voiced all of their thoughts as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ok, on the count of 3 we pull and hen run to the back of the cave for all we're worth, and pray to all that's holy that we don't get crushed," Mu instructed these vital directions so that everyone understood crystal clear.

"Alright, let's do it," Yzaks spoke confidently, his facial expression, however, didn't reflect his attitude for once.

"1," Kira started. He then looked at Lacus.

"2" Athrun called out the seconds number, then he looked to Dearka, Milly and Cagalli.

Murrue looked at Mu and mouthed "Don't die," He mouthed back to her "As long as you don't," and then they went.

"3,"

Everyone grabbed a rock, and they pulled. Nothing happened at first, but then, just as quickly as they pulled the rocks, they started to shift, and then they started to budge. A few seconds later, the r0ocks gave way, giving the group a run for their money. All of the guys shoved the girls in front of them as they ran. They all ended up pinned against the wall in the back, as far away from the rocks as humanly possible. Dearka, Kira, and Athrun grabbed Milly, Lacus, and Cagalli and shoved them into the wall. Murrue stood in front of Mu, her back facing him. They both stared at the rocks, trying painfully hard not to notice how fat the rocks were coming at them. The noise was unbearable as it reached its maximum crescendo. Murrue covered her ears and Mu wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and crouched down. The entire cave then started to shake and everyone held tightly to each other, except poor Yzak, who was standing all alone. The noise continued to get louder and louder. Milly let out a terrified scream that mixed in with the rumbling sound of the rocks. It continued, louder, louder, louder, until suddenly, it stopped. They all turned slowly to see that the rocks had stopped a few inches before their almost guaranteed deaths. They all squinted through the clouds of dust fogging their view. Athrun let out a cough before seeing it first, like light at the end of a tunnel. They all made out the light from the moon, shining brightly through the cave entrance, piercing straight through the dust.

"Is it over?" Lacus mumbled into Kira's shoulder as they slowly backed away from the wall.

"Yeah, I think so, Lacus," He answered in a whisper as the dust finally settled and cleared away so they could see perfectly out of the cave.

The group as so overjoyed at what they saw, they couldn't even speak. They finally found a way out of the damn cave.

"Hey, hey, we did it!" Cagalli exclaimed, breaking the silence that had settled along with the dust. She shook Athrun's arm excitedly.

"Yeah, except one more thing, we get to go rock climbing now. Yay for rock climbing…not," Well, at least Yzak is back to his usual ignorant self.

"Well this'll be fun with no shoes on," Murrue stated flatly while eyeing the 20 feet of rocks they had to cross.

"And a concussion, not to mention you just hyperventilated and went all claustrophobic on us," Dearka apparently felt the need to tack on those last couple of things.

"Thank you, Dearka, your encouragement was greatly appreciated," Murrue glared in his direction while he just smiled sheepishly while waving slightly.

Murrue then smiled and waved back as well.

"You do know that it's a bad thing when she looks at you like that, right?" Mu asked, fully aware that that was the exact same look she gave him when he threw her in the pool in their backyard…and accidentally pulled her top off in the process. He couldn't walk straight for about 3 days after that little stunt. Lesson well learned to put it simple.

"Wow, I couldn't have guessed," Dearka swallowed hard as he backed up slightly.

"Hey, Dearka?" He heard a familiar acid sweet voice call from behind him.

"Yeah, Milly?"

"Let's go," She grabbed him by the color and pulled him over o the rocks so that the two could begin climbing.

They could hear their voices echoing off the cave walls after they were well on their way out of there.

"Don't come crying to me when Murrue beats the shit out of you for being a sadistic asshole," Milly was humoring the group behind them, but scaring the hell out of poor Dearka.

"I guess we should go too," Athrun spoke in amusement. He received 3 nods from Kira, Cagalli, and Lacus, a blank stare form Mu, no response from Murrue, and a grunt from Yzak who began to advance forward to start climbing over the rocks.

"Let's get this over with, if I have to stay in here for one minute longer with you guys I'm going to need counseling," Cagalli sneered and began to walk confidently over to the rocks followed by Athrun. Kira smiled at Lacus and then walked over to grab her hand and pull her over to the rocks. He told her to keep going while he turned to talk to Mu quickly.

"Mu, you coming?"

"Yeah, we'll be there soon, we need to figure out how we're gonna do this first," Mu answered while scratching his head in utter confusion.

Kira shrugged, "Carry her,"

Mu then blinked. "Huh? …Duh, good idea kid," Mu whispered to Kira's retreating back as he clambered over the rocks to catch up to Lacus.

Mu looked over to Murrue who was stand there casually with her arms crossed lazily over her stomach. He to take a step, but a sharp pain bolting up his leg stopped him quickly in his tracks.

"Ah, shit,"

Murrue heard him curse out and turned to her right to face him.

"What is it…Mu?" She approached him, her eyes flashing with hinted worry, reaching a hand out to put it on his chest.

"That damn bear scratch I got earlier,"

"Oh no, I hope it's not infected," The worry in her eyes then grew to fill them until you could practically see it brimming her tawny orbs.

He pushed her chin up with a finger to silence her worry. "No, it's nothing like that, it's just stiff from all of this running away we've been doing lately," He gave her a reassuring smiled and peck on the lips. She smiled back, but it didn't reflect her thoughts.

"Now come on, let's get outta here,"

"But how? Neither of us can walk well," She gripped his arm at the though of not getting out of the cave.

"I'll carry you," He replied simply, like it was nothing at all.

"No, you won't. You can barely hold your own weight, there's no way you can carry me,"

"Why not, it's not like you're fat or anything," He snickered, half expecting her to hit him for that.

"Mu! That's not what I mean, well…maybe it - YOU'RE NOT CARRYING ME!"

He began laughing out loud at her embarrassment, making her cheeks go scarlet. "Relax, Murrue, I'm just kidding. And you're not fat. If anything, you're not fat enough,"

"Stop it, Mu. I am fat enough,"

"You are not, end of story," He finished that argument, before she started bashing herself to no end.

"You're still not carrying me," She stated firmly, trying to cool down her face so that the blush would go away.

"I'll survive, I'm a big boy, I can handle it," he smirked as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"And I'm a big girl, I can walk on my own as well. How hard could it be, are you saying that I can't handle it?" She looked into his blue eyes as she put her hands on his shoulders. "They're only rocks," She was being childish and stubborn; Mu loved it when she was like this of course, but sometimes it proved disastrous. As he watched walk over to he rocks and hop up on one of the rocks, he then decided that this was one of the more disastrous times.

"Murrue," He said in a warning tone, hoping that she would listen to him…wrong.

"See, I'm fine," She turned around on her rock to prove to him that she was still in one piece. Mu sighed uneasily.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he called out to her as he made his way over to the rocks, cautiously spotting her in case she fell.

"I can do it, nothing bads gonna HAPPEN!" Her next step resulted in it catching a sharp rock, putting a gash in it. She stumbled forward and away from Mu's waiting arms as she toppled down over herself landing on the rocks with a 'thump.'

"Murrue!" Mu's nerves proved to be dead on as he ran over to her and jumped over the rocks to get to her. He looked down on her form his position on top of the rocks she fell over just moments before.

"Ow," She mumbled from her sitting position on the rocks ass he looked innocently up at him.

He held out a hand to her.

"Nothing bads gonna happen, huh?" He smiled as he pulled her up. She stood on her left foot, the one without a cut, and leaned into him with his arms around her waist for support.

Her eyes got all wide when she looked up at him, like a little child that just got her wrists slapped.

Watch your step next time, silly,"

She smiled at him and rested head on his chest as he hugged her lightly. She then helped him boost her up on to his back for a piggy back ride out.

Back with the others, things were moving swiftly. There were no problems with them hopping across all of the rocks, well, maybe the girls struggled with the heels, but only a little.

"Hey, Speedy Gonzales, where's the fire?" Dearka called out to Yzak who was practically out of the cave.

"Hey, Dearka, open your mouth again and I'll break your face," Apparently Yzak was having another one of his happy moments.

Yzak hopped off the last rock and into the grass outside of the cave. The sun was completely gone and the moon was shining brightly as it bathed everything in a white light.

"Hey, you guys wanna hurry up?" Yzak asked annoyed looking back at the rest.

"You wanna kiss my ass?" Dearka retorted as he and Milly made it out as well.

"What did I tell you about talking again? Oh yeah, that's right, don't do it," Yzak snapped back at the blonde.

"Ah, we made it," Athrun's comment put Yzak and Dearka's little brawl on hold as he jumped off the last rock and turned to help Cagalli down.

"You're lucky Elsman, I was ready to kill you," Yzak sneered in Dearka's direction.

"Yeah, right, let's see it," Dearka glared into Yzak's eyes as they burnt with annoyance.

"Uhm, let's not," Milly butted in, breaking the two up.

"You guys can kill each other AFTER we survive this," She then quickly added on at the end to make sure that they would hold the peace she brought upon them.

"Ha," Dearka mocked Yzak with a snort. Yzak just turned the other way.

"I see we didn't miss anything," A familiar voice call deform behind them all.

"Kira, you guys get out ok?" Dearka asked, turning his attention to the brunette.

"Yeah, everything went fine; we just have to wait for Mu and Murrue,"

"Wait no longer," Mu called out bringing everyone attention to the entrance to the cave.

Mu was there, Murrue his back, both standing their casually like they didn't just crawl out of a cave.

"Well that was good timing," Cagalli spoke up, hand on her hip, smiling at the couple.

"Yeah, so, everyone ok?" He asked while Murrue slid down off of his back.

"I think so, now all that we have to do is head back to camp," Athrun spoke as everyone nodded in agreement.

It was almost as if they forgot that they were currently being hunted by those strange creatures. They would be reminded soon enough, however, for they weren't the only ones in the woods, and they weren't the only ones acting all shady in order to not be noticed. Things with them were far from quiet like the eerie darkness of the forest. They were all caught up in a conversation with someone, trying to keep their minds off of their situation. Milly and Lacus, Murrue and Kira, Dearka and Yzak, and Mu and Cagalli were all discussing random things. No one was really paying any attention, no one except for Yzak. He heard something before, footsteps in the brush. He made sure to keep one ear open to Dearka and one ear open to the woods, so that next time, he would hear it for sure.

He heard it again when Dearka said something discouraging about them all ending up dead from fruit poisoning in the end. It was coming from the bushes to his right.

"Hey," Yzak called out to everyone, halting them in their tracks.

"What is it?" Mu asked while approaching him.

"There's something in the bushes," Yzak and Mu moved to either side of the bushes lining the path.

"On the count of 3, we pull back the bushes," Mu instructed in a hush.

"1…2…- The pair looked at each other quickly before Mu said 3.

"3!" Both of them pulled back the bushes, Yzak could've pissed himself.

He let out a scream as he stumbled away from the bushes; Mu following his well set example as he jumped back to stand in front of Murrue.

What Yzak saw would scar him for life. Behind the bushes, it was none other then, his best friend, the bear. It popped out from behind the bushes and waddled on to the path. She looked at Yzak and snorted, and then, without confrontation. It continued on down the path like nothing ever happened.

"Jesus Christ, that that thing is stalking be I swear it on the holy bible!" Yzak exclaimed as e backed away even more. Everyone that was standing there began to laugh hysterically at him.

"Hey, it's no t funny!" Yzak cried out bemused.

Of course their moment was cut short when they heard more rustling.

"Man, we should get back to camp," Kira said to everyone and led the way to continue walking.

5 minutes later and they were all back at camp. Everything was the way they left it, except for the fire, whose embers were giving off the last of their light.

"Well, I guess you could say home sweet home," Milly spoke as she headed over to sit on a log, followed by Dearka.

Everyone was exhausted and just wanted to rest, so they all plopped themselves down on a log or on the ground, practically falling asleep, that is until they heard more rustling in the bushes.

"Now what?" Cagalli snapped angrily at the noise interrupting her sleep.

"Maybe it's the bear cub?" Dearka suggested reluctantly.

"Come on kids, you don't actually think that our luck runs that deep do you?" Mu answered him as he got up and walked over to the bushes.

Murrue followed him and stood behind him as he readied to pull the bushes apart. He moved his hand closer but then the rustling stopped and moved to another bush, and then another.

"Whatever's back there, it's moving," Milly mumbled as she grabbed Dearka's arm.

Mu then quickly pulled the bush back, but there was nothing there. They then heard footsteps behind them. They turned very slowly and came eye to eye with the thing that's been chasing them all this time.

"That's not human!" Athrun called out as he took in it's features.

"That's not even an animal! That's like half human half freaking lion!" Dearka yelled back as everyone took a slow step back.

It was true; it did look part human part lion. Piercing yellow cat eyes, fur, pointy ears, tail, the only things that separated it from being totally a lion was that it had no mane and wasn't completely covered by fur. Part of its face human skin with whiskers and a big nose and it was standing on 2 legs instead of 4. It didn't have a mane around its neck either.

"That's not possible," Cagalli whispered.

"Shh," Lacus hushed her out of fear.

"Maybe of we stay quiet it'll leave," Murrue whispered to them all.

"Not likely," Mu yelled as he turned to grab a tree branch from the woods and charged at the creature.

"MU, NO!" Murrue screamed after him.

Before Mu could even make contact with it, a sharp claw whipped him in the face knocking him down. Seeing this, Athrun, Kira, Yzak and Dearka all grabbed a branch and ran out after the creature. They were taken out just as easily as Mu was. They picked themselves up dizzily as they watched the rest play out form the side lines.

There was no way in hell Mu was done with it yet, he got back up and swung hard at the creature. He hit it square on the head knocking it back a few feet when he hit it. He thought that maybe it was gonna be at least a little dazed, but he was wrong. The creature grabbed Mu by the neck and picked him up off the ground with Mu squirming, trying to get free with his hands, kicking his legs in the process. The creature then pulled its other arm back and flashed its claws. Then it whipped its arm forward and caught Mu right underneath his heard, just barely missing the vital organ. Mu let out a pained gasp and a loud cry as he coughed up blood while dangling there.

"MU!" Murrue tried to run forward but was held down by Milly and Cagalli.

"LET ME GO, PLEASE LET ME GO, HE NEEDS HELP, LET ME GO!" Tears started to stream down her face and fly everywhere in her struggle.

The creature heard Murrue and looked over to her. It then quickly dropped Mu in a panic and jumped back into the darkness as fast as it could, leaving the group there. Milly and Cagalli let go of Murrue and watched as she ran forward over to Mu and wrapped him up in her arms.

"Oh, god, Mu, don't leave me again! Open your eyes, everything's gonna be ok, just please open your eyes!" Murrue sobbed hysterically as she tried frantically to wake Mu up.

Milly rushed over and dropped to her knees right next to Mu. She reached underneath him and found out that the creatures claws didn't pierce the other side, which means it's only a puncture wound. She checked his vitals and realized that he had a strong heartbeat, and that he was just unconscious. She smiled and let out a big sigh of relief. Murrue looked over to Milly, tears in her eyes.

"Is h-he…he-"

"No, Murrue he's gonna be ok. We just have to take care of his wounds, whatever that thing was, it didn't do as much damage as we though it did," Milly explained while Murrue sighed and let out a sob of relief.

"Thank you, Milly," Murrue hugged Milly tightly as she calmed herself down. It looked like everything was going to be alright, for now anyway.


Murrue was with Mu as he rested, he hadn't woken up yet, he was still out cold, but they did get the chance to treat his wounds. Lacus had some bandages for Kira in her bag that she had left back at their campsite while they ran into the cave. They were all relaxing by the fire, calming down form the long night. Murrue was next to the fire on the ground, Mu's head in her lap, his chest rising and falling evenly. Milly had said that he would be in quite a lot of pain for a little while until the wound started to scab over a bit. Everything was peaceful until Dearka emerged from the other half of their campsite.

"Has anyone seen Milly? She went to the other side of camp to get some water for Mu but never came back," He stated worriedly.

"Se probably around here somewhere," Lacus said.

Dearka was about to nod in agreement when he came across foot prink and tiny splashes of blood here and there on the ground. Realization then hit him.

"MILLY!"


:Well, here it is, finally. Once again sorry this took so long, I feel really badly. I'll try to work faster on the next chapter. If anyone has any suggestion as all, please let me know and I will fit them in to my story somehow xD By the way, Zetzumei, a little while back you said about Yzak begin paired with Shiho? Yes, I know that, but this story takes place before Destiny even happens. I don' think I'm ready to take on a Destiny story; I have to many stories to worry about at the moment ;) Ok, guys, there will be some explaining in the next chapter as of to why Murrue didn't sense the creatures and why it ran off when it saw her, and not to mention Milly! Bet you all can't wait :p Until next time :3 Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, or you can just leave it in a review too. Just as long as you can get any questions to me somehow ;)