Update: Tweaked/rewritten August 2020.

Dancing Chess Pieces

Working on the Aegis had always been a fun hobby, well at least for the past few days, but after checking the internal functions for the fifth time and having the machine still flash the same error message back at her was getting a tad annoying. Eclipse had also been assigned to the Blitz, but the repairs had taken only about three hours at the most. The Aegis on the other hand… Damn suit. It's almost as stubborn and pigheaded as its pilot.

"What? Hey, that's cheating!"

Eclipse hesitated a second before rounding the final corner to the cafeteria. It was about three in the afternoon and she hadn't had a break since she woke up around half past five.

She should probably eat.

"Oh give it a rest, Yzak."

"A pawn can't move like that!"

The four redcoats were sitting at one of the middle tables, but no one else seemed to be in the room. Given the time, that was to be expected. Athrun and Yzak were sitting across from one another and staring down at a chess board. There was a pile of black pieces off to the side and a much smaller white one next to it.

Athrun was white.

The silver-haired pilot's king was knocked on to its side, obviously defeated, and its main conqueror?

A pawn.

Athrun just sighed and placed his chin on an upraised hand, knowing that it didn't matter whether his next statement was positive or negative; his comrade would find some way to throw it back at him, sometimes even literally.

At the moment, that pawn looked very dangerous.

"Face it, you lost, Yzak," Nicol muttered as he took off his headphones, the piano music that he had been listening to still playing out loudly as he put them down. He had been drumming some sort of melody out on the table when Eclipse had walked in and she couldn't help but wonder whether it was his own music that he was fingering or someone else's.

"No, there's no way that he could win that easily."

"Relax, he beat you fair and square. Just because you lost your queen in the fourth move doesn't mean he cheated," Dearka stated blatantly, using the end of his pencil to scratch the side of his head. He was on his fourth crossword puzzle of the day. Perhaps he would finally finish one. "How did you manage that anyway?"

Eclipse didn't even wait to hear the answer. She walked over to the counter expecting to see one remaining food tray, but as she drew nearer, the shape on the shelf was nothing more than a neglected plate. Heaving a sigh, she vaguely listened as Yzak began another rant.

Now what?

"So, did you want to play again then?" Athrun asked lightly, picking up the pawn that his comrade ended up throwing at him. Well, at least it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it was going to.

"Why? So you can just beat me again and then hold it over my head for the rest of the day? I think not." The emerald-eyed redcoat just shrugged. "Hey, girl."

Eclipse stiffened. Yzak's temper was practically legendary on the ship and not something that anyone wanted to be at the tail end of. Athrun usually took that spot by default and after hearing about the exchange in the locker room the previous day, he wasn't about to be dethroned no matter how much the redcoat tried. Oh well, just stay on his good side and answer.

"Yes, sir?"

"Is my Duel done yet?"

Down to business as usual. "I don't know, sir. I'm assigned to the Aegis and the Blitz. The Buster and your suit are being repaired by the other mechanic on board."

"Well, that's stupid," the pilot complained, receiving more than a couple of groans for the effort. "Wouldn't things go faster if you two worked together to fix all our suits?"

So, tell me. When the enemy attacks do you want to be the only one going out? She wanted to say it. She was so close, but Ameria's words still echoed in the back of her mind and she flexed her right hand.

"Oh just leave her alone. Just `cause you lost to Athrun doesn't mean you have to take it out on her."

"Shut up, piano boy!"

Wow, what a diss. Apparently Threats and Insults 101 wasn't a course in the academy, Eclipse thought and rolled her eyes, turning away before they could see her.

"Relax. It's not like we're going anywhere right now anyway, at least not until the Vesalius is fixed," Dearka said, usually the only one able to calm his companion's fury.

"Says you!" the redcoat shouted before storming out of the room, even shoving a chair to the side as he went by.

"H-hey Yzak!" His tan-skinned friend ran after him, leaving the three of them in the room by themselves.

A short silence passed, the only sound from Nicol's earphones as well as the drumming of his fingers. Eclipse had never met a piano player before and just watching the soldier was fascinating. Did they all do such things?

"So, Nicol, you up for a game?" Athrun asked, putting the last pawn into place on the board. It seemed he still wanted to play. The weapon couldn't blame him. After yesterday anyone would need a mood lifter.

"Ha ha, good one. I don't want another notch in the losing column, thank you."

"Aw, c'mon. You almost won last time."

"And you don't need another ego boost."

The redcoat just sighed, fiddling with the white queen in front of him. "Fine. So, what about you?"

Eclipse paused and turned slowly back to the table, not sure if he was even speaking to her. Seeing him looking over at her curiously, her only conclusion was that he had asked her. "Wait, me?" The soldier nodded. "Sorry, sir, I've never played before," she lied. Her older brother had taught her the game when she was little and, admittedly, never played willingly since that day. He was one of those people that always wanted to show off by defeating less experienced players.

Much like Athrun.

"What? Ugh, here, I'll teach you."

"Huh?" Not only did she stop breathing, but her heart stopped beating as well. That was a first, well at least on the ship. Did he just ask her about something other than the status of his suit?

Why?

"But sir, I'm only here to get some food, and the Aegis—"

"Well, there isn't any food right now." He started turning some of the pieces on the board, lining them up so they all faced each other. "Just take a break and I'll teach you."

"Is this just so that you have another player to beat later on?" Nicol asked with a smirk.

The pilot sighed and slumped in his chair, shaking his head only slightly. There was something else on his mind, Eclipse could tell. Perhaps chess was just a really good distraction?

Eclipse watched him quietly, having an internal struggle of her own. She knew that the Aegis had to be fixed and soon, but there really wasn't much left to do on it and nothing that would make the machine perform poorly in battle. There were only a few small adjustments and that dumb error message to work on.

There wouldn't be a battle before then would there?

Better to not risk it. She dreaded the punishment if she left her work unfinished.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I still have a few things to do on your suit and that comes as a first priority." The look on the pilot's face was priceless. It ranged somewhere between pained and saddened and Eclipse found herself very confused. More than what was written on his face, she couldn't figure out why he was so persistent. Why was this soldier trying so hard to get her to play?

"Oh, just do it. I really don't want to watch him cry," Nicol said off to the side. "And besides, Athrun attempting to teach? This I have to see."

Eclipse sighed, but ended up sitting across from the redcoat anyway. That was pretty much an order, right?

"Alright, this piece is the king."

She stopped listening after that statement. Eclipse knew what the pieces were, and where they could move, so why bother doing anything more than nodding her head a few times? Instead, she tentatively watched his face. His mood had changed significantly, and that fact alone caused her curiosity about his secrecy to surface once more. However, that said feeling was pushed aside when she gazed even deeper.

It looked like he was enjoying himself.

Fun? Is he anticipating his victory or is he actually amused with teaching me? Eclipse nearly laughed.

"And the pawn can only go forward one space. The first time you move it, it can move two spaces but after that only one. And it can only attack at an angle. Like this." He showed her some kind of example, but Eclipse was still daydreaming.

Was she human to him?

To them? She glanced at Nicol out of the corner of her eye and saw the young pilot with a hand over his mouth, covering up a smile. Was it because they didn't know what she was?

That had to be it.

No one ever treated her as an equal and that was that.

"Alright, I think I got it, sir. You're white so you move first, right?" Athrun nodded and the game was on.

Things were moving relatively slow mainly because Eclipse had a little more patience and was able to anticipate better than the Duel pilot. Taking that into account, Athrun was having a harder, or even a more enjoyable, time at this game than the previous one. When two of her pawns and a bishop were taken out, the redhead decided to ask the redcoat a few questions and get some answers this time. "Tell me, sir. Do you enjoy dancing?"

"Huh?" That threw Athrun off balance, but unfortunately for Eclipse he was good enough to keep a cool mind on the game. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, given your last battle, I figured it was a fun pastime for you."

Athrun stopped mid-movement and Nicol held his breath. The Blitz pilot knew that it was a sore subject for his comrade and bringing it up during a game seemed like some kind of penalty in his book.

How cruel.

Athrun merely sighed and put his queen down on the board. "What I do on the battlefield is of no concern to you. I don't know why you keep pestering me about my fighting and frankly I'm sick of it. How about this? Is pissing people off a favorite pastime of yours?"

Eclipse looked down and moved her knight to take out one of his bishops, not responding.

"What, no answer? Eclipse, you seem so distant to everyone and speak so coldly to us pilots. Why?" She found it interesting he had used a shortened form of her name, but otherwise shrugged. She was good at the mental game too.

"I wasn't trained to care about your personal feelings, sir. All I see are the weak areas in the battles, the damaged sections on your mobile suit, and the next course of action." She shrugged again. "Frankly, what else is there to worry about?"

"Morals and values, I suppose," Nicol said, stepping into the conversation as Athrun took out the weapon's knight with his other bishop. "Without those you can't make good decisions. Given experience plays a huge role, but if you just go into a battle looking at tactics and advantages then you are nothing more than a mobile suit too."

Exactly. Vindur couldn't have said it better himself and after all, wasn't that what she was?

"Feelings only get in the way," Eclipse said, knocking away a pawn, "and I have plenty of experience to prove my point."

"Sounds like excuses if you ask me," Athrun spat, placing his queen down hard on the board. "Checkmate."

Eclipse stared blankly at the move and ultimately her defeat. It wasn't surprising that the redcoat beat her, she really didn't have that much experience, but her pride was still wounded. Whether it was from the conversation or the game was yet to be decided.

"Well played," she said with a shrug and a small smile. "Still undefeated, apparently." They didn't say anything in response, either startled by the sudden change of topic, or waiting for her to continue the previous conversation. She had a practiced response on the tip of her tongue, but chickened out at the last second, saying something she actually believed for a change.

"Perhaps we'll have a chance to see which is the better method and perhaps on a more even playing field."

"Is that a challenge?" Athrun asked and Eclipse just gave another shrug.

"Merely a statement, sir. I'm in no position to be issuing challenges and I have work to do." Saluting, she turned on her heels and fled the cafeteria, barely registering Nicol's call after her.

"I had no idea we had someone like that aboard," Nicol muttered after she was out of view.

"She's new, obviously, but I'm not sure she's here to stay," Athrun said, apparently a bit upset about the previous conversation.

"Why do you say that?"

"Just a hunch." Athrun shuffled the pieces around on table, making no attempt of setting them back up, but Nicol did notice the pained look in his eyes again. As expected, the pilot started resetting the board. "Hey Nicol, play a game? Please?"

It might've been the please that spun the Blitz pilot into a loop, but he merely sighed and nodded a yes taking his seat on the other side of the board. "You know what," he said after everything was set up and his opponent had already made his first move, "she looked vaguely familiar."

"Familiar? Like from where?"

"I dunno. The bluish hair's kind of throwing me off, but there's something about her."

"A secret crush from long ago?" Athrun joked and moved another pawn on the board.

"Very funny, Athrun. Honestly, you're always a jerk when you play this game."

"I meant no offense."

"Right." Nicol just moved his knight, ironically taking out his teammate's queen. He made some victorious shout and little dance before sitting back down and continuing the game. "No, I honestly think she looks familiar."

Athrun frowned and moved his bishop to take out his opponent's. He could still win without his queen anyways. "Then just look through the ship's database and find her profile. I doubt it'd be that hard to access and it would be nice to know if she had a proper name."

"That I'm not so sure we have that kind of access, but I suppose I could try." They both sat quietly for the rest of the game and, as suspected, Athrun pulled out the win. How, Nicol honestly had no idea, but apparently this particular redcoat was an expert at chess. Technically, that skill could transfer into battle tactics, but other than that, it wasn't really useful.

Oh well, it passed the time.

"I think I'll go check on that gut feeling of mine and I suggest you make sure Yzak and Dearka aren't tearing their mechanic in half," Nicol said, getting to his feet and grabbing his music player.

"Well, if the alarms haven't sounded yet and no doctors have run by then I think we're okay." Putting away the scattered pieces, the redcoat placed the top back on the box and set it in one of the cupboards near the water tank. "I might just go to the hangar anyway. I'm not really up for a nap and there isn't anything else to do."

"Curious about that newbie too, huh?"

Athrun shrugged. "Maybe a little."

"To Commander Le Creuset. It's from the Homeland," said one of the crewmen on the bridge. He printed off the typed message and handed the slip of paper to Le Creuset's open palm. He read it quickly and silently before passing it to Ades, offering none of its contents in his expression.

"Summons to appear before the Supreme Council? You're kidding! After coming this far and nearly cornering them?" the captain exclaimed.

"I'd say there's turmoil in the Council. Probably over the events proceeding the collapse of Heliopolis." The commander paused, a slight smirk on his lips. "Well, can't be helped. We'll instruct the Gamow to remain here and continue the pursuit."

"Ah, right."

"Have Athrun return. The Vesalius will return to the Homeland as soon as the repairs are complete."

"I'll inform Zellman. Oh, and sir, there seems to be another matter here concerning that soldier, Lunar Eclipse."

"Yes, apparently she is officially a member of our team."

"It says here that we are to pick up a mobile suit for her."

"I see. She must be the replacement for Miguel, Matthew, Olor, and Rusty then."

"One pilot for all of them? Seems a tad unequal if you ask me."

"Well, she is regarded as an elite soldier, even if her rank doesn't show it."

"Is she really that great?" Ades asked.

"The initial plan for the program was to get soldiers out on the battlefield that were even more experienced and better trained than the elites. More experienced in the sense that they had a wider skillset in the various duties of a soldier and not in commanding. They're not meant to move up in rank, merely be a pawn."

"What more can she do? We both know that our pilots can also fix their suits as needed, so what's so special about that?"

"She's trained in the areas of interrogation, infiltration, assassinations, and executions. Basically, everything that the average soldier isn't skilled or wouldn't want to do," continued the commander.

"That's a lot of '-tions,' but nothing that we can use here."

"Ideally, the remaining recruits from Januarias 4 were going to be sent out in groups to various bases and used to do anything and everything. Whether it was something as little as stealing some weaponry or as big as taking over an Earth Forces' base."

"All by themselves?"

"Like I said, ideally." Le Creuset was going to add something about if they died in the battle or on a mission then it didn't matter, but he didn't want Ades to question his sanity more than he probably already did. There were some, the captain included, that thought the Council had gone a little overboard with the program and that was the reason for only choosing runaways or orphans. If they died, no one would cry over them. The motive for the isolated facility was also connected. If the recruits made no outside connections, then there would be no commitments in the future. The strictness of the place was ultimately up to the man in charge, Captain Vindur, but everyone knew of the basic outline.

It wasn't going to be some early teen daycare.

"Sounds ruthless."

"I'm sure that the Earth Alliance came up with something similar, so don't call us monsters just yet."

"Well, we're already monsters to the Naturals."

"Hence the war."

"Precisely."

"Sir? There's another message from the Council," announced the same man at one of the computers. He handed the slip of paper to Le Creuset as soon as it was printed.

"What's it say?" Ades asked.

"Hm, what is the Council thinking?"

"What?"

"Apparently there have been reports about a suspicious group in the L4 colony cluster."

"You think it's those rebels from Januarias 4?"

"I'm not sure, but it's too ironic for it not to be."

"I see." The captain paused and listened to a short message about the repairs on the engine. Things were going along smoothly. That was a relief. "So, what about this `suspicious' group?"

"The Council wants to send Lunar Eclipse, along with a team of elites of their choosing to do some detective work."

"Wait, if it is the rebels then we'll lose the girl to them for sure. We're supposed to keep her out of contact remember?"

"I know that, and you know that, but apparently the Council is so confident in their little weapon that they think she'll just come running back to ZAFT like a good puppy."

"She's no more reliable than the rest of them."

"That's what I think too, but, unfortunately, she's under their command and not ours. While she's assigned to the team it's more of cover-up. Most likely we won't have any control over her at all."

"That's if she comes back."

"We can only hope that she does. I have a bad feeling that those renegade soldiers will become a thorn in our side later on."

"And, unfortunately, your feelings are always dead on," the captain groaned.

The next morning was scary, at least for those who heard Eclipse and knew that a squeal of joy was a little out of character. As soon as the weapon had awoken at 0500, she took a shower and much to her delight, the blue dye washed itself out entirely. It was either by some stroke of luck, or the stars that Eclipse had been wishing on had made her dreams come true, but whatever the reason, she was a redhead again.

Feeling more confident that morning, she fled to the hangar to help finish up with some things she had been asked to do on the Duel. The armor had been welded along with the new materials so all that was left was to fix the wiring. Even though Eclipse hated doing it, she was in a good mood.

Surprisingly all the redcoats had beat her to the room and were gathered near the Aegis. She wasn't sure why they felt the need to be up that early and it wasn't as if they could do anything. Athrun was in his spacesuit with his helmet cradled under his left arm. The four of them seemed to be talking about something.

Probably just some redcoat secrets.

Paying them no heed, she pushed herself up towards the right arm of the Duel. She steadied herself on the raised platform, slid down on it and started connecting the wires inside. The weapon worked smoothly, considering what time it was; then again, she was used to the early mornings.

"I'm surprised that you guys didn't recognize her. Given it was a long while ago and we were only together for a few months," Nicol said looking at the confused looks etched on his comrade's faces. The four of them had had a meeting with the captain late last night concerning the Vesalius' return to the PLANTs and Eclipse's entry onto the team. Zellman shared with them all the information he knew on the redhead and most of it both startled the redcoats as well as filled in a few gaps. The captain hadn't mentioned anything about her past and connection with them, but Nicol had found all of that out earlier. "That's Lexi Rymyr. I looked it up myself."

"Lexi Rymyr? Who's that?" Dearka asked, clearly not seeing the point to the conversation. The only thing that was on his mind was his soft pillow and sweet dreams. Nicol thought that they would have a little more privacy if they could discuss the matter before Athrun left for the Vesalius. The blonde wasn't too excited about the idea. "Who cares about this Lexi Rymyr?"

"Well, we should. Do you guys remember way back to our first few months of training there was a girl in our group?" Nicol explained.

"Yeah, what about her?" Yzak chimed in, just as grouchy as his friend. Then again, he was always grouchy.

"That girl was Lexi Rymyr," Nicol finished, still looking for some form of emotion from the others. Perhaps an early start wasn't that great of an idea after all.

"You mean to tell us that Lunar Eclipse is actually Lexi Rymyr, the runaway?" Athrun asked, finally joining the conversation. As usual, his mind had been elsewhere. Once he had learned of his return to the PLANTs he couldn't really get to sleep. There were some good points in the departure, but there were still some bad too. Bad being that he wouldn't be around to keep any of the others from injuring his misguided, Coordinator friend. If anything happened to Kira, the pilot doubted he would ever forgive himself. A main good point was that he would go home for a few days and even see his fiancé, Lacus Clyne, again after not having seen her for so long. Also, he'd get to see his father, but Athrun had been seeing a change in character ever since his mother was killed by the Naturals on Junias 7. While he had never been terribly close with his father, he still felt obliged to speak to him. That is if he'd ever get the chance. Patrick Zala, Chairman of Defense, always seemed too busy to speak with his son.

Nicol nodded in response to Athrun's statement, not knowing the inner turmoil that was possessing his friend. The Aegis pilot rarely shared his feelings with the rest of his team.

"That's ridiculous," Dearka said. "She chickened out after the first three months of training."

"No, actually some men came from a facility on Januarias 4. They were looking at the recruits to pick 'experimental candidates' for a new program that the council was funding," Nicol explained, remembering what he had read in the report. "They were picking at least one soldier in every academy class or so and switching them over to the new program. Apparently, we were all on the initial list, but our parents outright objected. Seeing as they're all diplomats, it wasn't a hard thing to do."

"So, Lexi was chosen in our place, then," Dearka said, following along.

"What was the facility exactly? It sounds to me like it as just another training program." Yzak covered a yawn, having been just as successful suppressing that one as the other four before it

"The report didn't say anything about it, unfortunately. I think it's a bit above our clearance," Nicol explained.

"She seems detached from everyone and everything if you ask me," Athrun muttered.

"To say the least," Nicol added.

"Well, she won't be bothering us that much then," Yzak said, deciding that was the end of the conversation. Using a crate for leverage, he began pushing off towards the locker room door and then ultimately his bed for some more sleep.

"Wait, you don't care at all?" Nicol asked, stopping him. "That could've been you, Yzak. Lexi took the heat for us. Doesn't the fact that it was an 'experimental' program make you a bit suspicious? Even feel bad that she was our scapegoat?"

"Well, seeing as she wasn't given a choice, I doubt she did it for our sake," Dearka said. "Just relax, alright? It's not like we can do anything anyway."

"But Dearka—"

"Let it go, Nicol. If you're so concerned, then take it up with the commander. Other then that Dearka's right, there isn't really anything that we can do," Athrun said, watching as the two friends disappeared into the locker room.

"But you see what I'm saying right? There's got to be something we can do."

"We're all soldiers here, Nicol. The training program was not ours to decide and just because she was picked in our place doesn't mean we're in some debt to her. I'm not trying to be cold, just realistic. From what I can see, this state of mind wasn't necessarily forced on her. A part had to have wanted it that way otherwise she wouldn't be so heartless. Keep that in mind."

"Do you honestly believe what you just said? She wants to be like that?"

"I don't know, Nicol. If she'd let me, I'd ask her about it, but as things stand, she barely even looks at us unless it's to criticize what we're doing."

"You hold that much of a grudge towards her?"

"Nicol, I don't know!" the boy snapped suddenly. The anger even surprised him. "There are a lot more pressing things on my mind right now, alright? Things that mean more to me than the sanity of our new teammate."

Eclipse took a second to wipe the sweat from her forehead, even admiring the droplets as they floated away. She twisted awkwardly to see the remaining two pilots below and couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. They looked so serious and even Yzak and Dearka's departure had been abrupt and not without some shouting.

Whatever, she thought. I have to finish this suit before that shouting turns in my direction.

A/N: Eclipse's really stubborn isn't she? (Sigh) Even sometimes while I'm writing I just want to slap her across the head or something.

Thank goodness it's a holiday weekend 'cause I don't think I would've finished this otherwise. School's really becoming a bear and I've just started! Oh well, it's to be expected.

This is kind of a boring chapter compared to the other ones so I hope you didn't fall asleep reading it or something. I'm sure it took a while to fix the Vesalius, at least so that it could get back to the PLANTS, but if they just left it half fixed and it ran into trouble on the way back, it's be sunk. Anyway, that's my reasoning behind the time.

I'm not sure how many of you SEED watchers out there noticed the L4 colony cluster thing, but towards the end of the series, Athrun brings up about the suspicious group that was spotted there. Of course I just had to take advantage of that obvious opportunity, but the only problem was that the group was seen near the beginning of the war or even before the war began. That just wouldn't do, so I switched the time a little at this part. It doesn't make that big of an impact if at all, so don't worry. Believe me, I checked into all of that.

Let's see, what else. Oh yeah, I know Yzak and Dearka sound like real jerks right now, but in the beginning of the series they, well, are. I love these two to death so I'm not trying to bash them or anything, it's just the way that they were. Nicol's still the kindhearted boy we know and Athrun's still confused about Kira's reasons for being with the Earth Forces. (Oh yeah, I haven't done much on Kira's descriptions or anything because that'll probably just come in later on as well as how close him and Athrun are.)

Last thing. I refrained from doing a lot of explanation into the Junias 7 incident mainly because I didn't want to put it, but also because, like Kira, I'll probably just explain it later on. I'm sure that most if not all of you know what I'm talking about so there's really no reason to describe it at all, but hey, it's in my nature to be precise.

Thanks again for all the reviews and returning readers. It really means a lot. And for those who read but don't review, thanks for reading, but I'd like to hear what you think too!

Darkangelsonic: Yay, new reviewer! Thank you! I'm really glad you like the story and is there more interaction in this one? Considering the circumstances of the previous chapters, it was a bit hard to put so much back and forth dialog. Now there should be a bit more.

CSSStravag: Hah! I love the word W00t! Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Strata