Disclaimer: None of us own Gundam SEED. Goddamn Sunrise… Furthermore, any franchises that make cameos here belong to their respective owners.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Radio"
Chapter Thirteen: Home is Where the Heart is
Aboard the Mugen Kano, Hanger
Ryu smirked as he looked at the four ZAFT red coats as they assembled in front of him, each of them dressed in their civvies. "Well kiddies, time for you to show me what you're made of," he informed cracking his neck. "We'll be starting off with Hand-to-Hand combat, so, come at me, all of you."
As if that was a cue, they all rushed him, though Nicol was a bit less aggressive than the rest, and Yzak looked like he was having serious anger management issues.
Ryu's smirk increase as he brushed aside Yzak's punch before delivering a low leg sweep to the back of his knee. "You're telegraphing too much, Joule," he chastised.
Yzak simply snarled as he stumbled to the ground, quickly righting himself and charging at Ryu from behind, even as Dearka came in with a swing of his own.
Grabbing ahold of Dearka's wrist, Ryu quickly flipped him over his shoulder and right into Yzak, sending the two tumbling into the ground. "Better, but still a blind charge…"
"Shut UP!" Yzak yelled out, getting back up and coming at Ryu again.
Ryu rolled his eyes as he ducked under Yzak's punch and delivered an open palm blow to the pilot's diaphragm with enough force that vomit spat out of his mouth. "Don't get angry," Ryu chastised. "Anger blinds you, anger forces you to make mistakes, some of them, irreversible and will haunt you."
"We keep telling him that, but he never listens," Dearka moaned from the ground. "Out of the four of us, Yzak is likely the most stubborn and hotheaded."
"Zip it, Dearka!" Yzak snarled.
Ryu sighed. "Perhaps a week with only bread and water will cool you down," he informed. "In the mercenary trade, nothing can be personal, only business, when we make it personal, it means we chose a side, and real mercs never take a side."
Yzak started sputtering at this. Almost immediately, Nicol finally reached him and attacked, though his punch was nowhere near as rage-filled as Yzak's - if anything, Nicol's punch seemed to come a bit slower than it could.
Ryu sighed as he knocked the blow away and flicked Nicol's forehead with surprising force. "Stop holding back," he lectured. "Hesitation will only get you injured, or worse, killed on the battlefield."
Nicol barely nodded, before coming at him again. It was a bit faster, though it came in for what would be more a glancing, immobilizing blow than one intended for serious harm.
"Better," Ryu said approvingly as he brushed the blow aside and into a clothesline that laid the green haired boy out onto the ground. "Sometimes taking the disabling route is better, it can improve your standing with both sides of the conflict as you're not killing any of their soldiers, although there are times when someone just has to die, so keep that in mind."
Nicol groaned in pain from the impact with the ground, but nodded. And then it was Athrun's turn, as he came in to attack.
Ryu ducked around a barrage of blows as Athrun calmly kept up the attack, trying to ensure that Ryu couldn't counter him. "Not bad," Ryu informed when he suddenly closed in to mere inches away from Athrun and delivered a powerful headbutt to the blue haired pilot's face. "But predictable, anyone who's gone against a ZAFT soldier will know what your next move will be, you need to throw in some unpredictable attacks here and there."
Athrun stumbled back for a bit, but then nodded, trying again.
Ryu nodded as he barely dodged a kick Athrun threw at him before deliver an elbow strike to his chin. "Better, but your defenses are weak," he chided. "Sometimes the best offense is to defend yourself, you need to find that proper balance of the two that you're comfortable with."
Athrun groaned a bit, but nodded.
Ryu looked at the four of them as they groaned. "And we're going to have to work on your ability to take hits," he informed with a sigh. "I want 100 pushups, if I see you slacking, I'll start shooting at you with a paintball gun."
They all immediately started on the pushups, though Yzak let out a fair amount of grumbling under his breath.
"You want it to be a month with only bread and water, Joule?" Ryu asked. "If not, you'd better start treating this like Boot, cause that's what it is, for the next five years, you are not soldiers, you are mercenaries under my command so you'd better start acting like it!"
Yzak immediately stopped grumbling, but he was still seething internally at the overall situation.
Ryu sighed as he looked down at them. "I know it's hard to transition from being a soldier to a merc, but believe me, you'll come away all the better for it," he informed. "By the time you've finished your five years here, you'll probably be placed with a command of your own."
They just kept up with the pushups, not sparing a breath for talking, as doing so might cause them to wear out faster.
"And when you're done with your pushups, you'll be split up into different sections of the ship for your training in something other than piloting, we all have a secondary role, right now I'm the ship's personnel manager and mobile suit mechanic, in fact, Dearka, Nicol, Yzak, your units are over there, mass production models that the EA produced and we captured, tuned up by yours truly."
Dearka was about the only one to actually look up at that, and though he didn't say anything, Ryu could swear there was a slight trail of drool emerging from the corner of his mouth at the thought of piloting something new.
Ryu grinned at the kid. "Dearka, you'll be with me, your records, that my wife got from the Academy, state you had a minor in engineering in school, correct?" he got a nod. "Well, you'll be learning quite a bit more here so be ready, Nicol, you'll be assisting my wife with public relations, your file said that you'd be the best suited for that, Athrun, you're working with Maes Hughes, he'll be teaching you the Intelligence line of our work, finally Yzak, your file said that you were a decent hand at ship engines, so you'll be reporting to Jessie O'Halan in the Engine room, he'll be showing you the ropes and if you get out of line he has my permission to do with you what he will, understood?"
They all nodded, still not wanting to waste any breath on verbal responses.
"Alright, then," he concluded with a nod. "Get those pushups finished and we'll get started on your new duties."
PLANT Aprilius One
Clyne Residence
Lacus was currently alone in the house, well, aside from her small army of Haros, waiting for her father to get back from the Council Meeting. She was also staring at a store-bought pregnancy test, having decided she'd wanted to see whether or not her 'pregnancy contingency plans' were needed.
And it seemed that they were, for the test was showing positive.
"Well… this is… kinda heavy," she murmured to herself.
"Big Responsibility! Big Responsibility!" a Haro chirped out. "Not Ready! Not Ready!"
Feeling a little annoyed at the blatantly obvious statement, she said, "I doubt anyone is ever truly ready for their first pregnancy, Haro." Still, she was nowhere even close to showing just yet, so she could at least start making sure that, once she did start to show, she could disappear and make her way to Fenrir as soon as possible.
"What Now? What Now?" Haro questioned as it jumped in front of her.
"I'll need to tell Father, then call Kira and Ryu," she remarked. "We've got plans already in place, but this means we can finalize them in advance."
"Good thing! Good thing!" Haro called out.
She nodded, before she heard the door open as Siegel walked in. "How did the meeting go, Father?" she asked.
Siegel sighed as he took off his coat. "Not completely horrible," he informed. "We are slowly making inroads into a more diplomatic solution in the war, thankfully Patrick has been losing steam because of the whole unofficial ceasefire after the deaths of the Blue Cosmos Leaders…"
She sighed. "That's good news," she replied. "Though, part of me is worried about what he might do if he loses the election… I'm hopeful he doesn't do anything too rash…"
Siegel nodded in agreement as he carefully looked at his daughter. "What's wrong? You look a little pale…" he asked in concern.
"Well…" Lacus began. "I wanted to see if we were going to need those contingency plans, the ones we've been working on in case I… you know… and so I disguised myself, went to a store, and bought a home-use pregnancy test, and, well…" she showed him the testing unit, which was showing a positive result.
"Oh my," Siegel said, looking rather taken aback. "That's, shocking…"
"Yeah…" Lacus replied. "Still, this means we can work on continuing to develop those plans, knowing they're not just contingencies anymore… and I'll need to let Kira and Ryu know…"
Siegel nodded. "Go ahead," he informed. "I'll see about getting some things ready in advance…"
"Thanks," she replied, going over to the vid phone. Settling in and making sure it was set to secure mode (didn't want anyone listening in, after all), she dialed the number Kira and Ryu had given her, and waited for the call to go through.
The phone was quickly answered by Naomi. "This is Naomi of Fenrir, ah, Miss Clyne, how may i help you?" she asked, smiling at the pinkette.
"Could you patch me through to Kira and Ryu?" Lacus asked. "I need to talk to them about something."
"Of course, Miss Clyne," Naomi assured. "Please hold for a moment, I'll page them."
Lacus nodded, then sat there waiting as Naomi paged Kira and Ryu.
"Lacus?" Kira asked as she and Ryu appeared on the vid phone. "We were wondering when we'd hear from you."
"Good to hear from you, too, Kira, Ryu," Lacus said. "Everything's quiet on the Supreme Council front so far, but I do have news of a different sort… are you two in a private area?"
"Well…" Ryu trailed off, shifting slightly to show that he and Kira weren't really wearing much. "I hope so."
Lacus nodded. "Good," she said. "You see, I decided I wanted to make sure I was… you know… and disguised myself to buy a kit for that purpose in the store…" she showed them the pregnancy kit, putting it close enough to the screen for them to see the positive result.
"Really, oh my god~!" Kira squeed out happily. "Lacus, I'm so happy for you~!"
"Thank you, Kira," Lacus replied with a smile. "Obviously, I'm not showing yet, but I felt I needed to let you know - this way, we can make preparations for when I need to join you two again."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Well, the completion date for the new ship we're building is… three months," he informed. "I'll be coming up to escort it to wherever we're at at the time, Kira started showing around two months, think you can stick it out until the ship's completed?"
"I'll do my best," Lacus replied. "If need be, I'll simply live in the Clyne Mansion like a hermit until you get here."
The two smiled supportively to her. "We miss having you here, Lacus," Kira informed, brushing her hand against the screen. "I hope we can get you here sooner…"
"I know, and I miss you, too," Lacus replied, putting her hand on the screen, as well, seemingly atop Kira's. "I'm discussing plans with Father, as well, so hopefully we might have an option to get me there sooner rather than later."
"Just tell us if you need anything, Lacus," Ryu told her. "And remember, go to Akira if you need a safe haven."
"I will, and thank you, Ryu," Lacus replied, before hearing a slight commotion at the front door.
"LACUS, RUN!" her father shouted out quickly as several gunshots were heard.
Her eyes widened. Was someone making an assassination attempt on her and her father? She would have gone to help him, but she knew that not only did Kira and Ryu need her, she also had the new life growing within her to take care of. "Kira, Ryu, I'll contact you again as soon as I can - I have to go now… I love you!" She ended the call immediately, and started running, her Pink Haro seeming to sense the situation as it bounced after her, and the other Haros bounced into the hallway behind her, but then stayed there as she continued running.
"Attack, Haro, Attack!" One of the Haro's shouted out as they headed towards where the gunshots originated from.
Meanwhile, Lacus reached back of the house, and pulled open a walk-in cabinet. An attack on the Supreme Chairman wasn't too farfetched, so Siegel had had a secret escape path installed, which led from the mansion down into a secret passage in the sublevels. Only Lacus and Siegel truly knew about this, the ones who had designed it having moved to Junius Seven to install similar emergency exits only a day before the Bloody Valentine. She opened the hidden door in the back of the cabinet, revealing the staircase down to the sublevels, and let her Pink Haro bounce in before her before stepping into the cabinet herself, first closing the exterior door, then closing the secret door once she was in the passage. From there, she continued running, heading to a private escape shuttle at the end of the passage. It was capable of atmospheric entry, and had full secure comm access to anywhere on the planet, as well as TV access, so she could find out any news on what was happening.
Activating the comm system once she got in, she once again called Kira and Ryu. "Miss Lacus, wait one, Kira and Ryu are waiting," Naomi informed quickly.
"Lacus!" the two shouted as soon as the line was transferred. "Are you alright, what happened, are you safe?" Kira asked rapidly.
"I'm alright," Lacus replied, still feeling an adrenaline high from having to run for her life. "Apparently there was an attack on the Mansion - Father told me to run before I heard gunshots." She started working the controls, having been instructed in basic piloting in case she ever needed to use the shuttle on her own. "I'm currently in a private escape shuttle for my family's use, hidden in a secret passage, so I should be safe for now, but I… I don't know if Father's alright…"
"Is it Atmospheric Capable?" Ryu asked, getting a nod from Lacus. "Then get to these coordinates, that's our current base right now, I'll have some of my contacts check out the situation and let your father know what's happening…"
"Thank you, Ryu," Lacus replied as she finished the preflight checks and activated the remote activation control for the launch hatch. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
Ryu nodded as he disappeared from the screen to get ahold of his contacts. "Lacus… are you really alright…" Kira asked in concern. "You're pale and shaking…"
"I… I just had to run from my life from people after either me, my father, or both of us," Lacus replied. "I'm still suffering from a bit of an adrenaline high, worried about my father, and not wanting to risk the safety of the new life I'm carrying… it…" a tear escaped her eyes. "It's a bit much to handle all at once…"
"Lacus," Kira whispered, tears of concern filling her eyes. "I so wish I was with you right now, just so that I can hold you…"
"I know…" Lacus replied, as the hatch fully opened, and she triggered the launch, her shuttle flying into the space around the PLANTs, managing to avoid both civilian traffic and military patrols. "I wish you could hold me right now, too… I could use the comfort… but I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Come home safely, Lacus," Kira told her. "Please, come home."
"I will, Kira," Lacus replied. "My home is at your and Ryu's sides now… and I'll be there as soon as I can."
Africa, aboard the Archangel
"Well… it looks like that we made it safely," Murrue announced as they sailed into a neutral port of Africa.
"Yeah…" Mu replied. "Really glad the Gungnir came all the way to Earth with us… now we just need to find Fenrir, and see what everyone else on the crew wants to do… including Natarle."
Murrue nodded. "I hope she's alright, she's been rather… lost since we were declared rogue," she said softly. "She hasn't been eating right, either…"
"Well, we'll need to wait and see, and hopefully we'll be able to talk to her and help her come to grips with what's going on," Mu remarked.
Murrue nodded in agreement. "Well, let's see if we can get ahold of Fenrir," she announced. "What's the best way of doing that?"
"Not sure," Mu remarked. "We might need to ask around, see if anyone knows how to reach them."
Murrue nodded. "I'll get some of the crew members to go out in plain clothes, but first, have them gather in the hanger," she ordered. "I wish to address them."
"Right," Mu replied. "I'll get that done."
Murrue sent him a smile of thanks before standing. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a shower now that we're in safe port," she informed. "I'll meet you in the hangar."
"Alright," Mu remarked, though as he headed off to gather the crew, Part of him was suddenly distracted by fantasies of a nude Murrue in the shower… thoughts that he shook clear of his head. 'Bad Mu!' he chastised himself. 'Not the time or the place for those thoughts!'
Short while later, Archangel hangar
The surviving former members of Earth Alliance were all gathered into the hangar, where Murrue and Mu stood before them. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you for coming this far with us," Murrue informed them. "As you all know, we have been declared Rogue by the Earth Alliance, I know many of you have families at home, so, if you wish to leave and see to them, I will not stop you, you are each free to go your own way."
"However, we more than likely will not be able to return to the Earth Alliance in any way, shape, or form," Mu remarked. "That means we need to decide where to go from here."
"Both myself and Mu have decided to try our luck with the Fenrir Mercenary Guild," Murrue informed. "And depending on your answer, we may be taking the Archangel with us."
"That is not the only option for you, though," Mu continued. "You could go and enlist in Terminal - their newest ship, the Gungnir, is parked right next to us. You could also set out on your own, go independent. We won't force you to choose one way or the other - everyone needs to make their own choices based on what they think is right."
"Ramius," Natarle spoke up as she stepped forward, her eyes looking more focused than they had been for the last few days. "I will continue to stand by you," she informed. "Come heaven or hell."
Murrue looked shocked for a bit, before she smiled. "Glad to have you with me, Natarle," she replied.
Natarle smiled as she nodded, stepping up next to Murrue and faced the rest of the crew. "Of course… Murrue," she affirmed. "After all, I'm your second, right?"
Murrue nodded. "Thank you," she said, before turning to the rest of the crew. "For the rest of you, you do not need to decide now," she informed them. "Feel free to take as much time as you deem necessary to make your choice."
Murmuring spread throughout the hanger as they began talking with one another, as the crew talked, Murdoch approached the trio. "I'm with you," he informed. "No one knows this ship better than me after all."
Murrue nodded. "Good to hear, Murdoch," she replied.
Murdoch snorted as he scratched the back of his head. "No problem," he informed. "I think many will be following you though, after all, your quick thinking saved our asses, essentially."
Murrue seemed to flush a bit as she nodded. "I certainly hope they'll follow me, but I'm not going to make assumptions in a situation like this."
Mu sighed. "Well, I'll be heading out and asking around about Fenrir," he informed. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Mu," Murrue replied. "And come back safely."
"Hey, it's me we're talking about," Mu called out as he headed for the jeep loaded into the hanger. "I'll be fine."
"Be careful just the same, Mu," Murrue replied. "This may be a neutral port, but that likely means that it also has a larger population of shady characters."
Four Days Later, Mugen Kano, Hanger
Kira worried her lip as she watched Lacus' shuttle enter into the Hanger and waited for it to completely land before rushing over with Ryu as the hatch opened, before the pinkette was even out of the shuttle, Kira had tackled her back into it. "Lacus!" Kira cried out as she hugged the pinkette tightly. "Thank god you're alive!"
Lacus smiled, tears of joy glistening in her eyes as she returned the embrace. "Thank you, Kira," she replied. "I'm glad to be back here with you and Ryu."
Ryu smiled at her as he knelt next to her. "Your father is fine and well," he told her. "Turns out those Haro's of yours took care of the little gunman problem pretty easily."
Lacus nodded at Ryu. "I'm glad to hear he's alright…" she said. "Though, I was not expecting that my Haros would do something like that… does he know where I am?"
"He does and he says for you to stay here," Ryu told her with a smile. "He'll call you after your expected due date, and says that contacting him is too dangerous right now."
Lacus sighed, but nodded. "So much for helping get you intelligence on the Council…" she remarked. "I honestly think that if Defense Chairman Zala becomes Supreme Chairman, and snaps, that your group would be one of the few that could stop him… and I wanted to help you be able to do that…"
Ryu softly kissed her lips as he leaned over her. "Don't worry, Lacus," Ryu told her softly as they separated. "All that matters to us is that you are alive and well, Lacus."
"Th… thank you, Ryu…" Lacus replied. "And… although I still wish I could have done more for you on the PLANTs… I'm glad to be back by your side."
Ryu smiled at her before pulling her into another kiss as his arms wrapped around her and Kira, pulling the two of them closer to him. "All that matters is that our family is here," he told her. "Nothing else."
Lacus finally broke down, all the emotion that had been building up in her for the past four days finally being let out as she wept into Kira and Ryu's shoulders.
"Let it out," Kira soothed gently as she ran a hand through Lacus' pink hair. "You're with your family now, we're never going to let you go, Lacus."
"Th… Thank you… Kira…" Lacus replied through her tears.
Ryu gently kissed Lacus' temple as he held her. "You're safe," he told her. "You're safe and no one will harm you."
Mugen Kano, Kitchens
Yzak grumbled to himself as he slipped into the kitchen of the Mugen Kano, his hunger from his enforced fasting for the last few days forced him into raiding the kitchen for some food, slipping up to the fridge he began to rummage through it. "What the hell, where's all the prepared food?" he asked himself as he shifted through the ingredients in the fridge.
Grumbling Yzak began pulling out an assortment of ingredients and brought them over to the counter where a block of knives were. Pulling out a knife he began cutting the ingredients up to prepare some food for himself. As he reached for another utensil his hand bumped up against a large ornate looking glass bowl that tipped over and smashed against the ground, shattering.
"Dammit!" Yzak cursed as he looked down at the bowl that didn't look suited to being used in the kitchen, taking a quick look around he grabbed a nearby broom and began to sweep the mess up.
Suddenly an ethereal black mist started seeping into the kitchens, along with a burst of killing intent as the door leading into the kitchens opened almost terrifyingly slowly. A figure with long wavy silver hair almost floated into the room, pausing when it saw Yzak in the process of cleaning up the mess he had made.
"Ara, ara…" Hanami raised her head, the minimal lighting in the kitchens covering her eyes in shadow, but causing Yzak to freeze as he saw a blue eye and a red eye practically glowing in the darkness, both fixated on the intruder in their owner's territory.
Yzak froze as the somehow glowing eyes and black mist seemed to tower over him. "Fuck this!" he shouted as he charged at Hanami.
Hanami didn't move until the very last second, but an intensified burst of killing intent emanating from her simply froze the charging Joule dead in his tracks as she walked past him, kneeling down to examine the broken bowl.
"Not only is there an intruder in my kitchens… but he appears to have broken my favourite bowl…" a seemingly demon-possessed Hanami murmured in a low monotone. The killing intent got even heavier while the door slammed shut and odd shadows started to appear in the black mist.
"What in the fucking hell are you?" Yzak asked in fear as Hanami loomed even higher over him.
"Me?" Hanami drew out the word as long as possible while turning around to face Yzak, and examining the knife he had used as she gently pried it out of his frozen hands. The black mist started wrapping around the blade, turning it into a giant demonic sword with heterochromatic blue and red eyes on the hilt staring at Yzak. "I'm just a simple cook…" With that, she threw the sword at Yzak.
Yzak screamed out as he dodged as what he saw to be a sword before desperately throwing the first thing he got his hands on, which happened to be a skillet, at the seemingly possessed chef/pilot.
"Ara ara, he dodged it," Hanami commented almost idly, reaching out and plucking the skillet from the air with frightening ease. Half a second later, Yzak was staring into the now-glowing eyes of another demonic sword. "Intruder-san, would you please hold still? I don't want to have to… hurt you by accident."
Hanami's sentence was further accentuated by the appearance of a spectral Noh mask floating in the air behind her, complete with glowing red and blue eyes. The killing intent only thickened further to match.
Yzak whimpered in fear as he tried to scamper away backwards on his ass only to run into one of the counters, trapping him as the… thing before him approached.
"What should I do to this intruder-san who broke the bowl Jinn-kun gave me?" Hanami tapped the flat edge of the sword against her temple in thought. "Hmm, death would be too much… So what's the next best thing, hmm?"
A flying sword stopped Yzak from reaching for a knife, almost cutting his hand off. As it was, it impacted the counter with more force than should be possibly, burying it in down to the hilt.
"Ara ara, don't try to resist… it'll only make things more painful…" the wicked grin on Hanami's face seemed very out-of-place on her gentle features as she picked up a pair of knives that spontaneously turned into demonic swords too. Another pair of Noh masks appeared, this time immediately beside Yzak.
Yzak let out a shrill shriek as his brain finally had enough and shut down, dropping him into a faint.
Later - Mugen Kano, Bridge
Joker sat in his chair at the helm, as always, looking through the windows to the outside. Everything seemed normal - the Desert Dawn were going about their business, Cagalli and her bodyguard, Kisaka if he remembered correctly, were helping them, Kira and Ryu were heading to Sahib's tent for another strategy meeting, one of the ZAFT Recruits was hanging from one of… the… guns… What the Bloody Hell?!
"Umm, boss?" Joker hesitantly paged Kira as he massaged his eyes to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. He must be hallucinating, right? There was no way one of the ZAFT recruits would be hanging from the guns like that, right?
"Yes, Joker?" Kira asked. "What is it?"
"Can you take a look at the main guns for a moment and tell me that all you see is metal and no meat?" Joker rubbed his eyes again. He was definitely hallucinating. Must be the desert heat...
"One moment…" Kira replied, and after a brief pause, he heard a sigh. "Oh, Yzak…" she muttered. "Just who the hell did he piss off this time?"
"So… boss, that's not a mirage?" Joker had started massaging his temples, convinced that his optical nerves had been rewired wrongly.
"It's not a mirage, Joker," Kira replied. "It is the most hotheaded and stubborn of the ZAFT recruits, who apparently pissed off the wrong person… I'll need to ask him about that later."
By now most of the people walking around in the vicinity of the ship had already noticed the… extra decoration on the ship's guns and were now pointing and laughing at it. Joker sighed, stopped massaging his temples, brought up one of the cameras on the front of the ship and zoomed in on the scene before his eyes bugged out almost comically.
"Boss. Please tell me he isn't wearing what I think he's wearing," Joker added.
"Oh dear god," Kira groaned out. "Yes… yes he is wearing boxers made out of meat… dear god Hanami is going to murder whoever wasted that meat…"
"Boss, can you see if they have any beer around here? I need a fucking drink to get that-which-should-not-be-seen out of my head," Joker groaned, closing the camera feed and leaning back in his chair to massage his eyes again. "I'm getting too old for this shit."
"Check my chair, there's a compartment with a flask in it," Kira informed. "And get somebody to get that kid down from there, dammit! And someone ask Hanami if she knows what happened!"
Later, Mugen Kano, Dining area
"I can't get over good of a cook you are, Miss Yukikaze," Nicol informed the blushing Hanami as he and his fellow ZAFT pilots, sans Yzak, dug into the veritable feast Hanami had prepared for the ship's crew, and assorted Desert Dawn Members, for breakfast.
"Agreed," Dearka remarked. "This is much better than anything I've ever had before."
"Mmmm," Athrun hummed contently as he scooped more food into his mouth.
"We-well… it's nothing…" Hanami poked her fingers together shyly. "Although one of my skillets and some knives got broken, so I had to compensate a bit with other utensils…"
"Really?" Jade asked in concern. "What happened to them?"
Suddenly Maes burst into the dining area panting, but at a closer look it was obvious that he wasn't panting, but rather attempting to hold back some rather raucous laughter if his shaking was any indication. "Hanami, do you know what happened to Yzak? That silver-haired ZAFT recruit? We found him-"
The Marine was cut off when the temperature of the dining area dropped several degrees in an instant.
"Hanami-chan?" Jinn asked as he looked at the tense silverette in concern. "Are you alright?"
Hanami raised her head, her eyes covered slightly in shadows while one of them flickered red for but an instant. "Ara ara, what could've possibly happened to him?" she smiled innocently, covering her mouth with a hand as the spectral visage of a Noh mask flickered into existence behind her and barely-suppressed killing intent flooded the room.
Jinn blinked again, seemingly the only person not affected by her aura OF DOOM! "Ah, I think I know what happened," Jinn informed with a sigh. "Drop it, Maes, just… drop it…"
"I… I think you may be right… Jinn… I'll… drop it," Maes agreed as he stepped back. "Later!"
"What in the hell was that… THING?" Dearka asked, somehow managing to teleport to the other side of the room.
"Ara ara, what could you possibly be talking about?" Hanami maintained her innocent ladylike smile as the thing in question dissipated into thin air together with the killing intent.
Everyone sans Jinn stared in disbelief at the silverette as she smiled at them innocently. "Jinn…" Sai said slowly. "Your girlfriend scares me…"
"Seriously!" Nicol shouted in one of his rare moments of something above talking level. "What in the fucking goddamned everloving shit-filled hell was that!?"
Tolle cowered in a corner of the room, whimpering. "She leveled it up!"
"What are you guys talking about?" Hanami cocked her head to one side almost cutely, still with the innocent smile on her face.
"Just drop it, you guys," Jinn advised as he continued to eat. "Hanami-chan won't tell you anything."
"Anyway…" Athrun whispered to Jinn, making sure not to attract Hanami's attention, "You said you think you know what happened in regards to what Hughes was asking?"
Jinn glanced over at Hanami, who was innocently smiling as she hummed a carefree tone. "Your friend did something so unimaginably stupid it loops five times around to moronic," Jinn informed plainly. "Beyond that I say no more."
Athrun nodded. "Hopefully I can get it from him directly… if he's not completely traumatized."
Jinn remained oddly silent as he continued to eat. "I… wouldn't count on it, he screamed like a bitch," he informed finally. "Hanami-chan? Want to go into town for some supplies with me?"
"Su-sure, Jinn-kun!" her characteristic stammer was a little less prominent as she whistled happily while nodding.
Jinn smiled in return as the pair stood. "I need some more electronics for the upgrades to the Desert Dawn Mainframe," he informed. "Ryu-nii wants them to have equipment on par with ours from scraps and castaways."
"Gotcha," Athrun replied. "If you need help with the hardware side of things, let me know."
Jinn nodded in understanding as he and Hanami made their way out of the mess hall and towards the hangar. "Man, Hanami is one scary girl!" Jade announced. "Scares the living crap out me when she does that!"
"Agreed, that was rather frightening," Athrun remarked. He turned to Tolle and asked, "What did you mean when you said she'd 'leveled it up'?"
Tolle shuddered. "Before it was a vague feeling of doom, this time I knew how, when, and why I was going to die," he whimpered out as he rocked himself back and forth.
Athrun blinked. "Wow…" he mused. "Remind me never to get on her bad side if it causes that," he remarked.
"Y… yeah…" Tolle agreed as he whimpered again. "Also, who taught him," he pointed to Nicol. "To curse like that?"
"No clue," Athrun replied. "Just goes to show just how frightening it was, though - it takes a lot to get him to swear like that."
Nicol flushed slightly as he scratched his cheek with a finger. "Well… actually my dad is horrible for cursing when he's angry," he explained. "And… well… yeah…"
"That explains it," Athrun replied. "Still, like I said, it does take a lot to get you to swear - most of the time you're the most kind and gentle person I've had the pleasure of meeting."
"Considering what we just witnessed, can you blame me?" Nicol asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hell, Dearka's still in shock."
Athrun looked over, and yes, Dearka was frozen with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Wow," Athrun remarked. "It takes more to get him to do that than it does to get you to swear, Nicol. That is scarily impressive."
"I know right?" Nicol asked. "Wonder if it is possible to weaponize it?"
"…Probably better if we didn't try," Miriallia remarked. "She only does it when something is really annoying her, or someone is trying something unbelievably stupid. And when we ask what it is, she feigns complete ignorance. Probably for the best we don't know how to duplicate it."
"I wonder… why is it Jinn wasn't fazed by it?" Sai wondered. "I mean, he was right beside it and didn't even flinch."
"…Maybe because they've started dating, Jinn's become immune to it?" Tolle wondered. "Sounds pretty preposterous, I know, but…"
"Instinctive control over targeting?" Jade summarized, a wondering expression on her face. "Damn Hanami can be scary all on her own…"
"Anyway, let's finish up," Athrun remarked. "We need to get back to our own jobs, after all."
Dearka snapped out of his funk. "SHIT!" he cursed out. "Boss wanted me to have those calibrations finished in an hour!" He quickly dashed away from the table, bolting towards the hangar.
"That's another first," Athrun commented after a moment. "Never saw Dearka move that fast before, even when he was skirt-chasing."
"Well, Ryu-nii is a demanding taskmaster," Jade informed slowly. "If you're not quite up to standards he brings out his motivator, a large crescent wrench."
"That would explain it," Athrun remarked, even as he finished his food. "Well, let's get going."
END CHAPTER!
