lustbader064: A new story!

I'll Give You Wings

CHAPTER 1

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Athrun, Lacus and Cagalli. The only ones who knew.

Only they know the secret of this genetically tampered body.

I hold power that makes me stand as 'The Ultimate Coordinator'.

…and I also hold power that makes me almost akin to: GOD.

The hangar alarm went off. Red light consumed his small holding cell. It wasn't really a holding cell as it was a luxury private suite. The small TV screen and communicator blipped on as the picture of the lady captain appeared into view along with a man's.

He had black and long wavy hair that flowed past his shoulders. His intense stare of golden eyes glinted in the paleness of his skin. The sly smile of his was ever present on his lips and charisma danced like an invisible aura around him. The man opened his lips and in a deep and resonating voice, he said. "It seems we are under alert, Mr…"

"There is no need to tell me, Chairman." The man in the suite interrupted, holding no respect for the high ranking official of ZAFT. His once short brown hair had grown a little and covered purple eyes in a sexy frame. His tan skin was still as enticing as always and shimmered slightly in the artificial glows. He was not tall and well-built but rather slim and scrawny-looking. The brown haired man was wearing a blue cotton shirt that was tucked inside red trousers which was also pulled into his white, knee-high combat boots.

He had been sitting on the well-made bed that was pushed parallel to the couch on the room's right. Above the couch was the TV communicator and he faced it with an equally intense gaze such as the Chairman was. There was a red jacket lying messily beside him and looked like it was thrown hazardously to and fro within the room. His violet eyes narrowed when the man in the TV chuckled slightly.

"I was merely informing. If I had offended you Mr. Yamato, please do forgive me. I just wanted you, our dear guest, to be aware of such happenings in the Minerva."

"I don't need you to tell me what's happening, Mr. Dullindal. I had been on a ship similar to the Minerva and I can pretty much tell if we are under alert…" He sighed; talking to this man was exasperating. "If possible, I would like to be left alone in this room for the time being until the alert has ended. No distractions should interrupt me unless danger calls for it."

The woman captain at the chairman's back wanted to say something but Gilbert stopped her. "Of course, Mr. Kira Yamato." He smiled a little and reached for the off button then the TV screen once again became a black rectangle.

He flopped ungraciously down on the bed beneath him and sprawled his hair into a messy halo. Kira stared at the ceiling for a long time when his eyes landed on the symbol printed on his red ZAFT coat uniform. It was a yellow oblong inside a half-wing. The FAITH symbol.

The coordinator sat up then and regarded the clothing. He used to see it either on enemy or his friend, Athrun. But to see the same uniform of your enemy on your self was a weird experience. He had only worn the ZAFT uniform once when Lacus had first given him Freedom. Even then, it was still for a very short time. And now, it was his current uniform.

Lacus said that he looked very good in blue and always made Kira look like an angel. In red, he looked more mature than his usual self and accentuated his strongest features. His hair, his skin color and his body. It made Kira look older.

He huffed at that thought and slung the jacket over his back and slipped his arms into the sleeves. He grabbed the white belt that came with it and fixed his uniform properly in front of the only mirror in the room. "I do not." He said childishly and moved closer to the mirror that he was in arm's length. He touched the cool smooth surface of the glass and with a rather melancholic look in his eyes.

Lacus said that he looked very good in blue.

"You are beautiful in red, Kira."

"…in red… beautiful in… RED."

"Red… as… blood…?"

A sudden image flashed into his mind. In it, he saw his whole self covered in red, red blood. It happened once before where he had been covered in the liquid. It was one of the times when he released his…

With a quick snap, he moved away from the mirror and tried to will away the bloody image of himself from his mind, clutching his head as he did so. "No. No. NO!" Kira involuntarily shook as he forced the nightmares back into the back of his subconscious. He now sat trembling on the floor with nothing as his comfort.

"Please don't. No more."

A sharp knock came from the door and a terrified-looking Kira looked up from his fetal position. His head had rested on his arms which were now stained in sweat and tears and his feet were pulled into his chest. With a quick cover-up, he wiped the tear tracks from his face and composed his body into its normal stance.

"Come in."

The electronic doors opened with a slight whoosh and there stood Athrun Zala. The room was not lit and was very dark that the only light came from the hallway behind the blue-haired pilot. "Kira?"

Emerald eyes shone with worry and concern. The Zala's hair was nicely combed as always and looked beautiful in the dim lights. He was wearing the ZAFT uniform too and, like Kira, had on it sewn on the FAITH symbol. His pale skin was shown in the contrasting colors and glowed an eerie glow. "Kira, are you alright?"

Turning his eyes away, Kira opted to look at his feet and replied weakly. "I'm just a bit tired Athrun. What happened the last few days had been a bit too much for me, it seems. Being ZAFT isn't all that easy, isn't it?"

"I know you're hiding something Kira." Athrun was never a fool and he proved himself right when he suspiciously narrowed eyes at Kira, as if sensing the lie in his words. "…so please…" But he was also a great friend. "I'm your best friend and I know that I can't force things out of you if you don't want it to be known by others. Just remember, okay? Remember that you can always tell me what bothers you."

Kira let out a tiny yet comforted smile and Athrun can't help but feel proud that he got the other to smile. "Thank you so much Athrun."

"You're welcome."

"By the way, why are you here? Wasn't there an alert?" Kira asked Athrun as he opened the fluorescent lights of the room and led the other to the couch.

"It was just a false alarm. They mistook an old war wreck for another ship when the radar read it. Honestly, couldn't they have upgraded those things yet?"

Kira let out a chuckle at his friend's oblivious irritation towards the devices. Their gundams had far more advanced navigation and search technologies installed into their systems. It was too bad that they couldn't apply the same program to the Minerva.

"My bet is that they're working on new beam sabers or new N-jammer cancellers." Athrun continued.

"Who are?"

"Those old geezers at the Science and Weapons Research Facility at the base. They have the time to make new mass-destroying weapons when they can't even make a new radar program or convert the old radar program so it can work on Minerva."

"Yeah! Hahaha! You're so right Athrun." Kira kept on his mirth and Athrun smiled sincerely.

"I'm glad you're back to your old, happy self."

He immediately stopped laughing and violet eyes looked at Athrun with a new sparkle in his eyes. The laughter may have stopped but joy still swirled in those depths. Athrun may again, feel VERY proud right now, knowing it was he who made Kira happy again.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

"Kira, was that…"

"Yes."

"…"

"…"

"Since when was the last time did you eat?"

"Last night."

"Why?"

"Just…"

"Just?"

"Just because!"

"You know that because-thing doesn't work on me, Kira."

"I didn't feel like eating this morning, is all."

Athrun let out a sigh and stood up from the couch. He grabbed Kira's hand and dragged the other with him by the wrist as he headed towards the door. "You, you wimpy, undernourished, you… are going to eat right now until your stomach can't take it anymore."

"Athrun let me go!" Kira struggled against his friend's grip and even though he could escape the other pilot's hold since Athrun only held on slightly, he let the man whisk him away, albeit noisily.

"No."

"Let go!"

"No."

"Let go!"

They both knew they were making a ruckus in the ship's hallway as nearly everyone they passed by were either discreetly watching the scene or shamelessly gaping at the whole thing. Each room opened its door and every head turned. They saw their FAITH commander childishly dragging behind him another childishly-acting FAITH commander.

"Athrun Zala you either release my hand or I will snatch it back along with yours!"

"Ooh, I wonder if the wimpy, undernourished lad still has the strength to do it." The blue-haired man mocked the other as a scowl appeared on Kira's face.

"ATHRUN!"

Shinn Asuka immediately whipped his head up at hearing a voice scream the name of his most loathed person in the ship right now. He was mildly surprised that someone would say Athrun's name with such anguish and anger that it didn't come to him soon that it was of an unknown owner's.

"You are very thin Kira. Stop being so stubborn and just try and eat today's lunch without further ado."

Athrun finally appeared into the Mess Hall at that point and Shinn, like the rest of the other crew members of the Minerva taking their breaks in the same room, had gone silent with their food forgotten. Their commander's hair was slightly more disheveled than usual and his uniform slightly disarrayed. He looked like he had been hauling a 10 ton cargo… close to that.

He was currently in the process of dragging said cargo into the room.

"ATHRUN! I SAID NO!"

Their FAITH commander was dragging the other FAITH commander.

"KIRA YAMATO, YOU'RE ACTING LIKE A STUBBORN CHILD!"

"WELL YOU'RE ACTING LIKE AN OVER-PROTECTIVE MOTHER!"

Both elite pilots looked out of breath and were now glaring at each other until they could see the bolts crackling between them. Everybody sweatdropped and wondered if these two people were the same coordinators that ended the previous war.

"Why won't you eat?! Are you on a diet or something?"

"I am not!"

"Then why?"

"I'm just saying Athrun, that I can eat by myself and do not need your help in eating. Why did you drag me here anyway? You could have just told me we were going to the Mess Hall and I would have followed!"

Athrun stood there as he processed those words. Yes, he could have just told Kira to follow him rather than dragging his ass forcibly. Why didn't he? "I thought you were going to escape if I didn't drag you here myself."

"Me? Escape from Minerva? Are you mad, Zala?" Kira said it in a disbelieving tone and head towards the counter where the food trays were kept. Everyone he seemed to pass by became rigid and moved out of his path.

Athrun looked offended but otherwise copied what Kira was doing. He also went and got himself some food. Both of them moved with practiced swiftness and sat at a table farther away from the others.

They started to eat until all the crew members went back to chatting amongst themselves. All went well and the two commanders started eating their curry with rice. That is, until Shinn stood up and walked up to the two of them bringing with him Rey Za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke.

"Who are you?" he said rudely at Kira whose spoon was halfway to his mouth. Athrun looked up and glared at Shinn. "Pay him some respect Shinn. He's your commander after all."

"Shinn." Rey placed a hand on the red-eyed pilot's shoulder and silently reminded him of military protocol. "Commander Athrun is correct. Please mind your manners."

Kira on the other hand shrugged the rudeness off with a big spoonful of curry and smiled at the other pilots. "It's alright. I'm Kira Yamato by the way. The Chairman brought me here just a couple of days ago. No proper introduction was called so I'm not surprised if you don't know me." He stood up from his seat and faced Shinn with an outstretched arm, his uniform showing in full glory. It was then when the younger pilot noticed the Faith symbol on his uniform.

Shinn shook the other's hand and asked, "You're a FAITH member?"

"Yes, it was given to me suddenly. What about you? What's your name?"

Shinn was reluctant at replying but the immediate obtaining of a FAITH membership was amazing that this Kira-guy must be an elite pilot to get it. "I'm Shinn Asuka. I fly the ZGMF-X56S Impulse. You?"

Kira was about to reply when suddenly, another alarm rang. Every crew member immediately went to their assigned stations at the hangar or at the control room, leaving the five pilots alone in the once filled mess hall.

"Another alarm?" the violet eyed coordinator asked to no one in particular.

"Yes, it seems that it is another ship wreck. Our radar system needs to be upgraded…" Lunamaria said as she studied the room's communicator TV which displayed the ship's current status.

"Funny, me and Athrun had been thinking of the same thing." Kira said with a small chuckle while Athrun just sighed at his antics.

"Kira, why don't you just finish your-"

"All pilots please stand by your units. All pilots please stand by your units."

The announcement echoed in the room and the five of them prepared to leave. "It seems that, this time, is no false alarm."

"We're under attack."

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A/N: ehehehe… got this info from wiki!

ZGMF-X10A freedom, ZGMF-X09A justice, ZGMF-X23S saviour, ZGMF-X20A strike freedom

Can't resist placing it here! I got infected once again with the Gundam-fever! I remember writing the plot for this fic a very long time ago. Like... 3 years already? Pretty old, eh? I decided to make this story a very informative and detailed one so please bear with all the terms, names and places, etc.