A/N: Last of the updates for now. If you've jumped straight here, go back to 15. Computer scientists, engineers, cryptographers, please read the AN at the bottom of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Still not the owner

There was a nip to the air as Athrun yawned and stumbled down the stairs the next morning, tired despite having left Dearka's at a reasonable time the previous day. He bypassed Kira, who was concentrating deeply on whatever he was doing on the laptop, and made himself a cup of coffee to try and wake up a bit. Even though it was the third morning, he was still suffering from Dearka's early call. Leaning against the counter and inhaling the aroma of his drink, the Aegis pilot watched with bleary eyes as his brunette fiancé's fingers flew across the keyboard.

"What are you up to Kiki?" he asked after having downed at least half of his cup.

"Hmm what?" Kira replied absent-mindedly.

Curious, Athrun pushed himself off the counter and stood behind Kira. His eyes widened at the scrolling lines of code Kira was producing before he caught sight of the timer and an unfamiliar crest besides the ORB logo.

Seeing as there seemed to be two hours still on the clock, Athrun pressed a kiss to Kira's temple and left to get ready for the day. He'd get some answers later.

The ringing of his office phone startled Patrick out of his thoughts from where he was re-pursuing the leaflets he'd been given at Kira's testing. Despite his reservations about Kira being away for the evenings, it appeared to be a very good and well-structured program.

"Chairman Zala, how may I be of assistance," he answered, putting the pamphlets down.

"Good morning Chairman, I'm glad managed to catch you so early," Dr Milo replied "Mr Yamato's results are back and I was wondering if you could bring him in as soon as possible."

Patrick straightened, immediately worried "Is there something wrong."

The doctor looked at him gravely and nodded "We have identified what has been causing the spasm that Mr Yamato described but would like to discuss it further in person. I know that the young man will be by in a day or two for his next physiotherapy session but this cannot wait until then since I'll be leaving Decembrius tomorrow."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Patrick said, standing from his office chair.

"You'll be directed straight into my temporary practice rooms from the reception" Dr Milo told the worried parent "And try not to worry too much; we'll do everything possible to ensure that Mr Yamato gets the best care possible."

Patrick thanked the doctor before dropping the call.

"Athrun, Kira!" he called as he exited the study, trying not to let the worry he was feeling leech into his voice.

"In the living room!" Athrun called back.

Patrick entered to see Kira sprawled across Athrun's lap, fast asleep, while Athrun himself placed the novel he had been reading on the arm rest of the sofa.

"What's wrong?" Athrun asked, picking up on his father's tension.

"The hospital called, they want us to come in immediately." Patrick answered, before trying to rouse Kira. The brunette just murmured a complaint, swatting at the interfering hand, and pushed himself closer to Athrun.

"He won't wake," Athrun said amused "I've already tried; I'd resigned myself to sitting here until he woke when you called. He's been programming for the whole night, since we got back from the party I think. He told me it was a speed programming final and something about figuring out a key before he collapsed on the sofa next to me and went to sleep. That was about ten minutes ago."

"Oh Kira," Patrick murmured as his frown deepened and he brushed a hand over Kira's head. "Does he still have nightmares?" he asked, wrapping Kira in the sofa throw and picking him up; leaving him to sleep.

"Kira was never a heavy sleeper; especially now after…" Athrun trailed off and Patrick nodded in understanding "I think his body has simply decided to give up for now and sleep. Hopefully it'll be dreamless" Athrun finished as the two Zalas made their way to Patrick's car; Kira's crutches in tow.

"Did the doctor say anything about what they discovered?" Athrun enquired as he settled Kira across his lap once more.

Patrick shook his head grimly before starting the car. "Nothing; but it sounds like it's serious."

They made the journey to the hospital in record time and Patrick didn't hesitate to once again scoop Kira into his arms. Together the party of three entered the waiting room.

"We're here to see Dr Milo," Patrick informed the nurse at the station, adjusting Kira and glaring slightly when he caught her staring "She said to come through."

The nurse collected herself and quickly looked through her records before nodding "right this way, the doctor is expecting you."

They were led down the corridor to a well-lit exam room and Athrun thanked his stars that they would be afforded some privacy. The doctor turned from examining Kira's records, the remnants of a smile fading when she caught sight of Kira's bundled form.

"Lay him on the bed," she directed Patrick "What's happened?"

Patrick ran a hand through his hair "Nothing, he's fine as far as we can tell. My son says that he fell asleep after staying up all night programming. He won't be roused but he's responsive when you disturb him."

"And he's not usually a heavy sleeper?" Milo asked, unclipping her pen light and checking Kira's pupil dilation. The brunette whimpered indignantly, swatting at the doctor's hand before turning to face away from them.

"No, very light sleeper, especially now after everything." Patrick replied, running a hand through his hair. "But apparently he hasn't been sleeping well for a while."

"Could it be a harmonic thing keeping him so deeply asleep?" Athrun asked as Dr Milo took Kira's blood pressure.

Patrick wrinkled his brow "I'd forgotten that Miss Clyne is in town with her father. As well as Miss Asha."

"I don't think so; it certainly appears like he's simply asleep however the penlight should have roused him. To be safe we can place Mr Yamato under observation…" Dr Milo started but a mewling noise from the sleeping coordinator made her pause.

Kira's brow furrowed and his limbs tensed before he turned onto his back and sat up with a slight gasp. Confused amethyst eyes took in his surroundings before settling on Athrun, who was giving him an amused look.

"Morning Kiki, sleep well?" Athrun asked.

Kira gave a sleepy nod, still not entirely awake. "Did I nap? I usually nap."

"A small nap," Athrun assured him "Dad and the doctor were worried."

"Sorry," Kira apologised, waking up a bit more "I usually crash hard after a programming sprint. I wasn't waking right?"

Athrun nodded

"It happens," Kira hurried to reassure the two adults "It's like a system reboot. Usually I sleep for half an hour to an hour. On Heliopolis, my supervisor would keep a blanket and cot in his office for when he found me in the labs."

Despite the reassurance, the neurologist still gave Kira a quick examination, including ensuring that the muscles in Kira's back were regaining strength.

"Well then young man, there seems to be nothing wrong with you," Milo said as she removed her examination gloves. "I wanted to ensure that the muscles and nerves in your back were developing as they should before we discuss the results of the blood screenings we did. I am quite happy with the progress and I'll make a note for your physiotherapist Mr Yamato."

She gave Kira a small smile before extending a hand to help him down. Kira tensed but accepted the hand down.

Athrun placed a kiss to his beloved's temple after settling him in the seat he'd just vacated, leaving the other one for his father.

Dr Milo turned and retrieved an envelope from her cabinet. When she turned to face them, her expression was no longer as cheerful as it had been.

"When the results came back from the labs, I asked for them to be redone twice to ensure that there hadn't been any abnormalities. Unfortunately the results came back the same every time." She started explaining

"There was a toxin found in the blood samples, one that affects white blood cells. From what we've observed; it's very slow acting, almost passive until introduced to white blood cells. These it attacks, changing them until they can barely be recognised as the original cells. The experiments we've performed showed that these corrupted cells then attack nerve endings, which is what causes the spasms or, more accurately, rapid muscle contractions. Mr Yamato having gone into anaphylactic shock during the whole…incident triggered the toxin hence why the spasms started afterwards."

"But don't white blood cells disappear after an infection has been fought?" Athrun asked, while gently running his fingers through Kira's hair "As soon as the cells are gone, then the toxin becomes dormant."

Dr Milo rubbed her eyes tiredly "Ideally, but the presence of the cells in the blood samples indicate that the infected cells have a much longer life time."

"What does this mean going forward?" Patrick asked before they could dwell on the situation "Is there anything in particular we should be doing."

"Obviously we need to be careful of sickness, so a sterile environment or as close as possible. Otherwise, there's nothing much that can be done unless we find the cure. We're lucky its slow acting but the damage being done to the nerves in the meantime is a cause for concern. The spams may evolve into seizures if we're not careful."

"Is it fatal?" Kira asked softly, looking the doctor in the eye.

"Kira…" Athrun started, uncertain about the calm way the smaller boy was handling the news

"No, I need to know." Kira countered "I know the people who did this to me; I know how cruel they can be. Did they intend for me to die because then our enemies have a dangerous weapon in their hands."

Milo sighed heavily "The toxin seems to have been designed to infect all white blood cells and allow unhealthy cells to infect healthy ones. Eventually it would get to the point where your immune system is so compromised any small illness can prove to be life threatening. Bluntly, until we find the cure, it is fatal. The Earth Forces have in their possession a toxin that has the potential to wipe out the entire human race"

"Meaning they must also have the cure," Patrick finished grimly. "The question now is how do we get it?"

Kira knew that his Uncle and Athrun were worried about his lack of reaction but the doctor's news didn't surprise him. He had expected the Earth Forces to have some sort of methods of ensuring that he either remained firmly within their grasp or was useless to any other forces. With the increasing severity of the pain, he knew La Flaga hoped that he'd eventually be driven back to them in the hopes of a cure; a cure he knew for certain that they must have.

His fragile health aside, he turned his thoughts to the program he has been working on all night. Hearing Yzak and Nicol play outside the harmonic practise space Lacus had dragged them into had given him further inspiration for an idea he had been toying with regarding the Archangel's defences. Truthfully, he doubted that there would be any way for them to duplicate the override exactly enough to offer a way inside but they didn't need to. For all its strengths, the Archangel's defences were protected only by an encryption algorithm and every encryption needed to have a decryption; just like every lock needed to have a key to open it. But Kira didn't need the master key, not if he had a...

"Skeleton key."

"Pardon?" Athrun queried as the random phrase broke the oppressive silence that had filled the car.

Kira gave the blue-haired boy a grin as more pieces fell into place "That's how we'll be able to crack the Archangel's defences; we use a skeleton key."

"What's your idea Kiki?" Patrick prompted as he used the rear view mirror to look at the two teens in the back.

"We're not going to able to duplicate the override closely enough for it to give us a point of entry; there are simply too many variables involved," Kira began, excitement growing as he began working out the parameters of his undertaking "But we don't need a single key if we have a key that can open anything!"

"A skeleton key," Athrun finished, understanding beginning to dawn on him

"Exactly!" Kira cried "A decryption algorithm that presents itself as the counter to any possible encryption, no matter how weak or how strong. It won't be easy but I'm sure ZAFT has brilliant programmers and cryptologists and I have a few ideas as well. The only problems I foresee if we get this to work is stopping it from cracking our own systems and defences wide open as well as hiding it in such a way that the EA don't realise what we're doing until it's too late. Other than the typical bugs we might encounter in the programming process, I think those might be workable problems."

Silence descended as Kira ran out of steam, each man processing what the brunette had told them. Kira was right, it would not be easy by any stretch of the imagination even with coordinator ability but it was more reliable and probably less time consuming than the only other solution they'd been considering.

Suddenly Patrick laughed; stunned by the sheer brilliance and ingenuity Kira had shown. The boy had always been good at programming and reprogramming but it had never dawned on him however just how good Haruma and Caridad's son could be "Never change, Kiki" he gasped out as he continued to chuckle "Never, ever change."

Patrick excused himself to update the rest of the Council about the latest developments, leaving the two teens to entertain themselves. Not wanting to stay in the living room, they wandered to the other end of the house and into the music room.

Kira sat at the piano, leaving enough space behind him for Athrun to join him, the older boy wrapping his arms around Kira's waist and burying his face into his back. Nothing was said as Kira ran through scales, arpeggios and various practise exercises, no piece calling to be played but wanting to keep his hands busy. When Athrun's tears began soaking through his shirt, he effortlessly switched to the Schindler's List theme [1], wanting to draw the grief out of Athrun.

The blue-haired boy shuddered behind him, noisily gasping and trying to suppress his sobs. Kira swayed slightly as he played, trying to offer some measure of comfort. Once the piece had ended, Kira simply rested his fingers on the keyboard, head bowed as he felt the evidence of Athrun's heart break.

"It's not fair," came a rough-sounding whisper

"I know," Kira murmured, placing his right hand on top of Athrun's interlocked ones.

"I just got you back,"

"And I'm here to stay," Kira replied softly.

Athrun took a shuddering inhale, and more tears soaked into Kira's back

"I don't want you to die." Athrun confessed "I haven't had enough time with you; you can't die now."

"Nothing will take me away, not without me fighting with every ounce of strength that I have." Kira promised "I won't leave you Athrun"

"I love you, so, so much"

Kira gave a shuddering sigh as he felt his own tears threatening to fall "I love you too watashi no otto" [2]

At supper, Patrick informed them that they'd once again be attending a meeting of the council but not until the following day.

"They think that your idea has promise Kiki so they want to know a bit more about what and how you were thinking it could be implemented" the elder Zala explained as they passed dishes around the table.

"Is it going to be everyone from before?" Kira asked, dishing some rice before passing the bowl to Athrun.

Patrick nodded "And a few others from the Cryptography department."

Athrun placed the rice down before looking up "Did you tell them about Kira?"

Patrick frowned and nodded again. "Not the exact details, but that the EA have a biological weapon that has the capability of wiping out all human life. I also mentioned that the probability of them unleashing the infection on the PLANTs was highly likely and that it's imperative we get the key done quickly so that we may get the cure while rescuing Kira's friends."

No further conversation was held as the family of three ate; each busy with their own thoughts. Kira offered to clear the table and load the dishwasher while Athrun wandered into the living room; Patrick following soon after. Peaking around the corner, the brunette saw Athrun browsing through the movies list on the big screen television while his father unearthed some blankets and cushions. Smiling softly and discretely wiping his eyes, Kira put a bag of corn he'd seen in the cupboard into the microwave to pop while he put away the leftovers and carefully placed the dishes in their respective slots.

The knowing grins he got as he brought out the popcorn were like a soothing balm on the raw wound of the day and as he lay snuggled into his Uncle's larger frame, Athrun on the other side, buried under a warm blanket and revisiting childhood memories, Kira knew that when he eventually fell asleep it would be peaceful.

A/N: And that's it for now!

[1] Schindler's list Main theme- piano

[2] watashi no otto = my husband according to Google Translate

Before I forget, here's the author's note from Ima Kono

I need to appeal to any cryptographers out there who know anything about steganography. I know it's usually applied to pictures as a security measure but my idea is for them to hide a decryption code within music- similar to how if you play a song backwards there are apparent 'secret messages'. The code is to be a skeleton that essentially hacks any system regardless of the encryption employed. If you guys could PM me with ideas on how such a process would occur (coding wise), what needs to be taken into consideration, advantages, disadvantages, anything; I really appreciate it. Then we can get this rescue going.