Nicol's Savior

Me: (opens a door...and has ten tones of scripts, books and DVDs fall on top of me and bury me up to my neck) ...I wonder if there's a song about Pandora's Box. I should probably sing about closing it, before I loose my mind under the sheer number of all my ideas...Anyway, this is another Nicol Lives fic...and things are going to get INTERESTING because of it.

Nicol: I could compose one for you. ...If I do, do you promise not to have too many terrible things happen to me?

Me: Aww, that's sweet of you. ...Maybe. Unfortunately, love and drama are very intertwined.

Nicol: (gulps nervously)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED

Chapter 1: Alive

"ATHRUN, RUN!"

"NICOL!"

"NO, WAIT! DON'T!"

Kira Yamato saw several things happen behind his minds eye. He saw the shuttle containing the civilians from Heliopolis blowing up, the face of that little girl who had smiled at him staring accusingly and covered in blood. He saw Andrew Waltfeld and his girlfriend, before he destroyed their machine and watched it explode. He saw his best friend; in his minds eye impaled through the chest, staring at him, whispering, 'Why'?

The Blitz was charging towards him. He heard the fear and pleading in the young pilot's voice, telling Athrun to save himself. The core of the machine was overheating – if he didn't succeed in stabbing the Strike, then he would explode and take everything nearby with him. The cockpit was likely in flames from earlier damage. The boy in control was moving through sheer determination and loyalty towards, though he didn't know it -

A mutual beloved friend.

The Strike pilot had about five seconds to process all of this...and respond, for better or for worse. A normal soldier, even a Coordinator would have done something then that they would always regret. But Kira was not an ordinary Coordinator...and he was not an Ordinary soldier.

The young boy opened his mouth and screamed; a terrible yet enthralling noise that froze the blood of anyone who heard it.

"I DON'T WANT TO WATCH ANYONE ELSE DIE!"

A violet seed exploded behind Kira's eyes.

And he decided to take the risk.

The Strike flew upwards, dodging the initial strike. The Blitz followed, grabbing onto the enemy suit as its engines overclocked.

"NICOL!"

"KIRA!"

People on both sides were screaming into their communication devices, in horror and panic.

The Strike drew the bladed boomerang, activated it, and jammed it into the engine pack, as far as it would go. Then pulled upwards.

Fire lit the sky.

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Kira was dazed. His mind was locked into a singular purpose. The world seemed to be full of static, voices that should have been clear were extremely distant. All that was truly in his current awareness was the Gundam in his arms. It was so hot, damaged, he had prevented it from exploding but the cockpit was a sauna as a result, on top of the damage it had received earlier in the battle. Kira gunned the Strike's engines and flew down to the Archangel, flying through bullets and fire.

He landed on the deck with a crash, and placed the Blitz down with quick but frantic care. Then he hit the release hatch and jumped out.

The world seemed to become even quieter, with only the pounding of his heart to guide him. He ran to the Blitz medi pack in hand. The machine was still sparking and glowing red in places; the picture of a fallen knight. Kira scrambled up the broken arm, his hands scraping along the side of the cockpit until he found the emergency release hatch. Hitting it with all his might, he got it open, and scrambled into the entrance even as a wave of heat struck him.

It was a boy in the cockpit. He had to be even younger than Kira himself, though not by much. His uniform was shredded; his leg was broken by an earlier impact from the Strike, there was blood dripping from his helmet which was utterly covered in steam. He also had a gash on his side from broken monitor glass; it was bleeding heavily.

Kira reached in, tearing open the harnesses and lifting the boy from the death room, pulling him away from the Blitz.

He knelt on the deck and carefully put the boy down, to avoid jostling the leg. Then he pulled the helmet off. The Blitz pilot had such a gentle face; his green hair was slicked against his head and blood trickled from his lips. Kira pulled a utility knife from the pack and sliced open the upper part of the kid's ZAFT uniform to let out the heat, before resting his head against the boy's chest.

He couldn't hear a heartbeat.

Kira started CPR, leaning over and breathing air into the boy's lungs. That sort of intimate touch usually would have left him red faced and flustered, but nothing mattered more right now than keeping Athrun's friend breathing. He pounded on the boy's chest, oblivious to both the explosions fading away behind him and further attempts to hail him.

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Mom...my piano...

Pain...so much pain...

...?

A voice...?

voice...calling...to me...?

Athrun...you...? You, Dearka, Yzak...have to go...can't breathe...feeling...my chest...my leg...please, make the pain go away...at least they're safe...I hope...without me...w-without...

Mom...dad...

I... I don't...

...!

The voice...getting louder...saying...something...to me?

"I won't let you die!"

Won't...die...?

Don't want...to die...Athrun...is that you...?

I...I'm listening...I'm trying...

"I won't let you die!"

A light...

Air...! Air...I can breathe...what...

I'm trying...reach for me...you...

Nicol's eyes fluttered. He saw a face hovering over him, a bright light shining from behind him. Two beautiful violet orbs, blank with a devastating medley determination, anguish and fear, staring into his soul. A young face, framed with brown hair.

"I won't let you die!"

Nicol coughed violently, which sent waves of agony through his broken leg. The boy angel cradled his head on his lap, propping him up, tilting him so he could breathe better. "Who..." He choked out. His eyes flittered over...the massive shadow of the Strike was blocking out the sun. Confusion and pain and disbelief.

My angel...the Strike...? C-Can't be...

"Don't talk! Just breathe! Please!"

"Kid, move!"

"I won't kill him!" The boy angel shrieked desperately, a deep wound and agony in his voice. Hearing it made Nicol's heart hurt...he wanted to reassure him somehow... "I won't-I can't-"

"Damn it, kid, move so I can help you!"

New voice. Older voice. Nicol painfully tilted his head slightly. Older man, blonde hair, face twisted in horror (-"My god, he's just a kid-) but yet set in stone and strength. He looked like father...father when he was telling bedtime stories, back when Nicol was still small...

"Angels...? Here...to t-t-take me...take me t-to heaven...?" He coughed out. It hurt, talking hurt, moving hurt, everything hurt.

"NO! You're not going to die!" The boy angel swore, lifting Nicol's head up. The older man gently swept and set the mask over Nicol's face. "Look at me, and stay awake for now. You're not going to die, you're going to live!"

Suddenly, cool, wonderful air was in Nicol's lungs...it pushed itself in, but some of the pain rattling in his skull disappated at that...the boy angel was moving, something rattling next to him, a box? A needle? Nicol saw the point flashing against the sun.

"It's okay," The boy angel whispered, tenderly cradling Nicol in his lap. "It's for the pain. It'll make it go away."

It was a testament to how awful he felt that Nicol didn't even register the prick as the morphine was injected into his system. Everything that had been so hot was suddenly starting to cool...Nicol was submerged in the quiet, cold feeling, as the pain became numb and muted...

"We have to move you," The boy angel said, fear in those beautiful and distinctive violet eyes. He knew it wasn't over, he was afraid because Nicol's eyes were drooping again...the pianist was trying to keep them open, he really was, but he was so exhausted... "We're moving you to the hospital. Mu's going to pick you up, it might hurt, but I won't last too long I promise."

You...saving me...

Nicol did let out a wail of pain as the older man swept him up; the movement sent firey agony through his leg. The boy angel let out a noise of distress, jumping to his feet and hurtling towards the Strike.

The older man was moving. "It's gonna be okay, kid. It won't last. Don't think about it. Eyes on me. Just listen to me." He kept saying quiet, encouraging nonsense, half of which Nicol could barely understand through the pain and the ringing in his skull. They were on the Strike's hands – now they were moving, it caused Nicol's stomach to roil and he nearly passed out again, his eyes rolling up in his head.

The sky and the light were replaced by a dark, mechanical ceiling, and lots of people shouting. The older man put him down onto a soft bed, wincing as Nicol sobbed since the wounded leg was jostled again in the movement. Now he was on a bed, people were babbling and talking all around him.

Suddenly the boy angel was at his side again. The bed was moving, rushing, the ceiling turning from black to white, searing lights in the hallway hurting Nicol's eyes.

"You're going to be fine. You're going to live." The boy angel said, promising, pleading. He had such terribly sad eyes.

A medical room. People shouting more. The bed ground to a halt. Nicol lost track of time, he heard a machine beeping along with his heart, a scanner going over his body, people talking more quietly, worried, angry, confused.

"Needs blood..."

"...got bags...?"

"No...wouldn't just work...Coordinator..."

"...Take mine!"

A tube in his arm. Connecting him to the boy angel sitting at his side, looking down on him. More morphine, much more than the first time...he was starting to feel cool...confusion and wonder wracked Nicol...he looked over at his rescuer, tilting his head again...tentatively he reached out with one bloody hand...

Gentle hands grasped his, warm to the touch and slick with sweat. But it gave him comfort...such comfort.

I'm not going to die.

The pain...the pain was going away...

Nicol slipped into a calm, cool darkness, the eyes of the boy angel following him as he descended.

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"...And Ensign Yamato?" Murrue asked slowly, exhaling and shaking her head.

"We had to sedate him to get him to calm down; I moved him back to his dorm; he's dead to the world for now. The kid was working up to a nervous breakdown. He'll probably be out of commission for at least forty eight hours to recover from it." Mu remarked with a sigh, a hint of worry for the young Coordinator in his voice.

"Any idea what caused this...erratic, dangerous decision?" Natarle asked, frowning. She hadn't liked how Yamato had bailed out of the end of the battle in order to save the Blitz and its pilot. She thought it had been an unacceptable risk.

"You call saving a fifteen year old boy erratic and dangerous?" Mu said, sounding displeased at the implication. "That kid was dying, Lieutenant. Isn't giving no quarter against the rules of engagement?"

Natarle grabbed the tip of her cap; she didn't have an answer for that.

"These scenarios we've been in...I've watched hardened soldiers psychologically crack under them with less pressure than what's been put on Kira." Mu continued. "That kid has been singlehandedly keeping us alive, and he's very aware of it. He's sixteen, and he's killed people, Lieutenant, because failure meant the deaths of his friends on this ship. Kira doesn't want to kill people, yet he's had to. I'm amazed he's held it together so well so far."

"And it wasn't just a matter of killing (as if that wasn't enough)... ...something I managed to make out of Kira's panicked rambling before I dosed him was that the Blitz suicide-charged him to protect a downed comrade. Sound familiar?"

Mu smiled faintly as both Natarle and Murrue flinched. "Yeah. Hard to kill someone you feel a sense of kinship towards."

Silence reigned for a moment. "Well, as of now that boy is our prisoner...do we know how and when he'll recover?" Murrue asked.

"Well, he's lucky he's a Coordinator; according to the Doc a Natural would be out for at least a month. He should recover...in shorter order." Mu grimaced. "I wonder if his friends and fellow pilots know we've taken him alive."

Murrue grimaced. "Let's hope so...if they think we've killed him, they'll come guns blazing. And Kira might not be in good enough condition to face them."

End Chapter

So. Not off to a great start for our boys, BUT it beats being dead. Basically, Kira sees Nicol/The Blitz charging him and realizes he wants to die protecting Athrun...who Kira also cares about very deeply. This causes him to flash back to the various people around him who have died, and sends him into SEED mode. Which allows him to keep the Blitz from blowing up and allows him to save Nicol's life. Unfortunately, the trade off seems to be a mild mental trauma on poor Kira's part, which I think makes sense considering how emotionally stressed out he's been.

Read and Review please!