A/N: So not sure if I want to continue this into a story but it's been stuck in my head for some time so as of now it's considered a drabble.
He had been sitting on the corner of the bed with only the ray of moonlight that streamed through the window as his companion. Only hours ago this very room was nothing more than a room, a place to sleep off the fatigue, a refuge against what was beyond the door. Now it was his prison. Normally he would have been sent to the cells in the lower part of the ship but the ship's crew vouched for him, instead suggesting sending him to his room and assuring there would be surveillance to prevent any possible escapes.
This was it, of all the ways he imagined his death, this had never been one of them, not aboard the Archangel. Just the same it seemed fitting in an ironic way, traitor, that's what he was branded as. Years of being in the military and having faced similar charges, he knew this time, whoever had crafted this, had done so carefully. There was no way he was coming out of this alive, no one could save him, not without causing a war between nations.
The glare of light coming from the open entrance distracted his thoughts. He was in confinement, no one was to come inside and the people on board couldn't be naïve enough to try and aid him to escape. Even if that were the case, they couldn't possibly believe he'd go along with it.
After the room dimmed back to moonlight he was able to recognized the slim figure that entered. It seemed they only ever got to meet under these circumstances: on opposite ends, injured, and/or of course facing death. The thought brought a bittersweet taste to his mouth. "What's the verdict?" He asked.
His captor lifter her gaze to him, amber eyes glimmering with tears sealed his fate. He had known all along and asking was just a formality but it was those damn eyes that were his undoing. Facing death was nothing compared to watching the sorrow in them. He only nodded sympathetically understanding how hard it must be for her to deliver his sentence.
"I tried talking to them, but they wouldn't listen. They have video footage of your assault and a recorded confession. You don't have an alibi other that our testimonies and they refuse to accept those. They think we're covering for you. They refuse to negotiate, and if I turn my back on their advice, I'll be destroying the country. I-"
"Cagalli," he interrupted, not bearing to hear the agony in her voice. "What is the verdict?" he repeated.
There was a tremor of her bottom lip before she recollected herself. "Execution on site. They are not giving you a trial." The first pair of tears fell from her eyes and he wanted nothing more than to wipe them off and tell her that everything would be alright. Something that he no longer had the right to do.
She looked around the room searching for a way out, a solution to their problem, a reason for why this was happening, not finding any she finally settled on his emerald pools of resolve. "If I refuse, war will break and both Bloody Valentines will seem a playground compare to this." The overwhelming pain brought her to her knees.
No, she wasn't supposed to break down in front of him. She wasn't supposed to be this weak. She brought her palms to her eyes, too ashamed to face him. More tears leaked through her fingers as she fought to control her heavy breathing.
"I can't protect you," she admitted in a whisper.
We'll protect each other.
They had made that promise on the Eve of the first Bloody Valentine, when both of them had lost family, comrades, and above all, faith in humanity. Despite it all, they had had each other. They would protect each other in the battlefield and now she couldn't save him from a couple of politicians.
Watch him die or watch her country burn to flames. Those were her options and she could not choose. She couldn't protect the things she held dear, either way she would lose. She pressed her palms harder to her face in frustration until finally unleashing her fists to the floor again and again, tears streaming like an open facet. She was angry, angry at the idiots in Orb, at the council in PLANTS, at Kira and Lacus for not using their connections to interfere.
Her hands were abruptly stopped from taking another blow to the ground and she was cradled into a hug. Athrun held her tightly resting her head on his chest. Suddenly her anger found a new target and she proceeded to knock him off balance. Athrun, she was angry at him for acting like he wasn't about to die, like she hadn't just let him down and was sending him to his death. He should hate her.
Above all, she was mad at herself because she was powerless. Because she couldn't keep her promise to him. Her blows weakened until they came to a stop. Her body hovered over his beaten form. "I don't know what to do," she confessed. "I can't choose." She let out a primal cry and was once more engulfed by his embrace. She clung onto his military coat and continued to cry. She was losing everyone she ever held dear, her father, Kisaka, Myrna, she couldn't take losing more than she had already. "I can't choose, I won't." She repeated.
Athrun kissed her forehead. "No one's asking you to," he replied softly before gently pulling away from her. He pushed a strand of hair behind her earlobe in a comforting matter before rising from the floor. He took a seat on the bed across from her, breaking the contact that was making him lose his resolve. He pressed both hands together and crouched forward, reminding himself of the best course of action.
"Cagalli, you can't let Orb be destroyed, it's your legacy, the one your father entrusted you with. You can't turn your back on that. It's not just Orb anymore. It's-"
"At what price!" Cagalli rose to a stance. "I can't just stand back and watch you die for my country. You're innocent. I won't watch an innocent man be slaughter because it's fit for politics."
"You are Orb's representative!" Athrun raised his voice to match Cagalli's, "You are Orb's representative as I am a soldier." He paused, waiting for his words to sink in. "We live in a time of war where innocents die more often than we'd like to admit. We weren't born with the luxury of simply being man and woman. We both have a duty to attend and that comes before our needs and wants."
"I will die for the country I swore to protect. I won't be the first or last soldier to do so because we have faith that our leaders will guide us to a better future."
The room fell in silence. Athrun didn't know how else to make her understand why he had to do this, why he would do this. "I can't protect you either," he confessed. "But I can protect the country that you love."
A new set of tears emerged in Caglli's eyes. "If only…" she stopped herself, knowing there was no point in going there.
Athrun lowered his head and let out a sigh knowing what she meant. He, himself had pondered on that thought many times, always coming to the same conclusion. "If only I wasn't a soldier and you weren't Orb's representative, if only your father wasn't Lord Uzumi Attha of Orb and mine Chairman Patrick Zala of PLANTS, if only you weren't a Natural or I a Coordinator." He lifted his head and locked his gaze with hers. "If none of those things were true, we would have never crossed paths. I wouldn't change a thing between us even if I could." He extended an arm to her and when she reached for it he wrapped his arms around her torso. He craved for the feel of her, to know she was in the safety of his arms.
He looked up at her standing form from his sitting position giving him a view of the stubborn strand that leaked onto her face again. He again pushed it back and looked straight into her face. Her features, though young, were rid of any trace of innocence he had seen in her when they first met at the beach. But he still saw the fire that burned in those amber orbs. Her golden locks had grown longer from the last time he had seen her, her complexion a shade darker from exposure to the sun, and there was a new tiny scar on the side of her head where the strand resided moments ago.
She was beautiful.
"You showed me everything that is good and worth fighting for in the world when I had lost hope. I love this country as much as you do and I will die for it."
She lifted her knees to the bed for support as she lowered herself to his eye level, successfully straddling him and resting on his lap. Her hands reached for his face clearing it from the mop of hair that required a proper trimming. Her fingers traced his eyes, nose, jaw.
He was breathtaking.
No words could decipher what she was feeling. They couldn't possibly convey the need she had to memorize every little detail about him.
As she caressed his face a thought suddenly occurred to him. He had never said it. It had always been implied, but they never said it to each other, there hadn't been any need, but now more than anything he wanted her to hear him say it.
"I love you, you know that right?" he breathed out.
Something inside her shattered.
She couldn't manage to speak with all the emotions twirling inside of her so she did the only thing she could think of to express her feelings. She pressed her lips to his. Desperate to savor every moment they had left. Her breath felt ragged and tears streamed down her face, but she didn't care anymore. She slowly parted needing to catch her breath. Their temples remained pressed to each other and she opened her eyes for a brief moment needing to see him.
"I love you too."
Athrun pried one of her hands away from his face and took a moment to study it. It was rough and calloused but more than that he noticed the ring he had given her neatly placed on her ring finger. It was a reminder of another promise he had broken. Unable to help himself he brought the hand to his lips and kissed the ring.
Someday she would wear another man's ring. She would share her bed with him, and bare his children. It was yet another thing he had to resign to and somehow that was harder than coming to terms with his death.
"You will make a beautiful bride someday," he said without thinking. She had that effect on him from the moment he met her. She made him act on impulse and forget everything else.
"Don't," she pleaded. She wouldn't say goodbye. She couldn't think of a life without Athrun.
"I don't want you to leave me."
This time he succumbed to his feelings. He pulled her waist to him and once more their temples joined. He lost the last string of restrain he had held onto. It would have been so much easier if he hadn't seen her, if he hadn't faced what he was really parting from. It wasn't his life, it was her.
The moonlight revealed his face smeared in silent tears. There was no shame in them. His gaze was defiant, it was the gaze of a soldier.
"I didn't want this," he confessed. "I dreamed of a life with you. I wanted to end this war and have our children live in a time of peace. I would have done anything to be accepted as your husband by your people."
At the mention of children Cagalli felt the knots in her stomach tighten. Children, hers and Athrun's. Another thing she would have to sacrifice for her country.
"But duty comes first," she repeated bitterly with fresh tears.
He nodded. "Yes, but not here, not tonight." His lips closed the gap between them with a kiss only to pause and breathe out two syllables. "Be mine," he murmured.
Despite herself, Cagalli smiled at Athrun's gentleman antics. "Always," she whispered back.
She wasn't done speaking when Athrun managed to shift their positions where she laid on the bed invitingly. He looked at her knowing that someday another man would see her and touch her like he had.
Cagalli graced her fingers to his face wiping away the moisture. "Always," she repeated, knowingly. A silent promise was made, she would always be his.
He pressed himself to her and together they forgot of the world existing outside their quarters because right now the universe consisted of only the two of them. Nothing else mattered. No one was going to take this away from them. The night belonged to them.
A/N: By the way the person that actually committed the crime would have been a carbon copy of Athrun. It would tie in with the other Gundam Seed Astray side stories of the same universe. I kinda started outlining the story but haven't gotten to writing it (not sure if I'll get to it). Hope you enjoyed it. :)