Between the Past and the Present
Chapter 1 - Misfortune
A brown haired young man walked towards the bed where a young blonde lady was sleeping. "Hey, wake up Cags!" he shouted as he shook her petite body. The blonde hesitated, "five more minutes, Kira…" she mumbled and continued to snooze. The brunette sighed "Okay, but I'm leaving, it's already 7:30" he said and left the room. Her ears twitched when he said 'it's already 7:30' and jumped off her bed.
"Ohmanohmanohman" she grumbled and got dressed. "I'm late! Ms. Badgiruel's gonna kill me, this is gonna be the third time I'm late this week" she said and ran downstairs to the kitchen as fast as she could. She grabbed a piece of toast then grabbed her stuff and ran for the door only to see the garage was empty, Kira and his car was already gone. Her jaws dropped open "He left me…again?!" she shouted in her mind.
"Now how am I supposed to get to school, no taxi ever comes here…" she sighed and started to walk, then a navy blue car pulled over next to her. She saw the familiar car and smiled gleefully. The window opened and an azure haired young man smiled at her "Running late again? Hop in" he said and she got in. She thanked the heavens in her thoughts. She thought that she was the luckiest person in the world to have a great boyfriend like Athrun.
They arrived at their college and also arrived at the sight of busy students. It was almost the end of the second semester so everyone's busy. Especially students like Cagalli, Kira and Athrun, they're graduating soon so they all have to finish their requirements, otherwise they'll have to repeat their senior year all over again.
"Cagalli! Athrun!" a magenta haired lady shouted and ran towards them, a pigtailed girl followed her. Cagalli turned around and smiled at the two girls "Luna, shouldn't you be at class which I was supposed to be late? Oh man…don't tell me I missed it??" she questioned worriedly while the pigtailed girl glanced towards her and giggled "Don't worry Cags, your class was cancelled, The instructors were called for a meeting. After all, this is the last day you'll have here before graduation" she said assuring her friend. She smiled and seemed really happy about the news "Thanks for the good news Meyrin. Your sister could've said the news earlier because we're in the same class and so I wouldn't be so worried" she said to Meyrin whilst glaring jokingly at Lunamaria. Athrun smiled at the sight of the blonde haired girl quarrelling over simple things.
Then two young men walked towards them. A tanned blonde haired young man and a platinum haired guy who seemed very grouchy, it was Dearka Elsman and Yzak Joule.
"So what's this meeting all about?" Dearka smiled. Athrun shook his head and smiled back at his friend. "Yzak and I have great news folks!" he said and tapped Athrun's shoulder, then Kira together with another brunette girl approached them.
"Hi Cags! Glad you made it here" he said teasingly, Shiho eyed him, she knew that Cagalli would immediately blaze madly. Cagalli, through Shiho's prediction is reliable – she is flamin' red and was about to curse her brother and bring him down until Meyrin calmed her down.
"So Dearka, what was the good news you were talking about?" Lunamaria asked excitedly, she was predicting that it could be about their graduation party. Dearka grinned at everybody and picked up something from Yzak's bag. He held up a poster of a beach resort "Ladies and Gentlemen, and Yzak, I present the destination of our graduation party. Yzak's mom is the co-owner of the resort so we're VIPs" he announced. Meyrin felt a little left out due to the fact that she was a junior. Athrun saw the faint smile on her, he tapped her shoulder and spoke to the others "Meyrin's coming too, right guys?" he smiled. Cagalli and Luna looked at them and gave out a big 'of course she is!'.
Meyrin looked at Athrun, he smiled at her and she smiled back with a hint of blush on her cheeks. She knew she had a crush on him. But that can never be let out, she thought. Her best friend Cagalli loves him and he loves her back. It wouldn't be right, she kept telling herself. Besides, she always believed that there would come a time that she could find someone for her like Athrun to Cagalli.
Sunday, Airport – 3 days after the graduation ceremony
It was the day of their flight. Everyone had smiles on their faces, even Yzak whose eyes were on Shiho. Well it was Athrun who didn't have a smile on his face, Cagalli and Kira were late. Seriously being late runs in their family, he thought. "Finally! The twins are here! Don't you two know the word 'on time'??" Lunamaria said eyeing Cagalli who smiled and sweatdropped then pointed to Kira. "Well that's enough, you can beat down each other later when we're there. C'mon you guys" Shiho said and pulled her suitcase.
Cagalli sighed and smiled at Shiho and grabbed her suitcase. "May I?" said a soft voice who made her tingle. "Of course, Athrun" she smiled. She walked pass him and faced him with a cheerful smile on her face. Athrun raised a brow and wondered what silly thing she's going to say. "Did you worry again, worrywart?" she teased and continued to walk backwards. "Well I'm used that you and your brother are always late at times like this and that it would be a miracle if you were early, but, yes…I did worry" he replied and she laughed. "I knew it, you're so predictable" she said and teased him again. "What? You know that I'd be uneasy if you're still not here" he said and flicked his finger on her forehead. "Nah…I didn't mean you we're predictable that way…" she answered back and moved his hand away. He gave a wondering face, she smiled at him and spoke "I meant that you worry a lot because you love me that much." He was surprised by her answered but was glad by it. "Yeah…and if there is something that would happen to you, I won't stop 'till I know that you're safe and sound with me" he added. She blushed because of the things he said but she was happy even if he was a little paranoid.
Meanwhile… on their island destination (the other side of it, actually)
"This is absolutely not fit for a hotel" a man pointed at the hotel's manager, the hotel's staff gritted their teeth and held back their anger that were about to explode. The manager apologized, sweat falling from her forehead. Every hotel manager and staff hated Yuuna Seiran, he was a hotel inspector and would shut down a whole hotel just for a simple disarrangement. The manager apologized again, holding back the annoyance that came from the violet haired inspector.
Every staff gathered around to make sure that the inspector sees what he wants, but what they did isn't enough to please him. A raven haired young man hurriedly ran towards the staff. He wondered what was going on. He stopped and stood by his friends. "What's going on here?" he asked. The pink haired lady beside him spoke "It's Mr. Seiran again…it seems like this is his favourite hotel in town" she sighed. He scratched his head and glared at the man who was lecturing their manager. "If it was right to kill a hotel inspector, I'd probably killed that one a long time ago" he mumbled and tightened his fists, "Shinn don't, he might hear you" his other friend Rey mumbled to him, he too was thinking the same thing as Shinn, but that was impossible. "Lacus, what's his problem this time?" he asked. "He said we're one employee short" she answered and gave out a sigh.
"We're terribly sorry Mr. Seiran, but one of our staff has retired just a month ago, we're still looking for someone to replace her, I'm pretty sure we could find…" the manager was cut off again by Yuuna, he pointed at her again "5 days!" he said and looked at the staff, giving them a devilish smile. "I'm sure you can find an appropriate person in 5 days, or else…" he gave out a laugh and walked out of the building.
The manager gave out a big sigh and sat down on a chair next to her. Lacus gave her a sweet faint smile and a glass of water to give her assurance. Shinn tapped her shoulder "Don't worry Miss Murrue, I'm sure we'll find somebody…" he said, but the fact is that it's impossible, due to the large hotel next street, they've started to give the locals jobs that would surely top other hotels' employees' salaries.
Meanwhile…
"We're here!!" Lunamaria shouted with joy, when they went outside of the airport, the fresh summer breeze greeted them. A taxi pulled over which then sent them to the hotel they were going to check in.
They arrived at the destination, a luxury hotel awaited the group. Luna's eyes twinkled as she saw all the classy things that she always wanted to experience. Cagalli pinched her cheek to get her head out of the clouds. "Aww! What was that for??" she said touching her cheek which her friend pinched. Three maids greeted them and led them to each of their rooms. Each room had two bedrooms. Cagalli and Shiho shared one, so did the Hawke sisters, Athrun and Kira, and then Dearka and Yzak.
Cagalli opened the windows and saw a remarkable view, then something caught her eye, All-terrain vehicles, she gave out a grin, dragged Shiho out of the room and called out everybody. "Hey what's the matter?" Kira peeked out of the room's door. Cagalli smiled at her brother and pulled him out of the room "I've always wanted to ride those things" she said excitedly, dragging him to the elevator, the others followed and wondered what she was up to this time.
Cagalli pointed to the ATVs, "Woah, good idea, let's race" Dearka said and whistled he picked out a camouflage designed ATV, "This one is a beauty" he smiled. Kira shook his head "I don't think this is a good idea…it's dusk, too dangerous" he said and crossed his arms. Yzak smirked "Hey Yamato, you scared?" he spoke out and laughed. Kira rolled his eyes, guess Yzak's competitive spirit never dies, he thought and replied "You're going down Joule" he smiled and picked out a white on blue ATV. Luna giggled and picked out one herself.
They all went to the road which went up hill, Athrun and Meyrin were left so that they can tell who is the winner. They all started the motors and started to go faster and faster. Meyrin watched as the sun started to set, "They're all gone, running like the wind" she smiled, Athrun nodded. Then one of the grounds keeper approached them, wondering why six ATVs have gone missing. "What's wrong, I thought we were allowed to use any hotel property here?" Athrun asked, the keeper explained that some of the vehicles are still under repair. The two were shocked, their friends could be in danger. "Good news" the keeper said, the two were relieved until he continued "The five other are in good shape, except one" he said and mentioned a pink on red schemed ATV, which Cagalli was currently using. Athrun's whole world was shaken, he got himself a working ATV and hurriedly went after Cagalli. Meyrin was shaking and was just stood out, staring at the road "Cagalli, be careful…" she whispered.
Cagalli sped up as Yzak just passed her, she was third, Kira was leading. She smirked as she saw Dearka on the side mirror. She sped up again towards a curve. She tried to hit the brakes so that she could turn, but the brakes aren't working. She tried and tried but she still wasn't slowing down, her eyes on the handle bars. Dearka went pass her "See you Cags!" he smiled and sped up. She faced the road and saw railings she turned but another curve was ahead, it was all so sudden.
CREEEEK BOOOOMM
Dearka heard the crash and pulled back, he saw that the railing on the end of the curve was broken, Cagalli, he thought that made him shiver "NO…" he said as he looked down, a cliff, 50 meters down the sea and very sharp rocks. Shiho saw him and later Luna. They all saw the ATVs' floating debris, Cagalli was gone. Luna began to cry and Dearka called Kira and Yzak. Kira was shocked, he just sat down on the road and stared blankly at the horizon, tears began to fall from his cheeks. Then Athrun arrived, all of his fears have come to life. "NOOO!!" he shouted and went towards the broken railing, Yzak and Dearka pulled him, he was shouting her name. But it was pointless, because she couldn't answer back.
They went back to the hotel, they were all full of grief. Two police cars were in front of the main gate, Dearka's phone call to the police station sought help. Meyrin ran towards them, her eyes were full of tears "Where is she?! Please tell me she's alright! Please…" she said as she saw Kira and Athrun tear-stained and her sister was weeping while Shiho comforted her. "She's still alive, I just know it" Kira said "We'll find her" he added.
Three days have passed but there was still no sign of hope that Cagalli would come back, search teams still can't find her nor her body. News have gotten back home, Uzumi, Cagalli's adoptive father could not sleep with the news of his daughter missing. Mana, Cagalli's nanny cried every night, missing her. The police declared she was dead, but Athrun could feel that she's not, he and Kira would still search for her, even if it would take forever.
On The Other Side of the Island
Shinn walked on the shore of the beach kicking a can, he was in deep thought "3 days have passed and still no one…" he said to himself and sighed. He walked farther and farther until he saw a small cave on a cliff. Memories rushed in his head, it brought him pain "Stellar…" he whispered. He saw a figure floating ashore, he got anxious and walked towards it. But what surprised him the most is that it wasn't something, it was someone. A blonde girl who looked badly hurt. He was shocked, he thought she was dead he leaned down to ensure she was dead. He placed his ear on her chest.
BA DUMP BA DUMP BA DUMP
Heartbeat. She's Alive.
End of Chapter
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