Author's Note: This story is indeed a dilemma for me, since it's been lying on my hard drive for ages, and it still hasn't turned into anything solid! I really want to get back into writing Gundam SEED and Destiny fanfiction, especially about Athrun, though I seem at a loss for words... literally! So, if you read this and you have some suspicions or ideas of your own regarding the plot, feel free to contact me! I would love to talk about it some more! Hopefully it'll jar loose some of my frozen creative writing skills! ^__^

friends dilemma

Lacus set a cup of extra sweet hot chocolate down in front of each of her friends. Kira accepted gratefully, but Cagalli was eyeing the brown liquid in her cup with a twist of her mouth that she was obviously trying to hide. Lacus did not mind. Everyone could not be expected to like everything she liked. With a knowing smile, she took back the cup of hot chocolate and replaced it with a steaming mug of black coffee. The sand-haired girl sent her a grateful smile. The green lawns of her garden rolled out as far as the eye could see, dotted here and there with cheery flower bushes and trees. A gentle wind combed lazily through the leaves around them. As she looked around the table, Lacus saw that all of her Hallo's were gathered, as well as Torii and its owner – it was never too far from Kira, after all – and Cagalli, who was stirring her coffee absently.

"My friends," she announced in her usual calm and collected voice, "I believe you know what I have assembled you all here for today…" Kira nodded with determination reflecting in his purple eyes, while Cagalli wore a serious expression. "Let us embark on our mission, and may we return successfully."

With that, she pulled the highly classified documents from an envelope that rested on the tabletop beside her own cup. Steadily, her slender hands unfolded the sheets of paper…

---

Kira rushed up to the front of the pale-walled building in front of him feeling a bit like he was dodging bullets. Any small sign could give him away, and though most people would not know what they were looking at, the danger of being spotted was great. With his heart pounding in his throat, he slipped inside. A cool gust from the air-conditioning let him breathe again. Though all eyes were on him, his hair in disarray, his eyes wide and sweat beading on his forehead, he was safe for the moment.

After taking a few more calming breaths, he crept up to the counter. The receptionist, a motherly woman in her mid-thirties, with close-cropped brown hair and a pretty face, was looking down at him from behind it with her eyes narrowed in genuine concern. Well, he must have looked pretty pathetic at that moment. Still, it made him a little uncomfortable, the way she looked at him like he was a lost little puppy.

"What can I do for you, honey?" she asked warmly.

"F-F-Four… please…" he stammered. He had been more nervous than he thought. But all it took was one pair of perceptive eyes in the wrong place, and everything was over. It would create a situation that even Lacus could not remedy.

"Four tickets?" the lady at the counter probed gently.

"Y-Yeah…" he whispered. "I believe you've already received the details. An e-mail codenamed ETERNAL…?" For a moment, the receptionist looked stumped. Then, after blinking a couple of times and frowning for an anxiously long moment, she nodded, smiling brightly.

"Oh! You mean the four tickets for that flight going to—"

"Shhh!" Kira hissed frantically, waving his arms in the air like a windmill. When the woman blinked at him again in confusion, he merely replied with a soothing gesture. "That's it, that's the one…" He fumbled for his wallet, pulled out a wad of paper money and stuffed it in the lady's hand. "No one can know, do you understand?" He tried to channel all of his desperation and determination into his eyes, hoping to relay how important her silence was. "No one."

"O-Of course…" she replied with a nervous smile, handing the tickets over to him like they had suddenly become four poisonous snakes instead.

He felt bad about scaring her like that, but it was entirely necessary. He decided to reward her with as much of a pleasant smile as he could muster, waving goodbye as he headed for the door. Once outside, his expression dropped back to that of a fugitive on the run. He darted for the taxi that was waiting for him around the corner, hoping against hope that no one had seen him.

---

A pair of caramel eyes regarded Athrun with a superior glare, rendering him unable to move. He tried a disarming little smile on her, but Cagalli's furious frown remained firmly in place. Even her spikey mane of sand-yellow hair bristled with anger. It was at times like these that Athrun wished he could just sink into the floor and pop up on the other side of the earth. The worst of it was, he was by no means innocent – she had every right to clobber him, although he doubted she would. At least... he wasn't entirely sure she would.

"What's the big idea, walking around like you own the place!?" she continued her rant. She had only paused to catch her breath, after all.

Athrun let out a miserable sigh, silently promising himself never to let Kira race him down a staircase ever again. Well, he could not exactly blame his best friend for the accident. Athrun should have been more responsible himself. It had started off as a bit of harmless boyish playfulness that inevitably converted itself into a reckless game of tag, resulting in Athrun twisting his ankle and tumbling down the stairs, bumping his head and breaking – guess what? – his left arm, again… Cagalli had been equally furious with both her twin and his bruised and battered childhood friend. Poor Kira had been near hysterical. Lacus had been calm and even oddly cheerful about the whole thing, but Athrun had written that off as typical Lacus behaviour.

He was still shivering at the unnerving image of Lacus, whispering something into the sniffling Kira's ear while smiling with glee, when he found himself being bullied back to the present, and his hospital bed, by a steamed Cagalli – yes, Lacus had insisted he spend at least a week in the hospital!

As the fierce princess pulled the covers up to his chin and nodded to herself in satisfaction, Athrun could not help feeling a little betrayed. He did not quite appreciate being treated like this, especially since there was really nothing wrong with him save for his broken arm and half-recovered ankle. The girls did not seem to see it that way, though, and Kira just went along with them like a sheep. Why the hospital staff had even admitted Athrun in the first place, still remained a complete mystery. Well, Lacus had friends in strange places. Worst of all, whether he needed the rest or not, even if he had been terminally ill, Athrun thought he would sooner die of boredom in this hospital room than of any other disease he was ever likely to catch. One could only read so many magazines before sorely starting to miss your own room, your own bed and your laptop.

"Who knows," Cagalli was saying in a slightly gentler tone, "maybe they'll let you out earlier… If you'd just stop wandering around and keep your stubborn ass in your dumb bed!"

Well, the first few words had sounded more gentle, anyway.

"What are the others doing?" he asked in as neutral a tone as he could manage, considering the strenuous circumstances. This time, Cagalli's monster of a frown slipped just a little bit. She rectified that with a quick shake of her head, but not quick enough for Athrun to miss.

"Errands…" she mumbled a lame reply.

She was hiding something. She and Kira, and Lacus too. In fact, Athrun could not recall seeing any of the three together after being confined to this horrid hospital. When visiting hours came, only one of them appeared at the door, scolded him if he had left his bed, brought him something to eat or drink, then promptly left again. It was like they were taking turns to keep him from becoming suspicious, all the while rousing the very suspicions they seemed to fear instead. What was really going on? Why had Lacus been so excited about an excuse to get him out of the way? Were they enjoying themselves out in the world while he sat here in a vacuum of boredom, unaware even of what day it was…?

"I'm sick of this," he said finally. "I'm going home. I'll be fine by myself."

For an instant, another guilty look ghosted across the obstinate girl's features, only to be replaced by another stone-faced frown.

"Absolutely not! You cannot leave the hospital!" she insisted.

"Cagalli! Don't tell me you're afraid I'll twist my other ankle and break my other arm while sitting peacefully in front of my computer?" Normally he found it sweet and endearing that she chose to fret over him, but this was getting utterly ridiculous.

"Wow, look at the time!" Cagalli chirped suddenly. "I better get going before the nurses throw me out!" She hopped to her feet with such optimistic cheerfulness that he might have mistaken her for Lacus if not for her decidedly boyish clothing. When he blinked at her in concern, she merely plastered on a smile. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I brought you these – thought you could use a break from the bland hospital food!"

Athrun had to clamp his jaw shut to keep his mouth from falling open like a broken cat flap. Firstly, because she had no idea just how bland the food was to speak so casually of it, and secondly, because he thought she knew that he disliked jelly babies… With an annoyed sigh, he settled back onto the huge pillow with no choice but to watch Cagalli race out of the room as if the nurses were already at her heels. She was acting so strange… Was she even Cagalli at all? Or had his friends been kidnapped by aliens and replaced by spies from another world who just looked like them? He was sure that was not the case, but Cagalli's behaviour still bothered him. He caught himself glaring at the jelly babies, as if the brightly coloured bag of jellied sweets were somehow to blame for his misery. Well, they were at least partly at fault…

---

Cagalli was out of breath by the time she reached her pink-haired accomplice's limousine. She sagged into the backseat and tried to salvage at least some dignity before meeting the blue-eyed gaze of PLANT's most famous songstress.

"All went well?" Lacus's melodious voice asked from the seat opposite hers.

"I think the poor guy's going crazy in there…" she admitted grudgingly. She did not add that Athrun was not the type of person you just left to himself. Lacus knew that. "He looked pretty stressed out to me. I feel sorry for him."

"Well, now," Lacus said levelly, "this is for his own good. He will have to remain where he is, at least until we have matters well in hand."

"I know…" Cagalli sighed. "It just feels like we're betraying him or something, doing stuff like this behind his back."

Lacus looked up with a patient expression on her perfectly placid face.

"Try to see the whole of it," she replied. A seriousness had crept into her tone, and Cagalli suspected that she did not mean to be doubted any longer. "We cannot back out now, not so close to the conclusion…"

"You're right," Cagalli groaned. She leaned back in her seat and tried to gather her thoughts, but Athrun's exasperated expression kept intruding on them. "Poor guy... I wonder if he'll understand..." She only just managed to keep herself from adding "even after he sees the whole of it". Even though this was for his own good, Athrun never liked the thought of other people taking care of things for him.

To Be Continued...

Hopefully! ^^;

Another Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading this piece through to the end despite the fact that I mentioned above that it's unfinished and I'm totally stuck on the plot! I really appreciate it!!!

What do Athrun's devious little friends have in store for him? Are they simply playing a prank on him? Is there truly something dangerous that Athrun needs to be protected from? Or were they really just kidnapped by aliens?

I'd love to hear your take on it, so contact me if you have any spare ideas!!! ^0^