A/N: Set after Gundam Seed Destiny.

Chapter 1. Two weeks after peace

Even at 0500, Athrun Zala was tired. He had just finished reading the status reports and defense and arms inventory of every colony in PLANT. He was only eighteen and yet he felt like he was forty years old. Eighteen and he was already part of the Supreme Council, in charge of security along with Yzak Jules. PLANT was still in limbo whether to have another Chairman or not, since the two persons who previously held the position weren't very ideal, he thought somberly. The Council was supposed to decide as a majority, which meant that the PLANT delegate to the negotiations consist almost half of the ruling body. Athrun had wished his office was in his home instead of being an hour away, but Meyrin Hawke would have none of that. She wanted the house to be a sanctuary of comfort, a place where Athrun could relax.

And yet the laptop in his bedroom seemed forever turned on. As he loosened the collar of his dark blue uniform and sat in the office-like chair—he had made sure it was ergonomically designed that way—Athrun wondered when it would finally give up on him.

On cue, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and egg toast wafted into his nostrils. There was a knock on the door before it opened and revealed a girl with pigtailed red hair.

"Breakfast!" Meyrin said with a cheery smile, propping it next to Athrun's laptop.

He smiled back, a bit ruefully, "Thank you, for the breakfast and the reports. It was very organized."

She beamed, "Oh, you're welcome. It isn't so hard once you already know what the terms mean. What time should I say you're available for work again?"

"Two hours should be fine."

"Alright, I'll tell them you'll be available at 0900," Meyrin said as she left for the door.

"Meyrin, that isn't—"

"Even robots need their cooldown and maintenance periods you know," she said right before she closed the door, "Get some rest, Athrun."

He let out a sigh and reached for the toast. Meyrin was a really nice girl…an incredible girl actually. Not only was she an excellent hacker, a talent that she still occasionally used these days, she had also become his secretary and housekeeper. How she found the time to be doing all of those, he had no idea, but he was very grateful. She had saved his life before and she was still taking care of him now. He had told her once that she shouldn't be indebted to him; she didn't have to stay with him if she didn't want to. But Meyrin insisted on it, she had promised to take care of Athrun.

His laptop beeped. He quickly chomped on his toast and clicked on the incoming e-mail. He had around forty unread messages, a mail from Yzak's secretary about the state of the troops, another mail from an ambassador regarding the arms reduction, an e-mail from Meyrin reminding him about the next round of negotiations and his appointment with the tailor, three invitations to parties, another invitation to speak at a military forum, a request to intervene at an intra-colony disagreement… it was endless. Sure he had an office account, Meyrin took care of that one. But there were a lot of people who also knew his personal account.

The newest one, though, made him smile a bit. It was an e-mail from Cagalli Yula Atha, a reply of the message he had send twenty-four hours ago. Transmission from PLANT to Earth and vice-versa was ridiculously slow. It was a new model, built specifically for communications in between the negotiations. Voice communications was technologically impossible at the moment. Video transmission was hardly inconceivable. If he had the time, Athrun would've probably tinkered with the problem and bring about a solution—made even easier with Kira Yamato's's help. So they were on textual communication, which wasn't even in real time. Right now, it was a luxury—an access limited only to the heads of government. For a moment, he thought it was a bit lucky that both he and Cagalli were both government, but it tasted bittersweet. If the others knew that he was using the line for personal communication, they would've been furious but he could always reason that he was checking on the state of the Orb Union. How convenient.

It took ten hours or so for Athrun to receive her e-mail, and he knew it was probably the same at her end. He would send her a message, which she would probably receive and check the next day. Athrun would likely receive her reply the day after that. It started since the day he left, yet again, for PLANT when the war was over. He could not complain, it was the only way they could communicate.

He read the e-mail absorbing every word. Lacus Clyne was still sick and still comatose, he noted. It had been two weeks and there was no improvement on her condition. Cagalli said that at least she wasn't dead, but Kira was still very worried. They still could not find any cause for the illness. Given Lacus' position in the negotiation, it was likely that someone purposely made her sick or something. But they could not prove that yet.

Kira send his regards, Cagalli said. He said that Athrun should propose the destruction of all superweapons, including the remaining Gundams. It was better that way. Cagalli said she wanted that too, she really did, but she knew that it would be difficult. She really did want the complete and utter obliterations of such things; it was the only way to sustain peace.

Athrun said to his laptop monitor, "That's impossible, you should know that already."

Cagalli continued to tell Athrun in her e-mail about her duties. Shinn Asuka wasn't the only angry person in Orb who felt their government ruined their lives during the two wars. Cagalli admitted she wasn't very good at soothing people like Lacus. Cagalli had wanted to yell at them, saying she had lost a lot of things in the war too. It was hard for her, she admitted, it hurt. It hurt to admit to her people that she knew what they felt, and they would stare at her with disbelieving and angry eyes. But she had to bear it, Cagalli continued, she was Head Representative of Orb. She would be strong.

In the next paragraph, Cagalli then told Athrun not to be so doubtful of Yuel Seiran, the Orb representative and temporary mediator in the negotiations. She told Athrun he was completely different from Yuna, and that Athrun should know by now that distrust was what brought people to fight with each other.

Athrun scoffed at that.

The last paragraph was about Cagalli wishing Athrun well. He read the last paragraph…one sentence actually, over and over, trying to glean more out of it. He knew it was ridiculous to overthink about it, and yet he could not help it.

Finally, he clicked the "reply" button and composed his reply. When he was done, it was 0600. He closed his laptop and dropped to the bed without even changing his clothes.

He dreamed of seeing Lacus' pink haro at his feet, the very first one he had made for his ex-fiancée. It kept bouncing at his feet, chirping random words. Several more bounced towards him, all the other haros he had made for the pink princess. All their combined chirping sounded like pink noise in his ears before Athrun realized that there were far too many haros around him that he could hardly see the ground. They kept bouncing and bouncing towards him. Athrun tried to escape, but his feet were firmly buried in a rising sea of multi-colored haros, all chirping random words at him. He heard someone call his name. Athrun turned around and saw Cagalli staring at him. Athrun stretched out his hand to her and called her name. The haros heard him speak and copied him, cheerfully saying Cagalli's name. But Cagalli remained standing there, seemingly standing on thin air a few feet higher than the sea of haros. Why was she just standing there, looking at him? He stretched his hand even further, trying to reach her, but the haros were now up to his waist, "Cagalli!"

He tried his hardest to wade towards her, but one of the bouncing haros—a reddish pink one—hit him squarely on the chin and he fell back. They were covering his chest and neck now, their voices resonating in his ears, repeatedly saying Cagalli's name. Athrun tried to wave them away, but the number of haros simply increased. His eyes darted back to the girl staring at him, "Cagalli!" he said, stretching his hand towards her again, "Help me!" All of the haros repeated after him, saying "Help me!" He continued to stare at her eyes, understanding nothing, until the sea of haros buried his arms and blocked his vision, and all he could hear were a hundred cheerful voices asking for help.

Athrun immediately opened his eyes. He was back in his room. He shut off the noisy haro alarm clock beside him, which said it was already 0900. It was time to go to work again.

oooooooooooo

Yuel Seiran's similar appearance with his cousin, Yuna, was ridiculously uncanny. And yet Cagalli thought they couldn't be anymore different. For one thing, everyone liked Yuel. Orb had doubted him naturally, he had the Seiran name. He wasn't very much known during the two wars, but he had served as Orb's deputy ambassador before. How he was able to solve that terrorism crisis in the Orb's west coast that happened a few months after the Second Battle of Jachin Due, Cagalli didn't know. But the important thing to the representatives was that Yuel could deliver results.

He was grandiose, at least he had that similarity with Yuna, but he a very eloquent speaker—much to Cagalli's chagrin. She could raise a resistance and she could heighten the morale of her soldiers before a battle, but in the midst of a battle, she could do nothing—as it was cruelly proven to her with the sacrifices of the Masamune squadron and Captain Todaka. But Yuel…Yuel was respected by the Orb troops. It was unusual for the army to like a pure-bred politician, Kisaka had said, but it was different from Yuel. Kisaka said he respected the troops. Yuel Seiran listened to their opinions and in turn, they listened to his. How easy it was for him to make them do what he wanted, and yet it took Cagalli years to do the same thing herself.

So no one really objected when he was chosen as Orb's representative and temporary mediator in the PLANT-EA negotiations.

"These are your plans for the first round of negotiations?" Cagalli raised her eyes at the sheets of paper before her.

"Of course we all want the terms of peace quickly done and dealt with," Yuel said as he sat at one of the comfy chairs in her receiving room, "But we don't want them all grouchy at the negotiation table, don't we? They must be in a good mood or they will be stubborn like the old men that they are."

"Not all of them are that old," she resigned, "But two parties? Do you have any idea how little our budget is right now?"

"Commencement and culmination, Cagalli. We must make sure to seal the deal. I'm sure the Lady Lacus would agree. How is she anyway?"

"Kira said it's still the same. Investigation is on-going," Cagalli said before sighing loudly, "I don't get it. She's completely healthy. It's unnatural that she suddenly collapses like that."

Yuel picked up his drink, "So someone doesn't want her to be mediator between the three factions."

"Who exactly doesn't want to have Lacus as mediator? She's known to pursue peace. Why would they not want to do that?"

"Cagalli dear," Yuel said before he paused to return his drink, "Remember Junius-7. And not all people think war is a bad thing."

"Well, it's your job to make sure that doesn't happen again!" Cagalli shot back.

"You give a tall order, Cagalli. Arms reduction right after a war is very difficult you know, let alone two wars."

Cagalli's secretary entered the room. "At the very least, make them give up their superweapons. Don't tell me you can't do that," Cagalli said as she stood up.

Yuel stood along with her, "Give me a week, Representative Atha. I'll certainly do my best." He smiled with a little bow before leaving.

In a way, they were the same. He was only two years older than her and yet they ruled the country. It did not fail to escape her that her future could have been different if Cagalli had met Yuel first, instead of Yuna Roma Seiran.

But there was no use wishing for a different future now. The wars happened. Her father died. A lot of people died. And she was still Head Representative when the peace treaty was signed two weeks ago. She should be really happy. They were on their way to restoration…for real, this time. But now there was the situation with Lacus. It was terrible to collapse a few days after the treaty was signed with her as a witness. Both PLANT and the Earth Alliance, even citizens of Orb, threw their complaints at her. Orb security was shot as hell. She had been scared; war was threatening to erupt again.

Cagalli's secretary snapped her out of her reverie. The daily representatives meeting would start soon. Glancing at her paper, she decided the first agenda would be on the seven-day long security for the negotiations next week. That would be followed by updates on Lacus' investigations, then the updates on restoration followed by the revenue-raising projects. Those would have to be raised within Orb since international trade was difficult at the moment. As for the negotiation security… there would absolutely be no mobile suits. She had to become an example herself, right?

With that in mind, she squared her shoulders for a long and grueling session, and walked towards the conference room. Her secretary had closed the door after her when the computer in the room beeped, announcing an incoming e-mail.

The representatives meeting quickly centered on the theme of the negotiations. Half of them wanted both PLANT and EA factions to destroy their superweapons and Cagalli was inclined to agree.

Representative Hayate interrupted, "I thought Orb was a mediator here. Why are we laying down conditions?"

Another representative, Kotoki, piped in, "Both parties agreed to peace. There can be no peace, no rest, until there is an assurance that these terrible weapons will not be used. The only way to guarantee that is the weapons' destruction."

"They must be the ones to come up with that, not us," Hayate said.

"We will insist that it is a gesture of peace. Not only must they destroy these weapons, they must also destroy the manufacturing industries of such objects."

"They will ask us to do the same."

"Negotiations regarding our defense and weapons inventory will be done once the PLANT and Earth Alliance discussions are through," Kotoki said.

"Hold on," Cagalli said, "we should destroy our high-grade weapons too. Shouldn't we be a model for both PLANT and the Earth Alliance?"

"Representative Atha," Kotoki said, "we cannot have a weak display of military strength. They have doubted our ability to defend our borders and secure our civilians against harm before. We must prove them wrong."

"But…" Cagalli faltered.

Kotoki added, "How can they trust that their negotiations will be sealed and true if they cannot trust the security around them? Our neutrality has attracted them to recognize us as worthy hosts for such sensitive issues. We must not fail both of them."

"Don't worry," Yuel said to the representatives, "It will be the idea of both parties to reduce their superweapons."

It was already late at night when the meeting suspended its session. Cagalli was already dragging herself to the office bedroom, fantasizing about the cool sheets and the soft pillows when something bothered her. She rushed back to her office and saw she had two unread messages…both from Athrun.

The first one told her about his day…the difficulties of intervening with parties…fanatics of the first war and those of the second one. It was difficult, he said. Not many in the council trusted him. Even though he helped end both wars, the council could not overlook his repeated defections from one faction to another.

Cagalli snorted, "The only loyalty you ever had was to ZAFT and to PLANT."

It took time, he said, for people's wounds to heal. They cannot forget the horrors of war easily. The only thing Cagalli could do for them to ease their pain is to slowly make them understand what she had told him before…revenge begets revenge. Only if we forgive can we start to heal.

He said he was also concerned about Lacus and offered to bring a doctor with him when they arrive in Orb for the negotiations. And yet he told Cagalli she was being ridiculously naïve if she thought those superweapons and those Gundams would be truly destroyed.

Cagalli was annoyed. He knew firsthand what sort of destruction those things brought, and he was still defending to retain them?

Athrun ended his letter like Cagalli did hers. He wished her well. He hoped to see her in a week.

That really upset Cagalli. How dare he become so self-righteous like that? She was about to tell him how utterly stupid his words were when she remembered he had a second letter:

I realized just now that I made Birdy for Kira and those haros for Lacus, and yet I made nothing for you. What would you like?