Let the Rain Fall
By: Ryocha
A/N: This was written for the LJ community I'm in who have a seemingly good taste for Lockon/Setsuna. Needed to write something on 'em, despite it being pretty early in the series. Enjoy! Also, I understand I put this in the SEED section, so don't review me going "lawl, nub go somewhere else". Until a proper section is established it will stay here unless someone above me says otherwise.
The rocky outcrop of jagged stones barely protected the iron monster lithly streun out beneath its overhang from the sheets of freezing rain. Their droplets would splash onto the slick metalic surface, illuminating its impact zone for a mere second, only to blink out like a firefly's light and dissapear down into the dark abyss of the creases and drop offs in the hydrolic joints.
These minor details outside of his Gundam were oblivious to Lockon Stratos, his eyes half-lidded as he listened to the soft drumming of the rain through two meters worth of metal and mechanics. The damp atmosphere from outside, muggy and hard to breath in, had sunken into the roomy cockpit from leaving the hatch open for an hour. It had coated everything, from metal to exposed skin, in a warm blanket of dew.
Suddenly, breaking the silence was the cracking of the radio coming to life. The Irish man already knew who it was without a doubt, "Lockon." The voice on the other end said monotonously.
The statement of his name didn't catch him off-guard, "Yeah, Setsuna?" He replied back smoothly while holding down the communcation button which let a wireless airline open between Dynames and Exia.
The reply was fast, "The proposed time for our mission has been changed, and we're to be picked up in half an hour for our briefing of the new mission."
Straight-to-the-point Setsuna, never straying outside of his orders. It was something Lockon was becoming accustomed to, replying back with his usual laid-back attitude, "Alright, bring your Gundam down to where I am, Coordinates E7, P3, D6."
"Roger."
A sharp beep and their communications were cut. Lockon sighed, letting his body slide back in his cockpit and cross his arms behind his head. So their opening mission had been stalled; to be truthful he thought it had been too early for Celestial Being to make a debut, since the small privately owned faction had been established only eight months previous. Or atleast that had been the time when he was recruited and begun his simulation training with Dynames.
Upon thinking of the past, Lockon remembered how Setsuna had treated him. Somehow he had been even more cold and enclosed than he was now, always tredding around the halls silently and never accepting anyone's kind gestures with an equally warm response. Even now he didn't do anything of that sort, but the chocolate-haired man felt Setsuna's relationship with him had changed from aquaintance to working colleague.
Of course, Lockon being Lockon, he would always tease the younger boy occasionally when the situation called. The joke was never received well, or rather it was never received at all. He hoped one day he could make the boy crack a smile, if even for a second. It had become somewhat of a personal mission to him.
A sudden loud bang that echoed through the metal encasing brought him back to reality. Exia had settled down nicely next to Dynames, it's metalic skeleton lying on its back beside the sniper Gundam. Lockon sighed loudly, crossing one leg over the other and checked the atomic clock, built in to his suit's cockpit. It read 23:37.
Suddenly, a beep broke the silence. Started green eyes focused on the screen in front of him, reading the encryted message under his breath. Surely he wasn't reading this wrong, was he?
'Come outside.'
Well, he thought gingerly, it's not really a message. More like an order, but an odd order none the less. Setsuna calling him outside? How could he resist?
"Well, it's not like there's much else to do in here." He consented to himself out loud. With a smirk of anticipation, he opened the hatch and the once thundering sound of rain, he noted automatically, had died down to a light shower. The sun was setting to his right from what he could make out through the clouded sky, making the rocky land the Gundams overlooked seem unlrealistic, like from a painting he'd seen when he was young.
Glancing over to his left, he saw Setsuna perched on top of Exia's closed cockpit. He was lying down in a similar fashion his Gundam was, his eyes never blinking as he stared off into the glowing red sky.
"Oi, Setsuna!" Lockon yelled out, "What did you call me out for?"
Slowly, the younger boy turned to look at him with a fixed gaze. He raised one hand high enough so Lockon could see it and waved, as if beckoning him.
Slim brown eyebrows raised in question, however the Irish man was one who decided not to ask questions. He shrugged, and made his way over carefully, choosing his way around the rocks and scaled up the side of the sleek Gundam.
"Whew!" The green-clad spacesuit flopped next to a matching blue one, extending his body back against the cool surface, still slightly wet from the rain. Lockon casted half-lidded chocolate eyes to the raven-haired teen, still wondering what his intentions were for calling him over.
"Up there, look." A single arm extended above the smaller form, making a stark contrast against the blueish-black gloves and the bleeding red sky. A thin index finger pointed off into the distance, amongst the clouds that scattered like marbles across a golden backdrop.
Lockon gasped. There, up in the high sky, lied a perfect rainbow. Each colour was accented by the one next to it in line, making the sky ever more beautiful as a whole.
Chocolate brown eyes widdened as they took in the scene, everything around Lockon suddenly became hyper sensitive, as if he was feeling everything that was happening around him as he watched the influx of colours in the sky.
It dawned on him slowly that there was a warm body pressed up against him, shy and embaressed. Or atleast, he chuckled to himself as he wrapped an arm around the small body, that's what he wanted to enterpret it as. Setsuna, now cuddled into Lockon's taller, more muscular form had an unreadable expression on his face. However despite that, his actions countered his face and thus made Lockon believe otherwise.
"You know, you could have said something if you wanted this. I don't mind." He whispered into a tanned ear. A small shiver was sent down Setsuna's spine; Lockon could feel it from where his arm currently was.
But no answer was returned. Oh well, he didn't want to push it far. Giving a squeeze to the Arabian boy's bicep, he let conversation die down to nothing but the wind as they watched the rainbow dissapear into the heavenly sky, the pouring rain now nothing but a memory.
Setsuna let his head droop into the protective shielding of Lockon's chest, feeling whisps of chocolate hair scatter over his face. It calmed him down, just being like this. Hearing a chuckle from the older man, he let his maroon-coloured eyes close; If only the entire world could feel this peace.
Off in the distance, a solar elevator was outlined by the remains of a beautiful sunset.
-Owari