The sound of the wind is my medication
The night is my enlightenment
People are my happiness
I have all, but the pain stays
I have all, but the cures
Do I choose the wrong path?
Where there is everything, but you
It has been years, my love
I miss you
Re:Encounter
.
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People are happy and she is the happiest person in this world to see them happy. The fortune has come to her and her people's world, where there is nothing, but happiness in front of them; children playing, parents laughing, and elders loving each other under their white hair. Despite the light on her face, people still see the dark in her eyes. Her dearest friends are arguing whether Cagalli is truly happy. Though Cagalli has them reassured that years before, even this year, she is the happiest person in the world.
"A person's feeling is only that person who knows."
That is what she has been telling her friends when they have the occasion to ask Cagalli what she feels all this time. They are, of course, getting more worried every time they hear Cagalli says those words. Nothing clearly comes from Cagalli's mouth these days. She always tries to reassure people with her words, like what Lacus does, but it feels weird. That impulsive red shirt girl who fought in the desert becomes a calm and respected woman in a young age. People know this is the result of her experience all this time when she has to face people with authority and rule the nation. Even so, her words, don't they feel like she is hiding something? They always hope that everything she has been hiding isn't something big. They wish that she could open up and say her true feeling like she is before. They wish.
Now the woman is standing on the podium, giving another proud smile to her people as she congratulates the anniversary of Orb. Our Lioness smiles beautifully and talks carefully in front of the people who love her. Kira gives a little smile from the front seat, looking at his beautiful and charming twin talking on the stage. He hears people clapping as she finishes her speech and goes down from the podium. She sits beside Kira, while Kira gives her his best smile and a small pat on her shoulder.
"A little hot today, huh?" Cagalli speaks out of the blue while still looking at the stage in front of her. Sweats are going down to her cheeks, but she tries to keep her face cool in front of everyone.
"They say it's going to rain this evening."
"Oh, really?" Kira nods and offers some tissues for Cagalli to wipe the sweat on her face. "Thank you."
"Kira, did you ever think that we could have this peace after all those things we went through?" Cagalli sees people in her surrounding cheers for the air force attraction on the sky.
"Why didn't I? Of course, I did." Kira keeps his straight face to not to make any commotion to people because his and Cagalli's face have been on the big screen for a while. "You used to be one of those dreamers who wanted the peace so badly."
"That's… yeah. That was years ago." She smiles. "Should I go back to that time?"
"You are talking nonsense right now." Cagalli laughs as he gets flustered by her sudden weird question.
In the middle of their talks, a guard approaches Cagalli to inform her that she has to attend another schedule and has to say goodbye to Kira. They shake hand and don't forget to hug each other before they go. Despite all, they are still sibling. This kind of gesture is normal for them.
"See you and take care."
Cagalli walks to the car with the other guards, leaving Kira in the crowd. It has been like this for many times and it's become normal. What isn't normal is her expression that is weirdly calm, like she can explode whenever her time bomb stops ticking. For people who see the present Cagalli, her expressions and gestures are not weird at all. Those are how a leader should act and of course, he is proud of her. The strong-willed woman he met at war is still there anyway. Plus the burning fire still keeps her heart away from the cold, the fire that saves her from the pain of losing her loved ones.
Even though he knows that he still worries about her. He worries that the pressures of being the leader of a nation have put out the flame in her heart. The only way he can help her is keeping her warm and feel at ease whenever she is with him, but it is not easy. It's not easy since that guy quitted being in Cagalli's side and went back to Plant.
"That idiot!"
The struggles of being a Cagalli's love, while both of them being the nation's highest rank is way too much. In fact, Athrun is still a coordinator. The hate on coordinator is less likely to be seen, but it's still there. The conservatives don't want those, other than Athha bloodline or other imperial families, to rule the nation.
This, of course, has lit up the fire. People talk about them, both the goods and bads. There are also people threatening them like they are some kind of insects who bring bad luck to the nation. So, the only way to stop the talk was whether Athrun quit being in the politic world, or quit being Cagalli's closest person. Maybe Kira could give him a hand with some advice, but he never asked him. Athrun and Cagalli are grown adults; they have their own ways of making decisions and Kira shouldn't bother on their decisions. In the end, Athrun chose both of the choices and went back to Plant. That was such a great idea which made him wanted to curse at Athrun and throw him to the deepest ocean. He is indeed a fool. A fool is still a fool and that fool is his friend.
His phone rings in his pocket. He reaches for it. Even without seeing the caller id, he knows who it is, Lacus. Before at home, Lacus had made him a promise that he would call when he is with Cagalli, unfortunately, he broke the promise. He thought, giving excuses can't solve the problem, so he just apologizes to her. She knows how busy Cagalli is anyway.
ooo
A man in black opens the door for Cagalli as she arrives in front of a big white door. Inside, the huge room is full of the parliament members who are ready to spill every problem they have to the table. The noisy room becomes silent after Cagalli comes in and sits down on her chair in the middle of the room. She takes a bundle of reports from her secretary and skims it to remind her of what she has been reading the previous night. The meeting starts after Cagalli makes the signal to open the meeting.
One by one the parliament members reports their development on their task regarding the nation, starting from the economic development to maritime. Those reports are important for Cagalli to make a decision in developing Orb to be a better and greater nation. The other four noble families are there to make sure Cagalli's decisions are well balanced with their ideology as Orb. She listens to the report carefully while her secretary writes it down on a note for Cagalli to review it again later at night.
All is good for her until she hears the conflicts that are happening in Orb. She knows this has been happening for a while, but she doesn't know that this conflict could be this long and worse; the racial conflicts that happened a while back, when people were accusing her to be the fool as she was dating Athrun, a coordinator. She thought that people in Orb were all okay with this kind of relationship, but no, they weren't. Even some of the noble families still couldn't accept the fact that Orb is a neutral nation with no racial boundary. This conflict is heated, again, for the n-th times and becomes worse after Orb opens the new regulation of immigration system. People from the other countries are coming, both to work and stay as Orb's citizen. Both naturals and coordinators are free to come to Orb, it's a neutral nation after all. The immigration pass for refugee also gives people a chance to question Orb's freedom rights. As if they are asking who get the priority in Orb. For Cagalli, it's Orb's legal citizens, but for those jealous people, it's only for those who are born naturally in Orb. This problem is something inevitable for a neutral country. Though the nation has the most suitable ideology, conflicts are unavoidable with that much of diverse people living in a country.
Further, those matters could probably bring a domino effect to some of other aspects in Orbs. The parliament table becomes heated and keeps on arguing on the matter. Some are giving the solutions, but of course, not all of them are agreeing on that. Cagalli still listens to the arguments thrown by people and she keeps on asking the members if there is another option on the solutions.
Cagalli once asked about the Orb's system change, asking them if it was good to break the political system and let the citizen chooses the people who they trust could lead them to a better society. But of course, this was refused by some of the noble families to the extent that they accusing her to get some influence from a third party. They said that the noble families worked to balance every regulation Orb had made. One could say that they represented Orb's ideology, but Cagalli doubts that.
The meeting ended at night with the problem left unsolved. Those need deeper research to not to disadvantage anyone. Or at least they could lessen the advantageous situation.
ooo
"Rest well, Lady Cagalli."
"Thank you. You, too, have a nice rest."
After the guards sent her home, she immediately goes up to her room on the second floor. Years ago, Athrun was the one who sent her home. He was the rudest guard she ever had. Where did you find a guard who sent you home until she was in bed? Only Athrun did that. He did that almost every day until he got a higher position in Orb. He became busier and calling him because of personal matters was harder. Moreover, both were busy.
To overcome their busy schedule, they had to set a plan on doing something together at least once a week, or at their busiest time, once a month. The plan went well, but when the tenth times came, news of their rendezvous was leaked. She wasn't bothered by their news being together, but people were talking too much that was beyond the fact. Some did know that she and Athrun had fought together in the war, but some didn't. They dug Athrun's past and accused him for spying and trying to take Orb from them and gave it to Plant. Furthermore, the fact that Athrun is Patrick Zala's son made an even more legit gossip among those people who hate the two of them together. They called Cagalli a dipstick because she was deceived by Athrun's charm. People were pressing her to do her job right, rather than flirting with a Plant man.
It became worse when her colleagues started to be affected by the news. They talked about her in her back, less respecting and the higher-ups were looking down on her more than they used to. She had a talk with both Athrun and her adviser, but she couldn't find any way out without making Athrun the victim. Athrun, on the other hand, was willing to sacrifice himself to give the best for Cagalli. She was, of course, mad at him for being that stubborn and too self-centered. She didn't want to hurt him again, but he was willing to be hurt by her. The implication of those was, as Cagalli thought, he didn't think about her feeling over him. Athrun tried to reassure her, saying that was okay for him, but heaven knew how stubborn she was. They got into a fight until Athrun made his decision alone in the midst of the chaos. Athrun was always like that. He never changes.
She unbuttons her jacket while her eyes peeking on the moon in the sky through the big window in her room. Though she is a bit disappointed and angry toward Athrun, he is still there in her heart. If she remembers right, they haven't been truly in contact for about five years. She knows Athrun's condition through Kisaka and her other close friends.
Haven't heard his news this month. What are you doing today?
She takes off his jacket and lies down on the couch with a table full of paper in front of her. She takes a bundle of document and read it when lying down. She hasn't finished reading the second paragraph, yet her mind started to be drowned in the thought of Athrun. Despite Athrun's disappearance, the chaos is growing even more. She realizes it's not merely about Athrun's existence that the chaos happens. It's because of the people, especially the higher-ups. Looking at how peaceful and wealthy Orb is, some of them become greedy over power. She has suggested the change of parliament order and somehow Orb's political system to keep the nation's regulation on track and to keep people's trust on the government. Yet, only God knows why more than half of the parliament members refuse it. They definitely oppose Cagalli's idea.
Cagalli's idea has raised an opposition group that less likely supports most of Cagalli's move, though it's for the sake of the nation. Her head hurts thinking about them. They really oppose her decision. They even threaten her to never talk about it in her speeches, because it can bring conflict she never wants. She throws a bitter laugh over their judgment. Of course, she never wants any conflict to rise, but she still gets that threatening letter. Fortunately, there are people that still support her, not for every decision though. At least they believe in her.
What would happen if Athrun were still here? He would support her, wouldn't he? She could never read his mind. He is too unpredictable for a man she loves.
She puts the documents in her hand above her face, yawning. Rather than the document in her hand, she is too busy with her thought. She can't split it into two. She feels really tired. She needs to rest somehow, but she hasn't finished her homework. She wants to resist her drowsy feeling, but her eyes win.
They are closed eventually.
ooo
In her half-asleep state, Cagalli can feel her surrounding shaking. She sees the clock on the wall that points out the time of 03.40 in the morning, in which she realizes that just sleeps for only two hours. She thinks that there is something wrong with her head or she got a headache, but no, she isn't. Her mind just wakes up when she sees the clock starts to move left and right. She gets up and, again, feels her surrounding shaking.
Earthquake?
She blinks her eyes several times, trying to focus her vision and gets up to reach her phone. She wants to reach someone to get information about what is happening. It might be an earthquake and she should take an action to reassure her people that it'll be alright. That's if her guess turns out to be true.
She hasn't got to reach her phone when suddenly lighting is seen outside. The weather seems fine and no trace of raining soon, but there is lighting outside her house. She opens the transparent curtain and opens her glass door to the veranda to see what's happening outside. It shocks her when she sees smoke surrounding her house. Her heart beats faster when she hears several explosion sounds. It bothers her to the extent she wants to jump out of the veranda to know what is happening.
She runs to her desk, taking her gun to defend herself from whatever things that might harm her. She goes to door to go out, but it's locked outside. She tries to open it hundred times, but fails the exact same time. It gives her chills that something bad is happening in her house. The door might be locked automatically for security reason. She leans her head on the wall, frustrated. How come she can't do anything? Her guard might be sacrificing their life to just protect her, while what she can do is hiding like this.
She tries to call her guard through the intercom, but she got nothing, only buzzes sound. Yet, suddenly, a fractured sound comes out of the intercom. The person is trying to reach her.
"La-" Cagalli focuses on the intercom, "dy Ca-galli."
"Yes." She answers immediately, "I'm here,"
"Plea-" It's buzzed again, "se hide. Hi-de in th-e saf-est plac-"
"Th-e gu-ar-d wi-ll co-m-e to sa-ve yo-"
The intercom loses its signal and goes off. Now Cagalli is a hundred percent sure that there is an attack to the house. The target is most likely to be her. No one here is worth the death just because of her. However, if she isn't doing what the guard has said, she will probably waste their sacrifice.
What to do?
She cries. She understands that crying won't change anything, but she is just too overwhelmed with the sudden attack.
Cagalli tries to stop the tears flowing out of her eyes. She takes a really deep breath to collect the strength to stop them from going out of her eyes. She closes them tightly, forcefully blocks them. She wipes her damp cheeks with her hands then hits them to wake her up from her negative thoughts. She doesn't want to be back to the weak Cagalli like six years ago when she couldn't do anything, but crying over her weakness. She is way stronger now and she has everyone's strength. They bless her with love and courage, so she has to give that back to them. Protect them from whatever or whoever wants to destroy Orb right now by targeting and attacking her.
She opens her eyes widely, still a bit damp by the tears, but they look more determined. The bright full-moon is reflected through her eyes, makes them glow like a beast who has no fear. She tightly grips on her gun, ready to storm towards every terror she meets.
But, where should she go?
There is no way for her to escape this room other than to jump off the balcony. It's quite high and she could probably die falling. The door has been locked outside and it might be unseen. The security makes it so that her room is hidden from any harm in case something like this happens. What worse is the door cannot be unlocked from inside either. That's one of the guard's strategies to keep Cagalli safe. They know, Kisaka knows, how rebel Cagalli is.
There was a time when this kind of attack happened. It was years ago, when Athrun was still in Orb, when they were still together, and he was able to protect her. That time, she insisted that she could protect herself from anything that could harm her, but Athrun always refused to go away and stubbornly insisted to be by her side. Athrun was really way more stubborn than he looked like. Yes, his stubbornness hasn't changed.
This is really not something to be proud of. If she doesn't have any guard like this, what can she do? She will die in her room if any explosion happens near her room. This is a ridiculous strategy to begin with, to be honest. If the terrorists are smart and only want her to die, they can just blow the room and make Cagalli die in her room.
While she is looking for the way to get out of the room safely, the door is knocked, loudly. Someone yelled calling her name.
"Lady Athha?"
"Yes!" She unconsciously answers to them, but the sudden thought coming to her. She thinks that that is strange for them to call and ask her whether she is inside or not. It isn't long after her talk with the guard from the intercom. They should have known that she is inside without asking.
"Stupid. That is probably the terrorists!"
Cagalli slaps his forehead for hundred times, realizes how stupid she is for answering whoever outside her room. Now they knock the door harder, trying to open the door forcefully.
She tightens her grip on her gun. She looks for a safest place to wait and attack them. While focusing on the door, she is startled by the sudden light blinding her eyes. Something is crashing her balcony and making a loud sound that is louder than the knock on the door. She squints her eyes, looking closely to what has crashed on to her balcony. She is quite to know what is in front of her.
A gundam.
The red gundam is dimming its blinding light, making it easier to see the gundam. The gundam opens its cockpit door and a man comes out of the gundam, a man with suit and helmet protecting his body. She starts to panic. It has been a long time for her to fight alone. It was always been Athrun, Kisaka, or other bodyguards who protect her from the enemy. Though her hands are trembling out of fear, she squats and opens her gun's bolt, ready to defend herself. However, before she shoots the man, the man opens the helmet. Her eyes widen seeing the man in front of her.
"Athrun." She mumbles in disbelief. She almost throws her gun on the floor, but Athrun holds it while smiling at her. That beautiful smile is something that she misses for a long time.
"How could you still not remember that throwing an open bolt gun could be dangerous?" He says with a soft voice, remembering the moment in their first meeting. He takes her gun and disables it.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Opposite to Athrun's soft voice, Cagalli suddenly yells angrily toward the man in front of her.
Athrun who isn't expecting her reaction is startled at first, but laughing later. She looks angry, but her eyes are glowing brightly, even shining in the darkness.
Despite people banging on the door, Athrun looks on Cagalli sweetly as if honey would drop out of his eyes. Her anger suddenly goes away looking at his mesmerizing gaze. It could probably draw Cagalli into him more. Cagalli can't take her gaze for minutes before she realizes that Athrun has changed his appearance; he cuts his hair short. She never sees his hair this short. Even in his childhood photos, it was always shoulder length.
She strokes his hair and moves her gaze to his eyes again as if asking for an explanation on the change she sees. Nothing comes out of his lips. He just gives her a smile that means a lot of unexplained things. Cagalli frown in confusion.
"I'll let you know later," Athrun says caressing her cheek. "I have to make sure you are safe first." He holds her left arm and pulls her toward his gundam.
"Where are you taking me, Athrun?" Cagalli asks weakly. She stays firm, not moving an inch from where she stands. She is still isn't sure with the reason why Athrun came and she has way bigger responsibility rather than only following her own desire. That's why she can't just freely following him, even she trusts him, even she knows she is in a dangerous situation right now.
"Are you one of them, Athrun?" Cagalli asks, half in doubt.
Athrun tilts his head while releasing Cagalli's arm slowly. His eyes look so sad reacting to Cagalli's question.
"This is the last thing I would like to do, Cagalli." His gaze pierces through Cagalli's along with the flashlight from a helicopter outside the manor. It seems that Athrun's gundam has been found by the radar or the nation's security guard has finally realized what is happening at the representative's manor.
"It would be really nice if we could meet in a more peaceful and beautiful place after all this time. Not a place full of chaos like this."
"Then," Cagalli looks down. Her eyes start to become damp again.
"Trust me, Cagalli." He reaches her arm, trying to reassure her. "I just want your safety."
"No." She pulls her head up, facing Athrun. "Just go, Athrun. You will be in danger. Those people are targeting me."
"I won't leave you."
"Athrun!" Cagalli's echo is almost unheard because of the broken door.
Athrun grabs Cagalli's hand immediately and pulls her behind him. On the open door, there are four armed men. Athrun frowns, not letting Cagalli to be touched by those men.
"Who are you?" Athrun asks. Cagalli looks on Athrun who is now focused on the men while holding her arm.
"It is who are you." The man answers, pointing his rifle to Athrun. "We are Lady Athha's security guard, and we are about to rescue her."
Cagalli tightens her grip on Athrun's hand. He peeks on Cagalli behind him in reaction to her grip on his hand. They don't need to talk to just know what the other is thinking. Only seeing the eyes, they can know what is happening with each other. And he is sure that there is something wrong with those men if Cagalli acts this way.
Athrun starts to move his eyes around the room. He is looking for a path where he can go to his gundam safely with Cagalli. He really avoids killing those people, but it'll be unfortunate if it's unavoidable.
One of the men shoots Athrun and Cagalli when they start to move their feet. Athrun becomes more alert because of this. His eyes are still focusing on the men while his body keeps on pushing Cagalli to go near the gundam. His gun stands by on his hand, pointing on the men.
"Go in." Athrun whispers.
"Bu—"
"NO BUTS!"
The men start to fire at them after Athrun yelled at Cagalli. He doesn't know if the men are on Cagalli side or not, but Cagalli's expression had told him something. He is distracting the men while Cagalli runs outside to the balcony. One of the bullets flies near her hand which makes her shocked, but she safely goes out of her room to the almost collapsed balcony.
"Athrun!" She yells, giving Athrun the signal to follow her outside.
She gives support to Athrun by distracting them with her shooting. She gets one of the men shot, three more men to be knocked down. No one knows that she has mastered her shooting skill, though it's not as skillful as Athrun. A second later, Athrun then knocks two men with his gun and hidden knife.
He only takes several steps to reach the balcony and goes to the cockpit. Yet, the man follows them in no time, still shooting them with hundred bullets in every minute. Cagalli is still hiding behind the wall even after Athrun is inside the cockpit. She can't get the chance to escape from her hiding place. Athrun shoots the man several times, but he dodges it the exact same time as Athrun's shoots. While the man runs out of the bullet, Athrun gives a signal to Cagalli to run inside.
It's Cagalli's turn to go inside the cockpit, following Athrun, but the man just pointing out his other weapon. A handgun. Cagalli stops halfway to the cockpit.
"Stop there or I'll shoot." He yells.
Cagalli stands still, does not dare to move an inch.
"Put down your gun, or I'll be the one who shot her." Athrun threatens him back. He reaches Cagalli slowly, cautious of the man's behavior.
The man shoots the ceiling which shocks both of them. Athrun who is now outside the cockpit tightens his grip on Cagalli.
"I SAID DON'T MOVE!" He shoots again. This time the gun is pointed exactly at both of them.
Cagalli's eyes widen as the bullet suddenly comes near her. Athrun pulls her closer to keep her safe. "It's okay, Cagalli." He whispers, reassuring her.
While Athrun is busy keeping Cagalli safe, the man raises his gun again and pulls the trigger in no time. Athrun quickly reacts to the attacks and counterattacks it with one shoot right on the man's heart. The last man is knocked.
Cagalli turns around, looking at Athrun who is still holding his gun. He finally pulls down his gun when Cagalli put her forehead on his chest. She can hear his heart beats faster. It has almost the same rhythm as hers, but his is slowly got slower.
"Cagalli," He calls her, "Let's go."
Hearing that, she suddenly is in a big dilemma. Though enemies have been knocked out and the nation's security has come with that helicopter, she feels that she should stay. As a representative, she can't leave the nation and neglect the things that are affected by this incident. She has to stay and take care of the mess in the manor and Orb. Tomorrow, she bets this will be really big news with the headline: Representative's Manor Attacked on the Day After Independence Day.
Those will be such a joke.
She looks up, gazes through his eyes. "Is it okay if I really go?" She asks, full of doubt. "Those who attack me have already lost. It's over and it's safe now."
"Cagalli," He almost gives up on Cagalli, "This isn't over yet." Athrun points out four bodies lay on the floor in front of them. "They are just four of them. There are still explosions every here and there."
"Ath—" Cagalli's word suddenly cuts off.
She is shot right on her abdomen by the man he'd shot earlier. Athrun is startled with the sudden attack. His hand reacts and quickly on pulls the trigger to kill the man that has already lost his last energy. His legs suddenly become weak but still holding on Cagalli's weakened body.
"Cagalli," Tears flow down to his cheek. "You have to follow me, okay?" He says to half-awake Cagalli. His hands are trembling seeing Cagalli's blood on his hand. He sobs. He has never imagined seeing her like this. He prefers to see him mad at him rather than seeing her like this.
"I'll definitely get you treated."
Cagalli smiles, but not answering.
"Cagalli, please don't die."
ooo
A/N:
Hello,
This is amirae!
I don't know if this good enough to be posted, but a little tmi about this story, I've been keeping this story for almost two whole years. I finally have the courage to continue the story and posted it here now.
Thank you for reading the story. Hope you are satisfied reading this long (unfinished) fic. I think I messed up in the action part. This is my first time writing something like this. If there are any inconsistency and confusion, please let me know. Will be glad to hear that! ((:
xoxo