Disclaimer: Gundam Seed series is not mine.

Fic-Writing on Request for Asucaga Day : Miss Peeps / Marci (sorry I'm late! Gosh... /running faraway/)

Impossibilities, non-sense and impracticality, applied. It's recommended to free your mind and don't think too much about the logical aspects in this story hehe...

Beware of the grammatical errors.

Athrun Zala rubbed his temples tiredly.

A sigh escaped from his thin lips as his eyes pulsating, the aftermath of staring the monitor for too long. He closed his eyes, momentarily trying to escape from the reality and delve into his own imaginations; Cagalli's lithe body against his back, long fingers rubbing his temples and her breath against his skin.

His eyes opened closely and met the pale pink ceiling, Cagalli was not behind him and the finger who had been massaging himself was his own.

Damn his imagination. Damn Cagalli for sending him to Plant in her place. Why couldn't she be with him, attending the damn meeting together?

'Oh, I have something urgent. Please Athrun..please~' her voice rang in his head and he grunted. Too many times, he fell for her puppy eyes and pouting lips tricks. That was it, Athrun Zala was a loser, Cagalli got him in her grasp. And now, he was in Plant, a meeting tomorrow on her behalf and he was 200% sure that he would suffer from boredom.

"You definitely should take a rest"

A soft voice echoed in the room and Athrun swivelled his chair to take a look at the once his fiancée, standing by the door.

"I'm resting" he countered before returning his gaze at his laptop.

"No you're not" Lacus Clyne walked towards his bed, well hers actually since Athrun decided to stay with her and Kira instead of the reserved room in the hotel arranged by the Orb government. The married couple didn't mind at all, saying that as he was going to be a relative soon and Kira was more than happy that Athrun was there, because at least he was there to watch over Lacus. His wife after all was in her trimester and he was in Earth for a military occasion. He was supposed to return today though.

The Plant's Chairwoman sat on the bed and placed her hands on the lap elegantly, and her legs were angled to the side, a posture of nobility. "If the computer could speak..," Lacus smiled, "She'll said turn me off and get some rest, Athrun Zala"

"The key point there is 'IF'" Athrun smiled but his lips slanting in a way that make him look cheeky.

Lacus laughed, "My my… I guess a coordinator can get infected too…"

"Excuse me?"

"I thought I was talking to Cagalli…"

Athrun smiled sheepishly, "There's a time I can be a rebel, Lacus"

"Hnn…." She hummed, her eyes shone and Athrun stared at her face. There was something in her mind, she was thinking but seemed like restraining herself from voicing it out. And this reminded him of Cagalli. That girl was never afraid to say what's on her mind that it made him worried sometimes. Her motivating words were the rainbows after the rain and her critiques were the flames from the deepest pit of hell. Cagalli was just direct, everything was a clear cut.

"A peny?" Athrun asked her.

"Nope"

"Alright, alright…" he sighed, "I'm going to rest, Lady Clyne"

Lacus flashed him smile of content and Athrun turned off her laptop.

"Kira asked about you, he's going to be here in a minute now, we can wait for him with tea and cookies"

His fiancée's twin brother arrived in Clyne's Manor just exactly after Lacus finished up her sixth cup of tea. And Athrun thought that there was a black hole in Lacus' stomach. Normal human couldn't possibly drink that much of tea, while his level of alcoholic tolerance was high, he was sure that could be drunk of Lacus' blueberry tea at the third cup, and there was no comment regarding the sweetness of Lacus' homemade cookies. All in all, he was glad that Kira arrived just on time to save him from the impending diabetes.

Kira curled his fist, extending it forward to Athrun and the latter curled his own and bumped it on Kira's. Lacus behind her cup's rim trying to hide a small scoff.

"I got good stuff to show you man," Kira said, patting his soon to be brother in law's back.

"Good stuffs?" Athrun chuckled, Kira sounded more like a high school kid who just found out adult videos.

Kira pulled out a chair and sat down comfortably, "Yes, I've been working on it before I went to Berlin"

"Tea Kira?" Lacus asked while pouring the tea into a cup.

"Thanks honey" Kira said before pecking his wife's cheek briefly. Athrun concluded that Kira and Lacus' cheesiness could get him diabetes faster than Lacus' tea.

"A…nyway, I managed to drop by at Orb and met Cagalli"

Athrun's ears naturally perked up at the mentioned of his fiancée's name.

"She sent her regards at you"

Athrun put down his cup, the tea now tasted plain on his taste buds. "That's all? Just a regard?"

"Are you expecting anything?", Kira's eyebrows arched upwards and Lacus started to giggle.

"Yes, a flying kiss or two"

"Get out. That's my sister you're talking about"

"Chill, we're not as cheesy as you two Yamatos", Athrun laughed. Sometimes he could feel that Kira still couldn't believe that his friend since Lunar prepschool was going to be his sister's husband. This was definitely unplanned. It wasn't like he befriending Kira back then because he knew what future stored for him. Things just happened that way.

"Right, whatever, finished your tea and come with me" Kira said with a grunt before munching his cookies.

At 7.30 pm, Athrun forced himself to walk towards Kira's underground lab, where the sound of buzzing could be heard faintly. Peeking inside the room, Athrun raised an eyebrow at Kira who had a google on his upper face.

"So, what's the hot stuff you're so eagerly wanted to show me?" Athrun asked, taking a seat opposite to Kira.

"Oh, Athrun..you're here! I thought you fainted in your room after Lacus' tea" Kira turned his back and grinned at him widely. He had casual shirt and denim pants on him that made him look like a kid who paint graffiti in the alley, a stark difference from his appearance as High General Kira Yamato of Zaft.

"Did I hear that as sarcasm on me… or Lacus?"

"Both" Kira chuckled, "Seriously, it's too sweet for me"

"Skip the chat, man. With all the buzzing in the room, I thought you're repairing the Genesis" Athrun glanced around in the lab. Everything looked like the mini lab they had back in prepschool, with the computers and tubes, white furnishing and a white board filled with calculations. The only thing missing was guinea pigs in the cage.

"This should be better than the Genesis" Kira showed to Athrun a flashy helmet that was attached by lots of wires, which extended from Kira's super computer.

"You want me to wear it?" Athrun asked jokingly and he froze in silence when Kira nodded at him.

"What the hell is this? At least you should explain to me what this thing is"

"Mwu and I went to the last of Ulen's lab" Kira started, his voice was monotone and his face stoic. The topic of his biological father was still touchy to him.

"Ulen's?" Athrun asked incredulously, "You said you got this from Ulen's lab? But I thought…"

Kira shook his head, "Everything was destroyed except this. We believe this thing connecting a person to a virtual archive".

Athrun nodded, encouraging him to continue and Kira stared into the ceiling, probably trying to hold in whatever he felt.

"I repaired it, found out that it wasn't even an archive, but more like Ulen's memory. Hate to approve his invention but this is quite…" Kira stopped himself. There is no way he was going to praise someone who put him in the artificial womb and separate him from his sister.

"So, me being here is to..?"

"I've made improvement, I want you to test it as second testimony"

"Who's the first?"

"Cagalli"

Athrun glared at the brunet, "You let your sister… Ki-ra..!"

Kira held up his hands in a defending manner, in case Athrun decided to throw the helmet at his skull, "She was the one insisted to try it! She thought she can meet Ulen and give him a punch!"

Athrun sighed, the twins were keeping secrets from him? First, Kira didn't tell him that he raided Ulen's lab and second Cagalli volunteered being Kira's lab rat? And what in the world was Kira thinking letting his sister to be in the test. Wasn't he afraid if something happened to her?

"Kira... I feel like murdering you now"

"Ah... I know... but you know Cagalli, she's being stubborn and I couldn't say no to her"

Even without him saying that he agreed, Kira handed him the flashy helmet and Athrun promptly examined it. There were several lightbulbs on it, making it look like something that a mine workers would wear, only that it was flashier. He doubted that the mine workers would ever want to wear one.

"This is not a good idea" he mumbled.

"It is a good idea. Ulen might have more than we imagined. More secrets, more labs. Can you imagine if someone bad found that before us?"

"Your imaginations are remarkable"

Kira shrugged, "Say whatever you want, I believe my theories"

"Alright" Athrun grumbled, "You owe me this, Kira"

"Yes, I know"

Without much choice given, Athrun judiciously put the flashy helmet on his head. It was a bit snug around his head and Athrun was beginning to feel a speck of regret. Maybe trusting Kira was not a really good idea, especially when the helmet started to let out a beeping sound.

"Try to relax" Kira said before adjusting Athrun's chair's backrest, "Now close your eyes and count from ten to one slowly"

"If anything happened to me—"

"Start counting" Kira ignored his words completely.

Athrun grunted in response, "10, 9, 8..7…6…..5….4….4….4….3…"

-beeeeeeeeeep-

"…2…1. Done. So what?" Athrun said before opening his eyes.

"Kira?" He looked around. His surrounding was cloudy and he slowly standing up, walking forward albeit not knowing where he was or where he should go.

"Lacus?"

He stopped walking. There was a rustling sound behind his back and suddenly a loud gunshot was heard. Athrun collapsed on the ground. The haze slowly vanished, and then was replaced by the scenery of rocks, rugged cliffs and beach.

'This place… what a déjà vu', he thought as he tried to bring his body up. His left shoulder was in pain and blood started to gush out from the wound.

Amidst the sound of ocean, he could hear the sound of footsteps – light footsteps.

"Got ya, Zaft's rat"

Athrun winced. This cannot be. He could tell who this person was without the need to turn his head back. That husky tone that had been seducing him all night, giving him strength at day, and once, had saved him from a suicide. "Cagalli…" he said in between his greeting teeth.

The said woman grabbed his collar, and brought his face closer to her. Her face was mirroring confusion and her eyes were staring into his eyes. If he wasn't in this predicament situation, Athrun would tell her, how sexy she looked right now; with that red shirt, a green vest and the dirt on her cheeks. Of course, that glock gun in her hand made look lethal, but definitely still sexy.

Athrun Zala was so screwed. Impending death just made him crazy.

"How d'you know my name?" Her eyes were blazing, and she yanked him by the collar, "Are you a spy? Assassin? Did Desert Tiger bastard sent you here?"

"I'm injured" Athrun cut her off, "Tend me first and I'll tell you"

"If you try anything, I'll shoot your head"

"Come on, if you shoot me, you'll lose the chance to marry me in the future"

"What are you talking about?!" Cagalli said, flabbergasted at his words.

Athrun laughed, "Okay, sorry for confusing you. Can you please help me, Miss Cagalli? I'm bleeding to death now and there's someone waiting for me to return home. I promise I won't try anything funny on you"

Cagalli's cheeks coloured with red and he loved that. Maybe, whatever Kira threw him in wasn't a bad idea at all? But Kira said about virtual archive and this was definitely not an archive. This was a throwback.

"Alright, get up. You're not injured at your legs, so don't tell me you can't walk"

"Where are we going?"

"There's a cave nearby. Look up-" Cagalli promptly pointing her index finger to the sky, "It's going to rain, at least we got a shelter until it stop raining"

To Athrun Zala, the situation he was in was beyond crazy.

Three years ago, he was the one straddling her on the ground with knife on her throat, providing her the shelter, saving her from soaking in the rain, and feeding her with soldier's ration but now everything was in reverse. Not only that she captured him, she even threw his weapons into the sea and shared her food with him.

Now, she was sitting at the opposite side of him, staring at him with those gorgeous golden eyes, with the bonfire in between them. She still had her green vest wrapping her body snugly, hiding all her womanly curves from his sight. Oh how he wished that she was in his blanket like three years ago. She looked adorable back then.

"So," Cagalli started to speak after a pregnant silence between them, and Athrun looked at her, urging her to continue. He was betting with himself that he knew what she was going to say. After all, it was unavoidable. He had been thinking, if Kira said Cagalli had used this helmet before him, then there were two possibilities that he could draw.

"Were you one of them who stole the G-Weapons?"

First, the helmet might store the memories of the previous user. But he wondered why, of all things, it chose to lead him into this particular memory.

"Yes"

Cagalli snarled and Athrun could see that her fist curled. Angry Cagalli was not a joke.

"So you're well aware of what happened to Heliopolis after that. I was there when you destroyed it!"

His second theories was, this was not a stored memories of Cagalli. This was just a twisted joke, a trip to paranormal world that Kira set up for him because what in the hell was he doing here? A trip to memory lane? Well yes if the chronology of their first meeting running like how it meant to be in the past, but definitely not like what he was facing now. He felt like in being in a twisted version Romeo and Juliet's play, whereby the Romeo died first, with Juliet as the killer.

"I'm aware of that. No apology can undo that"

"Damn right" she bit her lips. Her eyes were still staring at him, drawing him into her, and Athrun couldn't help but wanting to cradle this warrior girl in his arms, hug her close to him and say something to sooth her ache.

"What is this war?" she spoke again, this time tender than before.

"People just…refuse to share, refuse to acknowledge each other's existence, and refuse to forgive. This is what, made this war" he said. And he should've say this years ago. He wished he can fix the past, he wished he had realized this sooner, but those are just wishes, there was no path to turn back. Everything had happened, the past was a history to be learned.

And now, he was facing her, his forever conscience, and she was asking him the same question again like in the past and he was facing her now, with a different set of answer.

"Orb supports both Natural and Coordinator… and now, EA and ZAFT are breathing at our neck, waiting for a perfect time to strike us. Father is correct after all. Always right. We develop weapon to protect our people, our ideal, We won't back down to these bitches. I was the one, the stupid one who didn't believe him! And Kira… he's thrown in this battle! It's my fault! I should've pulled him with me into the shelter so that his secret being the ultimate coordinator will always be a secret. I should have been the one—"

"Cagalli Yula Athha!"

Athrun shook her shoulders. Her eyes were brimming in tears and Athrun's heart clenched. All these years being close to her, it was so rare for him to see those pristine tears dribbled out of her eyes. Maybe she was just pretending all these year. If this was really a piece of her memories or her thoughts, then Athrun could only conclude one thing- Cagalli Yula Athha was still living in her guilt. Hadn't he being by her side, enough? Or was it because he was blinded by her sunny smile that he couldn't see that she was still living in the past? And why Cagalli didn't even bother to tell him about this?

"Cagalli.." he said her name again, coaxing her to look into his eyes.

"Cagalli… you're a great person. You could not prevent things that are not in your control. Stop taking all of these on your shoulders alone. You have me, you know? I will always protect you, I will shoulder those burden together with you, I will piggy back you if your feet fail you. Stop blaming yourself. You've done the best" He said earnestly, his thumb wiping the pearly tears away from her rosy cheeks, his eyes didn't leave hers and slowly, he leaned closer, planting a kissed on her forehead.

"Athrun…" she called his name, and his heart soared.

Somehow, he wondered if this was even a piece of her memories at all.

"…thank you"

"So how is it?" Kira asked him eagerly. He was in his chair, a book on the table full of his scribbling and the large monitor in front of him showing a statistical analysis of Athrun's brain activities.

"I don't even know what the hell this thing is" Athrun said brusquely, "Is it really storing Ulen's memories? Because I met Cagalli there"

Kira jumped out of his seat instantly, "That—that's…impossible…!"

"How come?" Athrun raised an eyebrow and stared at the monitor. From the spectrum of colours of his brain scan, he was in a deep sleep. So, it was his dream?

"Cagalli said he met Ulen, even managed to give him a punch or two!"

"Well I met Cagalli and she shot me. Thank god I'm alive but it felt real. The pain was stinging and we had a talk"

Kira had a look of surprised, "A talk?"

"Yes, a talk"

"God… I need more volunteer to this thing" Kira said, his palm resting on his head and his eyes sullen.

"You mean lab rats?" Athrun chuckled, half amused. But please, no more Cagalli in this, he would make sure Kira understand that no matter what.

"Basically, yes" Kira paused, "Should get Miriallia and Dearka to be in the test too, then Erica Simmons might want to be…"

Athrun closed the door, letting Kira to rambling alone in his lab. It was already 4.30 am and he was thinking to call Cagalli, a small talk would do. Nevermind that she was half-awake or her brain was not fully functioning, because then, he could pull out the truest words from her.

Smiling, he scrolled for her number in his phone and wait until the line was connected.

"Ath…? Do you know what time-"

"Hey.., I miss you"

A/N:

Athrun, stop beeing cheesy...please.