CHAPTER TWO

Athrun is in his world of darkness when he hears voices.

"You shouldn't have brought him here my lady," he hears a woman say. "Your father will be very displeased."

"But I couldn't just have left him there Mana," a familiar voice argues back. "He's my friend."

The other woman sighs. "You can rest assure my lady. He'll heal just fine. He's really lucky you got to him on time."

"Thanks Mana," the familiar voice replies.

Athrun finally gives in to the darkness and once again, falls into unconsciousness.


Cagalli sits by the windowsill reading a book. It's been three days since she found him broken and covered in blood. She has not left his side since.

A soft moan snaps Cagalli back into reality and she rushes to the bedside.

His eyes slowly flutters open as he focuses on the blonde girl staring at him. It's her, the angel who has been haunting him in his dreams.

"It's about time you wake up!" she tells him, planting her hands on her waist. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you were..."

"C-Cagalli..." Athrun musters up all his strength to say but it barely comes above a whisper.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cagalli demands as she watches Athrun trying to sit up, only to fall back on the bed in pain. "You're severely injured!"

"W-hat happened?" Athrun asks weakly. "How did I e-end up here?"

"You were attacked. I found you unconscious so I brought you here to my home," Cagalli replies. "But what were you thinking Athrun? Going into the forest unarmed especially after I told you it would be dangerous after dark? Why didn't you listen?"

"I wanted to m-make sure you w-were safe," Athrun says softly. He speaks the truth. At that time, all he thought of was to protect her and to keep her safe. He didn't think about his own safety.

Cagalli frowns. So that is the reason. It's all her fault. She's the reason why he got injured.

"It's not y-your fault," Athrun tells her. He knows exactly what she is thinking. She is going to blame herself.

The darkness is once again taking over him. His eye lids feel very heavy as he struggles to keep them open.

"You're tired," Cagalli says. "You should get more sleep."

Looking back at his angel, his saviour, once more, he let his eyes close as he drifts off to sleep.

It is the next morning and Athrun wakes from his slumber. He scans his surroundings and realises that he is not at the inn. The interior of the room suggests that he is in no peasant's house. The room is large and well furnished - there's the giant four poster bed he's lying on, and matching dresser and furniture of hard wood that is ornamented with intricate carvings.

The memories of the day before floods back into Athrun's head. He is in Cagalli's house. He wonders why he cares so much about the blonde's safety. They have only met once. He thinks of what she has said before.

He's my friend.

That's right, they are friends. That's why he had to make sure that she was alright, that she wouldn't come into any harm.

It turns out that in the end, it is she who saved him, not the other way round. He's the damsel in distress while she's the knight in shinning armour, his angel to be exact.

Athrun shakes his head. What is he thinking? What is going on with him? He can't feel this way; he mustn't, especially not now. He has other more important things to do. He has to avenge his mother's death. That is his goal, his mission, his reason to live.

Just then, Cagalli bursts through the oak doors.

"Good morning Athrun," she greets him with a smile. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Yes," Athrun replies and with some help from Cagalli, he manages to sit upright, resting his back on the headboard.

"I brought you some food," she says. "You must be hungry, you haven't eaten for days."

"I'm not really hungry," Athrun tells her as she brings a tray of food to his bedside.

Much to Athrun's embarrassment, a growl comes from his stomach.

"Well apparently your stomach doesn't agree with you," Cagalli laughs.

There is no denying it, Athrun is hungry. His right arm is in a cast but what shocks him is that his left hand is trembling as he brings the spoon to his mouth.

Cagalli sighs before she takes the spoon from Athrun. "Here, let me."

"No, it's alright. I can do it myself-" Athrun protests but Cagalli hears none of it.

"Don't be so stubborn!" she chides him as she insists on feeding him.

Athrun finally relents. He blushes like a little boy as he lest the even more stubborn blonde feed him.


A few days has passed and Athrun recovers at an amazing rate.

He is alone today. He has just finished his breakfast in the grand dining room. Cagalli has left him not too long ago as she is called for by her father.

Athrun has never seen the man before. Cagalli's father never joins them for any of the meals. Cagalli says it has always been like that and she has gotten used to it. There is also hardly any mention of Cagalli's mother. It is said that she died when Cagalli was an infant.

It saddens Athrun to think that he and Cagalli are very similar: absent father and dead mother. Athrun seems to think that Cagalli's constant smiles are only a facade to mask her loneliness.

Athrun decides to roam around the old mansion that morning. Cagalli has given him a tour around the place the day before but the place is too big for him to see everything.

"You're our guest here, not our prisoner!" He remembers her telling him that he is free to roam about.

He stops by a large room panelled with dark wood. It is lit up by a single giant window in the middle with huge red velvet drapes hanging over it. It is the library and there are thousands and thousands of books neatly arranged in the towering shelves.

He's been staying with Cagalli for many days now. Because of his injuries, he has no choice but to push back his plans. But now that he is well, it is time for him to leave. He is just waiting for his blonde friend to come back so that he can break the news to her. Putting back the book he borrowed, Athrun proceeds to the next room.

The room is different from the other rooms he has seen. Large portraits - the length twice his height - are framed and hung on the walls. The people in the paintings are all very pale, all statuesque. Finally, he chances upon her portrait. Her amber eyes stands out the most. They are sincere and warm, unlike the cold and dark eyes he has seen from the other portraits. She is dressed in a long green gown with gold trimmings. She looks so angelic; her beauty seem so out of this world.

Athrun stares at her portrait for a long time. He cannot not seem to look away. It takes a while before he can convince himself to stop looking. As he is about to leave and move on to the next room, something catches his eye. He sees the banner of a crest.

N-No. It...It can't be. Athrun stares - eyes wide with disbelief - at the lion with a pink flower in the middle.


TBC.


Revised as of September 2016.