Cagalli folded her hands on her lap, lips quirked into a pensive frown. "You know, it's actually important to read the author's notes. She posts them because they usually explain important things about her story,

but it seems as if a lot of people don't read them, and then they end up asking her questions in their reviews that were already answered in the authors notes at the beginning of the chapter. So, let's read the authors notes so that the author doesnt get frustrated and throw herself off a cliff, thus prematurely ending the story, okay?"

...Seriously though, I usually post important info up here.

so I realized, thanks to a reviewer (thank you, Milisante :) ) that Meyrin's eyes aren't a beautiful green like Athrun's... I had to go open an episode, to which I realized, I did not only butcher her eye color (which is gray) but also her hair color. I think I got the color confused with her sister... so sorry about that, it's now fixed. D

This is the longest chapter I have EVER written in any of my stories, so I hope it's cherished, because it's very unlikely that it will ever happen again. D

--

"No matter how many times they are blown away…

….we will continue to replant the flowers."

A statement that, upon the last time Athrun had set foot at the memorial, had sent Shinn into tears. One that held true, as the wind threatened to tangle strands of his dark blue hair, though he hardly noticed as he stood with hands at his side, staring at the simple slab of rock before him.

It wasn't merely a colorful array of planted flowers that now extended around the memorial; several fresh bouquets were laid upon the stone as well. Athrun bent over, gently placing the own flowers he had brought with him amongst the others.

His reverie was broken by the distant and yet approaching sound of soft footfalls. Although he recognized that people were nearing long before they were within speaking distance, he remained standing as he had been, memories and thoughts crawling into his mind at a rapid rate.

"I thought that we would find you here," came a soft, gentle voice that registered as a slight shock to Athrun.

Knowing somehow that the statement had been addressed to him, he turned, finding two smiling figures pausing a short distance away from him. Lacus' long pink hair flowed in the wind that had been tangling his own, the same breeze that sent Kira's soft brown bangs up into odd angles.

"Athrun," Kira greeted, purple-gray eyes seeming to withhold a smile of their own.

As she had done months before at the end of the second war, Lacus passed by Athrun to set down an armful of pink and white blooming flowers next to the ones the former ZAFT soldier had just laid on the stone.

"Kira… Lacus," he replied, his voice still portraying a remnant of his surprise at seeing them unexpectedly. "I guess this week is just full of coincidences," Athrun muttered to himself with a dry hint of laughter.

"On the contrary," Lacus stated, tilting her head to smile at him once again as she resumed her place beside Kira. "We were personally searching you out. I do not believe that was Cagalli's intent when you ran into her the other day."

Green eyes widened slightly, then narrowed. "How did…?"

Kira's eyes drew down slightly then as his smile took on a tinge of sadness. "Why don't you visit her, Athrun?"

Frowning, Athrun lifted his hand that had been holding his sunglasses, sliding them back onto his face and brushing loose strands of hair out of the way. "Is there another reason you were looking for me, or was it just that?"

"Cagalli's twentieth birthday is in two weeks. With the war going on, we missed the chance to celebrate her nineteenth. I think it would mean a lot to her if you were to patch things up with her beforehand so you might attend with the rest of us," Lacus explained evenly, her face losing some of its mirth and turning a bit more serious.

Kira noticed, then, that Athrun's free hand was clenched into a tight fist, nails digging into his palms.

"What is it that is keeping the two of you apart?" Kira questioned calmly.

"The war?" Lacus continued for him. "Your differing ideals? Are you going to let that come between what the two of you have had? Are you truly going to let that keep two people who were so close together from seeing each other again?"

"She agreed to marry Yuna Roma without even telling me first!" The words were out of Athrun's mouth before he could stop them.

A small smile of satisfaction appeared on Lacus' face then. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"And what do you think the expression on my sister's face looked like when I kidnapped her from her wedding?" Kira questioned, solemn face measuring his best friend's reaction.

"Or even better," Lacus started again, "how do you think she felt in that car, driving towards a wedding she was more-so shoved into, with someone that wasn't you?"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Athrun turned his head to the side with a wry smile. "I heard," he replied evenly, "that she was smiling and waving."

"Yes." Lacus' retort was short. "Indeed. She smiled and waved the entire car ride to the crowd lining the sides of the road to greet the couple that was soon to be wed."

Reaching into her pocket, Lacus pulled out a small, rectangular piece of paper and moved forward, handing it out to Athrun in one small, delicate hand. Although he frowned at her, Athrun reached out to take it from her, not being able to deny a slight curiosity at what it might be.

"Why don't you take a look at her smiling face?" Lacus offered, and as Athrun began to turn the piece of paper over, he realized it was a photo.

"Miriallia somehow managed to get as close to world events as she always has," Kira explained, and by the quality of the picture in his hands, Athrun didn't doubt that Miriallia had been the one to take it.

Athrun had often wondered what Cagalli might have looked like in preparation for her wedding, and by the photo, he could see that she had been as stunning and amazingly elegant as he had imagined.

With a wry twist to his lips, he took a scarce moment to examine the veil she wore attached to her hair – the makeup that he had only seen once or twice before gracing her face. The lips that were turned up in a gracious smile worthy of a princess as she lifted one hand to wave to the waiting crowd.

Athrun was about to turn the picture face-down again and hand it back to Lacus when he caught sight of a glimmering streak across Cagalli's face.

He realized, then, as he stared closely at it, that they were her tears. Streaming down her face from both eyes, managing somehow to avoid smearing her makeup. Had Miriallia not obtained such an up-close shot, the tears would never have been visible.

"Do those look to be tears of happiness to you, Athrun?" Lacus inquired in that soft voice that could sometimes rise to a commanding height when need be.

If it had been anyone else staring at the picture, they might have. But like Kira and Lacus, Athrun knew Cagalli – knew what Cagalli's expression was when she cried out of sorrow, recognized the angle to her watery eyes, the drawn down quivering of her eyebrows, the trembling lips that signified it all. That picture wasn't a happy woman crying before her wedding; it was a distraught, heartbroken girl.

"She already apologized to me. What do you want me to do?"

"I think if you didn't care, Athrun Zala," Lacus started in a quiet voice, "that you would have taken that ring back a long time ago. And if we didn't care, we might have been the ones to return it to you."

Athrun's eyebrows narrowed in deep thought as he scrutinized the couple before him. "What do you mean?"

"When Cagalli was bullied into marrying Yuna, she managed to send a letter to me with your ring inside of it. She asked me to return it to you," Kira clarified, noticing that the thick sunglasses on Athrun's face couldn't mask the hint of pain that surfaced at the words.

Athrun opened his mouth to reply, but Lacus cut him off before he could. "And what do you think we found on the inside of that letter, Athrun?" His mouth snapped shut, though he didn't look happy about it.

"The ink was streaked with her tears. It was obvious to both of us that such a decision was probably the hardest one she had been forced to make in her life, and that doing so would be a regret she would harbor solely on her own. That is why we could not allow her to make such a mistake."

"But she-"

"Don't you think it's time for you to say those words to Cagalli, instead of us?" Kira interrupted.

"If you want to yell at her, yell at her. If you want to argue with her, argue with her," Lacus stated, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "If you want to ask her why she did what she did, then ask her. But nothing will be solved if you merely continue to ask us or yourself instead."

Flexing his hands at his sides, Athrun examined Lacus beneath the shade of his glasses. Two years ago, the pink-haired beauty had stood before him and spoke in such a commanding and regal voice much like the one she was using now.

She had stood before him and, within the span of moments, confirmed the doubts that Athrun had already been harboring in his mind and forced him to make the final decisions over what was wrong and right in his mind. In the end, it turned out that Lacus' insistence had been correct; could it be the same now?

"Cagalli has an hour of free time tomorrow between meetings. She'll meet you here," Kira handed Athrun yet another piece of paper with an address scribbled quickly on it, "two hours after noon."

"Meyrin-"

"-Is going shopping with me tomorrow afternoon," Lacus filled in easily, beaming up at Athrun with her innocent round eyes.

Frowning, Athrun regarded Kira and Lacus with almost a glower on his face.

"And Athrun," Lacus tucked a piece of hair behind one ear as she spoke, "there are two more things we're here to tell you."

At that moment, tiny green mechanical wings flapped against the air as Torii landed on Kira's shoulder; the brown-haired Coordinator lifted up one finger, and the bird hopped onto it in a practiced manner.

"The pressure on Cagalli to secure a politically advantageous marriage is becoming immense," Lacus began, and Pink-chan took that moment to add in, "I won't accept it! I won't accept it!"

The songstress took a minute to hush the pink ball before continuing. "I believe she has found that Yuna Roma is not the only man in her life to take an interest in her."

"Why are you telling me this?" Athrun interrupted suddenly.

"The wars are over," Lacus filled in. "Don't you think we all deserve to be happy?"

"What makes you think I'm not happy?" Athrun interjected, green eyes flashing beneath his sunglasses.

"What about Cagalli's happiness?" Kira brought up without pause.

Lacus raised one hand, always the mediator. "And the second thing we have left to tell you, Athrun, has absolutely nothing to do with the matter of marriage, so you may relax now."

Kira and Athrun continued to stare at each other despite Lacus' intervention, their faces matching each other in solemnity.

"There was an attempt on Cagalli's life yesterday. Someone came at her with a knife," Kira recited slowly, his expression tightening with worry. "If it wasn't for her experience, I don't think Cagalli would have managed. Her assailant got away before anyone could realize what had happened."

Athrun felt his hands unclench instantly at what they were telling him, falling slack. "How has this not been all over the media?"

Both figures in front of him smile ruefully, then. "The few people around when it occurred were sworn into silence by Cagalli. But Mana came to us in concern," Lacus told him patiently.

"And you're coming to me with this why?"

"That, Athrun, is entirely for you to decide. Do with it what you will." With that final comment, Lacus put her hand on Kira's arm.

The brown-haired young man nodded to Athrun before turning and striding away, leaving the blue-haired Coordinator to stare at the papers they had placed into his hands.

--

The next day started out with a chattering and happy Meyrin, who was fueled with excitement over having another chance to go shopping with Lacus. Athrun watched with a small, bemused smile as the young woman took her red hair out of pigtails, choosing instead to leave it down against her shoulders, and rushed to find an appropriate outfit to wear before leaving hurriedly with a friendly wave and a goodbye.

After that, Athrun was left in silence to decide what exactly he was going to do with the information he had been given yesterday.

However, the decision-making didn't last long, because before he knew it, he was standing in front of the shops that Kira had given him directions to, hands in his pocket and hoping that Cagalli hadn't gained a sudden affection for window-shopping.

He took a seat at one of the tables that made a small outdoor lounge in front of the shops, and began to wait.

Time seemed to tick by, and when Athrun glanced at his watch again, it was half an hour after the designated time Kira had told him. Despite it being unwarranted, an eerie sense of worry began to creep up his senses, and as he lowered the wrist with the watch on it, his cell phone went off.

A quick look at the phone's display showed it was Kira; Athrun answered it, lifting it to his ear.

"Athrun?" Lacus' voice could be heard in the background, and by the tone of Kira's voice, Athrun instantly knew that something was wrong. "The person who attacked Cagalli came back today."

A pause as Kira moved his mouth away from the phone to say something to Lacus, and then, "Cagalli's been shot."

--

Familiar doors and hallways flew past Athrun as he rushed through the building, heading towards a specific destination in his mind. Shocked servants stared as the young man gave heed to nothing, only one thought on his mind.

Cagalli's been shot.

Gritting his teeth, Athrun turned one last corner, coming up to the front of Cagalli's chambers. A brunette woman raised her head at his approach, eyes widening slightly at the severe look on Athrun's face as he neared the doorway.

"The Representative is having her bandages changed right now," she stated modestly, blocking the doorway from him.

"Thank you," Athrun replied, as politely as possible. "Now, if you'll let me by."

The woman's eyes grew even larger, if possible. "As I've said, the Representative isn't properly attired at the moment-"

"It's nothing I haven't seen her in or out of before. Move aside," Athrun stated easily enough, the slightly crude comment making the woman gasp with outrage.

With a marked ease, Athrun used one arm to brush the woman aside, ignoring her astonished shouts and flowing through the doorway before slamming it closed behind him. The sight before him, on any other occasion, might have made him laugh.

Mana and Cagalli were ensuing a game of tug-of-war with one of Cagalli's business suits; Mana had been in the middle of exclaiming, "It's the dress for you! No more business suits to dinner!" when Athrun burst into the room.

Four wide eyes and two open mouths met his gaze, hands freezing their tugging movements and the business suit going slack in their grasp.

Athrun's eyes, however, were occupied roaming Cagalli's body, momentarily ignoring her lack of attire to search for her injury. He found it at her waist; a thick bandage was wrapped to her side, a small spot of blood showing through it.

Relief flooded into him, followed by fury; how could Kira have not explained that the bullet had only hit her in the side? When he had heard Kira speak in such a serious tone, he had thought it would be so much worse…

"Mana, good to see you," Athrun greeted. "Can you leave us for a moment, please?"

Her mouth working like a fish, Mana swung her gaze between Cagalli and Athrun, appearing as if she might start shouting obscenities at Athrun for barging into the room when Cagalli was in nothing but her undergarments.

Cagalli, however, had her sight fixed solely on Athrun's. Slowly, she nodded. "It's alright, Mana. Leave, please."

Looking on the verge of shock, Mana reluctantly complied and closed the door behind her, leaving Athrun and Cagalli staring at each other, one bewildered, one trying to calm his fury.

As if suddenly realizing that she only wore a small pair of underwear and a strapless bra, Cagalli grasped the business shirt in her hands and held it up against her check to cover what she could. "What are you doing here?" she asked quickly.

Swallowing the nervous lump in his throat and feeling his face light up with a slight blush, Athrun closed the distance between them and brushed the garment Cagalli held out of the way to examine her waist. "Kira told me you'd… that someone…" he started, finding himself suddenly unable to form a sentence.

"Ah," she responded, hoping the words didn't sound half as nervous as she felt, "the bullet only grazed my waist. It was a deep graze, and it bled a lot, so they got pretty worked up about it, but it's fine. Mana was just going to change my bandage. It's nothing, really."

Everything seemed to catch up with them all at once, then, the months that had passed by without any contact with each other, over half a year absent of any resolution to the shreds that were left of their relationship.

For a moment, the room was utterly still and silent as they regarded one another. And then, at the same time, both yelled out in angry and frustrated tones.

"Why did you-"

"Why didn't you-"

Both snapped their mouths closed as they realized they had spoken simultaneously. Silence resumed once again, slight pink blushes still on each of their faces.

"You go ahead," Cagalli muttered in a disgruntled tone, a familiar pout on her face.

"No," Athrun protested, "I interrupted… you…"

"Just say it!"

"Fine."

Silence.

"Why did you accept Yuna Roma's proposal while I was gone?"

"Why didn't you come back?!" Cagalli shot in retort, raising her voice in frustration.

"Why didn't you at least tell me before you agreed to marry him?" Athrun questioned in return, his voice rising in volume as well.

"Why didn't you contact me at all when you got into space again?!"

"Why did you send the ring I gave you to Kira to have him return it to me?!"

"Why didn't you say anything to me when I put your ring back on again?? You just ignored the fact it was there and walked off!"

"Why did you put the ring back on if you were going to marry someone else?"

"What? You didn't want me to put the ring back on? Well, you just could have told me, then!"

"And you could have asked!"

Had either paused to take a breath, they would have heard the muffled mumble of voices that signified that a slight crowd was gathering outside of Cagalli's bedroom door. Both Athrun and Cagalli had raised their voices to obnoxiously loud shouts, their angry tones attracting a significant amount of attention from outside.

"Could have asked what?? You're the one that gave it to me in the first place, and then left!"

"I left to protect you and your country!"

"And you left me all alone!"

"You weren't alone! You had Kira!"

"Yeah! You're right! Because Kira was the one that saved me from a wedding I would have grown to regret, wasn't he? Not you, Kira!"

"What would you have expected me to do?!"

"I don't know!"

"I don't know either!"

"Well, maybe you should have figured it out!"

"If I-" The words died in Athrun's mouth as a glint of silver caught his eye. With her last shouted exclamation, Cagalli had thrown down the arm which had been previously holding the clothing against her chest, revealing a slender silver chain around her neck.

But it wasn't the chain that caught Athrun's eyes; it was the small, delicate silver ring which had been slipped onto the chain, resting a few inches below Cagalli's neck, a small red gem encased in the center of it.

"Cagalli…you…" Following his line of vision, Cagalli let out a choked gasp and swept the article of clothing back up against her chest, covering the necklace from sight once again.

The action may have hid the ring Athrun had given her, but it couldn't hide her unguarded expression from his searching eyes.

Much like the evening when Miriallia had set up a meeting at Athrun's request between himself, Kira, and Cagalli, Athrun found his eyes revealing a torrent rage of emotions at seeing her once again wearing his ring, if in a different place then before.

When they had last hugged goodbye, he had noticed the absence of the ring on her finger, and yet he had taken her into his arms in an embrace that brought a genuine smile to his face. He had assumed that she had taken it off, that she simply didn't wear it any more and had disregarded it.

But to see her wearing it on a necklace instead?

Cagalli turned away from his piercing gaze, mouth set in a line. "It's just… I didn't…."

Spinning away from her without warning, Athrun turned his back on her. "I'm glad… to see you're alright."

The door shut behind him much more gently than it had when he entered, but not before the momentarily widely opened doorway gave everyone in the hall a good view of a very mute and shocked Cagalli standing in nothing but her underwear and bra.

What small crowd had formed dissipated quickly at Athrun's arrival, leaving two figures standing against the wall.

"See?" Lacus stated reassuringly. "Didn't I tell you it was better to yell if you wanted to, then to say nothing at all?"

Kira merely frowned, giving Athrun a quick glance before swinging open Cagalli's door and entering without a single word to them. Athrun stood, one shoulder to the doorway and one to Lacus, eyesight fixed on his former fiancé and trying his best not to glance back at the room he had left.

"Meyrin?" Athrun asked simply, feeling entirely too drained all of the sudden and not up for extended conversation. Lacus pointed down the hallway, and Athrun turned his back on her as well, rounding the corner to find an anxious Meyrin sitting on a bench.

The red-head leapt to her feet when she saw him, concern etched across her face. "Is she alright?"

Ignoring the question, Athrun swept past her, angrily shoving his hands into his pockets and pausing for a short moment to allow Meyrin to catch up before striding off again.