Cagalli, Day 1

-

These last four years has finally brought its toll on me, believe it or not.

I started realizing when the whole meeting room was staring at me with raised eyebrows and slightly dropped jaws, and I turned to Kisaka, sitting beside me. Apparently, after he informed me personally, I've called one of the Emirs 'Bonehead'. More like shouted, actually, but it's all the same.

Not that I regret it. I just didn't feel so good, what with all the work pressure, and Kira coming to my office every afternoon, begging to take me out on lunch.

I have a country to run, I told him, and since it apparently fell into deaf ears, I threatened him with my most horrible threat. The last time I saw him, he was running away with a face so pale I thought I saw a ghost.

Anyway, that didn't matter. What surprised me the most was how he finally gathered the courage to come up to me several days later, with this face ridden with worry, and he took my hands in his, looking into my eyes so lovingly.

"Cagalli, please be careful."

I nodded. "Okay."

"And take care while you're there".

"Uh-huh."

"Now, I need you to promise me one thing."

"Nuuh?"

"Please remember that no matter what happened, I LOVE you."

"O...kay."

"And don't forget that I'm your last remaining family."

Chuckles. "I think I won't forget something like that."

"Just promise me!" This time, his grip around my hands tightened, and I winced a bit from the excess power.

"Of course!" I looked around nervously, at the surrounding soldiers. "Now, will you please let go of my hands before they think we're having incest?"

"You have to promise me this, Cagalli! I never asked anything out of you, just this one small thing!" His voice was actually trembling, and the fear I saw in his eyes...oh Kira, you're such a worrywart!

"All right, all right, Kira! Don't make such a big deal out of this! I'll take good care of myself there!"

"Don't you ever forget that." He finally let go of my fingers, and proceeded to hug me instead.

"I'll be okay," I pat his back. "It's not like I'm going to visit someplace dangerous. Besides, it'll be only one day."

My brother let out a small chuckle, something sounding between a whimper and nervous strained laugh.

Kira was still standing on the air station by the time I was on board, and I could faintly make out what he was trying to shout. "I LOVE YOU!" he yelled, as the soldier beside him backed away and instinctively covered his ears.

I laughed uneasily and mouthed the words back from the plane's inside, waving him goodbye.

"I must admit, you have quite a deep relationship with General Yamato, milady."

Turning to Kisaka, a vein attempted to crack on my forehead. "Thank you. We shared quite an unspeakable bond as twins."

The man straightened his tie and cleared his throat, pulling out documents as from his bag. "Anyway, the Eurasian ambassador has requested that you visit their factory before heading off to meet..."

-

I didn't realize time has passed so quickly when I started seeing only Blue Ocean outside the window. Squinting away from the sunlight, I turned back to the documents and files. After six years of doing this endlessly, I thought I had grown numb to this. The first two years passed without much hardship, though at that time we're still recovering from the war, I have someone beside me.

He was gone after the second war, and I learned to appreciate his decision.

Placing away the files safely into the side, I leaned back and tried to sleep. It was like drifting through the clouds, and I could see eighteen year old Athrun smiling back at me once again.

Then the plane started to shake dangerously, and I woke up with a start.

"Engine Failure! Engine failure!" shouted the pilot.

My first reaction was "Heeh?"

A small man immediately rushed out from the cockpit. "Sir Kisaka! We have an engine failure!"

Kisaka stood up from his seat, and placed a wary look on the co-pilot. "Do we have to evacuate?"

"I'm afraid the situation is dire. We'll have to make an emergency landing if this continues."

"I see. We'll maintain the way to ensure the Representative's safety."

The plane jerked dangerously, and the documents scattered on the plane's floor. Losing my balance, I almost fell unceremoniously on my face if Kisaka hadn't gripped my waist.

"I don't wanna sound desperate, but..." I gripped on the seat to regain my balance. "Can't you do anything?...!"

"We're trying our best, Representative Athha, but-"

This time the plane made a dangerous leap, and I felt my intestines sinking to my feet.

"There's no time to argue, Cagalli," Kisaka crouched down, searched under the seat, and pulled out a parachute."I hope you're not afraid of heights."

The next thing I knew, I was standing on the edge of the emergency exit, gripping on the door's sill for my dear life. And telling Kisaka that I was afraid of heights would be too late.

"Good luck, Cagalli." He held my shoulders firmly, fixing this mysterious stare. "May Haumea's blessing be with you."

During my jump to the earth, I could still faintly hear Kisaka's sound, faintly carried by the winds to my ears. "Goddess of Victory safely dispatched. May Haumea bless us."

That's supposed to be my line, and worst of all, why did he has to push me down?

-

I woke up to a sandy beach, and looked around. This place looked so damn familiar, and I couldn't really place when and why.

After walking around, I found an abandoned parachute on the cliff. Uh-oh. Looks like I'm not alone.

Proceeding to the forest area, I found tracks leading there on the sand, and instinctively pulled out the small gun tied to my foot. The person could be someone hostile, and...a rapist! Brrrr.

I cautiously moved around the huge rock, and kept the gun aimed in front. This position would at least keep me safe from an assault, but before I could think of anything, somebody tackled me down, and I realized he was drawing a knife to my neck and-

And I screamed for dear life. It was on reflex.

The person on top shook for a split second, and a familiar voice called out. "Cagalli?"

I knew I've heard that voice many times before, been in this position, and missed that voice so much. But I looked at him with mixed emotions, of anger, embarrassment, disappointment, and things I couldn't really put into words. "Who the hell do you think I am?"

Athrun immediately got up, and hastily pulled me back to my feet. A guilty smile was cracking his face. "Sorry. I thought you're-"

"I'm a what? A war psychopath? A man? A soldier?"

His grin suggested none of my guesses.

"You thought I was some beastly animal, didn't you?" It was all I could say to stop my vein from popping. Gah. As if I looked like one.

"No!" He covered lamely.

"You're a bad liar, you know."

"So are you."

I glanced at him, resisting the urge to stare. Athrun hadn't really changed all these years, and his body has grown even taller the last time I met him. I stood at least a head shorter than him now, and those eyes...those eyes were also looking back at me!

"What?" I asked, hesitatingly.

"You, you look..." He paused, searching for an answer. All that time, various words popped into my head. Beautiful? Prettier? Nice? Refined? Matured?

"Like a zombie." He actually has the nerve to say that with a straight face.

I felt my face turned into a scowl. "So are you."

And then, Athrun chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we are zombies, huh."

If only he didn't look that good and his laugh wasn't so lovable, I would have planted a fist down his stomach. Realizing that I have once again blushed so easily in front of him, I turned around and walked back to the beach.

"Cagalli, where are you going?"

"I'm not going to waste my time with you on this hell hole." I scoffed. "I'm going to find a way out."

Trying to keep my distance away from him, I heard Athrun's steps closing in. He could chase me easily and even ran past me without even trying, but instead he kept walking behind me. Damn Coordinator and their abilities.

"Are you mad that I said you look like a zombie? It's just a joke."

I laughed sarcastically, not looking back. "Like hell. I'm not eighteen anymore."

"And how will you escape from here?"

"With a machine, that's how."

"Did you bring a mobile suit or a skygrasper?"

"Yeah, they could fit easily in my pocket, Athrun."

He ignored my cheeky comment and went on. "What's next?"

"I'll build a raft or a boat if I have to," I pushed the tree branches aside, stepping out into the beach. The trees sure looked sturdy enough to make a boat, but too sturdy to cut with hands. I looked back again, and took a quick glance at Athrun.

Reading my mind, he looked back. "Don't even think of it. And no, we Coordinators don't have hands or nails sharp enough to cut down a tree."

Shoot.

"It's worth a try." I answered. "Come on, I can take this rock here," I crouched down, picking up a pebble. "And sharpen it so I can cut down the trees."

"By the time you did that, the search and rescue team would already found us."

"By the time they found us? I don't wanna wait that long!"

He shrugged. "It'll only take one day at most, remember?"

I threw up my hands in desperation. "Athrun, unlike you, I'm not here for a vacation, I was pushed down here! Kisaka and two other guys were in that plane! I don't know what happened to them, and here I am, stuck with the least person I want to be with!"

The pain in his eyes was so apparent that I immediately looked away, wishing I haven't said so much.

"I guess," He finally said after what seemed like hours. "We should just wait for them somewhere; they won't be here that quickly."

Athrun pointed to the cave we shared years ago. Our first meeting felt like decades ago, and I didn't want to wake up sleeping memories. They'd make me submit to him faster that the desert melted the ice.

I shook my head instantly. "I-I'll wait here. In case Kisaka and the others came up here." I plopped down to the beach, hugging my knees.

"How did you end up here?" Ignoring me would have been a better punishment. But instead he sat beside me, trying to maintain his nice-guy character.

I kept my gaze at the horizon. "Some sort of engine failure."

"Hmm. That's kinda...weird. It's the same with me."

"Well, I bet your bodyguards didn't try to push you down."

"No, but I have a faint feeling that the co-pilot was trying to. And he said the weirdest thing after I jumped..."

The weirdest inkling surfaced, and I glanced at him. "Kisaka did say something funny back then..." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"Red knight safely dispatched." "Goddess of victory safely dispatched."

We said those in unison, while we were looking at each other. And we broke off, laughing.

"Must be just some stupid coincidences." Athrun decided.

"Yeah, it better be," I said, nodding my head. "It better be, if not..." I felt the hottest flame of retribution burning dangerously wild inside of me.

Then I realized Athrun was backing away from me as civilly as he could. "You okay?"

"No, nothing. I was just thinking if you have some kind of food."

He searched his back pocket and produced a small box. "Only this."

"Soldier's ration?" I raised my eyebrows and shook my head helplessly. "You got promoted as Chairman, and you still eat soldier's ration?"

"Hey, it was an emergency food! And we need this to survive the night."

Beggars can't be choosers, I guess. "I'll eat that later. I'm not that hungry."

"Really? I thought you stopped eating, what's with the bony hands?"

"What bony hands? I'm busy, so I forgot to eat sometimes!"

"Sometimes or all the time?"

I threw my face away from him. "...Sorry." That didn't sound like me at all.

"...For what?" Athrun's shoes dug deeper into the sand.

"For saying that you're the least person I want to be with."

"I'm sorry for many things...as well."

Look at us, Athrun, apologizing while not looking at each other. Look at us, two strangers that couldn't stop hurting each other whenever we opened our mouth.

The sun has crept down as we waited in silence, and I gripped a handful of sand for no apparent reason. It didn't stop my edginess.

"I think we should make a bonfire. So someone would see us," I suggested after what seemed like an eternity.

"Yeah," He stood up, unbuttoning his suit. "I'll go collect some branches before it gets dark."

He walked off after throwing his suit on my lap, and I couldn't help but picked it up and-and- just took a sniff at it. The suit smelled like Athrun's perfume, like ocean breeze.

Looks like we'd need to stay here for the night, and I didn't want to think that I have to resist the urge of running up to him and begged him to come back. I wonder how long this battle of my pride and my heart would last, and if I would eventually submit to either of them.

Unknown to me, tonight would just be the first night we would share together in this hole of the place.