Disclaimer: I do not own GS/GSD, Bandai and Sunrise own this franchise.

Summary: For them, his return to Orb was just half of the battle. And some wounds are far too deep to see.

Character: Athrun and Cagalli (Follows the GSD timeline)

A/N: This will be a multi-chapter drabble, that should be updated on a weekly basis. Emphasize should.


rendezvous (n.): a meeting or appointment to meet at a specified time and place.


He found himself sitting out in the café's patio—waiting idly for an old friend. Athrun found that his return to Orb had not been as seamless as he would have liked it to be. He did not receive any shortage of suspicious glances from his colleagues. With his reputation, he wondered quietly how he managed to snag the title of admiral within Orb's formidable army. But he knew that only she could have managed to pull the strings. And yet after that meeting at the tarmac a few weeks ago, he has yet to have the opportunity to speak to her again.

He barely saw her, and if he did only during formal meetings, and on those she always managed to slip away before he could approach her.

"Athrun?"

He looked up to the speaker and was greeted with the face of an old friend. "Kira! It's been a long time," he greeted, motioning for his friend to take the seat across him. Despite not having seen each other for a few months, they easily fell in to conversation. As they finished their meal, Athrun's curiosity got the best of him.

"Have you talked to Cagalli lately?" He asked timidly. The topic of Kira's twin sister has been one the two friends tried to skirt around. Kira frowned slightly.

"I have. Don't you work in the same building as she?"

He nodded and quietly replied, "she has been avoiding me."

Kira's frown become more prominent as his eyes slanted at him, and Athrun felt like a child about to be scolded. But Kira took in his sullen look, before looking away. "Can you blame her?"

He thought of Dardanelles—of how the setting sun highlighted the tears rolling down her face—of how the waves slowly drowned her pleas.

He does not know if he'll ever find this Cagalli again.

His throat suddenly felt dry. "No. I don't think I can."