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I'm going to die. We're all going to die.
Victoriese paced back and forth in her room which Laveiga kept her locked in, feeling a bit psychotic and paranoid. She swallowed her worry. Her throat closed dangerously, but she did not cry. There was no time for crying, she needed to be calm. She needed to think of a strategy, or all could be gone. By then it was clear to her that Senator Laveiga meant for her to be locked away, and that this whole disaster was his doing.
"We've had it all planned out. I don't know how you found out, but you can't save them, no one can. Father said if you agree to help us, we were going to spare you, but I think you're better off locked up in this room. Everything's perfect, so I find as well as just tell you the truth. Father and I will see to it that our goal is achieved. Orb is done for. The EA is completely fooled. We'll have them wrapped in our palms in no time. Father and I will unify the entire world. So save your breath, Victoriese."
Vic wringed her cold and clammy hands. Oh the look in Gwen's eye when she hissed those words in her face, so menace and chilly. Victoriese was an observant and a pursuivant, so of course her hawkish nature had easily picked up the truth of it all the conspiracy and deception while Gwen walked her to this imprisonment-room. A nasty glow of triumph that had swam in Gwen's dark eyes, her smiles were disgustingly sweet as she cruelly taunted. Victoriese cursed inwardly at how useless she was, stomping her feet on the carpet. Surely she had a position above almost all but God, a result she achieved after years of struggling hard work, but however, Victoriese realized now with despair that she was a young, lone bird flying too high with not enough power or freedom.
I don't want to die. I need to think of something. I need to get out of here. Dear God help me! Athrun's dead, I can't let Cagalli die too. I must save Cagalli!!!
Licking her lips, Victoriese clutched a handful of her hair and squeezed until her knuckles hurt. Out of pure frustration, she tossed the cup of tea against the starch-white walls. Profanities rolled out from her mouth in a string. Breathing hard, Vic found herself saying, "No! I won't die, and can't let Cagalli die!!!"
"Which is why I think you'll need my help." A figure stood in the open door way. Vic jolted and turned.
Against the bleak white light, Victoriese quickly averted her eyes and demanded, "Who are you?!"
"A friend."
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Yzak Joule was running…
Somewhere in front of him was her wavering figure, sprinting in the dim night light, away from him. There was no sense of any kind any longer. Nothing mattered. The surroundings of shadowy buildings, abandoned sullen streets and eerie lamplights were all but a spells of blurs to him now. The soaring of the wind was in his ears and his heartbeat too. His mind was a black pit of void, draining of segments of thoughts into oblivion…all except for memories of her.
…why are you alive…why…why… why
She kept on running, her figure disappearing as she round of the corner of a building. Lungs aching, Yzak kicked his feet hard against the cement ground, thrusting himself to follow after. His breath was short, and his blood was bumping with adrenaline, but he chased without hesitation.
Chasing…chasing…chasing…the silver-haired man was in a pulled towards to the person he chased by a deadlock force.
His logic and conscience eroded quickly at the truth-seeking ambition that manipulated his mind. No, he wasn't sure if he was still sane, and he had absolutely no faith to say that he wasn't just hallucinating, but despite that, Yzak knew he had no other choice, and he was willing to take that chance. He must have proof! He must follow her to know the truth, because if he didn't, he'd be damned for eternity.
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Where am I…? It's so bright…
Gorgeous golden orchid grew in a vast, flat field, dancing to the soft beating of the wind. Athrun was stand on a cobblestone pathway in the middle of it all, have dazed and have asleep, faintly remembering who he was. Enshrouding him and the land of orchid were the bright, white lights, luring and warm with a comforting peacefulness. Eyes half closed, Athrun gazed dumbly into the white lights, suddenly seeing hazy figments of his mother's body…and his father, Patrick Zala…no longer stern and angry, but smiling and free of all that bitterness. Athrun's heart sang.
"Mother?" He tried to call out to her, but his voice came out so small and soft.
"Hey Athrun…" Beside Lenore, Nicol, Rusty, and Miguel appeared in vacillating figures. They were laughing, flowing slowly in front of his eyes, waving at him, calling his name. They were going deeper into the light, and they asked him to tag along…and he wanted to go so much…Mother…Nicol…Rusty…Miguel… how he missed them!!! How he missed Mother's gentle smiles, Nicol's wonderful music, Rusty's wildness and Miguel's good humour…
Go with them Athrun, he told himself. Go with them and forget about all the bad stuff…
"….Athrun…Athrun…" His name echoed faintly behind him. He turned annoyingly, frustrated at the person for stopping him from going to his mother and friends. When he looked he stopped shortly, for in front of him was a beautiful girl with long blond hair dressed in a flowing pastel-green dress. He couldn't see her face, but she held her hands out to him, saying with a yearning voice, "No Athrun, listen, the hardest battle in life is living."
Suddenly the wild orchids and cobblestone road disappeared and the calm haven was destroyed. Before Athrun could scream in despair, coldness washed in him and pulled him like arms back through the dark portal, away from the light.
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"Ah!"
Fresh, crisp air entered his lungs, almost like overpowering water, throttling his breath and intruding his numb wiry consciousness. Instantaneously, its frostiness made him alert, awake and alive.
Athrun sat limp on the bed, bare arms around his clammy, chilled body. His hair was damp; cold sweats beaded his temple like crystal droplets, some rolling down his face like rain. He felt so worn and so tired, as if he just ran five marathons in a row, or fought in battle for 3 whole endless days and nights. He didn't have much feeling in his limps, and where he did feel was aching with unbearable soreness.
Holding his outstretched hands and arms in front of him, Athrun gazed drearily at his ghastly white skin, close to colourless. He had never felt like this, like all the life in his had been sucked out of him and he was left with nothing but an empty shell. Closing his arms around him again, Athrun shuddered. He felt the thick bandages around his chest and sat confused for some disoriented moments. Then memories flooded back into this memory chamber and some major questions finally registered into his half-dead brain.
Wait a minute! Where am I? Shouldn't I be dead? Cagalli…Why did she want to kill me…ha…I think I deserved it didn't I…but too bad I didn't die.
"Cagalli!!!" He jolted and then immediately cringing in pain. Bobbing his head back and forth like a rattle-drum, Athrun looked frantically around the room that he was in, unfamiliar and empty. Finally, his eyes landed on a strange coatrack sort of a thing, but it wasn't really a coatrack. It was those kinds of hospital devices that holding a transparent bag of fluid it or blood in it. There was one beside his bed too, but the content in his bag was gone, while the one in the bag that he was staring at is still half full. Eyes fixed on it for a long moment; Athrun trailed his glance down the pole and onto another bed….and the person unconscious lying on it.
For a split second he almost didn't recognize the person's face, so pale and bloodless like his hand, bony and angular, but it was her face, oh yes, it was her!!! Realizing that horror, instantly, Athrun felt the unbearable ache of his lungs being ripped right out him and then squeezed, twisted and warped so many times that his breath was completely obstructed. His heart and soul were with her in an instant, and any suspicion or hatred he felt for her never existed. The time was right, and Athrun could not do anything to stop himself from releasing his inhibition.
"Cagalli!!" Athrun leaped out of bed, not expecting his two legs to be rubber-soft, and before he knew it, he collapsed face-first into the cold marble. Pain reverberated in throbbing waves across his skull, elbows, and knees His hot cheek throbbed against the cold stone. Cursing under his breath, Athrun pulled his body forward using his hands, crawling on his knees. He knew he must've looked pathetic, but he didn't give a damn. The cold tiles were relentless against his bare flesh. Teeth barred, Athrun could feel his distorted skin chafe against the ice-cold floor. His arms and kneecaps, bruised and scarred, endeavoured the burning sensation of ice-shard into them with bruising strength as they fractioned against the floor.
"Cagalli!" Athrun tried calling again, but was hit by despair that his voice was as hoarse as his dry, cracked lips. Finally made it to her bedside, Athrun perched himself on the floor with no more strength to pull himself up. There were so many questions to be asked as each horrific memory zoom past in his head, but Athrun ignored them easily. Tears were already fringing his eyes, piling like tide waves threatening to hit. Cold and shaking, Athrun reached his hands under the cover and found Cagalli's limp ones. Her hands were so cold, like arctic ice, even colder than the marble floor that he knelt on. Despite that, she was still so beautiful, not your everyday-average pretty face, but such a rare striking beauty that most would not detect unless they look real hard. The fact was her beauty was all inside her, and she showed them not through her physical appearance, but through the spirited air she left behind for the people she met.
Cagalli was so still and pale, like a delicate marble statue, a fallen angel. Holding her hand in both of his, Athrun kissed the back of her hand with his lips, choking oh his tears. She was lying there, clearly dying, and he didn't know why. He was scared…scared to lose her.
"Cagalli…Cagalli…please wake up…" He was crying, and his tears were unstoppable.
Dumb ass!! Dumb ass!! She tried to kill you!! Why are you crying!!!
Athrun's darker conscience scolded him, but he squished that thought with his grief. A part of him still held that grudge against her, and that part could easily grow to overpower him and make him turn hard on Cagalli, but for now, Athrun could not care much for any grudge. He didn't feel any hate or anger towards her either, just an aching worry that she may never look at him again, and fear that she might not forgive him. Crying harder, Athrun couldn't deny that he really did care! He did care!!! For five years, how he had lied!!! He lied to his friend, lied to Meyrin, lied to the world and lied to himself!!! He told everyone that he was over her, that they weren't meant to be, and he believed it too!!! Oh what a moron he had been!!! He could've known that he couldn't live a lie forever, and now the truth was there, staring him straight in the eye, and Athrun Zala realized, like he should've realized a long time ago…
….that he still, and always did love Cagalli Yula Attha.
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"Hey Cagalli what are you looking at…" They were walking down the street on a sunny spring day. It was one of the rare occasions Cagalli took time away from her work.
"Nothing…Athrun, nothing." Her blush was the cutest. He used to love to make her blush.
He looked at the store's display which caught Cagalli in a dreamy daze. It was beautiful wedding gown. Shimmering silvery white in all its glory; baby green sheer draped on the two sides of the dress. He smiled inwardly, but she had already dragged him away.
"You wanted that dress didn't you?" He teased her and watched her go scarlet. Her brows would furrow adorably together when she pouted in frustration and embarrassment, already protesting, "NO!!! I hate dresses!!!"
Cocking his head to the side, he said, "I'll buy you that dress someday, if you still want it."
Shyly, she took his hand in hers and walked down the street. When she looked at him with those sincere, warm-honey eyes, his heart was ready to melt. She mumbled in that tone of hers when she was extremely timid, "Really Athrun? You would do that for me?"
Nobody could really catch the rare moments when Cagalli showed the true and pure feminine side of her, and he had considered himself to be the luckiest man alive. Holding her close, he told her firmly, "I promise I will."
The thing is… he never did.
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"Cagalli…I'm so sorry…"
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"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!" It was first time he heard her scream. He had thought she was a guy. How foolish of him.
"I-It's a girl!!!" That was the first thing he said next. Perhaps if he didn't, things would be very different.
"Of course I have! What did you think I was?!!!" Odd. Very Odd. First time he had seen a soldier scream like a girl (well she was girl) and then still have so much fire in her to challenge him like that. He was drawn to that ball of fire. She had come to him at his darkest hours, like a torch of light, guiding him through the black maze he was lost in. Maybe there was really such a thing called destiny.
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"You know I think it was fate that brought you to me on that deserted island….no matter where you are, remember I will always protect you…" Did he really say those words? Did he not dream it instead? Why do all his words seem so empty and fake now?
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"Cagalli…I'm sorry…I'm stupid. I lied!! I didn't keep my promise…Cagalli. Please wake up…wake up and scream and me, yell at me, throw a tantrum- I don't care, but open your eyes…please…" Athrun cried and buried his face into blanket, bawling and shaking. "Please…"
"Athrun…don't cry…"
N/A: So what do you think? I know the Yzak part might be a bit confusing. There's still a lot to bet told, so stay tune! Please review!! O btw, school started again, and so next chapter might take awhile to complete… thanks