Aprilius One, Chairman's office, 8:15 AM

Yzak Jule ran his hand on the smooth surface of the desk, admiring the hand carved ivory that felt like silk on his palm. Casting a look around the room, his eyes automatically bore to the replica of the winged-whale fossil decorating the right wall of the office. On top of the desk, an old photo of young Athrun and his mother were neatly placed.

That bastard, Yzak mentally scoffed, just when I've made myself the youngest Supreme Council Member, he went and promoted himself to be the Chairman.

The size of the office was incomparable to a normal Supreme Council member's, Yzak bitterly noticed, as he resisted the urge to sit on the chair and prop his feet up to the desk.

Why? One, it wasn't an appropriate thing to do. Two, someone might come in and see him. Three, it'd make the desk dirty. Four, he really, Really, REALLY wanted to do it ever since forever.

Besides, if anybody ever found out about this shady activity, Dearka would die laughing. And Athrun...there's NO WAY in hell he'll let him know. It's bad enough that Yzak's taking the short end of the stick, and let his arch-rival enjoy it immensely. His image would be scarred for life, and worse, his mother would be so ashamed of him. Ezaria already got her hands full with the house arrest, and didn't need her only son to embarrass her even more.

Yet, realizing all of this fact, Yzak felt only a strange hesitation that gradually disappeared as he raised his feet one by one and propped them up to the desk. He took a deep breath and was thoroughly enjoying the one true moment in his life. Yes, not even the satisfaction of killing the pilot of Strike could even match to this. That was, until the door to the office whirred open and Yzak flipped off from the desk with a breakneck speed before taking a quick look at the insubordinate fool who has perfectly ruined his one true moment, falling behind the desk with a loud thump.

Yzak quickly climbed up and stared indignantly, trying to preserve his pride while the back of his head throbbed like mad. "WHO THE HELL IS THAT?...!"

Dearka Elthman peered at him from the other side of the desk, and eyed him curiously. "What the hell are you doing down there?"

"I dropped my pen," Yzak answered crossly, and shot Dearka a dirty look. "What are YOU doing here? Ever heard of knocking?"

"Knock the door? This is Cosmic Era, not the 21st Century. Your secretary said that you're in here," Dearka pointed to the door with his thumb. "I thought you want to contact Athrun while you're here."

Ah. Him. Yes, Yzak almost forgot that sorry little ingrate who just went all the way to shag his Natural old flame, and left him with all the mess that might never get finished until the next century. Reaching for the laptop on top of the desk, Yzak quickly sat on the empty chair across the Chairman's and typed away. Moments later a communication link was established, and there he was, the pathetic reason of a Chairman, peering at the monitor cautiously as if it could spawn a monster anytime.

-Is somebody there?- The young man in the screen called.

Clearing his throat, Yzak began drumming his fingers on the desk as Dearka scooped closer to the notebook to take a better look. "This is Urz 7, reporting for duty," Yzak announced. "Believe me, Zala, I'm very close to sending a team of snipers over there and claimed this position for myself. I'm opening this communication link only with the intentions of seeing your dead body."

Athrun shook his head and smiled at them. –It's good that you still have your sense of humor intact. How's it going?-

"Hanging on a bare, thin thread and getting close to shooting myself, man," Dearka stated, and Yzak has to stop himself from clutching Dearka's collar and shook some senses into him.

"Don't fret yourself with such trivial matters, moron. I've got everything under control." Yzak grinned smugly to the monitor.

Dearka snickered and leaned closer to the screen. "Yeah, yesterday he spilled coffee all over your-"

Without looking back, Yzak drove his elbow right into Dearka's gut, and the blonde immediately doubled over, clutching his stomach as he gurgled on the floor.

-Is everything all right over there?- Athrun asked, one of his eyebrow raised in concern.

"Never better, asshole," Yzak answered, voice dripping with sarcasm. "And to make things better, why don't you just stay there forever and never come back?"

-Love to, but one can't spend his entire life in vacation.-

"Dream on, Zala. Your job only consisted of approving mobile suit blue prints and G.E.N.E.S.I.S. plans. It's totally a walk in the park for me."

Athrun crossed his arms, and snickered. Yzak shuddered at the man's uncanny resemblance with the late Captain Klueze (may he rest in peace) but retained his conceit and cracked on his knuckles for some needed confidence boost.

-Always a terrible liar,- Athrun prodded, and in his eyes Yzak thought he could read it oh so clearly: Would it kill you to admit you're just inferior compared to me?

Four years ago, the old Yzak Jule might have pounded on the laptop till there's nothing left, and continued to shout at everyone in sight until he wore down his voice. Remembering his Anger Management classes, Yzak took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He repeated this step several times until the need to plant a fist on the screen subsided, and reached over to layers of bubble wraps in his suit, and started popping them. "At least I got the nerve to ask the woman I love to stay, unlike Mr. Commitment Phobic over here."

"Hey!" Dearka, regaining his vigor, shouted. "That got nothing to do with this!"

"I'm not talking about you, idiot," Yzak groaned in frustration.

Athrun sighed, and stared at the monitor curiously. –What's that 'pock-pock' sound, by the way?-

Ignoring Athrun's question, the silver haired man continued popping the bubble wraps. "Have you finished your intentions?" Yzak asked with a demanding look, forgetting that Athrun couldn't see him.

Athrun, Day 6

"Ever heard of the saying, 'if you want everything, you'll end up with nothing'?"

Yzak's voice cracked from the other line, and I suspected him to cringe. -My patience is wavering, Zala. Remember that you owe me big time for this.-

"I thought you're enjoying yourself over there?"

-Enjoy it so much you'd think its hell in here. I got to go, there's a meeting with Kanaba.-

"By the way, Yzak..."

-Whaaaattt?-

"Take off your shoes if you ever put your feet up on my desk," I stated a matter-of-factly before walking off.

It was quiet for a second, and then a loud -YOU FUCBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTT---- erupted from the other line before disappearing over the forest's stillness.

He must have failed his Anger Management Classes and turned the laptop into smithereens. Right now he's probably shouting at a wall or clutching Dearka's collar and shouted empty threats as loud as he could. Nope, those bubble wraps weren't helping as much.

I found myself taking a trip to the beach, enjoying the feeling of warm sand against my bare feet. I plopped down to lie on my back on top of the sand, as the morning sea breeze was balmy enough to buoy anyone for a nice nap.

What a vacation this has turned out to be.

Going back to the house would really cause to circumstances to be direr than this. Cagalli has retreated into the bedroom by the time I went back to sleep on the couch, and late in the night, during my toss and turn in the couch, I had heard the small creaking sound from the bedroom door. I didn't turn around to see, but I had imagined her hesitating at the door frame, watching my back. She must have spent another sleepless night as well, and this morning I had got out of the house before sunrise. Closing my eyes, I tried to forget all of the recent events, and the morbid questions unavoidably raided my mind.

Has the gap between us spread wider than I thought? Did anybody even try to create a bridge to cross our differences, and make amends?

Did we even have a future together?

No answer was given there, and I felt my hands at the back of my head, trying to ball up into fists. Then I felt soft fingers tracing the line of my jaw, and opened my eyes to see her, sitting behind me, the look of uncertainty and remorse so apparent as she didn't try to hide it. Cagalli looked upside down from where I was laying, the tip of her fingers stopped on my lips. It must have took her quite some skill to come so close to me undetected, and she bent down, her face so close to mine that her hair was tickling the tip of my nose. She had always preferred to say words with her fingers rather than eloquence.

"Are you wearing my t-shirt?" I said finally after moments of silence, watching the loose neckline hanging over her bare shoulders.

She let a small chuckle to escape from her lips, and pulled the collar closer to her neck. "Can't find anything without ruffles or laces or not pink inside the closet, so I might as well wear yours."

From the way Cagalli was ducking under her bangs, one might think she was trying to hide her eyes under them. She was doing an awful job at it, as the sun has crept over our heads, her face simmering in the brightness.

"Did you sleep well?" Last night, these last few days, or even the last four years? She enquired, unable to suppress a guilty smile cracking the edge of her lips.

Pretending not to hear it would gain nothing, as the distance between us was just a hands' length. I shook my head. There wasn't a single good night's sleep for the last four years we spent apart from each other. Ironic, how two years could change one's life so much.

"So am I," Cagalli answered that question while her eyes was studying the waves, her fingers venturing into the tangles of my sand-filled hair. "Listen, I've been... thinking about why we're here."

Biting back to stop all the former questions from rolling off my tongue unnoticed, I kept my stare at her upside down face. Despite her boyish appearance, Cagalli did have her own feminine traits, the soft, gentle feeling that came marauding every time she said her words under her breath.

"I don't know where we are as of now," Her voice was soft, heavy with insecurity. "I also don't know where we're going from here."

Both of us never handled futility well. It was why our paths were supposed to branch out, and connected at the end. But I couldn't see the joined end now, not in my self, not in her eyes as she tried to articulate again. "I want to believe that maybe the circumstance has given us a second chance," Unsure of her own voice, the girl held the situation responsible instead of fate.

Do we even deserve it?

Cagalli's fingers stilled on my shoulder, and for a fleeting second, I realized I must have voiced my thought out loud.

"I want to believe that," she echoed, more to herself than to me. "But I also want to know what you think."

I've been making a wager ever since I've met the exotic blonde six years ago. "Are you saying you wanted to start all over again?"

She must have estimated her own voice to quiver as her chin slowly dipped down into a nod, and pressed her forehead against mine.

I want to believe, I said, repeating Cagalli's words as she bent down to take my mouth in hers.

It was warm, and said everything of the uncertain, impending future.