AN: Theme song - Get the Devil Out of Me by Delain (lyrics on my profile)
As always my beta Hall1990 rocked this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or the clone aka Destiny. Sniff.
Murphy's Law
Chapter 07: Get The Devil Out Of Me
Athrun didn't feel surprised when he stopped his aunt's Toyota Prius in front of the Athha's Estate and Cagalli appeared suddenly from nowhere, jumped over the hood and hopped into the car like a ninja. He kinda got used to things like that already.
"Go! Go! Go!" She screamed, kneeling on the floor, watching her house.
Athrun sighed, smiled crookedly at some old lady who was watching them with a dumbfounded expression and stepped on the accelerator.
"No one saw us. Good." Cagalli moved from the floor and put her ass on the seat.
"Hmm." Athrun glanced at the mirror. The old lady was still watching them. He was sure she was debating if she should have called the police. "Do I want to know?" He asked.
"Of course not, phew! You are late."
He looked at the clock. "One minute."
"Do you know what you can do in one minute?"
"Take a pee?"
Cagalli blinked at the new source of a thin voice. She looked back and saw a little kid who looked like a mini and girlish version of Zala. Kid was chewing gum and sitting on a child seat, wearing a pink Frozen t-shirt.
"Lena, the cousin. Cagalli the," Pain in the ass but whatever, "School friend." Athrun made an official presentation.
"Oh! Nice to meet you!" Cagalli drew her hand but Lena just blew a bubblegum, staring at her with big, green eyes. "Erm, I see you are a fan of Frozen, who is your favorite character, Anna or Elsa?"
The bubble burst. "Sven." Lena said, still ignoring Cagalli's hand.
"Hmm, cool." Cagalli drew her hand back and sat.
How she absolutely HATED kids.
"I think she spends too much time with you." She mouthed to Zala, digging in her backpack.
"You have no idea." He murmured.
"Your name is strange." The little devil said suddenly.
"Well, yours is not typical either." She fired back and successfully dug out her organizer.
"Of course it's not. It's Slavic, duh." The kid smirked.
Has that little monster just… outsmarted her? A vein on her forehead started to throb.
Athrun's super sensitive sensors detected the danger aka angry cat. "Bug, behave."
"Ok." Lena rolled her eyes.
"Ok and what?"
"I'm sorry, duh." She clearly wasn't.
Cagalli decided to just ignore the monster and opened her organizer. She looked at the things she needed to do. Cagalli grunted. Well, she wasn't going to get bored.
In the back Lena started to hum songs from Frozen.
"A lot to do?" Zala suddenly asked.
"Hmm? Oh, well student's council meeting, I need to discuss some things with Durandal, and miss Simmons, find idiots… erm, volunteers to prepare gym for talent contest…" She threw a look at him.
"No." He said flatly.
They didn't realize Lena stopped humming.
Cagalli sighed. "Thought so. And we have a transfer student, Miguel Aiman, and I need to guide him."
"That's all? Don't you have to save the world between classes or something?"
She blinked. "Uhm, no? Oh, I need to be at hospital at four today. So we have to postpone our tutoring." He gave her a look. "What? My voluntary service."
"No free time or breaks?"
"Breaks are for the weak!"
"Of course." He stopped the car and got out.
"I don't like you."
Cagalli blinked and looked at Lena. "Excuse me?"
But the girl hopped out of the car.
What the hell?
Athrun helped his cousin put on her pink backpack. "Uncle Andy will pick you up. Be nice. No kicking boys today, Bug." He ruffled Lena's hair.
"Yeah, yeah. See ya!" The girl ran to the kindergarten's gate.
"Your cousin is… weird." Cagalli said when he returned to the car.
"Well, not weirder than other girls her age. She had her birthday's party month ago." Zala said when he saw her questioning gaze. "And I don't want to talk about it." He added quickly when she opened her mouth.
Talking about little girls, squeaks, brocade on his hair, more squeaks, pink paint on his jacket, Taylor Swift's songs and giving a ride to the middle aged, tipsy women and their kids was not a fucking option.
Instead he turned the music on.
Cagalli furrowed her brows. She didn't know the band. And the language…
"Is that German?" He nodded and she wrinkled her nose. "Gosh, it sounds awful, like a firing machine gun or something."
Zala smirked. "Maybe you are just a linguistic barbarian and you don't recognize the beauty of it?"
"Hey!"
"Do you know how to say 'butterfly' in French?"
She blinked confused. "No. But…"
"It's papillon, it sounds, well cute. In Spanish it's a mariposa. Chōchō in Japanese. Russian baboćka, and believe me, it's lovely. In Polish it's a motyl. And in German?"
"No idea." Cagalli prepared herself for some super cute and fluffy word.
"DER SCHMETTERLING (1)." He said with a super German accent and Cagalli burst out with hysterical laughter.
"It sounds… it sounds…" She hiccupped.
"Like a nose-diving fighter in the middle of a battle?" Zala happily proposed.
"Worse." She hiccupped again. "Why in the world are you learning it? Oh God! I knew you were a masochist!"
"Nah. I've heard they speak German in hell, so I'm just preparing myself for the afterlife." Cagalli snorted. "And well, my mom was German." He added softly and she immediately stopped chuckling.
"I… didn't know that." She said carefully, glancing at him. "Half German, huh?" She said something to end the awkward silence.
Surprisingly, he smiled. "My granddad is Polish. He said we have some Russian and Belarusian ancestors too. Wife of my great-grandfather was French. He served in a Polish squadron and was shot down above France during the Battle of England. She saved his ass when he crashed down on her field, and the people wanted to shoot him because they thought he was a Nazi. After the war he went back there, found her and they got married."(2)
Cagalli was listening to him with an open mouth. "You are shitting me!"
"Nope, sorry. My granddad jokes that I have such a crazy combination of DNA that he is surprised that my genes don't fight with each other." He smiled and stopped the car on the school's parking lot.
"I still don't believe you. It's just too crazy." She followed him to the building.
"You just don't want to admit, I have an extraordinary mix of the genes." He smirked.
They didn't notice that people on the corridor were watching them. The freaking terminator and the tigress together? Talking? Smiling? Not fighting?! The pictures form Haw's Twitter weren't photoshoped?!
"Yeah, you wish! Besides 'Zala' doesn't sound very Polish."
"Granddad changed his last name when he came here. Zalaszczyrzewski is his real last name."(3)
"Zalashh... Zala… Ok, I think I know why he changed it… He must be the new guy." She pointed to a blonde guy, standing near the office, looking like a lost puppy. "Hey! I'm Cagalli, you are Miguel, right?"
The dude smiled. "You are the one who is going to guide me, yes? Nice too meet you. And you are…" He almost swallowed his tongue when he met the cold green eyes of the guy, who just looked at him and walked by him, without a word.
"That was Athrun and don't mind him, he needs to live up to his terminator's fame."
"Is your boyfriend going to kill me? You know, if he minds so much I can take care of myself. You don't need to…"
Cagalli started to laugh really loudly, people around looked at her and quickly drifted away.
Then she stopped and looked expressionlessly at Miguel who gulped. "He is not my boyfriend. Don't even joke like that again, ok?" He wordlessly nodded and she smiled. "Cool! And now, let's introduce you to this school's Alpha and Omega." Cagalli grabbed his hand and opened the door of Miss Gladys chamber and dragged him in.
When she was introducing the shivering boy to the devil secretary, she realized she called Zala by his first name.
Mu was scowling at the tests of his class. Not good, not good at all. Why didn't these kids see the beauty and wisdom of history?!
He sighed, raised his head and almost squeaked. In front of his desk an angel was standing, smiling softly.
"Miss Clyne, how can I help you?" He asked trying to calm down his panicking heart.
"Sir, I want to apologize." She made a sad, sweet face.
There were a lot of troublemakers in his class. Yuna was beating records in the number of classes he was sleeping in. Yzak had problems with keeping his anger in check and has destroyed a lot of the school's property already. Cagalli's fights with Rau were legendary. Athrun skipped classes and had an awful attitude. Miriallia, Luna and Stellar were stalking innocent people. Shinn (and Flay!) were smoking. Dearka was harassing humans in skirts, teachers included. Sai was hacking school's computers with, ehm, inappropriate pictures. Meer's hobby was initiating (and winning) cat fights. Shiho had a small arsenal of knives hidden in her locker. Orga, Clotho and Shani… were themselves. Even sweet Nicol was habitually lying about non existing rehearsals just to skip classes.
Lacus was the last sacred bastion in his class full of renegades. Has his class corrupted her already? Why?!
"I accidentally eavesdropped on you and Mr. Le Creuset."
Mu turned pale. Did she hear their talking about that visit in a strip club? Or THAT poker game? He gulped.
"Sorry sir, it wasn't intentional. I've heard you want to make projects in pairs and I thought…"
Lacus blinked when he put his forehead on the desk and sighed loudly. But he quickly raised his head and smiled widely.
"And, hmm, yes. I'm new here and don't quite get along with everyone in our class yet. There is one person," her eyes watered a little, "that I want to get know a little better and make friends with. So, I thought maybe if you could put us in one pair…" She looked deeply into his eyes.
Her wet, baby blue eyes shone innocently and hopefully.
"Of course." He said without hesitation, mesmerized by her perfect student's attitude.
Lacus closed her eyes, smiled and tipped her head to the left. "Wonderful! I thought maybe I could help you a little more and I also paired the rest of the class." She gave him a paper.
He took and skimmed it. Oh… Some pairs were obvious, some surprising and some… interesting. That would be fun.
"Thank you Miss Clyne, I think I'll use it."
She smiled and clapped her hands. "Perfect, I'm glad I could help." Lacus said, turned and opened the door.
Mu didn't know why but he felt chills running down his spine for no rational reason.
"Oh, hello Flay." The smiling pink head passed Allster in the door.
"Clyne." The ex-cheerleader captain blinked. Wow, that smile was sweet and… creepy.
"Sir, the application." She said and put the paper on Mu's desk. When he didn't react she looked at him more closely. He was staring at the door with some strange expression on his face.
"Mr. La Flaga?"
"Have you ever felt like a mouse hypnotized by a snake?" He asked slowly.
"Erm, yes sir, quite often on chemistry classes. Are you ok?"
He sighed. "I'm fine." Mu checked the time, the first period was about to begin. "Let's move to the classroom. Can you please take this with you? Thanks." He gave her a map and closed his office.
"Mr. La Flaga, can we talk?"
Flay gulped. Miss Ramius appeared from nowhere and was standing, smiling, looking at the history teacher like a hungry hawk.
Oh man. Flay wanted to disappear. Oh boy!
"I think you didn't get my SMS with my proposition?" Murrue smiled.
Mu turned from the door with wide smile on his face.
"Sorry, Murrue, I wanted to tell you it personally. You see," he approached Flay and put hand on her shoulder, "Miss Allster volunteered to the history contests. " Flay blinked and looked at him." From today we have to spend next few weeks studying hard after class." Flay's jaw dropped and Murrue's face fell.
Did he say WEEKS?
"I hope she will pass the first stage and she will get to the countrywide finals. Right, Flay?" He smiled at her warmly with sparkling eyes.
"Ermmmm." She looked at the devastated Murrue then at him again. "I think…"
"Great! That's the spirit! And now forgive me Murrue, but I don't want to be late for my class." He smiled and pushed speechless Flay.
Then it hit her. Yesterday. Did he play her into this historic mess to have an excuse for Miss Ramius for the next few weeks!?
SON OF A BITCH!
"You…!"
"Keep walking." He smiled like a cat that ate a canary, still with an arm on her shoulder.
She was so not going to pass anything. Fuck him very much!
Her stomach rumbled, but she didn't have time to eat. Cagalli stretched her sore muscles and yawned, looking for the blue Toyota Prius. There it was, with Athrun leaned on it with closed eyes and arms crossed on his chest.
Athrun. Hmm.
"Aren't you happy today?"
She knew it was coming. For the whole day he was suspiciously nice. No teasing. She caught him looking at her with a strange glint in his eyes but nothing else. He had spent his day luring Miguel to his circle of friends. Poor blonde was bought completely by the end of the classes.
"Why should I be? I won't see you until tomorrow." She turned and smiled at Yamato.
He was sitting on a bench, with his legs crossed, and one arm casually draped over the back, looking smooth and all.
She sighed. "What do you want Kira?"
He raised his brows. "Me? Nothing at all. I'm just sitting here, watching you sailing straight into a beautiful disaster."
Cagalli looked at him skeptically. "Care to elaborate a little more? I'm too tired for word games."
He stood up and went to her. Stopped in front of Cagalli, a little too close for her liking. "Last time we were alone, you weren't so snappy, Princess."
"Don't call me that." She rolled her eyes. "And don't remind me about our last encounter or I'll throw up. Again."
He clutched his heart with a mockery smile. "Oh, you are hurting my heart. Afraid of what people would think about us if they knew?"
She watched his eyes that were shining triumphantly.
But then she pattered his cheek. "Aww, blackmail? It's low, even for you." Cagalli grinned. "Besides, no witnesses, my dear prince."
He stared at her happy face, fully aware he lost that round. Then glanced at Athrun.
"You don't know him." Kira said. "You don't know what he is capable of doing."
She rolled her eyes. "And you, of all people, know him?"
Kira smiled a little. "Better than you think. We were friends for a long time. He is a complicated fella. A little…wild."
"Oh, really? Imagine that I'm a big girl and can take of myself. I don't need a prince charming, Yamato."
He smiled. "Oh, you didn't understand me, Princess. I mean," Kira drew his hand and tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear, "if you get closer to him, you will tear him apart." Then he looked into her eyes for some seconds, turned around and left.
Cagalli exhaled loudly. Her heart was racing, her ears were burning and she had a chaos in her brain. She looked at the leaving Kira. If he wanted to mess with her head, he succeeded.
"Bastard." She murmured and then looked at the still oblivious Zala.
Did she really not know him at all?
She knew he loved his mother. In their elementary days she was so jealous watching him running to his smiling mum, when only empty house and maids were waiting for her. She knew he was in the car along with his mother, when one rainy day a truck crashed into them. She remembered he disappeared from the school to the end of the year and appeared after vacation, on the inauguration. And he was so distant and his friends tried to approach him, but quickly stopped, because he wanted to be left alone.
He quit all the sport's teams, student council, school clubs. He didn't respond when Yzak shoved him against the wall, screamed, and finally hit him and ran away (she knew the silver head spent an hour in the bathroom, punching the wall and crying angrily). And Athrun just got up from the floor, dusted himself off and went for his next class like nothing happened. Like a robot. People wanted to give him time, but it lasted for years, and he became the infamous lone wolf.
She knew he was spending PE lying on the benches, because he wasn't interested in winning the games, so nobody wanted him on their team. He preferred tea above coffee. He disappeared during the lunch breaks; she suspected he was spending them on the roof. He was spacing a lot in class, but listening in history. He was good in general science and foreign languages. He was biting the inside of his cheek while solving advanced equations. He was a good observer. He was also an individualist, who liked to do things his own way and didn't give a damn if everyone thought differently. She was jealous of that.
He liked to piss her off, but not like Kira. The brown-haired captain was pushing the wrong buttons only to watch her exploding with anger. Athrun seemed to just like arguing with a worthy opponent who had different opinion. She loved that too.
He was all that and so much more, hidden under many layers and she just wanted to peel them from him like an onion.
Sometimes, in the middle of the night Cagalli would think about peeling his clothes off him too, but you didn't hear it from her.
Has he also thought about her sometimes?
"Daydreaming about me?" She asked him. Athrun was still leaning on the car, with closed eyes.
"Almost." He opened one eye and looked at her. "I think I know where to start improving your car."
"Hmm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall anything about 'improving' my car, just 'servicing.'"
"Details." He smirked and got into the car. "By the way, where is my jacket?"
"Oh shit, I forgot about it completely. Sorry! I'll bring it next time… What's that?" Cagalli asked, taking a package from her seat. When she unwrapped the foil she found a kebab with spicy sauce. Her favorite.
Surprised she looked at Athrun, who just shrugged his shoulders with a half-smile.
"I know that eating is probably for the weak too, but I don't want to hear your growling stomach the whole drive." He turned his strange music on.
Cagalli looked at him but said nothing, just bit into her kebab.
She suddenly felt hot, but the spices weren't the reason.
AN:
(1) I borrowed that idea from Gringo wśród dzikich plemion by Wojciech Cejrowski. And I swear I love German language. Seriously!
(2) True story of Tony Halik. After he married his French girl, he toured the half of the world, made a TV program about different cultures and generally had spend his life on being simply awesome.
(3) I'm kinda proud of myself, because I put almost every crazy Polish sound to this last name and it still sounds real. Plus, it ends with –ski, so Athrun's ancestors were part of the aristocracy (so, he has not only blue hair but some blue blood too, lol). Someone wants to try and read it aloud? ;D If you go to google translator, paste Zalaszczyrzewski in English and translate it to Polish, you can listen how to pronounce it. Hue, hue…. My idiocy never fails to amuse me, lol.
I'm seriously thinking about changing the title of this story to "Sitting, talking and sighing in the cars, high school edition, lol".
So, what do you think? Finally, I introduced the cousin, messed up with Athrun's genes, Lacus continues plotting something, Flay realized she stepped into a historic shit, Mu is sneakier than we all thought and yay! (or nay?) for the first real KxC interaction.
Btw, I know I messed up a little with the family relations and confused some readers, so:
Adam Zala is Patrick's father and Athrun's granddad. Aisha is Lenore's younger sister. She is not related to Adam by blood, they just got close some years ago, when they had to took care of Athrun. Plus, Adam lives near the Waltfeld family that's why the are all very close.
Guest reviews:
Dinah: Yes, I KNOW. I tried it TEN (!) years ago but when I saw how "often" he updated - I gave up. And here I am again. And it didn't get better (!), so yeah, I am a masochist. I'm on the volume 11, but next time we can cry and moan together about our destroyed psyches and hopes. Thank you! I'm trying to avoid a typical drama and do something different. How did you like Lacus? Hee, more of her is coming because I love her being like that. Telling the truth I "don't like" how perfect some characters became in Destiny so, here we are :P I'm glad to hear you like FxK because writing them gave me a BIG butt's hurt but I like how their romantic story ended. A kiss and a dead unicorn for you :D
Surreal: Hey, thanks for the comment! Don't worry, as long as people will read it/like it, I'll do anything to end this story. I'm a reader too and I know the pain when the fic you like is not finished ;)
Summerain: Phew, who doesn't like perfect, nicely shaped butts? ;) So yeah, I know it's a fanservice but whatever, more Blueberry's ass is coming to the town (I'm not sorry). Thanks for the comment!
Oh la la: OMG! Drive safely, don't read it in the car! What if you die because of me?! You will haunt me! Aaa…! *hides in the closet and cries*… Thanks for the comment! ;)
Okita. Kagura: Aww, let me hug you. Idiotic and sarcastic AxC is something I really like to write. There is a plan for Flay, so don't worry… Hmm, actually maybe because of it you should start to worry, lol. MxD? My lips are sealed, you will have to continue reading future chaps *evil laugh*. Jeez, now I will have to focus on writing fantastic KxC scenes that won't disappoint you, agrgh! Thanks for the lovely comment!
Thank you all for reading and reviewing! You know, when I have problems with writing this fic, I just check the reviews section and the number of visits and as much as cheesy it sounds, it really helps me and gives me a lot of positive energy. So, thanks people, you are AWESOME.