The Bloody Valentine happened in February…but I wanted to make a Halloween special instead of this chapter… Since February and October are clearly months apart, I will just have to add the Special at the end…which means I will probably finish the story before the end of October (which I was planning to do anyways since there is only one more normal chapter after this one). That will be all. Go ahead and read (and review).

I would've finished this chapter ages ago but procrastination took over… I blame my friends who wouldn't leave me (or my house) alone.
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Whenever Naomi mentioned the mobile suits or ORB, Cagalli would seem to get uncomfortable. It's been like that for a while and Naomi was finally sick of Cagalli's secretiveness and started to search information on Cagalli on her laptop. After all, how common could a name like "Cagalli" be?

Naomi was very surprised to see who exactly she was. Cagalli suddenly slammed down on Naomi's laptop, closing it and stopping Naomi's search. "What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything, Miss Yula Athha; little prissy princess of ORB." Naomi laughed mockingly as Cagalli sighed. "That explains all your reactions towards mobiles suits made by, of course, ORB and why you were at Heliopolis in the first place. Congratulations, we officially know each other."

"…Perfect…" Cagalli wasn't worried Naomi was going to tell anyone, especially while they were on a ZAFT ship. The soldiers could've used her as a hostage to convince her father of joining ZAFT. Nope. She was just worried this bit of information would make Naomi think she has the right to boss her around, laugh at her constantly, and be even more annoying than usual.

"You couldn't have stopped me from finding out anyways. If you weren't so obviously disturbed, I wouldn't have known to snoop." Naomi was grinning from ear to ear.The next day was killed by reading the few chapter books Naomi kept in her backpack, only stopping to eat, drink, talk about the plan, or nap to get ready for the night where they had to sneak out once again and tell everyone about their big plan of escape and the codes to their own door.

Oddly, Naomi didn't once bring up Cagalli's identity or her title or anything but escaping. Normally, she wouldn't have dropped the subject, even for a second. She didn't even joke around about it with Akito and his family when they visited them that night.

Naomi had changed since they first met. It wasn't a very dramatic change, but she was a bit less sarcastic and made Aya and Akito happy when they visited. Sure, she wasn't going to pick up the kids on her back and run around the room or anything, but at least she wasn't making the little children sad with her bitter remarks. At that point on, Akito wasn't the only one that was able to cheer her little sibling up when she was having a tantrum. Having the slightly-changed Naomi around was enough to keep her from crying, though she still craved for attention.

All the other civilians felt the change too. Naomi had stopped waiting outside the room, near the doorway, or by the corner. Instead, she stood next to Cagalli as the blonde-haired girl talked to them calmly. Naomi would say a few sentences about their plan but never said any words of false comfort and lies, and they never expected her to. A lot of the times, she wouldn't talk to them at all because she didn't know them, but not saying anything was plenty times better than saying something insulting. A few of the ZAFT soldiers saw the change too (Three guesses who).

Every time Athrun checked on the civilians, he made a bit of small talk. He noticed Naomi had lost the edge on her voice, especially when she was talking with Cagalli. They seemed to have been fairly good friends, but always argued and bickered playfully and occasionally, angrily.Even Yzak had noticed the small change, even though he had never talked to them, he had seen Naomi smile more often compared to earlier times.

That day was an awkward one. Naomi was feeling especially different and she randomly waved at Yzak when he brought in food. He wasn't expecting it at all and just stood there. Cagalli watched the strange episode and started to laugh. Naomi gave her an annoyed look and punched her lightly. He hid his face in the shadows and left the room and walked down the hallway, listening to a girl's laughter and more punching sounds.

Nicol passed him by in the hallway and turned around once they passed each other. He walked backwards and stared at Yzak's back, wondering if he was just imagining a smile on Yzak's face. Sure it seemed confused and slightly angry, as always, but it was almost gentle, and it was a smile nonetheless. Nicol didn't know had happened, but it was a nice change of pace. Anything that can make Yzak smile can't be all too bad at all. He continued walking to find the source, never thinking that it was one of the civilians who caused it.

Just two days left until the plan was to start. Two days until they were finally home with the rest of their family, friends, and loved ones in a new but friendlier environment. Absolutely no one could wait. The kids were more excited within their rooms. Their parents had an even harder time controlling them because honestly, they wanted to join their kids in acting silly and thrilled. The bitter, elderly man hadn't yelled at the girls, the people in the next rooms for being loud, or his unfortunate son in days. Things were finally looking up for the civilians.

Naomi lied on the floor with her legs propped straight up against the wall of the room, humming to herself. She yawned and kicked her feet against the wall. Cagalli watched her. "Where are you going when we all escape?" Naomi asked suddenly.

"I could get transport ships to take everyone to their families."

"Awesome! Are they first-rate luxury ships? I can't wait to se the looks on my parents' face when they see me coming home in a giant…"

"No…they're normal transport ships."

Naomi mumbled to herself. "Way to kill my fun…"

There was not much was left to be done so the girls turned in early, as well as everyone else on the ship. The next day, everyone packed the things they were given and thought they needed for the trip inconspicuously. They were careful not to get caught by the crew members and questioned why they were packing as if they were leaving on the day before the day of grief for the Bloody Valentine.

They took some essentials such as blankets if they got cold, food and water, and extra items for the young ones; anything they could carry easily. Some of them took the bathroom soaps and lotions and carried them or put them in their pockets like they would do at hotels. They were already prepared to leave. They left all the things they wanted to take in a hidden spot so no soldier would see them as the two girls instructed them to do.

Cagalli hadn't packed anything at all since she had no luggage with her. She figured if there wasn't anything wrong with the escape pod like the one at Heliopolis, she wouldn't need anything. Besides, she could share Naomi's supplies. They weren't bringing much of their own stuff. Cagalli offered to take most of the edible supplies since Naomi had her backpack. Unfortunately, with Naomi's books, she couldn't fit everything in her backpack.

"No way! I just bought these books…sure I've already read them…but they were expensive! I'm not just going to leave them here for some food we won't even need." Naomi put down her laptop to her side and hugged her backpack, greedily as she stuck her tongue out at Cagalli and made a face.

Cagalli knew she was kidding around, but she couldn't stand how childish she was being. Cagalli tried to jump for the backpack and Naomi laughed when she pulled it away. She gently hit Cagalli's head with the bag and gave it to her. "I just needed that laugh."

Naomi sat with her back against the wall, typing away on her laptop with an almost grim and concerned look on her face. Cagalli held the backpack and began packing, occasionally looking over. Every time she did so, Naomi would cover the screen. "It's nothing important…really!" she gave a smile, but her eyes were filled with worry. "Let's prepare for tomorrow." Naomi closed her computer and placed it next to her backpack instead of in it. "I'm going to be carrying that around tomorrow…"

Cagalli couldn't help but to wonder why. She crawled into her bed as exhaustion took over. "Tomorrow, we are leaving this place once and for all." She said unconsciously to herself as she drifted off to sleep.
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This chapter is a bit on the short side, but I want to save the rest for the next chapter. I think it will be pretty long compared to my other chapters.