Ades gave his reluctant forces another reminder that they had no choice but to retreat. Athrun turned and saw the damaged Strike in the distance.
He spoke to Kira, rage in his voice. "Using a rescued civilian as a hostage? How can someone as righteous as you fight alongside those cowards? God, how you've fallen!"
The boy looked on, speechless at his old friend's rage.
"Athrun…" he finally choked out.
Athrun lowered his head, resolve gleaming in his eyes. "I'll save her! Just you wait!"
With that said, the Aegis turns around and finally took his leave.
Kira regarded his retreating friend before finally lowering his head and took a few breaths; it was funny. All he's done so far is move some controls, yet here he was, panting. What a laugh…
On the Bridge of the Archangel
Natarle fixes her collar as Murrue speaks.
"Although we were able to avoid immediate danger, it doesn't change a single thing about our current situation."
Natarle looked to her and replied.
"We can regroup during this time. I believe that to be the most important thing at the moment."
"Yes, I know. "
With that said, silence is returned to the bridge as everyone gets back to work.
"So much for the honeymoon…" Gary grumbled under his breath.
In the Hangar
The hangar bay was abuzz with energy as the maintenance crew tended to a scratched up gray Strike.
"Hurry! We're not exactly done fighting," Mu said, hovering over Murdoch at the computer terminal.
"I know!" Murdoch said. "Man, is this ship cursed or something?"
"Yeah. It's a curse by the name of Le Creuset."
Cagalli brought one hand to her head and ruffled her hair a bit at the sight of the mobile suit.
What the hell happened out there? God, this boy was going to kill her one day. With that in mind, Cagalli made her way to the mobile suit, bringing a manual book in tow. Just then, Kira hopped down to meet Mu and Murdoch, much to Cagalli's surprise.
"Hey, wait-!"
Her words fell on deaf ears, for the boy was already there at the computer terminal.
"What the hell was that?!" He exclaimed. Mu shifted solemn eyes to the boy.
"There's not much to explain. You heard it 's what happened."
With that said, Mu floated off to the upper level of the hangar.
"Taking that girl hostage and threatening them? The Earth forces, do they usually run away from fights like this?" He asks, floating after him. Turning to him once again, Mu replies.
"The reason they had to resort to such actions in the first place is because we're weak, right?"
Kira narrowed his eyes at the man, but whatever protests that were going to come out died in his throat as the Lieutenant continued.
"Neither of us has the right to criticize the Captain or the Combat Commander."
The boy lowered his head, frustration and shame swirling in his eyes.
Cagalli looked at the scene with worry. What was on that guy's mind now? Well, there was only one way to find out. With that in mind, Cagalli slowly made her way out of the room, ditching the manual. At the computer terminal, Murdoch looked on at the retreating form of the girl and sighed.
"Kids…"
On the Vesalius
The Archangel stayed its course, completely unaware of its closeby followers. On the bridge, standing by the holo-table was Ades. Rau sat in the command chair, resting his head on his fist as he listened to the Captain's worries. Athrun stood with his helmet in hand (as he hadn't changed back to his normal uniform), looking to both of the men in anticipation.
"Even if we continue following them, we wouldn't be able to do a thing with Miss Lacus on board," Ades said.
"And their next move is likely to join the Lunar fleet," Rau added.
"Do we have any choice that doesn't involve letting them take her to the fleet before our eyes?"
Rau straightened himself as he spoke. "What's the Gamow's position? How soon can it get here?"
Ades looked down to the table and replied, "It's position currently is six mark five zero nine epsilon, zero comma three. It'll take them at least seven hours to get here."
"They'll join the fleet well before then. This is a tough one."
Athrun grimaced; he had become a soldier to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Once again, those blasted Earth Forces took something away from him, and once again, here he was, unable to do anything about it.
In the Infirmary of the Archangel
Sai slept, completely exhausted. You would be too, if you had to escort a screaming girl all the way to her room, in spite of all her kicks and hysterical pleas. For someone so composed, one had to hand it to Flay; she was remarkably feisty when she wanted to be. The scratch wounds in Sai's shoulders and forearms were proof of that. Speaking of her…
Flay groaned and rolled over, her back completely facing the bed now as she slowly opened her eyes. Then they shot open as the horrid memory of the Montgomery's sinking coursed through her like a freight train.
Sai awoke with a start to Flay's wretched screams. She was holding her head in her hands and was panting like a madman.
Soon enough, Sai was there, standing next to her. After calling her name a few times, the girl turned her head to him. Her eyes were wild and almost animalistic as she uttered the only word she could find in her suddenly small vocabulary, to describe not even a fifth of the pain she was in right now.
"Daddy..."
Sai leaned back in surprise at the girl; nothing could have prepared him for this. Just a few hours ago, they were all there in the bridge, happy and relieved, so full of hope.
How did it come to this...?
"Daddy! Where's Daddy?"
Once again, he found himself unable to look the girl in the eyes as she clung to his uniform.
"Where's Dad's ship? Please, Sai...tell me he's alright. Tell me I just had a bad dream!"
A smile wrenched onto the girl's face, tears still rolling down her face as she spoke. "I know...this was all just a long nightmare!"
Sai stared at the girl, speechless.
"We never left! Heliopolis was never destroyed, you never became an Earth Forces soldier. I'll go to the Ralvy's again with Jessica and Misha, and they'll tease me about a silly love letter. That Yula girl will bully me, and you'll comfort me. Right, Sai? Right?" She asked, shaking the boy slightly.
Sai forced himself to look the girl's way and spoke.
"Flay... that isn't the situation at all. Heliopolis is gone, we're stuck on this ship for who knows how long, and now I work here as an Earth Forces Cadet. Kira's piloting a mobile suit, we don't even know whether your friends are alive, and your father… is dead," he finished, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry."
"Stop it! Stopitstopitstopit! You jerk! You're supposed to comfort me!" She cried, pounding on his chest softly, now kneeling on the floor. Sai knelt down to her, giving her the only comfort he could; a hug. It was so ironic. That's all he could do? Here he was, the oldest of the group, and all he could do was leave things to Kira.
At that moment, the doors swooshed open, inviting Miriallia (who came to bring the three of them some drinks) to the room belonging to the emotional wreck that was Flay.
"Daddy!" She wailed.
Miriallia dropped the bottles and promptly rushed into the room.
Kira's walk through the halls became a full sprint as soon as he heard the girl's cries. Kira entered the room quietly to see Flay weeping heavily into Sai's chest. Miriallia gave the brunette a worried glance before turning her attention back to the sobbing girl.
"This isn't real! This can't be real!"
"Flay.." Kira said, his voice barely above a whisper. A whisper that was apparently loud enough to be heard, however. Seconds after the name left his lips, Flay's head shot upwards towards the boy, glaring at him.
"You liar!"
Kira gasped, taken aback.
"You said it'd all be alright! You said so, because you'd be there!"
The boy lowered his gaze to the ground in shame.
"Why didn't you protect him like you said you would?"
He remained silent. Then, everyone turned to the girl as she did something they didn't quite expect; she laughed. Of course, this was not a happy laugh. If only it were.
"I guess the joke's on me, isn't it? I was an idiot to believe in you...you're still one of them after all, right?"
"Flay, stop it! Kira did his best!" Miriallia cried.
"'His best' my ass! You're just holding back, aren't you?"
Kira stood there, eyes wide as saucers.
"Daddy...bring daddy back to me," She finally said, the shout in her voice all but gone. Sai held the girl closer to him, softly muttering her name.
Cagalli entered the room; needless to say, she got quite the sight. She always thought she'd be happier to see that spoiled pig crying like a baby...but of course, that would never be because her father died...apparently.
"What's going on?" She asked finally, as Kira made his leave.
Miriallia called after the boy, but he was already out of earshot.
"Miriallia," Cagalli started, bringing a hand to her shoulder to get her attention.
"Well, she started blaming Kira for not saving her dad. Saying he wasn't giving his all against ZAFT, due to him being...well, you know."
Cagalli turned to the weeping girl, and finally spoke.
"Oh."
It seemed that angering Flay was a gene in the family. Seconds after the word left the blonde's lips, the girl turned to her with more unadulterated rage swelling in her eyes.
"You…! You and your coward cousin! I almost feel sorry for you, being related to that wimp! Maybe it would've been better if you were the pilot of that mobile suit!" She brayed, walking over to the girl and sticking an accusing finger to her.
Cagalli shut her twitching eyes and remained silent. She may be a jerk, and she truly didn't think the girl was saying anything she hadn't already believed, but she was still grieving.
"A coward Coordinator shouldn't be doing a Natural's job!"
Alright, that does it.
Cagalli raised her clenched fist and swung at a wide eyed Flay.
The redhead let out a blood curdling shriek and brought her arms up, closing her eyes and cowering under the incoming punch. Instead, she found herself slowly opening her eyes to see Cagalli had put her fist down. Sai let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, and Miriallia simply blinked.
Smirking, Cagalli spoke.
"For someone so ready to label someone a coward, you're quite the chicken."
Flay glared at the girl, but whatever replies she was about to make were cut off by the blonde as she continued.
"Look at yourself! You can't even take a fist, but you have the gall to insult someone facing bullets!"
Flay gasped as the blonde girl grabbed her by the collar, her smirk long since replaced by a scowl that'd make Dinosaurs cry.
"Listen up, you spoiled slob! I'm tired of your crap! You tell anyone you can to do everything for you, and what, just hope for the best? You're missing the point! You haven't done a thing. For all the stuff you bring to the table, you might as well join your father! So I don't want to hear any shit like that, like you're some kind of big shot! We're all working as hard as we can to survive, and the last thing we need is you causing problems for everyone! Got it?"
Miriallia walked over to the blonde, putting a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Cagalli…"she said slowly.
The girl growled in her direction before finally shoving Flay to the ground, grabbing one of the fallen bottles and storming off.
Flay glared in the girl's direction; the rotten apple didn't fall too far from the tree. She turned in the direction of her savior and smiled.
"Thanks, Miri. That brute ought to be locked in a cage with the rest of the animals, right?"
Her smile was quickly turned into a confused frown when she found her savior's expression to be one you'd expect from a mother before scolding her child.
"Flay, while I definitely think Cagalli went too far, I agree with a lot of what she said."
With that said, she picks up one drink and makes her leave. Flay glared at the girl, before turning to Sai.
"What?" He asked hesitantly; he had no idea what exactly the girl was thinking, but he was sure it couldn't be anything good.
In the Hallways
Kira ran. He didn't know or care where, he just needed to leave. To be away from everyone and left to his thoughts. He walked over to a gravity transport and activated it. As he was elevated, he thought back to his friends' words, then Mu's, before finally landing on Flay.
It made sense now; why he was okay to fight alongside with all of this insanity. It was because he was a coward.
Kuzzey looked on in confusion as he saw the downtrodden boy zoom down the metal halls.
Kira finally found himself leaning on the windows of the gallery.
Alone at last, he was finally free to let out the strangled cries of frustration that had been building up since Artemis.
"What's wrong?" A voice asked softly. Kira turned in its direction and was met with a sight for sore eyes; Lacus smiling gently at him, along with Haro. One of the only people who seemed to not have any grudge against him at the moment.
He tried to speak as he stared at the girl, but only inaudible sounds came out. Lacus grounded herself and looked to him patiently.
At this point, she noticed the remaining tears on his face. She brought a hand to his face; the boy quickly shielded his face from her hand and wiped the tears from his face.
"Why are you here?" he asked finally.
Lacus smiled at the boy's clumsy attempt to change the subject and pushed herself off the window; she guessed she would play along… At least for now.
"I was just taking a stroll when I heard a loud and pained voice from this direction."
Kira blushed at the realization. he hadn't been that loud, had he?
Pushing the subject aside, Kira replied.
"You shouldn't be walking around like this. You'll get accused of spying,"
"I see." Lacus hopped over to the boy, grabbing him by the hand and looking him in the eye.
"Do you always change the subject when people ask you about your problems, or is it just me?"
The boy blinked in surprise, completely speechless; Was he really that transparent?
"Anyways, it looks like the fighting's stopped now," Lacus said, her tone getting more serious.
Kira shifted his eyes to the ground.
"Yeah, thanks to you."
For a split second, Lacus looked taken aback, but quickly regained her composure.
"If that's so, why do you look so sad? Shouldn't you be happy that it's over?"
Kira sighed; she really wasn't going to let this go, was she?
"Well, if I'm being honest, I really don't want to fight. And I'm also a coordinator. There's also the fact Athrun was a very close friend of mine as well."
Lacus blinked.
"Athrun?" she repeated.
"Yes. I never would've imagined that he'd become a mobile suit pilot."
"Well, Isn't that all the more reason to be glad that it's over, at least for now?"
Kira turned to the girl before him in wonder; how did she manage to make all his problems seem so small?
"Athrun tends to be quiet, but he's overall a very kind person. You both are. He gave me this Haro when I told him how much I liked them. This isn't even the only one he gave me. At home, I have at least a few dozen, doing who knows what at the garden. To be truthful, it's kind of worrying…"
Kira smiled at the thought of Athrun giving Lacus pink chan in what might as well be called 'Haro garden'.
"He hasn't changed a bit, I see."
Well, besides the whole, 'piloting a giant death machine' thing, they both thought silently.
"He made my birdy as well," he added.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes, but…" Kira paused, his face once again crestfallen. Lacus looked down at Haro longingly.
"It'd be nice if you two didn't have to fight. I'm sorry, I'm not being much help, am I?"
Kira shook his head and smiled at the girl.
"No, it's fine. I feel a lot better getting that off my chest. Thanks for listening to me."
"It's no problem. It's the least I could do, after causing such a ruckus…"
In that moment, Kira saw something in her eyes as she clenched Haro tighter to herself. An emotion he knew all too well; guilt.
"It's not your fault, you know."
Lacus looked up to the boy, a look of wonder on her face.
Kira smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and spoke. "Sorry. It just looked like you were sad, and that came out. Sorry."
The girl began to chuckle at the boy's antics. Kira blinked and looked at the girl before finally joining her in the laughter. There they were, laughing like madmen about nothing, and everything. By the time they'd calmed down, they were on the floor. After that came a moment of content silence. Breaking this silence, the songstress spoke.
"Thank you, Kira. I really needed that."
The boy smiled back at her. "Hey, it's the least I could do, right?"
Lacus' smile simply grew brighter.
Kuzzey walked away from the corner, eyes wide at what he had just heard. Kira? Friends with Athrun Zala, the son of Patrick Zala? He thought back to Cagalli's initial reaction when he'd heard his name. It was so obvious, looking back on it. He let out a sigh and trudged to the cafeteria. There really wasn't anyone normal on this ship, was there?
Elsewhere in Another Hallway
They stood at the windows of the empty halls. Not a word had been spoken by either of them. Sai looked worriedly at the girl next to him; she was still fuming. The boy let out a small sigh and braced himself for whatever would come.
"...Am I really...spoiled?"she finally asked.
Sai gave Flay a double take, completely surprised by the uncertainty in her voice.
"Well?" She said more roughly.
The boy shifted his gaze to the stars as he spoke.
"I'd be lying if I said you weren't a little bit...pampered. I'd also say Cagalli's point about your treatment of Kira is quite spot on."
The girl looked at the ground, her expression crestfallen. "I see…"
A storm of emotions was going through the redhead. one of which is hatred for a certain blonde. Who did she think she was? She hated how whenever she was around, she'd glare at her, judging her every move. Those eyes always held the same feeling of disgust and utter repulsion, as if she wasn't good enough.
But even more than that, she hated how much she now found herself agreeing with her. For Miriallia, one of her best friends, and even Sai to say that they agree...It was a never ending pit of anger and misery, pulling her lower, lower, lower...
"But there's so much more to you!"
Flay turned to Sai and saw the integrity in his eyes as he continued.
"Do you really think I'd care so much for some spoiled princess? Sure, you're not without your flaws, but that's besides the point. And the point that I'm trying to say is that I believe in you! I see it in you; an amazing person! Someone who cares for her friends and is willing to do what she can to help. Like that time you helped that little girl get her doll back from those kids, or when you went and fought that lady in the mall just so you could get that bag Miri wanted!" The boy paused, and took something from his pocket. "Look."
The girl turned to see a tree seed lying in his extended hand.
"It looks so small and insignificant, but given some care, it'll grow and prove its worth to everyone. Just like I know you will, Flay."
The girl simply stood there, speechless. She opened her mouth to speak, to find the words to tell him just how much that meant to him, but could only come up with one thing to relay her gratitude. She smiled and moved upwards to the boy. Sai's eyes grew to the size of saucers as Flay's lips met his, but soon closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss. It was a bit clumsy, and might have taken too long, but there was a strong warmth, a tenderness in it. After what felt like an eternity, they parted lips.
"Thank you, Sai."
The boy gave her a warm smile. "It's no problem," he breathed out. At that point, the girl looked awkwardly in the direction of the cafeteria.
"Wanna get something? It's on me."
Sai once again gave the girl a double take; she was just full of surprises today, wasn't she?
Flay gave him a mock pout in response.
"Is me treating you to something really that unusual?"
"Oh, um...no. It's just that-"
The girl laughed and raised a calming hand to the boy's shoulder.
"Relax. I'm just joking. Come on, let's go. Well, if you want to, anyways."
Sai smiled at her, and took her hand (to the girl's slight embarrassment) as he gave her his reply.
"It'd be a pleasure."
On the Vesalius in the Commander's Quarters
A freshly bathed Rau was walking over to the counter when he heard the ringing of the holo comms.
He pressed a button and spoke.
"What is it?"
"A message from Chairman Zala of the National Defense Committee. Shall I forward it?"
"No. I'll listen to it on the bridge."
With that said, he let go of the button, reverting the screen back to its original state, and grabbed a bottle.
"My, my, all this fuss over one girl's life."
He took a swig from the bottle before laying it down and observing his hand; it was soft and youthful from the showers, but lord knows that'll only last him so long. It'd grow old...way too fast.
He smiled at himself when he realized he had made a fist thinking about those things again. He unclenched his hand and made his way to the exit of the room, his bottle, pills and even mask lying forgotten in the bathroom.
In the Cafeteria of the Archangel
The cafe lounge was empty, save for Miriallia and Tolle. There was a solemn atmosphere looming over their table as they discussed on what went down just a short while ago in the infirmary.
"I really don't blame Cagalli for doing what she did, because in all honesty, she had it coming and I would've done the same thing."
"Tolle…"
"Okay, okay, maybe that's a bit much. Still, what she said to Kira wasn't right...Man, and to think that he had a crush on her..." Tolle took another bite of his wheat roll.
When the two finished eating, Tolle took their trays to the counter and sat back down across from his girlfriend. Before he could continue where they left off, they turned at the sound of the door being opened. To their almost immediate concern, they saw a troubled Kuzzey walking in the Cafeteria, getting a drink. Being the friend he was, Tolle spoke.
"Hey, Kuzzey. What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just...you know that Aegis mobile suit that ZAFT stole? Well, I heard that the pilot of that machine is an old friend of Kira's. I think his name Athrun Zala."
Needless to say, Tolle and Miriallia were quite shocked to hear of this shocking revelation.
"Isn't Athrun Zala the son of Patrick Zala?" Tolle questioned. No one answered the obvious question and just gave Tolle a 'no shit Sherlock' look. The boy chuckled awkwardly and dropped the question.
"How do you know this, Kuzzey?" Miriallia asked.
"Well, I overheard him talking with that Lacus girl a moment ago. He says that this Athrun Zala guy was a close friend of his."
"This situation just goes from bad to worse. Fighting against someone you were friends with must suck… wait a second. Isn't Lacus supposed to be in her room?"
Kuzzey blinked.
"I guess she is."
"Shouldn't we do something about this, then?"
"What can we do? The girl might as well be an escape artist," Miriallia replied.
They had a small laugh at that, forgetting for just a moment about the nearly overwhelming knowledge they now had, and completely unaware of a certain eavesdropper. Sai stood deathly still behind the door of the room as he listened in on to the conversation. It was startling to say the least. He felt his heart go out to Kira; the boy couldn't seem to catch a break. He then thought back to Flay's outburst a short while back, or more specifically, the young coordinator's reaction to it.
It made an astonishing amount of sense that he reacted the way he did. Not that his reaction was unwarranted before, but wow, that must have hurt.
He soon snapped back to reality when he hears the sounds of footsteps. He turns to see Flay, having returned safely from her trek to the god forsaken dump that was the restroom. To be fair, your restroom would likely look terrible if you had at least a hundred people using it too.
Flay gave the boy a curious stare, noticing how shoken he seemed.
"What's wrong?"
Sai took a moment to recompose himself and spoke.
"It's nothing. Come on, let's go."
Flay looked worriedly at him, obviously unconvinced, but dropped the subject.
Kira sat hunched over in his bed. Birdy flew over to his shoulder and turned to his troubled master. He chirped his concerns to the boy, pulling him out of his mind, if only for a minute. Kira brought a hand over to the mechanic bird, who eagerly hopped onto it. While the bird sat quietly, Kira returned to his thoughts of a certain songstress and her situation. Finally, he came to his conclusion.
"This just isn't right!"
With that said, the boy got up and made his way over to the hall.
Lacus awoke to the sight of Kira pleading with Haro to be quiet. Part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, but more of her was curious of the boy's reason for being here. She sat up, wiping the exhaustion from her eyes while Haro sweared.
"Kira, what are you doing here?"
The boy simply brought a hand to his lips.
"Please be quiet and come with me."
The girl blinked in response; what was he up to? Well, there looked like there was only one way of finding out, she thought as she put on her dress and followed him through the desolated halls. The boy's head darted left and right as they ran as quietly as they could. Before she could properly react, Kira stopped and pushed her against the halls before standing in front of her as she heard a group of footsteps.
Sai and Miriallia turned to see the boy standing there.
"Kira?"
In the cafeteria, Flay stood frozen with her tray the moment she heard the name, going deep into her thoughts again, drowning out the sounds of Haro's incessant chatter. Just then, the doors slid open, letting in a certain blonde.
Kira gasped as Lacus leaned into eye shot and scooped up her squabbling toy.
Sai just held a finger to him, mouth agape. Kira's expression hardened as he turned his eyes to the ground. Sai and Miriallia walked over to the boy.
"What are you doing, Kira?" Sai asked.
The boy remained silent, and the girl simply looked in worry at the boy.
"What do you plan to do with her?" Miriallia asked, before gasping and putting two and two together. "Surely, you're not-?!"
"Please pretend you didn't see anything. I don't wanna involve you guys in this...but I can't let things continue like this!"
Miriallia blinked and looked back and forth between Kira and Sai.
Sai sighed and gave his reply.
"Well, keeping a girl hostage is the thing you expect bad guys to do."
Kira gasped as Sai smiled at the boy.
"I'll help."
"Sai…" Kira couldn't stop the smile growing on his face. It was good to know that he could count on his friends for this.
Lacus floated by, petting Haro as Kira fumbled around in a locker. Finally, he pulled out a space suit.
"Wear this over what you're wearing right now," he said.
The girl looked over her attire and chuckled a bit as she started removing her clothing. Kira let out a yelp and quickly hid his eyes from the girl with the space suit as the girl got to her underwear.
Sai and Miriallia waited by the walls, floating against them.
"You know," Miriallia started. "Maybe it would've been better if I went in and got her dressed while Kira waited."
"No point wondering about it now," Sai replied as the door opened, letting in a space fitted Kira and Lacus.
Sai practically leaped back into the wall when he saw that Lacus had apparently gained a few pounds. Miriallia yelped at the sudden reaction.
Kira just gave him a questioning stare.
"Just wondering why she suddenly became pregnant...Kira, you really go all out, don't you?"
Gone was Kira, and in his place was a tomato.
"That's not funny!" he hissed at the boy. He chuckled a bit, while Miriallia let out a sigh. Lacus looked down at her bulging 'Stomach'.
In the Cafeteria
Cagalli waved a hand over Flay's blank face. There was no response from the girl.
Cagalli sighed; she just wanted some food. Now she had to take care of this?
She reeled her hand back before bringing down a booming slap across the redhead's face.
Flay quickly put a hand over the growing red spot on her face and glared at Cagalli.
"Ow! Why'd you slap me?!"
"You were dozing off," Cagalli deadpanned, resisting the urge to smile.
"You didn't have to hit so hard…" the girl whimpered.
"Go whine somewhere else. I don't have the time for it."
With that said, Cagalli turned around and made her way to the trays. Flay glared at the girl, the memories of her words once again rising.
"Aren't you just as afraid?"
"Hm?"
"You must be! You could've easily convinced your cousin to let you pilot it, right? So why-"
"You don't think I've tried? Guy's a psychic. Put a lock on it before I got a chance."
Flay's mind was reeling; how was it like this? Was she really the only person that was afraid here? Of them? Of dying out here?
"How? How can you even sleep with everything that's going on? Especially when you shrug off others helping you? How come you're never afraid of those coordinators? Don't you know what Blue cosmos says? What...the Vice Foreign Minister of the Atlantic Federation said about them?"
Cagalli sighed as she looked at Flay. Normally, she would have been angry, but she could feel the girl's confusion. It was a strange phenomenon; she felt calm around the girl. She guessed it was out of slight guilt for her outburst earlier. Not that she'd ever admit to that, though.
"Flay...Blue cosmos is a group of terrorists that bombed a colony, killing thousands. Of course they say that. They say it so they can delude themselves into thinking they're not in the wrong when they shoot a child dead. When they think they're doing this for the preservation of our blue and pure world, it's nothing but an excuse. You understand that much, do you? Isn't that what you believe, belonging to a Neutral nation?"
"But-"
"But what? Where was I wrong when I said that those people didn't deserve to die? Fuck the terms, how many human beings did they slaughter in the name of that shit slogan?"
The girl shifted her gaze to the ground, unable to give an answer.
"As for why I go on...It's because I- no, we have to. We've been caught in unfortunate circumstances we have no control over. We can't control many things here. But we still have the decision to help each other out and fight so we can survive. To stay on the sidelines twiddling your thumbs, or to give your all and have a chance of survival. I have no intention of dying in this fiasco, much like everyone else. Worrying has never helped me before. It sure as hell won't help now. I can't afford to die here and leave that crybaby alone. Besides, I need to get answers from a certain someone…" she raised her gaze from her clenched fist to the redhead; she seemed to actually be listening.
"Can I go eat now?" she asked finally.
Flay nodded numbly.
Soon enough, the group was at the hangar bay. While they hid behind a corner door, Miriallia took a quick scan of the area before giving Kira the thumbs up. The boy hopped over to his dormant mobile suit with Lacus and Sai following.
Once they were seated in the cockpit, Kira turned his attention to the pair floating next to him.
"Thanks, guys."
"Don't mention it," Sai replied.
"Let's meet again sometime," Lacus suggested.
"I'm not so sure that can happen," Sai replied with a sad smile. Kira punched in a few buttons when he heard Sai call him.
"You'll be returning...right?"
The brunette gasped; and just when you thought you knew a friend. He opened his mouth to speak, when all of sudden…
Everyone (save for Lacus, who simply looked at everyone with worry) froze as they heard the doors swoosh open. Murdoch floated over to a bar, seeing them at the level pad. Obviously, he wasn't exactly happy about this surprise.
"Hey! What the heck do you kids think you're doing?"
Kira looked on at Sai; when he looked into his eyes, he couldn't find much distrust towards him, but more concern.
"You'll come back to us, right?"
He smiled understandingly at him, before giving his reply.
"For sure. I promise."
With that said, the cockpit closed and Sai and Miriallia made their retreat. The maintenance crew came swarming in now, as Murdoch floated over to the Strike. Cagalli looked on in confusion at the Strike, before looking to Sai and Miriallia.
They seemed to be saying something, she noted, as they landed on the top platform.
"I believe you!" Sai called out to the Strike as it made its way to the loading bay.
The alarms on the bridge blared to life. Murrue swiveled around to the Romero.
"What is it?" she asked as the launch catapult opened.
"Strike! What are you doing?! Kira Yamato!" Natarle cired. A small screen popped up, but the person she was hoping for wasn't on the other side.
"The kid's taking the girl out!" Mu said.
"Wh-What?"
Everyone whipped their head around in shock and gasped.
"Think they're a thing?" Ryan asked offhandedly.
"Two coordinator youths alone in a ship full of naturals… One could almost call it fate. Wait, isn't she engaged?"
"...I think so, now that you mentioned it. That bastard's hitting on a taken woman? God, that's sick!"
"Don't you think you're assuming too much?" Tolle chimed in.
"Maybe, but there's not much else to go with that's solid."
"Kira wouldn't do that. He's not the type. He's way too shy to make a move."
"Sounds like you know him pretty well," Gary noted.
"I'd hope so. It'd be troubling to not know how my friends act."
As the Strike is being outfitted, Lacus spoke.
"Your friends don't seem to trust you very much."
"They're just worried. I doubt my reaction would be very different if I were in their shoes."
"You wouldn't, hm?"
"Yes. Now please, hold on tight. We're going!"
The songstress complies, and the Strike is flung out of the ship. Once in space, it activates its power, and once again clad in color.
The Strike's departure from the ship is quick to be noted by the Vesalius.
"We've confirmed a mobile suit launching from the legged ship," an operative informs. Ades gasps while Rau looks up from the holo-table with an amused grin.
In the hangar, Athrun hops into the Aegis as the announcer calls all pilots for immediate takeoff.
Once seated, Athrun straps himself in and starts fiddling with the controls...and goes frigid when he hears a familiar voice blaring through the speakers of the international channel.
"This is the Strike of the Earth Alliance forces' Archangel! I am bringing Lacus Clyne to you! In return, I demand that the Nazca-Class halt! I'll only hand her over if we're met by the pilot of the Aegis alone. Should this condition be breached, I can't guarantee her safety!"
The bridge crew looked on, anxiously waiting for the enemy's response.
Mu fastened himself in the Moebius Zero. Cagalli swore.
"I leave him alone for one second and he goes off doing this! Man, what a pain in my ass…"
"What are they up to?" Ades asked to the masked man. He knew he was leaning on his chair without looking; it was just what one came to expect of him over time. Rau was about to reply, when the top screen flickered to life, displaying the image of an almost eager Athrun.
"Commander! Let me go!"
"We still don't know what their intentions are! Hell, for all we know, that might not even be Lacus in there!" Ades replied.
"Commander!" Athrun repeated. Everyone turned to the masked man in anticipation of his answer. Finally, he smiled and said, "All right. I authorize it."
Athrun smiled back gratefully.
"Thank you, commander!"
Ades turned to Rau and asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"This could also serve as a chance for us. I'm just guessing, but I take it the pilot's quite young himself. "
Ades gave him a curious stare, but dropped the subject as the masked man continued.
"Stop the ship and prepare my CGUE for launch, Ades."
With that said, he pushed himself off the chair and made his way to the changing room as the Aegis flew out of the ship.
On the bridge of the Archangel, Natarle raised her head up to Murrue.
"Captain, he did that on his own, without authorization! We should attack!"
Murrue remained silent as Mu replied.
"Doing that would just get us on the Strike's bad side!"
Natarle let out a startled grunt, but otherwise said nothing.
"Well, that's only a 'maybe'," he said with a grin in his voice. No one replied to the unfunny joke.
"The Nazca-class has cut its engines! Braking jets!" Romero reported.
"The Aegis is approaching!" Jackie informed.
Kira looked on cautiously as the red mobile suit neared and finally stopped.
The Strike raised its rifle at the Aegis; the mobile suit did not respond.
The two stood there for a good minute, before Kira finally spoke.
"Athrun Zala?"
"That's right," he replied.
"Open your cockpit!"
The Aegis's hatch opened, and Kira soon followed. He turned to Lacus.
"Say something."
Laus simply let out a confused "Hm?"
"He can't see your face. You need to prove it's you."
"Oh. I see," she said, before turning to Athrun. "Hi, Athrun. It's nice to see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances."
Haro sweared and hopped in the girl's hands. Athrun smiled; that was Lacus, alright.
"Confirmed."
"Then hurry and take her with you!"
Athrun was more than happy to oblige. In seconds, he was out, leaning on the hatch door.
Kira turned to the girl once again and urged her to leave.
"Sure, but one moment." Lacus opened Haro's mouth and a blue holo-screen keyboard appears. She typed in a few buttons, and with one final push of a key, the holo-screen sank into Haro's belly. Moments later, the pink colored sphere burped out a small piece of paper. Lacus grabbed it and handed it to a confused Kira, who took the paper.
Upon further inspection, it turned out to be...a phone number? Kira looked up from the sheet of paper and into the eyes of a smiling Lacus.
"I had fun talking with you. I'd like to keep in contact with you, if that's alright."
Kira smiled and gave his reply.
"I'd love to. Now go."
Lacus obliged and floated towards the Aegis. She grabbed his outstretched hand. They smiled at each other, before Lacus turned back to Kira.
"Thank you for everything. And you too, Athrun."
Kira smiled back at the happy reunited couple.
"Kira, you come too! You can bring Cagalli over! I know it won't be so easy, but we'll work around it! That way, you won't have to fight for the Earth Forces anymore, right?"
Kira gasped at his words, and even more to his shock, he found part of himself agreeing with them. But alas (at least for Athrun), that was a very small part.
"Lool, Athrun. Believe me, a lot of me wants to jump at your offer and leave all this fighting behind me. But aboard that ship are people I want to protect. People I promised I 'd protect. My friends are on that ship!"
Athrun remained silent, but his eyes told a thousand words of sorrow and frustration. The same could be said about the brunnette.
"Then I've got no choice. The next time we fight, I'll personally defeat you!" He said, voice shaking.
The boy gasped, but soon replied.
"Same goes for me!"
With that said, Kira closes his cockpit, lowers his rifle, and floats away from the two. Lacus looked on in concern at the two. Eventually, her eyes fell firmly on the bluenette.
"Athrun, are you going to be okay?"
He remained silent, and ushered Lacus back into the cockpit. Lacus sighed; boys.
Unfortunately for everyone, the moment was about to be broken.
"The enemy mobile suit is moving away!" Ades cried.
"Start engine, Ades!"
The CGUE is flung out of the blaring ship and soon finds his prey.
"Mobile suit launching from ship!" Jackie informed. Natarle could only look at his console, mouth agape.
"The Nazca-class has started its engines!" Romero reported.
Inside a certain mobile armor, Mu glared at the screen.
"I knew this would happen!"
With that said, the Moebius launched.
Athrun looked up at the CGUE, shock written all over him. Lacus stared in horror at the events currently playing before her; it was like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.
"Commander?"
"Athrun, return to the ship with Miss Lacus!"
Kira felt the back of his head tingling as the white mobile suit approached, but was soon brought back to Earth as he caught a glimpse of the streaking Zero.
"Lieutenant La Flaga?!"
"Did you seriously just believe they'd just sit back and watch us leave?!"
The two Gundam pilots narrowed their eyes and prepared for the worse.
No… Not if I can help it!
With a gleam of resolve in her constricted eyes, Lacus leaned in, scanning over the controls of the Aegis. Athrun turned worried (but mostly confused) eyes to the songstress.
"Lacus, get back. You could hurt yourself..."
'Which one...oh, so that's it, huh?'
She finally pressed a button and leaned back, her eyes back to normal.
"Commander Rau le Creuset!" she started. Rau looked on in wonder at the girl as she continued.
"Stop this at once! Are you trying to turn this place into a battlefield with a representative of the memorial delegation here?"
Rau hissed in frustration; they had gotten a solid opportunity to lay waste to those guys, and she was making them let it go?
"Why, at a time like this…" he grumbled under his breath.
"Stop your combat operations at once!" Lacus repeated again, with a pinch more of assertiveness.
The bridge crew let out inaudible sounds, their mouths agape.
"Can't you hear me?"
Such a troublesome young girl.
"Roger that, Lacus Clyne."
With that said, the CGUE makes it way back to the Vesalius. Athrun stared at the girl, completely speechless.
"What? I did what anyone would've done."
Athrun didn't have any words for that, but Haro had plenty...as usual, for pretty much everything.
Mu went back to the Strike and spoke.
"I'm not sure what just happened, but we're heading back too. Don't wanna go kicking anymore hornet's nests."
Kira blinked; it was only for a few moments, but he was sure of it. He saw a cerulean jewel-like seed hovering about inside the Aegis. It looked almost...digital, he noted.
"Kid!"
"Oh. Right."
With that said, Kira and Mu made their leave, but not before the former gave one more fleeting glance at the Aegis. Mu spoke through the visual comm screen.
"That sure was one hell of a princess…"
Kira smiled at the remark in spite of the tears he felt rising.
"Yeah, she sure was…"
He could cry later. Right now, he needed to go to bed; It had been a strange, emotionally exhausting day. But at least Lacus was safe. Yes, he could cry over his situation with Athrun later.
Cagalli sighed as she saw the two returning home.
'At least he didn't bust the pack this time.'
Flay stood at the hangar with a mysterious gaze. She didn't know when, and she didn't know how, but mark her words, she would prove Cagalli wrong and stop this current flow of affairs.