Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Destiny nor do I own Disney. They belong to their rightful owners.
Multi-Pairings include: Kira x Lacus, Cagalli x Athrun, Shinn x Stellar, Yzak x Shiho, Dearka x Mirillia. Sai x OC.
I apologies in advance for focusing so much on Sai x OC in this chapter.
Chapter Ten - Heaven's Light
Sai watched as Flay leant closer towards Kira, had that been another girl he would have been amused by the way Kira was trying to maintain distance. But it was his fiancée that the prince was dancing with.
Kira's eyes flitted up for a few minutes and caught Sai standing in the sidelines. His purple eyes filled with sympathy and apologies.
Sai looked away. He knew Kira didn't intentionally lead Flay on but it still didn't make it any easier to stomach to witness the girl he cared for dancing with his best friend. He stared at the necklace in his hand and wondered what he was thinking. Flay's blatant display of attention for the prince tonight didn't go unnoticed by him nor many of the socialites around him.
It was practically official: she wanted to end her relationship with Sai Argyle, Son of Orb's Minister of Trade.
When Kira's eyes left him, Cagalli's arrived on his lone form. She tried to comfort him in a smile, which he weakly tried to return but she quickly turned back to her dancing with the navy haired masked man when the steps got slightly more complicated.
When both of the twins' eyes left him, he slipped into the crowd as quietly as he could and walked straight out of the ballroom. He couldn't bear the sight any longer.
He knocked into a young woman on the way out and had politely helped her up. She didn't have a mask so without a thought he whipped off his own and placed it in her hands. He wouldn't need it anymore, he explained, before almost sprinting into the royal gardens.
Zephany watched the running form in confusion. "Lord Argyle?"
She looked down at the mask he had shoved into her hands and then at the spot between the hedges where the young man had disappeared to.
Something glittered on the floor… A necklace?
Curious, she walked over and picked up the beautiful jewellery that he had designed and she made.
Zephany picked it up and went after the young lord.
She found him under a gazebo, slumped in the stone chair with his face in his hands. Perhaps he didn't want to be disturbed. Perhaps that was why he escaped from the ball and into the garden.
Zephany glanced at the castle behind her, listening to the hypnotic music from here and as Lacus said, she didn't have much time to enjoy herself tonight.
"I'll just… um… leave the necklace beside him," she mumbled to herself.
"Flay?" Kira asked uncertainly as he moved his head in search for Sai who had disappeared.
"Hmm?" came the reply from the pretty girl in his arms as she looked up at him with a fantastic smile on her lips.
He blushed. He couldn't deny that the girl was indeed very pretty tonight.
"I think you should dance with Sai in the next dance. We had quite enough already."
Flay pouted, "But I always dance with him. Tonight is your birthday so it's only right that I dance with you."
He didn't understand her logic. "Flay, Sai is your fiancé. It is not proper of me to dance with you for so long."
"Do you find me not pretty enough, Kira?" she asked, tilting her head to one side and his attention was suddenly shifted to the way her hair swishes to one side and how it matched her eyes.
"No, you are very beautiful tonight, Flay," he answered and was going to say more had she not beamed brightly.
"Really?" she sighed happily and laid her head on his shoulder.
It was a nice feeling and she smelt of rose petals - romantic and luscious.
Sai looked up when he saw he heard something being set down beside him.
The girl froze as he stared at her. Shyly, she placed the rest of the necklace down by his seat and he recognised her as the girl he bumped into earlier.
She placed the mask down as well but he picked it up and shoved it back into her hands.
"Please, I don't need it anymore. You can have it."
She was stupefied by his response then blushed brightly and shook her head. She had strange hair. It was boyishly short at the back and steeply lengthened until the bangs that frame her face were touching her elbows.
She offered the mask back to him.
"Take it and go enjoy the dance," he tried again, his voice shuddering as he fought to control his emotions. The strange girl stared at him, unsure what she should do, and he snapped.
Zephany gasped as the mask was knocked from her hand and her eyes followed it as it clattered to a stop just before a flowerbed. Hesitantly, she turned to face a once pleasant young lord whose face is now contorted in anger.
As long as she had been working in the forge, she had never seen him in such a state.
She opened her mouth hoping to quickly excuse herself but then he suddenly slumped back into his previous depressed form and, shockingly, started to shudder as he tried to stop his tears.
Awkward would be the only adjective she could think of to describe the situation right now. She didn't even know whether to back away and leave him be or try to comfort him. Should she go and pick up the mask? Should she offer him a handkerchief? Should she… wait, this dress doesn't even have pockets to hold handkerchiefs!
She placed a hand on his arm timidly nonetheless and waited till he controlled his emotions again.
"I loved her," he said in a shaky voice and Zephany let out a sigh of relief thinking 'aa, it's safe to go now!'
But he went on and she was forced to sit down whilst he talked.
He didn't know what provoked him but the words were tumbling from his tongue before he could stop them.
He told her how he had been engaged to Flay for as long as he could remember. How they met when he was seven and how charming she was when she asked for him to walk around the gardens with her.
He told her about their happy days when their relationship was at its peak and how he thought he'll live the rest of his life like so. He told her how he had been placing his hopes on the necklace like some sort of magic charm that will turn their relationship back to how it was.
And finally he told her how he realised that she didn't love him anymore.
Shifting awkwardly in the seat, Zephany reached out to touch the young man's shoulder as he pulled out a handkerchief and wipe his face dry. Well that solved the dilemma of offering him her handkerchief or not….
"I'm sorry," he apologised after talking a deep breath. "I'm stopping you from enjoying the dance. Please go ahead, I'll be fine here."
Twisting her mouth slightly as she tried to think of a response, Zephany decided that if she left now it'll look incredibly rude and uncaring so she shook her head and gently placed the mask back onto the young lord's face. She sucked in a breath and carefully considered her reasons for doing what she was about to do. She loved dancing but dancing with strangers in the ballroom didn't really appeal to her shyness, but Lord Argyle isn't truly a stranger, right? After all, she does work with him.
He glanced at her confused as she blushed heavily and pulled at his hand.
He raised an eyebrow as the girl suddenly stood tip toed and his attention was brought to the ballet slippers on her feet. "You do ballet?"
She nodded and to his surprise she started dancing.
He watched as she twirled about him and gently coaxed him into moving hesitantly into waltz. He didn't want to dance and each time he tried to stop she'll move into ballet again, gentle and graceful she teased him back into small brief waltzes.
He didn't know when he started properly waltzing with her but when he did realised he was, he found out he didn't mind. She was calming where Flay was passionate. She was shy though and blushed when he placed his hand lightly on her waist for the waltz
"Who are you?" he had asked somewhere in their waltz in the castle gardens. He wanted to know who she was. He wanted to know about her. He wanted to continue to dance with her like this. She was a comforting presence. He wasn't sure what she did to make him care for her but he does.
He wanted to know her name so he could find her again.
She smiled and opened her mouth to say something but then something pink and round barrelled into their knees.
The girl stumbled but he caught and steadied her before looking down to find the object that crash into them.
END OF CHAPTER TEN
The dance was rushed. Apologies
CriTicAl: Shiho will return…. Maybe somewhere within the next two chapters.
Moi: I agree with your Cagalli comment. Heh, meteor, never thought of that. Too cool!
IMPORTANT NOTE: There will be NO updates for the next TWO weeks because I'm away on vacation/holiday/whatever-you-call-it and will have no Internet access. This fic WILL go on and will NOT be discontinued so do not worry, you can't get rid of me that easily. Apologies in advance for not replying to any reviews during that time as well and I wish you guys a lovely summer these two weeks. Sorry for leaving you with such a disappointing chapter.
KiKi Hayashi