Chapter 11: Opidemy

Shin turned completely around to face athurn,

"I know what it looks like", said shin "But honestly it's not what you think"

"Really", said Athrun anticipating his answer"Just what am I thinking?"

"Well, I don't want you to assume the wrong thing, so I'll just tell you what I was doing,…YOU… see I had a training maneuver in the morning and I didn't want to wake anyone, so I thought that I would just take the balcony way out…If you look up you'll notice that my room is next to cagalli's, sooooo... "

"I get it, you just thought you'd leapfrog your way down, am I right?"

"Exactly", said shin with a stoic grin on his face not knowing if he believed his story or not. Athrun walked towards shin and placed his hand on his shoulder. He grasped it so tight that shin thought he was going to loose his arm.

"I have no reason to disbelieve your story, but if any of it proves to be untrue….I don't think I could forgive you the next time we meet" At that point shin realized that the stakes had been raised. He also understood that if he was wrong about his assumption~ it would cost himself the best friend he ever had.

"And by the way", said Athrun as he turned his back toward shin preparing to walk away "Leave out the front gate, I wouldn't want you getting shot trying to jump over the back wall. The guards might mistake you for an intruder, and considering that you are a guest we wouldn't want to cause reason for a scandal. Would we?" Shin chose not to respond and just kept walking. He decided that if it kept Athrun out of danger then no price was too small to pay.

On the third floor of the mansion Kira was still sleeping. He may be the ultimate coordinator, but whenever he fell into a comatose sleep he snored. He never slept deeply because he always wanted to make sure to be on his guard, but tonight there was no need. The two people that meant more than anything in the world to him were safely sleeping in the house. Originally, Lacus and Kira had been staying in one of the guest rooms on the lower floor, however, since they decided to move in for a while the house staff prepared a room for them on the upper level. This was their first night in the new room and Lacus was having trouble sleeping. All she could think about was shins demeanor, cagalli's injuries, both seen and unseen, and the feeling of unrest within her soul.

She then felt a sudden urge to go for a stroll and explore her surroundings, after all, she wasn't familiar with this floor. During her exploration she noticed a room with double doors outlined in gold at the end of the main hall. She turned the knob, but it appeared to be stuck a little, and then she heard a small noise echo from inside the room. She quietly ran down the hallway and disappeared into the shadows, as she stood with her back against the wall she peered around the corner to see who would emerge. Her first thought was to go push Kira out of bed and get him to wake up, but she couldn't remember how to get back to him. Lacus let out a big sigh because of all things she lost, she never thought she would loose her husband this way. IN a battle maybe, of old age hopefully, but in his sleep never and worst yet, she didn't have a magic ball of string to get back to him~ only if such a thing existed. She heard the door open and crept down low almost sitting on the floor. She could hardly believe her eyes' emerging from the room was cagalli! For someone that is supposed to be so ill she is getting around quite well. Lacus looked on as she saw her run down a flight of stairs, something was definitely going on. She decided not to follow instead she chose to explore the room instead. Cagalli was in such a rush to leave that she left the door ajar. Lacus entered, inside she saw that the room didn't appear to be disturbed, but she felt a slight flow of air circulating within the room. She felt the need to investigate, and that's when she noticed it, a slight crack in the wall. How unusual she thought. She tried to move it, but the door wouldn't budge and then she tried knocking~ realizing that is what your suppose to do with a door~ Inside she saw a computer very much still turned on, but the screen was flashing with bright red words that read virus detected . She became alarmed cagalli wouldn't have a reason to erase this information, especially after all of these years. She was now surer than ever that –that person was not the real lady cagalli, but she needed hard proof before she could approach Athrun with this information, and she knew just where to fish for it. Everything began to finally make sense! She ran quickly to find butler Ito, she needed to locate shin's room.

He rolled over once and then fell out of bed and said, "People may think that I am the ultimate coordinator, but there is nothing indestructible about my body", said a still tired and weary Kira. While rubbing his head the alarm went off. "DAMMIT! It's 7 o'clock! Wait a minute where's lacus?" Then he suddenly realized that he was suppose to meet with the doctor that treated cagalli this morning, and decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea if he brought lacus along, considering he told Athrun that he was going to meet her somewhere. In fact it would be easier to explain why they didn't meet then to try to pretend they did, so even if Athrun saw lacus he could always explain a change in plans. Kira quickly showered, got dressed, skipped breakfast, rushed out the side entrance, jumped on his bike and sped off towards morganrate at a speed that only he could handle.

Elsewhere in the mansion lacus was running around trying to find butler Ito when she ran into Athrun and fell backwards, before she hit the floor Athrun caught her

"AH….Ohhhhh …..sorry about that." She said blushingly as he helped to stand her upright. "No problem….ah… is everything OK?"

"Everything is fine" said a very tense lacus "What would make you think that something is wrong?" Then lacus noticed athrun starring down at her bunny slippers. "Ohhhh… that", she said"That's nothing! They're just my fuzzy little friends...ha ha ha ahhhh" She was trying to draw anything other than a blank expression out of athrun and when that didn't work she stomped her foot like a 3 year old child trying to get her parents attention. "Athrun!" she yelled "I can't believe your paying more attention to my slippers than to me!"

"Huh….oh sorry about that, I've been lost in thought a lot lately, It's just I've been trying to deal with everything that has happened. Hey aren't you supposed to be meeting Kira somewhere today? Not that I mind that you're here, considering shin decided to leave late last night for the plants. I must admit, I could use the company right now" Lacus had a blank expression on her face as Athrun revealed this tidbit of information.

"Plants….Meet...ing, Right, Oh weeeeee decided to go out some other time. I have a conference call to make this morning and I didn't want to miss it. I think I'll go take that call right now" said lacus marching off...

"Lacus"

"Yes?"

"You're going in the wrong direction. The video conference room is the other way" stated athrun pointing in the direction of the room.

"I knew that! I was just checking to see if you knew that…Since you said that you've been lost in thoughts and all" Lacus grunted and marched off in the suggested direction. Once she entered the video conference room, she sighed a sigh of relief before collapsing on the couch.

"Now all that's left is to contact shin, I just hope I'm not too late" After telling the house staff that she didn't want to be disturbed she proceeded with her call.

After Athrun watched Lacus enter the room he decided to look in on cagalli. He knocked on her door, but there was no answer, as he turned to walk away he heard her say "who is it?"

"It's Athrun" he replied "May I come in?"

"I'm a little busy right now I'll catch you later" What he didn't know was that she was experiencing the shakes, and as a result, was in dire need of her medication to recover. She grabbed the pill bottle from her top drawer and took two capsules. After capping the bottle she couldn't hold it any longer. It fell from her hands and rolled under the bed. She then laid back onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling waiting for the episode to pass.

"Sure", said Athrun as he turned around and walked into his room which was right across the hall from hers. He wanted to give her time to herself, but he also wanted to be as close to her as possible in case of trouble. As athrun sat in his chair by the window he began to ponder his thoughts. He had this unnerving feeling that everyone was keeping something from him. It's as if there was a dance and he was the only one without a partner. Not only that, he had learned through the years to trust his instincts beginning with his heart, and his heart told him that he was very much in love with cagalli, but something was out of place. He recognized it the night they laid by the fire together, her persistence just seemed so unlike her, however the fact that no one seemed to mind her demeanor forced him to give her the benefit of a doubt. Besides without concrete proof he just couldn't let himself think that way. She was nearly killed and who was he to doubt the one he loves especially in a critical time like this with a maniac on the loose. He did that once and had no desire to travel that path again. As soon as he reached his conclusion to stay by her side, cagalli came rushing into his room. As Athrun stood up and turned to face her he noticed that she wore a satin blue camisole top with shorts to match.

"You look like you're going to bed or did you come in here for something else? After all, it is the middle of the day. I find it hard to believe that you're still sleeping at this late hour."

"Do you really have to be so cold Athrun?"

"Me …cold …. This coming from you….I don't know, maybe I deserve it, seeming as I was so wrapped up in my own happiness that I couldn't protect you on that day." Athrun turned around to face the window with his back towards her,

"Please don't say that, don't be that way", said cagalli. She quickly ran towards him, while resting her head against the crevice of his back she wrapped her arms around him. " Please turn around athrun , please look at me, please hold me as if I were the only one you ever thought of~ I've wanted you for so long, please don't deny me my dream, please don't shut me out, I don't think I can survive if you shut me out…..I…..I" She held onto him tighter and tighter.

"Cagalli the things that you are saying sound strange? Almost crazy ... I don't understand it" Athrun turned around to face her, the moment he did she moved her hands up to his neck stood on her tippy toes and tilted her head upward to kiss him, as he leaned downward to respond to her advances he placed his hands on her waist, and made a point to touch the area of her wound. Although her eyes were still closed he suddenly opened his real wide. He felt no wound! Athrun immediately grabbed hold of her shoulders with his hands and forced her feet back down to earth.

"WHA...Wha… are you doing? I thought you would…. Were married…" said a very scared and tense cagalli. Athrun looked deep into her eyes and said very coldly,

"I don't know who the HELL you are, but I do know who you're not, and you're not cagalli!"

"What are you talking about, we're married …we…we...promised each other till death do us part.."

Cagalli began to tiptoe backwards a step or two clenching her hands together appearing to cry

"I remember till death do us part, but you weren't part of it. Now I'm going to ask you one time. Where is my wife!"

"I'm right here", said a still stunned crying cagalli. She walked closer and put her hands up to touch Athrun's face as if to kiss him again. Athrun very sternly said, "Don't touch me, don't ever touch me, or" tears began to stream down Athruns face "I'll have to kill you"

"But athrun WHY?" I've done nothing wrong..."

"Nothing wrong, you impersonated my wife, I told you to back off"

"But athrun…" she leaned in to touch him again, only this time athrun reached behind him and pulled out the gun hidden underneath the nightstand, and pointed it at cagalli.

"I told you to back away, I asked you where my wife was and you insult my intelligence. I may not know how, but I can feel that you are not her, now tell me where she is!" Just as athrun spoke those words lacus knocked on the door.

"Athrun, athrun it's me lacus may I come in? I need to talk to you…." Athrun didn't say a word, at that moment kira walked up the steps and found a increasingly worried lacus standing outside athruns room door. They looked into each other's eyes. No words were needed to exchange their thoughts and fears. It's as if they read each other's minds.

"Kira he won't open the door"

"It's alright lacus. Athrun I'm coming in!" Kira opened the door and found athrun pointing a gun at cagalli.

"Kira she's not….."

"I know athrun"

"You know?"awnsered athrun. At that very moment cagalli spoke up.

"Kira he's dilusional athrun has gone insane, you have to stop him!"

"No you stop it! Why don't you cut the crap and tell us who you really are? You're not my sister and you're definitely not his wife…" Lacus felt that she ought to step in before things got out of control.

"Please miss….I don't know what to call you, but you know everyone here, and no one will hurt you, we just want to find cagalli PLEASE! Just like Kira and athrun, she too is very precious to me, so I'm asking, no I'm begging you, please won't you tell us who you are and where she is? "

"Topaz"

"What?"

"Don't make fun of it! My name is topaz! I'll tell you who I am, but I won't tell you where she is, If I did that, then what's stopping you from killing me? I'm not stupid you know."

"And to think I almost built a life with you, I feel like such an idiot"

"Don't blame yourself athrun, I think all of us were excited to see ca...galli get well that we couldn't see past our own desperation." Said Kira to a very distraught Athrun before turning to topaz "But that's still no excuse for deceiving us, How did you get in here anyway?"

"I'm not telling you anything! You figured out this much you can discover the rest on your own!" said a very upset topaz.

"You could of made it easier on yourself, but right now the military is here to incarcerate you" the officers who came with Kira handcuffed topaz and took her away, and to make sure that she didn't overpower them he made sure that they were coordinators.

"Oh Kira is that really necessary she seemed like such a nice person" topaz walked by with a sinister look on her face.

"It is lacus, for all we know she may of killed cagalli and at this point we don't know exactly who or what she is other than the fact that she looks like cagalli" Lacus walked over to a still shocked athrun and took the gun out of his hand.

"Athrun we need to talk" He looked at her with dead eyes, fell to his knees and collapsed into her arms crying and calling out for cagalli.

A short time later Kira, Athrun and Lacus were all sitting around the tea table in cagalli's room. They thought that perhaps they could talk things through and search for some clues that could help lead to cagalli's where abouts.

"What if we never find her Kira?" said a still distraught athrun.

"Don't worry, Well find her athrun and even if we don't, we won't give up looking for her until we do"

"How did you know that she wasn't the real cagalli, I mean I just had a gut feeling. And how about you kira? How did you find out"

"It was the doctor that did the transfusion. I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going, but I wasn't sure what he was going to say, and I didn't want to alarm you. Cagalli is a natural so he took her blood before the transfusion and tested it to be sure that she was strong enough to handle the procedure, since I am a coordinator we had to be extra careful even if we are the same blood type, so many things could still go wrong. He also took her blood afterwards to see if there was a change in her genetic sequence, and discovered that she had no junk DNA it was perfect in every way. Even if it were possible her DNA wouldn't alter this drastically in such a short amount of time. The only possibility was that she wasn't the same person" Lacus stood up from the table and walked over to the window. Her foot hit something on the floor it was a pill bottle. She decided to put it in her pocket and not tell the others about it, she thought that perhaps she could use it as a barganing chip for later.

"Just who or what is she then?" said athrun.

"She's a clone" Athrun and Kira looked at her in disbelief.

"Lacus, how do you know this?" said a still stunned Kira,

"please don't ask me, just trust me on this, I can't reveal my source, but I promise I will tell everything to you later, right now it's more important to find miss cagalli" At the thought of that Athrun dropped his head in his hands and then he saw it, as chrystine as day underneath the bed lay the letter….

Meanwhile on the island off the coast of ORB, the girl was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea, when Via walked into the room.

"Just where are we exactly?" she asked

"You'll recognize it when you leave", said Via as she placed a translucent sterling quartz crystal fashioned into the shape of a necklace around the girl's neck. Afterwards tears began to stream from Via's eyes

"But unfortunately I won't be able to come with you cagalli"