I haven't updated this story for a while… Now I'm back! Hope you enjoy this chapter!!!


Honorable Lady Cagalli Yula Attha, not in her former grace and glory, sat up in bed. Her hair was a mess and the clothes she wore yesterday were wrinkled and mud stained. Her forehead was throbbing. It was a little after dawn. The blonde looked around her master bedroom. All the curtains were drawn except one. The only light came from that open window and the doorway, where a certain blue haired coordinator leaned on the door frame.

She rubbed her temple before she looked at him.

"Why are you still here?"

The boy smirked.

"I couldn't exactly just drop you off and leave. After all, you passed out on my lap."

"Well I'm off now and I'm up. You may leave."

"Alright, in a minute."

He walked up to her bed and sat at it's side. He fixed his emerald orbs at her but she refused to look back at him. The blonde kept her head cast down, watching her fingers fiddle with each other.

The coordinator tried to hold her cheek but she veered. Cagalli bit her lip.

"Do you think…do you think…" She began.

"Ssshhh. Let's not talk about that right now. It'd be better if you rest. You've already been through too much yesterday."

She nodded.

"Won't Loretta miss you?"

"She's in that big house of ours with her father and as many servants as she so ever pleases. She'll be fine."

She almost chuckled.

"So… I heard about Yuna. Kira told me." Athrun started.

Finally, the girl looked straight at him.

"I have to do it."

"No you don't." he smirked.

"I want to…"

"HELL, no you don't!" That smirk turned into a scowl.

Then she looked away. He held his hand up to her chin and stroked her cheek with his other hand. This time she let him.

"…But I know that's still not gonna stop you from doing it."

Her voice was choking up in her throat. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing."

She starred at him, a puzzled look in her eyes.

"Kira already did it once. Won't me barging in on his wedding kind of redundant?"

She would have giggled, maybe even laughed, if it weren't so painful. Instead she made snide remark in true Cagalli fashion.

"Serves you right. You didn't marry me soon enough. Now I'm going to some rich snob and you've got your own little miss prissy"

The comment was rewarded a weak smile and a tear from both of them.

Athrun watched her cry but he couldn't think of one thing to do that could possibly lift even the tiniest bit of her sorrows. If only he could tell her. If only he didn't have to go. Maybe they would be married today and Crystun would be sitting between them. There was one thing Athrun regretted. It was leaving for those two long years and missing his son growing up. What was worse, he could fix it with a few words. If he said something right now, things could get better but in this case, the saying "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you." applies in every sense of the word.

She let that last tear roll down her cheek. Then another and another. She was thankful he didn't wipe them away. They were aching to get out. These were two years worth of tears. They had to get out. He was here, sitting right next to her. All this time Cagalli thought that was all she ever wanted. Athrun right there for her. Yet now that he was here, her son, her only light these past hard years, was gone. Why couldn't she have them both? Why did one have to go just to get the other back? Some say that's the rule of life, give and take but it hardly seemed fair.

The blue haired boy patted her back. A sweet attempt to comfort her, a feeble attempt, but still it was appreciated.

He looked at her, at her princess.

She mustered enough strength to look Athrun in the eye again. His was her Athrun. Right now, that was all she saw him to be.

He leaned over and gently pressed lips against hers. The last of her tears fell from Cagalli's cheek and she softly kissed him back.

It was hardly a very passionate one yet it was just as significant.

By the open door, a petite figure, a girl, with flowing rose hair and a full metal tray in her hands sighed. Safely hidden behind the wall, she smiled.

Lacus turned to the brunette across the door, also peeking into the room. He looked up at his spying accomplice and returned the grin.

"Maybe there's hope for them yet."

The two onlookers quietly went away, bringing the tray of food with them. It didn't really look like the princess was very hungry.


For once in a pretty long time, Athrun's ride home was fairly pleasant. He wasn't completely content but he knew things were getting better.

He drove up to the massive mountain side mansion he now stayed it. It wasn't his, Loretta and her father instructed him to live there with them. It was too big a place for such a small family even with servants, in Athrun's opinion. The place was always dimly lit and so quiet, probably because the next neighbor was about half a mile away. When he first came there, it ran a chill down his spine every time he'd open a door. After a couple of months in that dreary life he got used to it. Now the dark, lonely feel of the house didn't bother him much.

That is, until today.

As soon as her opened the door and stepped into the house, he was greeted by a loud high-pitched scream. Instinctively, he followed it, fearing it could be his wife. The shrill noises went on and the sound led him to a small door hidden behind the grand staircase. 'It goes to the basement.' He guessed, a place he'd never been to. He didn't even know they had a basement!

He drew out the gun from his jacket. He had brought it for his meeting with Cagalli yesterday, lest they be followed. He held it at eye level in front of him and then stealthily descended down the narrow steps. The coordinator, having much sharper senses, could make out a dim light at the end and hear whispers down there. When he got to the end of the staircase he heard a click and then another scream, the loudest one yet.

ZAFT's former top pilot took a deep breath before he revealed himself from behind a corner. His eyes shot open and his mouth hung open. As stealthy as he was carrying his gun a moment ago was as shocked he was when he dropped it.

The small dark room held only one occupant: a small young boy with big bright golden eyes and familiar blue hair. He had his arms, legs and torso tied to a rickety wooden chair.

Crystun.

Athrun immediately released his weapon and ran to the little boy, meaning to free him.

…but before he could get to his son, he was tripped. He fell on his knees and his head almost hit the floor. Before he had the chance to get up he felt the nozzle of his own gun against the back of his head.

He heard two voices.

The first: the smooth confident voice of a man.

"Hello Athrun."

The second: the choked voice of a woman.

"You p-promised, Athrun. You promised… and now you've broken it. Now someone has to get hurt."

The blue haired coordinator clenched his fist when he realized he recognized both.

"Loretta? Is that you?"

"I…I never wanted it to come to this but you broke your promise. You went back to her…" She whimpered.

As for the man's voice, he didn't have to guess. They were just talking about him earlier. The tall arrogant figure walked in front of Athrun, so that he was between him and his son.

"Hello there, coordinator. I don't believe we've been formally introduced. I am…"

"YUNA! YOU RAT!"

"Well, since we're on first name basis. Yes, that's me but you'll be calling me representative Seiran very soon."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard? My engagement with the princess is back on!"

"That is not going to make you representative. She'll never allow it! You're…you're… unstable!"

Then Athrun felt the weapon pressed harder against his head.

"I know. But once she's out of the picture…" Yuna said in sing-song.

Athrun began to sweat. In the smallest voice he could muster, he muttered "we had a bargain…"

"…And you broke your end so why should I keep mine?" He teased.

"I already married the bitch! What more do you want?!"

"Shut up! You just shut up!" Loretta screamed as she pressed the gun even harder.

"Don't you ever talk about her that way, you genetic monster! She's got more human heart than all your filthy race combined!" Yuna barked, kicking the blue haired boy in the chest.

"That… still… won't…make…you…king…" Every other word, Athrun spat out blood.

"Ah, so you've noticed. I definitely won't inherit any position if this…" Yuna took Crystun by the hair. "little genetic scum is still around."

"Don't touch him!"

"I already did." Yuna kicked the wooden chair over. It toppled, making Crystun's body sprawl on the floor. He revealed that ropes weren't tied. They didn't have to be.

The little boy was breathing heavily. There was a large red stain around the chest of his shirt. Tears were streaming from his eyes and all that came out of his mouth was more blood and "mo….mo..m….mommy…."

Yuna smirked.

"Now, who's to say I won't be king?"

Athrun ignored him and kept his eyes fixed on Crystun. His son was dying on the floor in front of him. He slowly turned his head to Loretta, who still held his own weapon, ready to fire.

"I can run. You know I can get away."

"If you so much as move, I'll fire."

"You haven't got any gut to pull a trigger…"

Loretta gasped. He was right.

"She may not but I can." Yuna tried to draw the attention back to him.

Athrun ignored him again.

"Why are you going along with this? You've got a good life. Why risk ruining it?"

Loretta's lips quivered but she didn't answer.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MY FAMILY???"

Loretta took a surprised step back and then practically whispered.

"Daddy has it all planned out. I'll be a princess…what more could a girl want?" She said, strangely hesitantly.

"You're not like that."

"How would you know. We've been married a year and you haven't so much as looked me in the eye…ever."

And Athrun was quiet. His eyes were fixed on his wife. He was very sure who his heart belonged to and it wasn't hers. What he wasn't sure f, was what this girl really felt for him. Part of him didn't care, part of him was deathly curious.

He was too deep in his thoughts he didn't see or hear Yuna come up behind him and bash the wooden chair to the side of his head.

Athrun fell about a foot beside his Crystun, his temple ripped and spurring out blood.

"Oh, that looks bad…" Yuna mocked. "You two will make the most touching picture. Father and son finally reunited at their deathbed…see ya!"

Athrun cringed. He reached out for Crystun and pulled him near. His vision was getting blurry but with all the strength he had left, he took his son in his arms and cradled him. He was only two years old…

Before Yuna and Loretta left, he turned back to the injured two.

"Give up on that one Athrun! It's pointless, besides, a new, better one's coming along. This time, it won't have any of that genetic muck in it's DNA." He called out to them.

Athrun starred at Yuna over his shoulder…

The wannabe democrat was patting Loretta's womb.