Wail! Thanks for the reviews in the last chapter guys! I love you all! HUGS! I just had to sit down and type furiously now because I will soon start classes tomorrow again. Sem break is over and hello annoying and dreaded term paper! Boohoo! Wish me luck guys!
Life.Love.Hate.Death – yes, the last chapter was a bit lonely… Who am I kidding? It is lonely! (Sob) Mellow piano solos make me go angst! And besides that, I really like to torture Aril… must be the sadist blood in me. Thanks for reading and reviewing! Group Hug
DragonMistressoftheHeaven – It occurred to me, you have such a long but nice name. hehe I didn't kill Aril, promise! Maybe, maybe not. Hehehe (Sadistic blood flows) I guess we will have to see what really happened to her in the end. Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hugs
Ladymadchan – You're a mad lady? Hehe. Joke. Thanks for the review; this chapter is actually the answer for your question. Really, are you a psychic or something? You actually asked them before I even uploaded them! Haha! Yes, a big good luck and wishes for Aril! Thank you!
zXia0RayZz – are you actually an aril fan? Wow. I would be glad if you really are hehe anyway, this chapter won't tell yet what actually happened to her.. But you will get to see a glimpse of her past. Read on. For you, an update.
And off we go!
Before anything else, after the recap and the scene at the hospital, everything that will go on now is Aril's memory. I just wanted to make sure so you won't get all confused and everything.
-----------------------------------
A little(?) recap:
"Athrun!!!" Kira yelled behind the smoke. "KIRA!! Oh dear lord, help me.. Cagalli she's…." Athrun tried to stand up while carrying her but his knees felt weak, and his eyes filled with tears. "Cagalli!" Kira stared in shock but remained his composure so that they could safely take Cagalli to the hospital. "Cagalli-san!" Lacus cried as she took off her jacket and placed it on Cagalli's body to give her warmth.
"We need an ambulance!" Dearka yelled as he ran frantically with Miriallia.
The latter came running towards the exit with Cagalli in Athrun's arms, Aril eyed them as she finally had the strength to stand up.
"W-wait." She called in her hoarse voice, but she wasn't heard. She looked up at her hand and then noticed that she seemed to be getting pale… pale as like transparent!
Her eyes widened in panic and finally called out to Athrun. "Please, save her!!!" Athrun heard her but was unable to look back. He just nodded as he clenched his teeth and ran as fast as he could. "I will, I swear I will!" He thought.
Aril soon felt weaker and continued to get paler and paler. She felt like she would disappear any moment, like she was turning into bubble that would just burst away any second. She decided to return the disk to Yzak and the others. Yzak and Kisaka had caught the last man who got away before.
"Thanks." Yzak looked at her and turned around to hand the disk to Kisaka. "Now, let's get you to.." Yzak was cut off when he noticed that Aril was nowhere to be found. "Now where did she go?" The silver-haired guy scratched his head in wonder.
Aril walked slowly and was feeling dizzy. She carried her guitar case with her as she walked away from the mansion. She soon collapsed and finally gave up in walking. She smiled as she looked at the sky and whispered:
"Everything will be alright now… Please protect Cagalli, Athrun.. I know you will… just like you promised." She soon felt her eyelids getting heavier by the second. And before she finally lost consciousness, she whispered again in her final words:
"I love you, mom… dad…" And soon, everything went black.
-----------------------------------------
Athrun sat down on a couch inside the hospital. He had been completely uneasy after the doctors had taken Cagalli inside the operating room. She was in a critical condition, he knows that and he won't be blinding himself of that fact.
Kira looked over at him with sad eyes and soon approached him. "Athrun, hey… rest a bit will you?" The lavender eyed man sat down beside him. "I can't… I don't know what is going on inside there… And if something bad happens, Oh good Lord, I don't know what I will do… I don't think I can take the chance of loosing either one of them or both." Athrun sobbed a bit as he rested his head on his hands.
Kira held on to his shoulders. "Look, I'm not saying to keep your hopes high.. But at least, please… don't think that way. Cagalli is a strong woman, and I'm sure the baby is too. I know… No, I FEEL that they are gonna make it." Kira smiled. Lacus approached them soon carrying two cups of hot cocoa. Both men looked at her as they sat there, with smudges of Cagalli's blood on their clothes.
-----------------------------
"Mommy, why can't I see daddy today?" a five year old Aril approached her tired mother. "He's busy again dear… Now, be a sweet girl and change back to your house clothes and go to sleep." A 23 year old Cagalli came and gave her daughter a stern look. Aril nodded and bowed down her head, while clasping a picture she made for her father in case they get to see each other.
She was about to burst into tears but stopped midway for she knew it won't do her any good. At such a young age, she came to convince herself that perhaps her father didn't really want to see her or her mother didn't approve of it. She even wondered why it is that only now, her mother would tell her about her father, and why in heaven's name is he apart from them?
She heard and learned about the war, about naturals and coordinators hating each other. Perhaps that was it; she knew her mother was a natural and her father a coordinator. Perhaps that was it that was tearing them apart. She blamed the society and even blamed the fact that both her parents are from high/political society that many interfere with their relationship. She had been proud of her parents really; it's the people that don't understand a thing that she hated.
Aril sat down on the floor and hid behind the red curtains of the den. She found warmth and solemnity in there, for what reason she doesn't know; she's just five years old. She sobbed silently when suddenly; she saw two figures go inside. She wasn't able to move away so she decided to remain there as silent as a mouse.
"Cagalli, you can't go on like this! You have to tell Athrun about your daughter! How long are you gonna keep this a secret to her and to him?" Kira started. "I don't have to tell him! He doesn't have to be involved in this anymore! I can't have him coming back to me just because my daughter is missing a father!" Cagalli shot back.
Aril cringed a bit behind the curtains at what she was hearing. This was too much for a five year old kid like her. And what was weird, she knew exactly what they were talking about and understood it.
"Aril isn't the naïve kid anymore Cagalli. You promised her every darn day that she would get to see Athrun. You can't give her the same lame excuse that he's busy everyday! And besides, you can't keep this whole thing in secret anymore. Sooner or later, everyone will find out about your daughter. You can't coop her up in here forever!" Kira slapped his forehead in frustration.
"What I do with her is my business Kira, she is my daughter! If Athrun wants to come back, he should come back even without knowing about her!" Cagalli cried. Kira just frowned and pitied his twin. He soon embraced her. This was too much even for Cagalli, she can't think straight anymore. For the past five years she have been a great mother to Aril, and Kira knows that she still loves Athrun but is too stubborn to admit it. She just wanted to make sure Athrun still feels the same and will come back to her not because of his responsibility as a father to Aril, but someone who will be part of her life, her family.
As soon as the two left the den, Aril embraced herself and cried hard. All her life everything was a secret, a lie. She wiped her tears and vowed to herself never to cry again and support her mother. She would go on, even if it meant not having a father.
---------------------------
"Aril. Hey. What brings you here?" Kira came. Aril, now 13 years old, sat down at the porch of the newly built orphanage. "Hi uncle Kira… Oh, nothing. I just can't stand staying inside the mansion with all the politicians and stuff. Mom is having a meeting again…" She smiled and stood up.
"I see.. How's Cagalli then?" Kira asked as he approached her. Aril's face cringed a bit and then looked at Kira. "I can see in her face how depressed she is. She just masks it all with her job and everything."
"Everything has changed, she's still her usual self though… and besides the fact that everyone now knows I am her daughter and refuse to answer them when asked about father." She sighed. "But everyday, she gets depressed."
"She just doesn't know what to do anymore. She seems strong but she is actually fragile inside. And it really makes me glad that you are there to support her Aril.. You are the reason on why she is still living strong." Kira stated. "But I don't want her like that." Aril murmured and then finally looked at Kira seriously. "What's father like anyway? Surely there is something about him that can make mother act like that."
Kira's eyes widened. "Other than what I have told you before in the past Aril, I don't know anymore. Perhaps that thing that Cagalli sees in him is something that they two only share and understands. Not all loneliness is caused by someone who did something bad. Sometimes it's just what two people feel when they don't get to interact freely." Kira finished as he ruffled Aril's blond hair, and her eyes shimmered that of emerald green.
"In case you want to know, Athrun already knows about you." Kira smiled as he walked away. Aril stood there with eyes widened, and she too soon left.
-------------------------------
Aril smiled as her mother decided to take her shopping the other day. She treasured these moments, since most of the time; Cagalli is too busy to take her anywhere. It's not like she disliked shopping, she just loved it for it gave her chance to bond with her mother. She chuckled at the thought of her mother actually disliking shopping but doing it so for her sake.
This was the day her mother promised that as soon as she reached 16, which was tomorrow, she would step down from her position and be with her from now on. Aril could not believe it, her mother was barely 40 and she would retire for her? She felt like crying for joy.
Suddenly, she felt a weird tingle down her body as her mother paused after seeing something. Cagalli quickly ran away leaving her with the shopping bags and her wondering what the heck just happened. She looked again in front of her and her eyes widened.
"Athrun Zala." Aril whispered and ran after her mother.
--------------------------------
Cagalli spent the rest of her day inside her room. Aril brought her some food and her medicines, which include her daily dose of anti-depressant. "Mom, here you should eat." Aril placed the food tray in her bed. "Thank you dear… I'm so sorry for making you live without a father." Cagalli came and Aril stopped dead in her tracks.
"What are you talking about? I'm okay… I'm okay even if it's just the two of us." Aril smiled nervously. Cagalli shook her head. "No, you need him too as much as I need him. And he's here.. in orb…" Cagalli's tears fell down from her eyes. "Mom, stop it okay. If he's giving you this much pain, how come." Aril was cut off.
"He's not giving me pain Aril… I just couldn't take what I have done before… And now, as naïve as I am before, here I am thinking I could fix it with a snap." Cagalli stood up and took one of her pills.
"Tomorrow, you would meet your father. I will fix it, what I have stubbornly done in the past." Cagalli smiled.
But, tomorrow never came, her mother died. She died of accidental overdose. Aril felt miserable. She doesn't know what to think anymore, she actually didn't hate her father for it, because her mother made it clear the night before that he's not giving her pain. What was it? Was it a racist thing?
And then in the funeral, Kira said he'll be going there. What was she supposed to do? She wanted to meet him but not in her mother's funeral for gosh sakes! Confused, she left with her guitar case in her hand as tears strolled down her rosy cheeks from her emerald eyes.
"MOM!... DAD!"
Aril's eyes went dead. She soon found herself drifting in a somewhat space-like atmosphere as she let her body flow unto it and let her mind be carried off to some place she wished there was no pain.
----------------------
Doctors came running back and forth inside the operating room. Athrun didn't know what to react or say even. He knew if he will rant on and throws his frustrations to the doctor or any random passing nurse, it would not help any of them so he decided to sit down and remain calm praying that everything will be alright.
He placed his hand on his pocket as he felt something. He quickly pulled it out and it revealed the picture of a five year old Aril with Cagalli and his cut-out-from-the-newspaper-face pasted to the side.
It was Aril's self-made family portrait. He looked at it serenely and then his eyes widened as soon as he realized that the picture was slowly disappearing into thin air. "K-Kira.." He slowly tapped the brown-haired young man beside him and pointed to the picture. Kira's eyes widened. "Oh G-God.. Cagalli!" He stood up and went directly to the operating room. "What? What's the matter Kira?" Athrun followed behind.
The door to the operating room burst open as doctors flocked in and out. One doctor yelled: "I need assistance here quick! We're losing her!"
"What? What do you mean you're losing her?! CAGALLI!!!" Athrun yelled outside the O.R. Kira looked at the picture on Athrun's hand as it finally disappeared into thin air. "Cagalli…Aril" he slowly whispered.
------------------------------
I hope this chapter explains about Aril's past a bit.. It was somewhat taken from her memory. The first part and the last part are the present and they are the continuation of the past chapter. ; Since Aril is no longer appearing with the gang, I made this to at least have one last glimpse of her even if it's just a memory. Ladymadchan, I hope I got to explain things clearer now. Thanks guys, please review!!