A/N : Hi guys!!:) Sorry I was MIA for sooo long! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I guess you need to read back some of the chapters for recap as I basically suck at summaries…And Princesa de la Luna, I'm sorry you had to send me 3 'pls update' reviews, I hope all of you will like Chapter 20!! But since it has been so long, I guess some of you had forgotten about this story and move on but I hope you will still drop me a review! *winks* And thanks Tassia for being my beta reader! Hee..sorry too, that I took so long to post this when you have beta-read it for me ages ago.
Chapter 20: Uncertainties
"This is EAF's Archangel! We have onboard our ship, the daughter of PLANT Chairman, Siegel Clyne, Lacus Clyne under our custody. We found her on a lifesaving boat and have decided to keep her under custody from then. But from now onwards, if our ship is still receiving attacks, we will assume that ZAFT will forgo the protection of Lacus Clyne and we will take this matter into our own hands. Over."
+Destiny Child+
Every ZAFT personnel involved in the battle was shocked to know that Lacus was in Archangel's hands.
"Yes! All are to cease combat operations at once!" Fredrik confirmed the order in frustration to the squads. "Didn't you hear the broadcast just now?"
Rau stared at the screen of Vesalius clearing showing the stances of the two sides. They were this close in bringing Archangel down and he wasn't about to let Lacus to get into his way. He tipped his chin, already considering the next step. 'We might just have to use her then…'
+Destiny Child+
"Despicable!" Athrun spat at Kira over the radio. "Using the civilian you saved as a hostage, and working hand in hand with these scums, is this your sense of justice, Kira?"
Honestly, Kira didn't have a clue how things turned out this way. "Athrun…"
"I'll save her." Athrun said with clenched jaws. "Definitely."
Then, his childhood friend was gone.
+Destiny Child+
While Archangel was thinking of ways to escape, Vesalius was thinking of ways to get Lacus back.
"Even if we were to continue pursuing that ship, as long as Lacus-sama is in their hands, it would be difficult for us to do anything." Fredrik reasoned in concern.
"And they are planning to meet up with their Moon's forces…" Rau chipped in, and glanced at Athrun from the corners of his eyes.
His indigo-haired subordinate was hanging his head low.
Rau turned away and smirked. How perfect things have turned out. He surmised Gilbert might have taken some sort of action now to retrieve Alix but he wasn't about to let him get his way.
No.
Correction.
It is destiny that wasn't about to let Gilbert Dullindal get his way. What he did is merely follow the flow of destiny. And Athrun Zala will be the trigger for it; he would make sure of that.
"Even so, we can't allow Lacus-sama to go with them." Fredrik argued, oblivious to Rau's thoughts as he misinterpreted Rau's thoughtful expression to be worry for the pink princess.
"Where is Gamof now?" Rau asked, faking a concerned expression. Since things had come to this, he wanted to rule out all possibilities of saving Lacus except using her. "How long before they can catch up with us?"
"It would take seven hours." Fredrik reported.
"That means their side will meet up before we can take any action on our side." Rau concluded, faking irritation. "How tricky this situation has become…" He gave a defeated sigh, when in truth he was hoping the indigo-haired Coordinator would catch on his cue. 'Say it, Athrun. Say you'll be the one to send your adorable little sister to your mother.'
Athrun regarded his two superiors as he watched the exchange between them. He had already thought of a way, and was feeling a little surprised actually, that neither of his superiors had mentioned it. He hastily dismissed it due to their overwhelming concern for Archangel's backup forces from their Moon headquarters. Anyhow, he thought he should voice out the overlooked option to them. It should work pretty well anyway. At the very least, it would be good for the girls.
"I have a suggestion."
The two heads turned their attention to him.
"What is it?" Rau probed, already surmising what Athrun is going to suggest, and had to suppress his amusement with a concerned frown. 'I wonder how your father will deal with you when he learns that you ruined the reunion he has yearn for so much over the years…would he throttle you personally…? Ha.'
"We could exchange Alix Whitley with Lacus."
Fredrik's eyes widened in realization. Why, he was so worried for Lacus Clyne that he had forgotten that they had Alix Whitley with them! "Alix Whitley! How could I forget about her…?" Without hesitation, he gave his consent. "I agree! There's no way we could get Lacus-sama back otherwise."
Fredrik's approval obtained, Athrun turned his green eyes for Rau's.
Rau pretended to mull the option for a moment. 'If you say so, oni-san.' "Fine. I'll leave it to you, Athrun."
+Destiny Child+
Alix was jerked awake by the announcement.
"Attention all crew. The ship is going to step up the acceleration. Please take care against the effect. Repeating. Attention all crew. The ship is going to step up the acceleration. Please take care against the effect."
She felt the effect immediately, and clasped the bed sheet as she felt herself drifting away from the bed. Eyes still bleary from her doze, Alix sat up on bed and rubbed the sleepiness away from her eyes. She reckoned she must have fallen asleep thinking about Shinn, and she was still thinking about him until a bag slid out from under the bed across her.
She reached for it instinctively, widening her eyes in mild curiosity when she saw an 'Athrun' tag with it.
'It must be Zala-kun's belongings inside.'
Knowing better than to intrude on his privacy, Alix tried to slide the luggage back under his bed when the worst case scenario happened. The fastener of the bag snapped opened against the friction of her push and the rim of the bed. Books and clothes burst right at her face before she could help it. She cursed her clumsiness as she retrieved the items one by one, and her face reddened intensely at one point when she had to catch his briefs in midair.
A photo album caught her eyes then.
She dared a peek, since the album was already opened. An elegant portrait of a very beautiful woman stared back at her. On the space beside the picture scrawled the words 'Presenting my dearest mother, the one and only Lenore Zala!'
Beside the words were hand-drawn smiley faces.
Alix could tell from the handwriting, as well as the smiley faces, that Athrun was very close to his mother. The thought brought a heartwarming smile to her face as she brushed her hand across the photo, deciding his mother must be a virtuous woman. She could see the kindness radiating from the emerald eyes that mirrored Athrun's. For a moment, she wished her mother would be like Lenore Zala.
A mother who could talk anything under the sun with her, a mother who could share her secrets. A mother she could run to whenever she was having a bad day, a mother she could whine to. A mother who would assure everything would turn out fine when everything was going terribly wrong.
A mother who was simply… there for her.
For that, she wondered about her own parents. Gladys never talked about their father, and Samantha unlike herself, didn't seem to be interested in him either. Gladys would always change the subject whenever she tried to probe about their father. The only thing that both she and Samantha knew about their father was that he died soon after both of them were born. As for Gladys, well let's just say her mother wasn't a typical mother who would pay much attention to the desires of her daughters, which explained how she and Samantha ended up so close with each other. An influential figure to most, Gladys's no-nonsense stern attitude often killed her own curiosity to pop the question – Why? Why was she made a Coordinator? Why wasn't she born a Natural like Samantha?
The matter was not much of an issue when she was in ORB, but now that she ended up in ZAFT's hands and had witnessed the implicit conflicts between the two types of humans, every little complication started to surface.
As Alix brushed away this issue to the back of her mind, her hand unwittingly flipped the page.
A picturesque family of three was next. A younger Athrun held a picture-perfect smile as he stood smartly with his hands clasped behind his back. His parents were seated in front of him; his father, a stern-looking patrician, was seated with his legs slightly braced apart and his hands on his lap. Alix was not sure how she got the feeling, but as imperceptible as his smile looked, she thought he was a man who loved his family very much.
For a moment, she imagined having a father like him.
She imagined him to be an overprotective father who would scrutinize every boy that came close to her. She chuckled at the thought of Shinn undergoing his overbearing interrogation. It would be fun to watch her cute boyfriend struggling through the grilling. Alix had to slap her face to rid herself of the foolish thoughts. She bit back her smile as it dawned on her the familiarity she felt for Athrun's father. She saw him before. On the national plasma screen in ORB that is. Come to think of it, she saw Athrun too. Alix could not remember the details but she was out on a date with Shinn then.
Athrun's father was the President of the National Defense Committee of ZAFT.
Was it because of this reason that resulted in Athrun's enmity against the Naturals? She could still remember his chilled words when she probed him for the reason. "Murderers don't deserve to live."
Shaking her head to clear the pair of cold eyes that surfaced in her mind, Alix shifted her gaze to his mother. She couldn't help it. The more she looked at her, the more she liked her. Her hands were folded demurely in her laps with an angelic smile spreading across her flawless face. The words scrawled below the family picture were 'A DAY to remember!'
Alix understood why.
Given the profession of his father, occasions the family could get together like this must be rare. She looked at the indigo-haired son standing proudly behind his parents. From his expression of delight, Alix could tell Athrun cherished the moment very much. For a moment, Alix wondered if having a brother would be like him.
Cool… yet caring.
A brother who would always look out for her.
Alix had to slap her herself again to stop the absurd thoughts. 'What a shameless interloper I am…'
Something shimmering in midair turned her attention.
She thought it was hers and glanced at her own bag. Her bag was zipped perfectly close.
Wondering how it slipped out of her bag, Alix grabbed the necklace floating in midair and reached for her bag. Determined to keep it away carefully this time, she got a surprise when she zipped opened the section of her bag where she kept her necklace.
Inside nestled a necklace that looked similar to the one she held in her hands. Baffled, she dug for the necklace in her bag and held it at eye level together with the one she already clasped in her hands.
The necklaces looked exactly the same!
Both were silver necklaces with an intricate-designed 'AZ' pendant that was adorned with crushed diamonds. Both pendants were hollow on one side. As Alix tried to figure out the differences between the two, she thought the hollow side of the two pendants should click. When it really could, Alix was left gaping at the mystified discovery in her hands.
'Okay… mine should have my name on it…'
She brought the attached pendants closer and flipped it to one side. The name read "A... thrun?" She flipped it to the other side and it read 'Alix.'
The other necklace belonged to Athrun? How come he possessed a necklace similar to hers? What was the connection?
"Alix?"
She snapped out of her engrossed state of mind when she heard the polite knock on her door.
"Alix?" the voice tried again.
It was Nicol.
"Coming!" She called out, and hastily stuffed the necklaces in her bag and cleared the rest of Athrun's belongings as fast as possible. She checked herself, before she opened the door, and offered a casual smile at Nicol standing at her doorway with a tray of food in his hands.
"I thought you might be hungry." Nicol said sheepishly. He thought it would be better if he brought the food to her than to have her inviting hostile stares at the kitchen, especially now that Yzak and Dearka were there too.
Alix was actually feeling a little hungry now, and she thought that was kind of him. "Thank you." She took over the tray as Nicol took his share of food. Alix noticed that. "You are eating alone?"
Because he was too lazy to go back to the kitchen again, Nicol thought he might as well brought his share along as well. He scratched the back of his head. "Well, yes."
Alix thought he could provide some answers to her nagging questions in her mind right now. "You wanna eat together?"
Nicol was not prepared for the invitation, but nonetheless agreed. He shrugged, "Ah, sure."
But he thought it was weird when Alix appeared hesitant in letting him into her cabin.
Alix bit her lip; she couldn't allow Nicol to see the clutter in the cabin now. "Why don't we eat in your cabin? Mine is uh… kind of messy right now."
To her relief, Nicol obliged.
Except for the papers sprawling all over the desk, Nicol's cabin was as clean as hers. On a closer look, Alix realized the papers were scores. Nicol hastily cleared it away, "Seems like mine wasn't any better than yours. Sorry."
Alix merely shrugged with a smile, noticing the portable electric piano on his bed, in which he left the switch on. "I should be the one saying sorry instead. I seem to be imposing on you."
Nicol hastily waved a dismissive hand as he gestured her to take a seat before he took his. "Oh no, you're not. I was quite finished with it anyway."
"How often do you play?" Alix asked, taking a bite of her bread.
"Given our schedule now, not much." Nicol replied, munching his bread.
Alix glanced at the pieces Nicol left stacked on his bed. Mina-ne-chan taught her a thing or two before, but she just didn't have the time to explore further. She thought it would be interesting if Nicol could play a piece for her now, for she always enjoyed musical entertainment. Furthermore, from what she heard from Michelle, Nicol played very well. "Can I hear it?"
Nicol was taking a sip of water when he heard that. Of course, he hadn't expected that request, and nearly choked on that. "Ehh?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Alix hastily added as she misinterpreted Nicol's reaction.
"Oh… I didn't expect you to... want to hear it…" Nicol explained, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Because Yzak always complained-"
"That guy complains about everything." Alix interjected as she popped a couple of French fries into her mouth.
It was weird.
The mere mention of the Coordinator barbarian could strike a nerve within her. Perhaps it was because he punched her, Alix reckoned, that she was having this prejudice against the silver-haired Coordinator. Well, his manners were another. Then you have his conceited attitude, and…
"Yzak isn't really as bad as he seems if you got to know him better." Nicol commented with a shrug.
Alix didn't remark on it, and merely forced a smile. Nicol took that as a cue not to mention anything more about his hot-headed comrade. It was obvious Alix and Yzak had mutual dislike for each other, though the latter was more expressive of his aversion. He sighed. He could only blame their dislike for each other due to the circumstances they first met.
Alix pursed her lips. Coordinator barbarian aside, she thought the one she was interested in knowing more about was...
"So how about Athrun?" She asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
Nicol took a bite of his chicken cutlet as he replied, "What about him?"
"Did he… complain?"
Nicol gave it a thought. "Now that I think about it, I don't believe he did."
"So he liked it?"
Nicol was not sure. "I don't know. He didn't say anything."
"Was he always like this? You know, being quiet and all…"
Nicol took another bite of his chicken cutlet as he replied, "Athrun is the reserved one in our group. He seldom talks about anything." Then it struck him. Alix seemed to be interested in his indigo-haired comrade. "Why?"
Alix said the first thing that came into her mind. "I wanted to thank him for transfusing his blood to me." One of Vesalius's medics had told her that she could have died from blood loss had not Athrun's quick decision to donate his blood when they realized they had a shortage of her blood type, which was O. "But he seems rather… hmm... aloof."
"Oh... He's pretty okay actually." Nicol said.
"So… how you guys know each other?"
"We've know each other since military school." Nicol said as a matter of fact. "But it was when we were assigned to Creuset team that we really got to know each other."
Alix nodded. "I see."
Much to her relief, Nicol started talking about his comrades.
"So Athrun was the only son?" Alix asked in the end.
If Nicol found her curiosity in Athrun suspicious, he didn't ask. Alix had been directing questions about Athrun more than any of the others, even more than Rusty. He nodded at Alix's question.
"I see." Alix replied simply, glancing at the photo frame placed at his bedside.
It was a group photo of seven that suggested they just graduated from the military school. Nicol was smiling delightfully with his pose. She focused on the indigo-haired member who stood right to the right. He merely held an obliging smile with his certificate in his hands.
"So what about you? Are you an only child?" Nicol asked. It struck him as he asked the question. Alix was a Coordinator. From what he knew, the eminent Gladys Whitley was a Natural…
The question brought a small smile to Alix's face as she thought of her loveable sister, Samantha. "I have a sister. What about you?"
Nicol smiled, thinking not to intrude what she was hiding for now. "I'm an only child too."
"I see." Alix said plainly.
They shared a moment of silence, and from her downcast gaze, Nicol thought Alix looked pretty preoccupied with her thoughts. It was like she was trying to figure out something confusing in her mind.
The more Alix thought about the necklaces, the more doubts she had. She glanced at the group photo again. And an uneasy feeling rose within her heart. "Nicol."
Nicol straightened his shoulders at that. Alix's expression had suddenly turned from casual to somber.
"Yes?" He answered with a mild frown. He noticed his group photo had somehow made Alix ill at ease, for she kept darting disturbed glances at his memory of their graduation at his bedside.
"Why did you join the military?" Alix asked the question slowly, carefully.
Nicol raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that question from her. For a moment, he was rendered speechless. He placed his fork and knife down, pursing his lips as he tried to give it as serious as it should be. "Well, I guess I ought to do something regarding the chaos the Bloody Valentine created."
Alix pondered his answer for a while. "Do you hate the Naturals then?"
"Hmm…" Nicol leaned forward and perched his chin on his crossed fingers. "Yes and no."
Alix tilted her head slightly in question. She had expected an absolute yes from him.
From the way Alix looked at him, Nicol thought he should continue. "Yes because the Naturals have crossed the line."
Alix nodded. She understood what Nicol was trying to say; Junius Seven.
"And no because I think the Coordinators aren't any better."
Alix quirked an eyebrow in question.
Nicol smiled. "It's not like the Coordinators won't cross the line. It just happened we were slower."
It took a moment for Alix to digest his black sense of humor. She smiled and shook her head when it dawned on her. As much as she wanted to, it was getting harder and harder to dislike Nicol Amalfi. In fact, Alix found it surprising that Nicol remained impervious despite having radical team members like you-know-who. She thought of Athrun that moment. She wondered if he was as impervious as Nicol. But on second thought, when she thought of his chilled words and eyes…
"Then how about Zala-kun? Does he… hate the Naturals?"
Nicol gave it a thought. Athrun always maintained a distant attitude to them, to him. It was hard to tell what his reticent comrade was thinking most of the time. Sometimes he saw a flash of hatred in his emerald eyes. Sometimes it was confusion. Honestly, he doesn't have a clue. "Perhaps."
Alix don't know why she was upset with Nicol's answer. She had wished Nicol would prove her thoughts wrong, that Athrun's point of view on the Naturals was as moderate as his. But from Nicol's tentative answer as well as Athrun's words to her, "Murderers don't deserve to live." it seemed that her impression of Athrun was correct.
He hated the Naturals.
They ate the rest of their dinner in silence after that, but before Nicol took the last bite of his chicken cutlet, he got a surprise from her.
"The gist to piloting Blitz lies in the name itself."
His fork froze in midair. 'Is she trying to tell me what she isn't supposed to tell me?' For a moment, Nicol just stared at her.
Alix inclined her head. She couldn't help it even though she knew they belonged to two different sides. As she observed Nicol through their interactions, she realized he was not someone she would like to hate, and though she would never openly admit, she thought Nicol was the perfect pilot for Blitz, someone she'd like to entrust this unit to.
"I'm sorry if you feel that I'm acting weird." Alix explained. "But I thought I should let you know even though... even though we're technically enemies."
The last word made him frown. "Alix."
It was Alix's turn to straighten her shoulders at Nicol's change of expression from shocked to somber.
"Yes?" She answered cautiously.
"Why did you side the Naturals?"
Alix widened her eyes in surprise. Her guard immediately went up. Perhaps it was only her, but from the way Nicol asked the question, it was like he knew what she genetically was. She decided to feign ignorance. "Eh?"
"I overheard your conversation with Michelle at the infirmary." Nicol admitted. It was harder and harder for him to guard his words against Alix Whitley. As he observed her through their interactions, he realized she was not someone he would like to hate, but like Michelle, he couldn't understand why someone as gentle as her would want betray her own kind.
Alix leaned back on her chair, at loss of what to say for a moment as worry after worry flooded her mind. "Who else knows?"
From the disturbed expression on her face, Nicol thought she felt ashamed of being what she was. He couldn't blame her either. Her adoptive mother was a Natural, and a radical Natural at that. However, he couldn't help but be surprised that Alix had remained impervious despite having those Naturals around her. For a moment, he was actually worried she was being used. "I was alone."
Silence engulfed them and Nicol thought it was rude of him to probe further. As much as he was curious, he thought he should respect Alix. "I'm sor-"
"It was never my intention." Alix interjected, her head inclined. She was trembling, Nicol noticed. He could see how much she was struggling from his question. He remained silent for her to continue, and when Alix looked up with her misty eyes, Nicol was instantly remorseful he brought up the topic that has been bothering him.
"I never wanted to join the war. ORB too." Alix stated firmly as she fought back the tears. She wanted to pour out everything that she kept bottled up within her, but she knew she couldn't. "They were meant for ORB's defense." She managed in the end.
"They were sold to the Earth Alliance." Nicol stated, though he thought he should change the subject already. He could see how the subject was upsetting her. "The information we received couldn't be wrong."
"The later stages just… went beyond my control." Alix said, inclining her head again. That was all she could reveal. She lifted her head however, when a tissue appeared right before her. It was then she realized her tears had fallen.
"I'm sorry." Nicol said. Alix shook her head and hastily took the tissue to dab away the tears.
They reverted back to silence for a while, before Nicol thoughtfully changed the subject to the love of his life – music. When he got to know of her basic knowledge in piano, he urged her to play. He had a funny expression on his face after she reluctantly finished playing the nursery rhyme of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. She thought she must have embarrassed herself in front of the expert. God! She even sang along! She hastily explained that she had learned the playing of piano due to the fact that she visits the orphans under the care of the SA Foundation from time to time, and singing was the easiest and fastest way to bond with the kids. They continued their chat filled with occasional chuckles until Nicol finally decided to play for her.
Alix rested her head on her palms as she watched his fingers weave its magic.
It was… beautiful.
+Destiny Child+
Dearka let out a lazy snort as he heard the melodic tune traveling down the hallway of their bunks. "There that fellow goes again…" He doesn't mind it though, as he saw it as entertainment after a heavy dinner.
Hands shoved in the pockets of his uniform, Yzak simply snorted beside him. The two continued their way to their cabin in silence. Yzak noticed it the moment they reached their cabin.
The door to Athrun's cabin was left open.
Without a second thought, he barged inside.
Dearka was about to step inside their own cabin when he realized what Yzak was doing. He tried to stop him, but Yzak was faster. His fractious friend already came storming out from Athrun's cabin by the time he reached the doorstep.
"The Natural Brat's gone!" Yzak snarled.
"Huh?" Dearka merely quirked an eyebrow and thought that was the most absurd thing he ever heard. This was Gamof, for goodness sake. No one could have gone missing without the knowledge of the officers on duty. Besides, they were in space. How was it possible for a girl with no military experience to escape? Although he found it weird that neither their Commander nor their Captain ordered anyone to watch their Natural guest.
"I said the Natural Brat's gone!" Yzak repeated in sheer frustration. Damn! He should have expected she would try to escape! He should have guarded her, restricted her movements! She was a Natural after all!
Seeing the unconvinced look on Dearka, Yzak dragged him into Athrun's cabin and let the truth speak for itself. "Look!"
Nothing suspicious caught Dearka's brown eyes, except Athrun's half-opened bag. He didn't see that as an evidence of her getaway though. He saw it as evil curiosity. In any case, the curiosity trait was in everyone, right? Besides, she didn't take her bag along with her. It was beside Athrun's luggage. "Maybe she went out of her room for a breather."
"Perhaps Nicol is with her." He added almost an afterthought. "That fellow took some food to her, remember?"
"We heard him down the corridor, remember?" Yzak argued.
Then it struck them. Both of them turned to stare at the door opposite them at the same time. The music was still playing, which most probably suggested that Nicol was in his cabin all these while.
Yzak narrowed his suspicious eyes at Nicol's door. Though he had his answer, he still felt the need to ask. "What would you do if you heard someone playing the piano?"
"I'd leave him alone, since it sounded good anyway." Dearka answered as a matter of fact.
Yzak turned to glare at him with exasperation, before shoving him out of his way to Nicol's cabin. Dearka threw his hands up in faux frustration. "Hey, that was a sincere answer!"
Yzak ignored him. When he reached Nicol's cabin, he leaned furtively close to his door. There were definitely two people inside. He wanted Dearka to hear it, but his blonde buddy already made his way to their own cabin as if it was not a big deal! Twisting his lips, he thought it was up to him now to stop this blatant behavior.
+Destiny Child+
"Nicol! Open your door!"
Alix's heart jumped at the sudden pounding of the door. She squeezed her eyes shut at the realization of who it was. Nicol stopped playing and turned to look at his door in surprise, then at Alix. With a sigh, he hurried to open his door. He impeded Yzak by elbowing him on the chest when his silver-haired Coordinator tried to barge in straight at Alix. "Yzak!"
Yzak ignored Nicol's protest and directed his condemned glare at Alix behind him. "What the hell are you doing in Nicol's bunk?"
Alix rolled her eyes at him and folded her arms. "None of your business."
"You-!"
"Yzak!" Nicol protested again. His initial efforts futile, this time, he tried to shield Alix with his body as Yzak kept advancing threatening steps to her.
"Are you seducing him?"
The allegation sounded so preposterous to Alix that she could only stare at him with her mouth agape.
"As long as I am around, don't eve-"
"Yzak!" Nicol intervened again, this time on a firmer tone. Yzak was carrying it too far. "Stop uttering nonsense like this!"
"You twe-!"
"Cut the crap honey, and come back to me!" Dearka interrupted, shouting from his cabin in quite a seductive way.
The atmosphere in Nicol's cabin immediately felt somberly awkward. Yzak's jaws dropped. He was the most surprised out of the three by Dearka's impromptu. And somehow, the look of revulsion on Alix's face bothered him.
What the hell was Dearka doing, blurting misleading sentences like this?
Nicol turned to look at Alix, saw her expression, and held up his hands as he hastened to explain, "They are not really what you thi-"
"Come on, baby! I can't wait any longer!" Dearka interrupted again.
It was enough, Alix decided as she shook her head. She couldn't hear any of this any more. It was making her sick. She never believed Samantha when she claimed it was possible between men, but now, as the truth presented itself…
Suddenly she felt this desperate need to get out of here, away from the Coordinator barbarian. She hastily excused herself and dashed past Nicol and Yzak before both guys could say anything. Confounded, she threw a look of disgust at Yzak before she slid her door closed.
Nicol shrugged helplessly when Yzak turned to glare at him. Then he directed his glare at her door. As furious as he was now, he felt this urgent need to clarify his sexuality before getting back to Dearka. He marched right at her doorstep and pounded on her door. "Oei! Listen here and listen well! I'm STRAIGHT!"
The reply from inside didn't sound convinced. It sounded strained and somewhat irritated. "Okay!"
Nicol couldn't help but chuckle at the turn of the tables. However, he had to stifle his amusement when the pair of murderous blue eyes turned to glare at him.
"Dearka, Yzak and Nicol. Please report to the bridge now. It's urgent, so please hurry. Please bring along Ms. Whitley. Repeating. Dearka, Yzak and Nicol. Please report to the bridge now. It's urgent, so please hurry. Please bring along Ms. Whitley."
Dearka popped his head out from his bunk when he heard the abrupt page. "What's going on?"
Nicol shrugged, equally baffled. Alix opened her door then. She faltered a step back however, when she saw Yzak rooted right at her doorstep. The two exchanged a glare before they turned their faces away from each other with snorts.
"Let's go." Yzak prompted in the end. With a scowl, he marched to the bridge.
Dearka trailed beside him. "Wait up, Yzak! Nicol, Ms. Whitley is yours!"
Alix looked away when Dearka winked at her. She was not used to having flirtatious guys around her. Turning to Nicol, she decided to focus on more serious matters. The page included her. "What's going on?"
Nicol shrugged. "Let's find out."