category: Gundam SEED

disclaimer: I don't own it.

TWENTY-FIVE.

The horror of the moment was how quickly it happened. One minute, Cagalli was at the podium, shuffling her papers before beginning her speech. Lacus was next to her, having just finished her address, and both Yzak and Athrun were slightly behind them as representatives of their respective militaries. The next minute, those same papers were drenched in red and everyone was screaming.

Yzak's eyes didn't dart to the crowd in the outdoor plaza as the shock set in. He had soldiers stationed at strategic points within the multitude so if the shooter had been among the people (he hadn't) that area would have been covered. Instead he pushed Lacus to the floor and leaped over in a clean movement to Cagalli, who was spread-eagled and already unconscious.

There was hardly anyone nearby in the stir. Athrun had jumped off the stage immediately to pursue the instigator and the aides were frantically taking cover while dialing medical services. So Yzak didn't bother rolling up his sleeves, and instinctively pressed his hands against Cagalli's gunshot wound, hard.

Lacus crawled over hastily. Yzak used one arm to force her back onto her stomach. "Stay down!" he hissed. "Stop making yourself such an easy target."

"Is she all right?" Lacus asked, frightened, blue eyes brimming. "What's going on, Yzak?"

Yzak swore and snatched one of Lacus's gloves from her. He folded it up quickly, set it in place on the left side of Cagalli's chest, and resumed applying pressure. "I don't know," he growled. "There's a lot of blood. I think it might have hit her subclavian. She's lucky it missed her aorta." He swiveled his head around agitatedly. "Where are the goddamn field doctors when they're needed?"

Cagalli's breathing was harsh and uneven against his arm and Lacus was sobbing; there were gunshots all around, the ambulance sirens were still in the faraway background, and it was just beginning to rain. Yzak felt suddenly like Atlas carting the world on his shoulders.

The next morning, on the front page of the national newspapers, there was a shot of Yzak on his knees crouching over Cagalli, white sleeves red to the elbow and mayhem surrounding them. GENERAL JOULE A LIVESAVER, the headline blared.

"You did some good work back there." Dearka told him good-humoredly as Yzak stalked into his office after a red-eye flight back to the PLANTs.

Yzak threw his briefcase into the corner, tore his collar open, and settled down into his large chair briskly. "Don't be irreverent, Dearka. She would have died if no one had stopped the bleeding."

"I know." His friend took the seat opposite him and slid over a large stack of paperwork. "You've got loads of damage control to take care of, but they're calling you a hero."

Yzak scoffed loudly and reached for his pen. "That's ridiculous." He started skimming the briefings before adding distractedly as an afterthought, "I'm anything but."

notes: I seriously don't know what this is. File it under random and pointless and we'll call it a day.

Oh, important news! From now on, I'll be slowing the daily updates of SPTW down to every other day. There isn't a specific reason, really, except that I can't keep up the pace anymore. I hope you all will bear with me! I don't think it's too bad – we would have finished in another month, now it'll be two. I think this will give everyone more time to read and review and soak the chapters in, so perhaps it's good for us all. See you in two days!

NEXT PHASE: Cagalli explains her twin-sense to Kira.