Phase 7: The Island Lingers

Athrun was in his newly appointed room trying to get some rest after being rescued from the island. He had just taken a shower and was now laying in bed. The blue haired man found himself replaying the events from the island. He found the blonde natural to be a breath of fresh air. It was interesting to see the point of view of the people they were fighting against.

Athrun also found it strange how often he thought and dreamed of Lacus on the island. He hated to admit it, but the girl never really crossed his mind much when he wasn't with her. It's not as if Cagalli reminded him of Lacus, as they were completely opposite. Little did he know that he was comparing their traits and figuring out what he actually found attractive in a woman, and it didn't seem to be that of his fiancé. Cagalli was the most interesting woman Athrun had ever met. All the woman he knew, were like Lacus; prim and proper, and into dresses and makeup. This girl was the complete opposite of that and yet she was more beautiful than any of those women. She was smart, brave, honest and wore her heart on her sleeve.

Sleep eventually took Athrun as his thoughts remained filled with the young girl from the island, along with some guilt for thinking about her so much.

Athrun began repeating the dream he had about Lacus on the island, but it was as if Cagalli was replacing Lacus. It was the day he went to visit Lacus and it was at her house, and the same conversations they had; but with Cagalli in her place.

"When I heard that you were back here at the Plants, I couldn't help but looking forward to the possibility of seeing you this time. Will you be able to remain here for a while?" Cagalli enquired as she poured them some tea.Athrun seemed to give no notion that something was a miss, as he smiled at her and carried on as normal.

Athrun awakened the next morning after a much needed sleep. He seemed to have no memory of his dream, he just knew that he felt refreshed.

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Cagalli was sitting in the Archangel's cafeteria with a tray full of food that was cooked especially for her. She pushed the broccoli around with her fork.

"You must be starving," Kira said as he sat down across from her.

"Not really," Cagalli said distracted.

"Are you okay? It must have been scary being stranded there by yourself."

"Hmm," Cagalli smiled as she thought of the blue haired coordinator. She wouldn't tell anyone of him. He spared her life, countless times; he was clearly a very forgiving man. The least she could do to repay him for everything is not rat him out.

"Why are you smiling like that? What happened on that island that you aren't telling me?"

Cagalli's cheeks flushed not realising she had been smiling, "I... I'm not. Shut up!" Cagalli got defensive. "Thanks for the rescue, Kira. Now, you need to sleep and I need a shower." She stated regally as she got up from the table and took her leave.

Memories of the ZAFT coordinator flashed through Cagalli's head as she showered and got into bed. As sleep took her she dreamed she was back on the island just sitting and talking to the boy about anything and everything, for hours on end.

When Cagalli eventually awakened, she chucked her dream up to the fact that her mind was still trying to shake the recent and stressful events.

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Athrun and his teammates were once again engaging the Legged Ship, as they nicknamed it, and the last remaining mobile suit, the Strike. However; after months of battling them in space, it was quite the difficult adjustment for the space team to be battling them on Earth. It was also the group of young coordinator's first visit to Earth.

Dearka and Yzak accidentally landed on Earth after an intense battle with the Legged Ship, when they were trying to destroy them before they escaped and descended to Earth. Nicol and Athrun managed to pull away from the battle in time, but were later sent to join them. They were to continue pursuing the Legged Ship and the Strike, seeing as it was there team that failed to capture the mobile suit and destroy the ship in Heliopolis.

Their team was originally known as the Le Creuset team, but seeing as Commander Le Creuset had to remain at the Gibraltar base to prepare for operation Spit Break; they were now temporarily the Zala team. Athrun didn't want to fight against his friend, but he had now grown tired of Kira's countless rejections and he knew his Commander was counting on him as team leader. After all, Athrun was a flawless soldier that always managed to put his duties before all else.

Cagalli ran to the elevator, clutching the walls for support, as the vibrations of the attack on the Archangel were throwing her around.

"Cagalli, wait! What are you planning?" Kisaka yelled to the girl while grabbing her arms. He knew she had a tendency to not think things through before doing them.

"Let go!" Cagalli demanded as she yank her arms out of Kisaka's hands. "They're gonna destroy us, even though we're right beside Orb!" she said in anger.

The elevator door closed with the two of them inside. Kisaka had a feeling he knew what the young girl was about to do.

"I can't... I can't let this happen," Cagalli paused. "Damn it!" She yelled as she hit the wall with the side of her fist. She thought back to Athrun and his mobile suit. I knew I should have killed him, she scolded herself. The Archangel had cameras and monitors all over the ship so that the crew could stay up to date with what was happening during a battle. Cagalli had seen Athrun's mobile suit on the monitor in the cafeteria, except this time it was red as it had its phase shift activated.

"There's an Orb fleet at the boundary line," one of the Archangel crew announced to the Captain.

"What?" Lieutenant Badgiruel, the Combat Commander and Deputy Captain rhetorically asked.

"Do you think they're coming to help us?" Kuzzey, one of Kira's friends from Heliopolis asked.

"No we're too close to their territory," Captain Ramius answered softly. "Bare port 15," she yelled her command.

"But why?" Ensign Neumann, the man in charge of steering the ship asked.

"They're going to open fire if we get to close," Murrue Ramius explained.

"They'll what?!" Kuzzey began panicking.

"Orb is not our ally. Everything might be fine in peace time, but not in this situation!" The Brunette Captain stated.

"You're wrong!" Cagalli caught everyone by surprise. "Head directly for their territory," she instructed as she ran from the elevator. She jumped off the platform to where Captain Ramius was sitting, "I'm going to talk to Orb personally. Hurry up."

"Ah… Miss Cagalli," Captain Ramius began protesting. All the while they were being shaken around from the continuous blows to the ship, from the four ZAFT mobile suits.

"Incoming message from the Orb fleet."

A voice came over the radios of all the mobile suits and Archangel in the middle of their battle. "This is a warning to the Earth Forces ship and all ZAFT Forces in the vicinity. You are currently approaching Orb Union territory, alter your course at once. In defence of our neutrality we strictly prohibit all armed ships, aircraft and mobile suits from entering our waters. Turn your forces at once. I repeat, alter your course at once! This is your final warning. Should you fail to change your course, we will exercise our nation's right to defend itself and we will open fire on you."

Cagalli began to growl. She loved her country, but they seemed selfish sometimes. How could they choose defending their ideals over helping people out that are about to lose their lives?

"They're gonna open fire on us too?! Oh man!" Kuzzey was now clutching his head in fear.

"What are they talking about 'neutral'? The Archangel was constructed by Orb."

"Never mind, proceed into their territory," Cagalli commanded. She ran up to Kuzzey's station and grabbed his headset, "How dare you say those things after seeing the mess we're in!" She was using the same universal channel that the Orb soldier had used, thus everyone could hear what she was saying.

Athrun had a frown that almost cracked his face in half, as he heard the familiar voice on his radio. Is that… Cagalli?! Is she with the Legged Ship too?! But I thought she said she wasn't an Earth Forces soldier! How are her and Kira both on that ship? How are her and Kira voluntarily fighting for this ship and the Earth Forces without being soldiers? Do they know each other?

Cagalli continued, "The Archangel is going to cross into Orb territory, so do not open fire."

An Orb officer's face popped up on the Archangel's monitor, "Who... who is speaking right now?"

"Who am I speaking to? If you really can't tell who this is, then connect me to your superiors." With tears in her eyes she revealed her secret, "Call my father, call Uzumi Nara Athha! My name... my name is Cagalli Yula Athha."

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"My name... my name is Cagalli Yula Athha."

Everyone listening to the radio communication gasped in utter shock. Nobody, up until this point, knew who Cagalli was or even knew her full name.

Cagalli! Athrun's frown grew stronger. He pictured the blondes face from just before they parted on the island. He finally believed that she wasn't with the Earth Forces, but he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had been trapped on an island and almost killed the Princess of Orb! What is she doing with the Legged Ship? Some of her crazy actions made somewhat sense to Athrun now, and others made even less sense than before.

There were whispers of shock all around the bridge of the Archangel.

Sai, another of Kira's friends whispered to Miriallia, "Athha is…"

"Chief Representative," Miriallia, Sai and Kira's friend finished for him.

"I'm in no mood for jokes. There's no way in hell that the princess could be on-board your ship," The Orb officer responded.

"Now listen!" Cagalli was getting angry.

"Besides even if you are who you say you are, I can't just do whatever you say without some evidence to back up your claim."

"You bastard!" Cagalli cursed. Something else hit the ship and threw them around once more. Just like that, the mans face was gone.

Dearka and the rest of the ZAFT team got a few more vital shots into the Archangel, thus it was now falling out of the sky and about to land on the ocean. Still shocked Athrun, shook himself together as he had a mission to complete.

Kisaka caught Cagalli as she fell off of the platform with that last hit. One of the Archangel crew members began telling them how most of their engines were hit and damaged.

"Forward thrust is dropping. We're losing altitude Captain!" Ensign Neumann informed as he was struggling to keep the ship in the air.

"We have no choice, but to enter their territory now," Kisaka spoke to Captain Ramius in his usual calm tone. She seemed surprised as he hardly ever spoke to anyone. "There's nothing to worry about. The Orb secondary escort fleet is famous for its accuracy. We'll be just fine."

"Yes, I understand," Captain Ramius replied.

"As you have ignored our warnings; you've left us no choice, but to exercise our right to defend ourselves," the Orb officer spoke again.

All of a sudden the Orb Fleet started firing all around the Archangel. To everyone's surprise not one missile hit the ship. It was at least enough to chase the ZAFT forces away. Athrun stared at the ship intently as he slowly backed away from them.

The Archangel was surrounded and being escorted by the Orb Fleet to the harbour. The ship was now docking inside the military base inside a mountain.

"Onogoro is owned by the military and Morgenroete. We can't be detected in here, even by satellite," Kisaka eased their minds.

"Don't you think it's about time you drop the act and told us who you really are," Captain Ramius got straight to the point.

Kisaka saluted the Captain, "Ledonir Kisaka, I'm a Colonel in the Orb Ground Forces, 21st Airborne Unit." He looked over at Cagalli, "I am her bodyguard." Cagalli huffed and looked away.

"No way! So she's like the genuine thing," Miriallia whispered to Sai with her hand over her mouth.

"So then do you think we should be grateful for this rather unexpected turn of events?" Murrue asked.

"I believe that's a question better directed at the person you're going to be meeting fairly soon; the heir of Orb, Lord Uzumi Nara Athha.

The rest of their conversation got lost in the background as Cagalli got lost in her own thoughts. She was nervous to see her father again after all this time, especially remembering the last time they spoke.

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