Phase 25: Love Found And Love Lost

Cagalli and Captain Ramius were now on the bridge of the Eternal discussing the situation with the satellite laser called Genesis, with Lacus and Commander Waltfeld. The pilots were returning to the ships and the mechanics were quickly making their repairs. Erica Simmons was on the monitor of the Eternal, explaining to them how Genesis works and how fatal it would be for Earth, if they fired on it. Cagalli breathed a sigh of relief as Kira and Athrun entered the bridge, she was always happy to see them return in one piece.

"Do you think they'll do it? Fire on Earth?" Murrue asked.

Captain Waltfeld agreed that it was a possibility. "It seems evident that neither side will hesitate to use them again," Andy said referring to the nukes and Genesis.

Cagalli turned to look at Athrun who was standing on the platform behind her, as she heard him softly grunt. She could tell he was beating himself up about the terrible things his father was doing. She wished she could make him understand that he's fathers actions are his own.

"The first time that I actually had to shoot someone, it turned my stomach. They told me that I'd get used to it in time and after a while, that's what happened." Andy told them.

"Are you saying it's the same way with nukes and that weapon?" Murrue asked.

"Isn't it the same thing? People can get used to anything, even fighting and killing each other," Commander Waltfeld stated.

Cagalli saw Athrun clench his fist and turn his face away in anger, as Commander Waltfeld's words obviously brought up some guilty memories for him. She didn't like seeing him this way. She wanted to tell him that whatever he did in the past, is exactly that, in the past.

"Is it weapons that are the cause of all this fighting, or does the real cause lay within the human heart?" Lacus asked saddened.

"Whether it's nuclear weapons or that light, we can't let them use those things on each other," Kira exclaimed.

"Yeah," Athrun agreed.

They all began formulating a plan to try and destroy Genesis. They weren't sure how yet, as they had never faced anything like this before. They would start with trying to get as close to it as possible and then all three ships would open fire on it simultaneously.

The alarm in the ship began going off for everyone to return to their stations. Captain Ramius, Athrun and Cagalli were in the elevator as they were about to leave the bridge and Kira was on his way to join them.

"Kira," Lacus called to him.

"What Lacus?" Kira turned to face the pink haired girl.

Kira and Lacus turned to the people in the elevator silently asking for privacy, but seemed to be specifically looking at Athrun, almost as if they were finally asking his blessing. He smiled at them and pressed for the elevator door to close. Although their union hurt him at first, they were his friends and he would be happy for them. In any case; his heart was becoming far too preoccupied with a certain blonde girl in the elevator, for him to care too much about what others are doing in their love life.

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When the elevator door opened on the lower deck, Murrue quickly took the hall to the left to make it back to the Archangel. Cagalli was supposed to exit with her as she also needed to transfer ships, but decided to take the longer root so she could walk with Athrun. Athrun and Cagalli stayed in the elevator as they went down one more floor. The two teenagers were now exiting the elevator and floating down the hallway. Cagalli was giving Athrun her usual creepy stalker stare.

"Huh, what's up?" Athrun asked. He would always notice her staring but couldn't usually confront her about it, because they would always be around other people.

"Hmm, nothing," Cagalli said as she smiled and looked ahead of her. She really liked this boy. She never thought she would meet a guy that she would actually ever be interested in. She just wished she knew if he liked her too. "Just that this time, I can go too."

"Uhhh?" Athrun urged her to explain.

She looked at him again still smiling, "We had all the parts for the Strike Rouge in storage and they've just assembled it."

"Huh?" Athrun couldn't believe his ears.

The two finally reached the end of the corridor that lead into another corridor, going the opposite direction. There was a big window that was overlooking the Earth and the stars, it was the most beautiful thing you could ever witness in your life. Cagalli would now have to go to the left to get back to the shuttle that would take her to the Kusanagi, and Athrun would go right to get to the hanger where the Justice was.

"See ya later," Cagalli waved as she turned for them to go their separate ways.

"Cagalli," Athrun called still trying to process what she just said, but she never stopped or turned back around. "Uh wait," Athrun grabbed her right arm with his left hand and pulled her back to face him. It wasn't like him to just manhandle a girl this way, but then again this girl was constantly making him surprise himself.

The unexpected contact startled Cagalli.

"You're going?" Athrun asked as he put his free hand on her other shoulder, and pushed her down to the ground to stand by him. "The Strike Rouge?" he asked in disbelief. He couldn't imagine her being out there during all of this chaos.

Cagalli didn't like feeling like she was being underestimated, "What's the matter? I've had more than enough mobile suit training and I'm a lot better than the Astray pilots."

"Yeah but, I mean..." Athrun's expression went from shocked to serious.

Cagalli turned to look out of the window, "What we wanna do. What we can do. What we've got to do. It's the same for everyone; for you, for Kira, for Lacus, and for me too." She said calmly as she looked back at him, hoping he would understand.

"Cagalli..." Athrun said slowly and sweetly.

"Sure, sometimes it seems pointless to go out and fight; but with everything that's going on now, we have to," Cagalli smiled at him.

Athrun just looked at Cagalli sceptically. He really didn't like the idea of her being out there and vulnerable. Not that he thought she couldn't do it, but that he would be worried and distracted.

"Don't look at me like that," Cagalli demanded as she yanked her arm out of his hand. "You take a lot more chances out there than I ever would! I'm not gonna let you die, now way." She finally admitted her feelings to him. She knew he was way to eager to lay down his life and she wasn't having it. She cared about him too much to lose him.

Athrun's eyes grew as wide as they could go at her words, "But Cagalli." He never thought she would actually admit how she felt about him. Finally hearing it out loud took away any doubt he might have had, about how she felt about him, or even how he felt about her.

"I'll be watching over that guy that might be my little brother too." Cagalli said trying to steer the conversation away from the fact that she admitted she cares about him, and he didn't do the same.

"Little brother?" Athrun asked surprised, leave it to Cagalli to add some comedic relief in a serious situation. "Couldn't he be your big brother?" he asked amused.

"No way! He's definitely younger." Cagalli said with a pout and a frown.

Athrun looked at her with a warm smile. She was such an interesting and amazing person and he really enjoyed every conversation he had with her. "Yeah I guess you're right," he agreed with a chuckle.

Cagalli was surprised when Athrun all of a sudden lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her. His left arm was pinning her right arm down, and his right arm was over her shoulder and touching the back of her neck.

"I'm pretty lucky to have met you," Athrun spoke sweetly into her ear.

"A-Athrun?" Cagalli whispered with flustered cheeks. Was this it? Was the constant hugging his way of telling her he likes her?

Athrun was always the one trying to protect everyone else, he's never had someone trying to protect him. He pulled back from the hug to look her in the eyes, never letting going of his grip on her body. "You and I can protect each other," he said and then started slowly leaning in towards her face.

Cagalli's face couldn't get any redder as he was coming closer and closer to her. Then it happened... his lips finally landed on hers.

Athrun knew Cagalli wasn't one for physical contact and that she would be resistant at first, even if she was enjoying the kiss. So he wouldn't let go of her until she relaxed. As he predicted she was stiff and tried to protest at first, but it didn't take her long to ease into the motion of the kiss.

Cagalli now lifted her right hand and was holding his shoulder blade. Her left hand was holding the part of his space suit that was around his neck. Although she was excited that this was happening, as she has had a crush on him for some time now; it was also nerve wrecking as it was her first kiss. But that quickly faded as she now felt like the lack of gravity wasn't the only reason she was floating. I can't believe we're doing this! I can't believe he's kissing me! She screamed in her head.

Athrun found himself wishing he had done this on the island already. The way he felt about this girl stunned even himself. He wouldn't try to hide it from anyone or himself anymore, he wanted to be with her. They slowly pulled out of the kiss, each with a slight flush on their cheeks. "You know I was kind of nervous before about you going out there," Athrun said cutting the tension.

"And now?" Cagalli whispered as they were still standing quite close together.

"Now there's no way I'm letting you go out there."

Cagalli playfully pushed him away.

"Ah hmmm," the couple heard as Kira cleared his throat from the passage they came from.

Kira wasn't sure what was going on, but the look they were sharing when he got there seemed intense and they were standing very close together. "Athrun, we should get going," Kira said as he floated past Athrun down the hall.

"See you in two?" Cagalli asked with a guilty smile.

"It's a date," Athrun whispered so that Kira wouldn't hear.

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Commander Waltfeld had all the mobile suits launch as ZAFT had once again fired Genesis and the Dominion was now closing in on the ZAFT Force's. The Archangel was heading off the Dominion and the Earth Forces. The Justice and the Freedom were targeting the Earth Forces new mobile suits and any nuclear missiles that were launched. The Strike Rouge, the Buster and the Strike were taking on all enemy mobile suits; from both ZAFT and the Earth Forces. And the Eternal and Kusanagi were on their way to try and attack and destroy Genesis. They all had their hands full as they were spread extremely thin.

As the battle began dying out, they all shifted their focus to Genesis. The Archangel would stay behind to face the Dominion. The Strike was on its way back as it had gotten damaged in a fight against Rau Le Creuset's new mobile suit. Just then the Dominion fired off their Low Ingrin and the blast was coming directly for the bridge of the Archangel. Everyone in the Archangel began saying their prayers as they saw the unavoidable bright light heading straight for them. They closed their eyes and waited to die.

After a few seconds they began opening their eyes and looking around to see why they weren't dead. That's when they saw Mu in the Strike busy blocking off the beam with his shield. The blast was too strong for the Strike to handle and it eventually began blowing the mobile suit away, piece by piece. Then the cockpit exploded, leaving an empty space where Mu and the Strike once were.

Murrue, after crying her heart out in front of everyone, quickly gathered herself before delivering a defining shot to the Dominion. They all watched the ship that had been causing them so much trouble, finally implode. They tried not to kill anyone since siding with Orb, but it seemed they were left with no other choice this time. They did however, take comfort in the fact that Director Azrael went down with the ship.

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