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Chapter 3
Dining Hall 1900
The dining hall seemed active, soldiers discussing away about the recent event. There has been glances towards the captain's table every minute but the group decided to ignore them. Whatever their topic is about atleast no one is sleeping on the situation. Shinn joined the table with Luna, Shiho and Meyrin and before he could even take his seat, he earned one smack on the back from Lunamaria and the other girls started scolding him.
"The doctor said she should be showing signs of distress but she didn't even say anything about the matter." Taking a bite of her vegetable Murrue worriedly placed it back down her plate.
Mu answered tapping on the table. "Well, shouldn't there be any triggers for the attack to happen?". He stopped. "Or that was already it today."
"Is it? That was too subtle compared to the files." She sighed and then their attention spun to the door.
Flay went straight to the counter, looking around and in a hurry. One of the staff saw her and immediately handed her a lunchbox.
"Thank you!" she smiled at the waiter.
"Here's your cup, and hot water is just over there." Placing the cup on top of her lunchbox and pointing to the direction beside the captain's table.
The fact that she's going near that table somehow made her feel uncomfortable. Cagalli was looking at her like a criminal and there's Kira who had his eyes glued on his plate. Lacus was also looking at her like she's about to do something. Well in all fairness to her, she should. OR maybe, maybe she can't blame her for acting that way, she did do something terrible to her in the past. But she still needs her coffee, and so she walked to the dispenser, pressed the button for a large latte and waited, and boy was it the loudest coffee dispenser in the history of cosmic era. All she wanted was to not draw attention to her but her presence somehow exaggerated the sound of that machine. She flinched when she felt something land on her shoulder. "Tori" the mechanical bird tilted its little head. Great! Just great! Just when I needed this to be super dramatic. I wanted attention but not today. Not today.
"Hey Ms. Flay there you are!" a male called her right after she heard the door slid open. "I saved you a table, do you want to have dinner together?"
She quickly grabbed her half-filled cup and covered it. "Uh no, I already ate" she smiled at the soldier. "But thanks for the invite, you're so nice" if Lacus is great at singing, this is what she's good at, pleasing the people around her with her grace, she's been trained since she was a little girl; always smile, have manners and be classy. Those were just the few basics but she already nailed those to a tee. She's the only daughter of the late Vice Prime Minister after all, she didn't want to embarrass her father in front of his friends and fellow officials. That was then though, before she lost her father and her home, now she's just whatever is left of that girl.
Another group of soldiers excitedly entered the dining room. "Ms. Allster!"
The mechanical bird on her shoulder flapped its wings. "Tori!"
They all drew back in shock. They stared at the iconic mechanical bird and to the sitting figure on their left. "We're sorry!" they all cleared her way and exited the place as fast as they can.
"Captain! You talk to her" Mu to Yzak who was actually shocked of the idea but can't say no because he is in charge of the ship.
Minerva Bridge 20:00
Lunamaria and Meyrin were half way through the door but their attention was somewhere else.
"Miss Allster, uh, it's my day off tomorrow do you have anything you need from the city?"
"Really? Oh yes I will give you a list if that's ok" a relieved reply came.
"Miss Flay, here's the towel you asked" another male spoke.
"Why did you bring them-? Uh, nevermind can you please send those to my room?"
An excited reply of "Yes, yes ofcourse" resounded on the hallway.
With confused look the two girls finally entered the room. "They really followed her here huh?" Luna massaged her head.
"She became that popular in just two days, must feel good." The younger girl occupied her seat.
"Allster! Get in here!" the voice came from the door. "And you embarrassing bunch! Wait for me at the training room!" Yzak threatened.
"This is what I'm saying!" Luna sat on the CIC table beside her sister.
The girl obeyed the captain in a heartbeat. One, to get away from the soldiers tailing her around and two, any wrong move and he could send her back to their lab.
"You, stop flirting with my crew." He followed her.
Flay flipped her hair and finger combed them back in front of her shoulders, "I wasn't. They were following me."
"I don't need my men slacking off. So, don't amuse them."
"Sounds like your problem." She's not in the mood to argue, those guys already drained the little energy she had recovered and having a one on one with her dubbed Commander Short Fuse won't help. She carefully looked for the port where she remembered Alice attaching the V1 and started working. She mirrored the V1 on the touch table, zoomed in on a location on the map and turned on the data graph and filters. Mu, Andrew and Kisaka studied the data on the table, the rest of the group gathered to observe as well. Flay joined them to explain her research and the data. "The coordinates showed these areas around Kodiak and Panama, these weren't mapped so we need visual to confirm any movements but the information traffic has been inconsistent but it's a place to start."
"Hmmm, Kira can you take the Freedom and see what's going on there?" Mu asked the pilot beside him.
"Mm"
Kisaka drew an invisible line with his finger on the table. "Take this route, cross orb, if anything should happen, we'll send back up from there."
"I see, yes, yes, that would be the fastest option." Mu nodded.
"It's safer if Freedom takes this path" Pathetic you can't even say his name! drawing her own invisible line around Kaohsiung and ORB. "There's a scrap current flowing on that area, he could camo himself until he gets to the target. The current splits right over here." pointing at the area near ORB.
Andrew analysed each suggestion while sipping on his new brewed coffee. "That would take him a day just to get there."
"Hmmm water shadowing or air strike…" Mu thought out loud.
"Take Kisaka's advice Kira! If things go bad make sure to come back!" Cagalli spoke.
"Yeah! I agree, besides we don't know what this girl and her crew are up to." She felt the cold stare from the man who spoke. "Don't you think it's suspicious that after all the coaxing you got from those men about your father yet we never heard anything from you?" Yzak uncrossed his arms, his eyes never leaving the girls figure.
Anger. Whatever I do I would never earn their trust, serves me right. They have the right to think that of me.
"I don't think you're still same person you were when your team attacked the 8th Fleet, Commander." Holding back her emotions. "Besides you don't even know that my father was there. But-" she took the few steps between him and Yzak, took something on the table and firmly placed Yzak's finger on the trigger while aiming the barrel under her chin. "If this rids you one of your enemies, then pull the trigger." She tilted her head to the side. "I was ready to kill Lacus Clyne to make you guys stop firing at my papa's ship. It was my idea to take her for a hostage. I'm the monster." The room froze. The only people on the bridge who knew about the that incident were her, Murrue and Lacus. "If you feel guilty for killing a person you never intended to, it's the same with me, I don't wanna be that person ever again." Flay felt someone grip her arm yanking her away not letting her finish and giving Yzak the chance to take the gun from her hand.
"I already told you!" Athrun dragged her out of the room. "Where are you getting these crazy ideas from?!" Nothing. He turned around and stopped when he saw her wiping tears with her sleeve. She fell to the floor as she cried uncontrollably hugging herself. "Hey… Yzak didn't mean it like that, he's just concerned, your friend and the professor told us to take care of you, so don't keep it to yourself if you're upset. He just doesn't know how to ask nicely why you never mentioned about your father's death." He rubbed her back slowly to calm her down.
"If I talk about papa and breakdown, he will send me back. " She sobbed. "I'm not mad anymore, I just want to do the right thing."
Back to the Bridge
"Forget it! I've never met that girl on the Vesalius, Dearka! She's a little bit tougher than that scared brat I remember." Yzak scoffed tucking the gun away.
"We said talk to her not make her feel like a criminal!" The best friend sighed. "But who knew your talent of making girls cry could be handy Yzak!"
Next Day
"Kira-kun this operation should take you 4 hours at most, if you don't get any result just return and we will reanalyse the plan" Andrew spoke on the Freedom's comm.
Kira adjusted the controls on his mobile suit, checking each setup. It's his personal SOP before taking off. "Hai." He shortly answered.
"Kira, don't forget we have a conference tonight at ORB with Cagalli" Lacus' voice came and the screen flashed her face. "Be careful out there!"
Next came in Meyrin's voice "Commander, the V1 is outside please open up."
The metal platform Flay was standing on slowly lifted and she saw the Freedom's cockpit open, it stopped in front of the cradle and she slowly scanned the inside looking for a space she could fit. She didn't know how to board a mobile suit and if she was ever inside one, she couldn't remember. She crawled her way in trying her best to avoid the pilot sitting inside. Looking around some more she finally found a spot on the right side of the chair. She kneeled as she tried to connect the device on the Mobile Suit's system, blinking as a new set of interfaces showed up before her. Oh good this will take a while. She heard the cockpit close and panic quickly ensued from her being.
"Meyrin, open the hatch I'm taking off. That's an order."
No! She heard Kira's voice and she tried her best to get up as fast as she can.
"I'm taking her with me. Watfield-san, please take Cagalli and Lacus in my place I won't be back until tomorrow." powering up the boosters, he took off.
Flay grabbed on to anything as she felt the momentum to steady herself.
"This is what I'm afraid of!" Murrue pounded a fist on the table. "Mu!" she helplessly stared at the person beside her who just sweat dropped.
"Oi! What was that about?!" the soldiers gathered.
"I didn't see the girl get off the Freedom!" Murdoch came running to join the group.
"Oh boy!"
"This smells like trouble…" Shinn who was lounging with the younger mechanics commented.
"Lesson is, you have to ditch the ORB Princess and the PLANT's Chairman to date Ms. Allster."
"Yeah, add being the ultimate coordinator too to make things easier."
"I'm jealous!"
Strike Freedom
It felt like she's been hanging on for dear life since they took off, the machine felt steady and the view outside looks nice but her knees won't stop shaking. What is he thinking? He never uttered a word, she watched him flip switches and buttons but she never understood what they are for. She took a moment to look around again, the space is cramped, then a wave of realization hit her. I confined him in this tiny space and wished him to die while he risked his life protecting me. Her lips started shaking and tears started to pour, she's now breathing through her mouth because she lost the ability to breath normally, something was pressing on her and she just wanted to run away as guilt started to consume her. She felt them descend and few more time passed and they were already underwater. A few large chunks of metal bumped into the Freedom which made her yelp. Kira took control of the V1, programmed it to mask themselves as one of the scraps while latching his auto pilot on the fastest moving scrap the machine detected. They waited for the target and it wasn't long until they started moving. Keeping her composure in check she just stared at him skilfully configuring everything despite the fact that he's handling the device for the first time. He pushed back after putting the V1 down and she almost shrieked when he grabbed her hand pulling him down to sit across his lap. Her eyes went wide because of shock, she froze on the spot and she almost forgot to breathe. He took his helmet off dropping it beside him and he faced her. His purple eyes stared at her, angry, and she could only look away.
"Look at me!" he ordered.
She didn't. Can't.
"I don't care about any of it!" His voice was livid.
"I'm- "
"I said I don't care!" he raised his voice. Kira was never one to raise his voice at anyone unless it's necessary. "That's why… I'll do them again if you want to…" his shoulders dropped.
She raised her head and stared at him unable to believe what he just said. That's when she saw the tears running down his cheeks. She's seeing face to face the result of what she did. Every word she said was etched into the core of the person in front of her. She felt responsible and her feelings for him just grew stronger.
"I'd go through them again as long as you stay" he cried covering his eyes with his arms. "I wasn't able to save you." He choked between his sobs.
"Why? You know I only did those to get revenge…" She bit her lips as they started to quiver but she bravely looked at his crying face.
"Doesn't matter. I wouldn't have survived without you, because you stayed with me and you held me in your arms when the war was breaking no one ever bothered to care what I was going through." He's now shaking thinking about how the earlier war made him feel and the comfort she offered.
"Kira…" she shifted her position, kneeling in front of him. She removed his arm from his eyes and she tried to cup his face like how she always does when he's breaking down but this time, she hesitated placing her hands down in front of her. She felt his hands reach out to hers as he placed his face between her palms and she instinctively wiped his tears with her thumbs. "I'm sorry." She started, letting her own tears fall, touched on how he still remembers the gesture while still feeling awful for what she put him through.
"You don't have to say anything, I know what you want to say." He buried his face on her chest as he tightly wrapped his arms around her waist and her back. "Flay.." he called out to her as if she's not there. "Flay.."
"I'm here Kira…" She pulled her self away to wipe his tears again. "Please don't cry anymore."
They stared at each other for what feels like a lifetime and she felt him move. "Flay, I-"She immediately covered his mouth with her fingers when she felt him lean in for a kiss.
" No, we shouldn't." She felt as if her heart broke. "I do too but please don't, it's wrong." She heard her voice shake, she wanted to be with him but she knows she's too late. He's already with someone he deserves; a pure and gentle person that loves him. Someone not like her. The thought of letting him go made her dizzy and all she can do is let her tears wash whatever she's feeling away.
Kira gave her a wry smile "I'm sorry." he hugged her again. "Then atleast let me hug you" as he tightened his grip around her. "I missed you so much… I promise I won't leave you again."
"Thank you, Kira." Hugging him back and planting a kiss on his head. She felt him smile and for now this is enough. "Let me protect you this time."
He shook his head. "You've always been protecting me."
Minerva Bridge
Meyrin blinked at the monitor, scared to look behind her. The conversation from Flay's tracing comm was something they shouldn't have heard. She heard ruckus behind her and then the door opened and before it closed, she heard Cagalli's voice calling out for Lacus.
"I don't like this." That was Murrue muttering to herself as she exited the bridge as well. The males on left on the bridge just let out versions of their sighs.
"Hey Lacus!"
The princess finally managed to stop her. It's not in her nature to ignore people. She turned around and a tear glistened on her eyes. "I'm sorry, I have to get ready before we leave." Wiping her tears away.
Cagalli placed a hand on her shoulder. "I will talk to my stupid brother." She assured her.
"It's ok." She faked a smile. "I know they will need to talk somehow." She went quiet. "I just- he never showed that much affection to me." She felt petty.
"Look, I know Kira. He respects you that much that's why he's not taking advantage of your relationship." It's not really her forte, she'd rather beat up her own brother than give this kind of talk. But Lacus rarely shows her emotions and she feel bad for her friend.
"Thanks, let's just pretend we didn't hear that conversation. Okay?"
"Mm" she nodded and watched her leave.
Next update will be in a week or two
RR!
