Confusion

He could hear it.

It was a soft and beautifully haunting melody that seeped through the thick walls, surrounding him with waves of resounding echos flowing down the rectangular hollow hallway. He instantly recognized of whom the quivering cry belonged to; for it was none other than a sinful siren graced with a blessed voice touched by a goddess. He was a defenseless aspirer who was inticed by her alluring voice, her dangerously manipulative song; and she continued to sing such a bittersweet ballad, unknown that she had sung through the untimely demise of all that heard it. And here he is... drawing closer... and oh, he wished it was so that it was death's awaiting doorway he was venturing forth to. But it was sadly not.

He closed his eyes while slowly inhaling and held his breath, shutting off all of his other senses except for the single function of his ears where it took in her voice and he listened to it contently. Bliss. He was willingly thrown back into the empty darkness where his sanity delightfully escaped to. The coldness... the bitter bite of frigid frost...

Plummeting, plunging to those murky depths of an arctic void. Lost in the words in which she expertly presented, portraying her sadness, her sorrow, and her isolated lonliness.

He couldn't breath; everything was stuffy. He was gasping desperately for breath, swimming towards the luminous light at the top that flickered and gently rocked him into a menacing tranquil slumber.

He let out a long shuddering sigh, clutching onto the miniature item in his palm and slipped it into his pocket before he reluctantly collected himself. Trembling, he stepped forward and the large double doors promptly parted, and like a crashing wave, her song engulfed him as if he was chained helplessly on a cliff, unable to fend it off.

"Lacus..." He said, whilst gradually drinking in the sight of the foudroyant songstress and the movement of her lips, the glimmer of her gleaming orbs of sapphire.

He leaned against the back wall; out of sight, and silently watched her. She was adorned in a glittering navy blue dress, with glowing diamond studded gloves clothing her arms that traveled to her elbows, a diamond necklace wound around her neck several times, also hanging from her ears were sparkling white chandellier earings, and finally, a crystal hairclip that held back wisps and strands of her pink hair that brightened up her features. He observed the graceful movements of her lithe body, the bold way she carried herself with an air of elegance and innocence he knew only she alone could execute. Gazing at her like this and just the purity of her chaste self made himself want to cower deeper into the shadows, ashamed. He wouldn't be surprised if people were stupefied to learn that she had daringly advanced into the ghastly battlefield. She was far too... ingenious.

A chorus of clapping hands and lively chatter penetrated through his thoughts and his mind sharply reverted back to reality. He disliked the noise greatly. It disturbed him and distracted him. He wanted to go home, yet he stubbornly stayed anyway, because he wanted to see her, and now, she had suddenly vanished from the platform and he was frantically searching for her over the sea of buzzing heads, and evidently he came to believe that she had drowned herself in the crowd.

He tilted his head back and rested it upon the wall. He tiredly groaned as the host of the enormous event came up to stage admirably praising the PLANT princess, therefore gathering an encore of more applauses from the exhilarated audience.

"Kira!" someone called him, loud enough so that he can hear the low balmy feminine voice over the mixture of conversations flooding the whole building. He lifted his head and his gaze met two all too familiar figures approaching his way; Cagalli and Athrun.

He wasn't too sure he was ready to see them again. But there they were, walking towards him, ... back into his life. Ready to pull him out of the water.

It wasn't too long until the fair-haired girl broke into a run and practically tackled the young man and held him firmly in an embrace; her arms wrapped around his neck and her head rested upon his chest. She always experienced a rush of happiness whenever she had a chance to see him ever since the 'end' of the war, and now that her other half had reunited with her, she felt entirely complete with him. He who was her companion through birth only to be later separated, her twin.

Taken aback by slight surprise, Kira was still for a moment before returning the hug in the form of a tight squeeze. He smiled pleasantly and fondly stroked the short strands of her yellow hair while gazing down at her intently. "Ah, Cagalli, how are you?" he said, in a faint voice.

Cagalli heard him, but didn't respond to him. Instead, after a prolonged stillness, she slowly untangled herself from him, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits, her cheeks flushed with hues of light red, and her lips tightly pursed, she promptly brought the palm of her hand to meet his right cheek. Happiness had apparently vanished.

"Where have you been?!" She hysterically questioned him. Her eyes now ignited with worried anger that was brimming inside her from the moment her amber eyes spotted him.

The brunette stared at her. He was seemingly very oblivious to her abrupt change in attitude, but he had to admit, he didn't expect less from her. But watching her like this, he was overcome with a long forgotten emotion he had not expressed in a long time, and somehow it managed to sprout back into his life and finally manifest itself above his troublesome tribulations, shrouding them all in the mist of a thick fog. It had been indeed too long.

He laughed.

"I was so worried you idiot! And I had no way to contact you and-"

A low chuckle escaped from him, his features displayed a genuinely sincere face, he reached out and grabbed her, pulling the orb hierress into a great bear hug, his joy laughing into her hair.

Puzzled and surprised, Cagalli was blushing like a beet root and her miniscule squeak was muffled up against his chest. Bemused, she tried to pry herself from his strong hold of her waist for fear of causing an unwanted scene, but she decided not to and succumbed to her fate. She was extremely happy, because this was the first time... she heard him laugh. And to be the source of his laughter, was more than enough.

"Kira... I..."

"My, my, Kira, what have you done to Cagalli to make her blush like a tomato!" Athrun exclaimed, grinning widely as he finally reached the two siblings.

He found the whole scene quite amusing, especially since the tomboyish young woman was adorably flustered and rendered speechless, sputtering incoherent sentences at her older brother. Even though the brown-haired boy didn't know it, or he chose not to notice it, Kira really did had an affect on her.

"If you don't mind Kira, I'm getting jealous, so I'm going to steal Cagalli back from you." Athrun laughed, "How have you been?"

Upon hearing this, Kira loosened his arm's grip around Cagalli and leisurelly turned to face Athrun. His laughing self, turned to acknowledge his childhood friend with an impassive manner, for he didn't know what sentiment he should depict in front of the former ZAFT soldier-- if any at all. So many things to say, but just a strenous look and casual nod from one another is enough, but the burdened tension and static between them still lingered memories of the war, disappointment, and betrayal; even though they had agreed to think of it as matters of the past. There was still...

"... I've been fine." said Kira.

Cagalli, sensing the perceptible uneasiness and greatly detesting the melancholy atmosphere, intertwined her fingers with each one of the boys' in an iron grip, squeezing them and hurting them, hoping to snap them out of their angst, which started to eat away at her patience and very thin line of tolerance.

"Well then, why don't we go back to our seats? Kira, come with us." she beamed.

Before either of them could demur to her, the blonde girl was already eagerly making her way through the animated crowd of people in deep conversations, dragging them both with her.

Vibrant blue eyes watched them, and the owner of those vivid orbs smiled at Kira although he couldn't see her. He was all dressed up in a handsome black tuxedo and his brown hair was slicked back, giving him an aristocratic air. She thought he looked quite charismatic, something she had never witnessed he presented and she doubt he did. She wanted him to turn around and see her, wave at her, smile... anything. Instead, her gaze was discovered by a familiar other. Their eyes were trapped in an unblinking stare for a moment, everything had disappeared, the noise, the background, and the people. Something within her chest twinged, and she broke the intense gaze when she shut her eyes and nodded with a kind smile at that particular person before she looked up and waved with a forced face of delight.

He didn't wave back.

Cagalli turned to look at Athrun and she noticed his far off glance at a certain direction and she curiously followed it and conviently landed on Lacus; someone who she was looking for all evening, and she was sitting at a long table accompanied by council members. The tomboy's face lit up instantly and she shot her hand in the air and waved excitedly, calling out to the singer. The pink-haired girl trembled with giggles when she saw Cagalli and waved back, her lips mouthing 'hello'.

"Lacus is so pretty tonight." Cagalli said, but no one answered to her remark and she whipped around at the spot in puzzlement when she didn't see anyone she recognised around her. Athrun had disappeared from her side. She grumbled angry words under her breath and when she finally found him, and she saw that he was sitting in the most awkward silence with Kira. They weren't talking, they were as emotionless and immobile as statues, and she blasted them both because of their stubborness. A seat separated the two and she figured that the seat was 'specially' reserved for her and she grudgingly scampered there and heavily sat down as another round of roaring applauses came about for another speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, of PLANT, of Earth, it is my pleasure to speak to you all today at this grand event on comemorating the lives taken from us due to the unfortunate war." Eileen Canaver, the newly elected chairwoman of ZAFT's supreme council, said into the miniature microphone on the podium that boomed above the noise and hushed all at once. "Many innocent people, allies, and loved ones perished within the time period that we foolishly chose to ignore the preciousness of the lives that is our kin. Each and everyone had been greatly affected by this tragedy, everyone losing a sense of protection and trust with all that surround them. And we can not blame anyone, for we were too blind to see through our power hungry eyes the vulnerability of our kind, how fragile they were to the meaning of war, and how painfully heart breaking the loss of a close one may be. Many apologies and more violence can not bring back someone, so it is best that we mourn together on this sorrowful day."

With that, a masculine voice spoke up, "Please rise for the moment of silence to commemorate the lives lost in the war."

Simultaneously, chairs were being pushed back and people obeyingly stood up, all silent, and all with a grim expression on their faces. They bowed their heads down in respect and commemoration.

Silence. Someone coughed. Silence again.

Kira had this overbearing feeling that tingled in his mind. It was telling him that someone was looking at him and instructed him to lift his head up. He complied, and directly his line of vision connected with Lacus's. He froze and stiffened at the sight of her powerful gaze observing him with intensity, which made his desire to leave even more stronger and he tried hard not to make any fidgety movements, but the navy blue-haired young man standing a seat away from him detected it and tilted his head to the side a bit and spied on the shaky boy.

"Kira..." Someone called him, he immediately thought it was Lacus but her lips never parted... but he could have sworn he heard her voice say it in the dead silence. Or maybe that was his imagination... or maybe...

A flash of pink-red hair appeared in the corner of his eyes and he adverted his gaze to where he saw it. His heart was strangely pumping blood quicker through his veins, the sense of adrenaline arousing. Cagalli now noticed his increased pace in breathing and opened one eye too look at her brother only to see his face was turning two shades paler.

It was a figment of his imagination... he kept on reassuring himself that, and slowly, with a horrified face, he diverted his attention back to Lacus. But she was gone. Again.

"You may sit down." The speaker boomed and everyone gradually took their seats as Eileen Canaver prepared for another speech.

"Kira are you okay?" Cagalli queried, patting his shoulder, clearly concerned about his distress while she seated herself.

He shook his head and looked up to see Athrun with an impassive facade watching him before shifting uncomfortably. "I... I need to go." He mumbled, "Excuse me." And with that, he quickly made his way towards the exit. Cagalli, who was now very worried, was about to chase after him when a hand abruptly grabbed her wrist and unpleasantly forced her down to her seat.

"Let him be." Athrun whispered.

"But he's-"

"Cagalli."

"No!" She tried to twist her wrist out of his grasp but his hold was firm and unbreakable, "Something's wrong and I want to know!"

"He's not going to tell you." Athrun sternly said while trying to keep the struggling girl down, "Trust me, just let him be."

Cagalli looked at Athrun's serious face with her confused and helpless one. Her twin was in obvious pain and she wanted to help him but strangely, his best friend was preventing her from doing so, which is so unlike him. And... wouldn't Athrun be the first one to go after Kira in this type of situation? So if he isn't, then...

She slowly slumped back into her seat, feeling defeated. She hated the feeling.

Outside, Kira was breathing heavy shallow breaths into the cold air while hugging a street light for support in order to stay on his feet- his legs were bullheadedly refusing to provide that. He saw his white breath float like steam from his mouth, and it mingle into the fog so thick he could barely see anything and couldn't even distinct sillouetted shapes from others. He didn't even know what his limbs were trembling from; the icy cold, or...

His ears twitched, he heard light footsteps. "Kira." There it is again! That voice... it's... no, no it can't be. It's his mind playing cruel tricks on him.

"Kira." Someone called him from behind, gradually approaching him with caution. He didn't move, it was as if the cold air finally freezed him and paralyzed his body. "Kira." the feminine voice said again. He was frustrated and inwardly swore at himself for not being able to distinguish who the voice belonged to, his brain was playing mind games and only drawing a blank useless image. And the only person that he thought of at the moment was...

An ever so light touch tapped his shoulder. "Kira?"

"Flay!" He cried, he had jumped and turned around and without a thought he blindly grabbed the person's shoulder, and when his vision cleared and the haze disintegrated around him, he was confronted by a seemingly startled Lacus, her eyes were wide with surprise.

The brown-haired boy exhaled a thankful sigh of relief. He clutched her shoulders tighter and leaned in to rest his forehead in between the crook of her neck. Though she did not object, she was too bewildered and speechless to say anything, nonetheless question him about his most peculiar behaviour. And so, that freely gave way to the unwanted tension to hang and linger around them carrying an uneasy atmosphere.

It was most awkward for her.

Kira was absentminded, his energy was almost entirely drained from him and he wavered in his spot. The darkness was trying to soothe him to sleep again.

Lacus bit her lip and distanced herself from him. "... I'm sorry... I'm not Flay Alster." Lacus softly said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Kira blinked in surprise as if finally comprehending what he had just said a moment ago. He had called her...

"Oh Lacus, I'm sorry, I..." his sentence drifted off into nothing. His emotions had proven to be most turbulent and perplexing, feeding off his wearisome soul maliciously by each passing day. And in order for him to finally bid farewell, he had to give back something that could have been the most preciously treasured item he posessed from someone he could have loved. And he didn't want to keep it anymore, because it had always been his saviour in the darkest of his hours, and it had always shined when he truly wanted to surrender to the darkness... to where the one that plagued his mind resided.

Burdening silence seemed to love loitering around them as a hobby, since it had the courage to resurface once more and it loomed over them creating a stringent ambiance.

"Maybe we should go back inside?" Lacus suggested. The cold was gradually numbing away her arms and she rubbed them in an attempt to stay warm. She started to move in the direction back to the ceremony when Kira grabbed a hold of her once more. He wasn't going to let her get away again, not until he returned it to her.

"N-no Lacus... I'm not going back."

The rosy haired girl gave him an incredulous look. "How come? Is something wrong Kira?" She touched his arms and he moved away as if contact with her burned him. She looked hurt.

"Yes... I mean, no... I..." He was having an awfully hard time trying to speak to her, which he felt was very baffling. He casted his eyes down and made her curious self imitate his moves, and she saw that he was fishing around in the pocket of his black tuxedo for something that was intended for her. He reached out and gently lifted her hands towards him and she winced at the unexpected clammy coldness of his fingers. Like a sacred ritual, gently and carefully he placed a tiny object in her palm and curled her fingers over it. "here."

Lacus blinked at the young man before her, and then unfolded her fingers to see the object flash a dull shine under the hazy street light. As if being slapped in the face, Lacus instantly recognised it. Her heart leapt to her throat and she almost choked herself in order to force down the incomming strangled cry. The act was truly callous. It was her silver ring. "What? But it's yours."

"No," Kira said, shaking his head, he swallowed and sighed, "It's not mine if I refuse to keep it."

"Why not?" she asked, her voice vacillating. He was avoiding eye contact with her.

"Because... -"

A crackling gunshot disrupted him. A shrill scream followed.

Athrun felt Cagalli clench his hand tightly and her face had a horrified expression on it.

He was quickly rewinding and going through the event that had just happened. This of all places, this of all events... for this inhuman thing to happen...

The lights had flickered off while an ambassador of the EA was in the middle of his speech, and silently, invisibly flew a streaking bullet at the middle-aged man. He had jerked back so suddenly his expression was filled with raw pain, and his white shirt underneath his velvet tuxedo was seeping crimson blood into the fabric and quickly spreading like a wild fire. The lights turned on again just in time for the people to see him with his hand over his deadly wound. He gave the audience a wide-eyed, stunned look; time seemed to be frozen for three seconds, as the EA ambassador expelled his last breath and fell against the podium.

The lady behind him screamed a terrified, defeaning shriek, which created the domino effect resulting in many more. EA representatives were rushed at and crowded by security guards to be escorted out of the building quickly. Eileen Canaver was composed and did not say anything. She just had a troubled and aggravated look on her face and rubbed her temples while the other woman beside her, Ezalia Jule, shouted out orders to find the culprit of the henious crime.

"Athrun..." Cagalli wanted to say something but she was hushed by the young man currently dragging her down a hallway, evacuating the premises with other politicians.

"Athrun, tell me this isn't happening..."

Author's notes: And so begins the plot of the story I have planned for. Yay. This story will contain a lot of character drama centric on the 4 main characters. Bahaha. I love angst. Please read and review now! =]