To Rebuild From Ashes
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: God authors must hate this useless part of the story. I don't own anything, blah, blah, blah.
Author's Note: Thanks to all those that reviewed. I hope those that review write stories of their own so I can read their plots. I know some don't, but I encourage those that don't to at least try. It's kind of fun. I just hope writing here will help me with English at school.
Lacus felt herself being hugged by Kira, and she didn't know what to make of it. She felt comfort in his arms, and for the first time felt truly safe. She wrapped her own arms around Kira's waist almost fearing that he would let go. She blushed knowing that she wasn't in the most platonic situation at hand, however she ignored such thoughts and snuggled her head into Kira's shoulders. Her crying had stopped for some time and she just enjoyed the comfort of being in Kira's arms.
"Lacus, do you want to talk about what's wrong?"
Kira almost felt guilty at breaking the calm situation at hand, but he knew that it had to be done. He knew from experience that such grief needed to be dealt with, especially with someone the person trusted. He hoped the person that she trusted was himself, but he could never be sure. Surely she would trust Athrun greater then him.
It didn't matter though; she needed to get such emotions out in the open. She needed to deal with it with someone to help her through it. She helped him through his traumas and it was time to return the favor.
He pressed forward. "Lacus you can talk to me. You do know that, right?"
"Of course Kira... It's just hard, to talk about it."
"You did it before, you can do it again. You can trust me Lacus. I'm here to help."
"It's just so hard Kira, to keep acting strong. To be the beacon for others..." She started forming tears in her eyes. Under normal circumstances she would have been ashamed at doing it in front of others, but with Kira she didn't care.
"Then stop acting strong for others, you shouldn't have to. For once do what you want to do. Don't keep living a lie for others, live for your own happiness. It's okay to show that you human, no one will criticize you."
Lacus didn't respond but she just hugged Kira more fiercely crying into his shoulders once again.
Kira was getting a bit uncomfortable right now, it had been quite a while since either Lacus or him talked, let alone moved. They were still in the same position when he hugged her for the second time today. He wondered why it was so quiet and truly felt stupid after looking down. Lacus had fallen asleep all this time. He gently floated himself and Lacus to her bed. He laid her down and put the blanket over her.
He looked at her face and saw a peaceful expression. He wondered how often Lacus felt at peace when she was awake. He backed away and grabbed a chair that he didn't notice before. He flipped it around and sat down. He just sat and watched Lacus, he knew it was wrong to stare like he was doing, but he couldn't look away. He kept on staring at her face, almost as if he was addicted.
(Morning)
Lacus woke up late in the mornings, not knowing where she was. She looked around and noticed that she was in her room, however she was confused. She didn't remember going to bed but decided to question it later. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She felt unusually stiff for some reason and noticed that she still had on her uniform dress. She noted with a sigh that it was all wrinkly now. However Lacus was glad that she didn't need to wear the dress today. There were no formal occasions today, which Lacus thanked the deities, an unknown number of times, to.
Lacus pulled the blanket off of her and leaned her body out of the bed. She faintly noticed that she was not alone in her room, and wondered what was going on. Still tired she looked closely and noticed that Kira was sleeping on her chair. It seemed really uncomfortable and she decided that she should wake him up.
She felt sorry at how sore his back would be from such an uncomfortable sleeping position. She shook Kira gently coaxing him to get up. Kira stirred and looked up at her dazed. Lacus saw Kira blink to get the sleep out of his eyes and giggled. He looked amusing trying to wake up. Lacus saw Kira blush, and it made him look all the more adorable. She couldn't help but giggle more but she stopped seeing that he was squirming from the embarrassment
"Well, good morning Kira. Did you sleep well?" Lacus asked cheerfully, knowing full well the truth of his answer.
"Um... not really." Kira replied sheepishly.
Lacus smiled knowingly and backed away. She looked at Kira once again before walking to her closet. She opened it and grabbed some clothing for her to wear. She then closed the doors again and looked at Kira again.
"Well I have to take a shower, I'll see you later Kira. Thank you for your help." She walked up to Kira and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking to her restroom. She turned on the showers and checked the warmth of the water. After being satisfied of the heat, she stripped herself of her clothes and planned to take a nice long shower.
Kira just stood in Lacus' room wondering what to do now. He knew he was hungry, but he was wondered if it would be best to wait for her. He knew that girls usually took a long shower and he didn't know if he could wait that long to eat. He could if there would have been something to do, yet he couldn't think of anything to distract his hunger. Then he looked down at his clothing and noted that he too needed washing.
He walked out of Lacus' room and went to his own. He took out some civilian clothing and walked to the public showers. He washed himself fairly quickly and dressed. He savored the comfort of his civilian clothing and walked out. He somewhat rushed to Lacus' room and entered it again. After entering he chided himself of his rudeness. There always could have been a chance for Lacus to have been in the room doing something that might have been private. However currently that was not the case because he could still hear the showers running.
Lacus sighed getting out of the showers. She heard the doors close before entering the showers so she figured that Kira left. She figured that she would have done the same thing knowing how long she usually took showers. She wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed another towel to wrap around her body and walked towards the bathroom door. She grabbed the clothing she brought in figuring she could dress in her room. After all it was much more comfortable and easier in there.
She opened it and was shocked to find Kira still there. She blushed furiously and quickly closed the door again. She was incredibly embarrassed and changed into her clothing rather quickly within the bathroom.
She exited the bathroom and meekly said, "Sorry, I thought you left. I heard the door open, so I just assumed..."
"No, No! It's my fault, I left and got dressed. Then I came back, so you were right to assume that I left. I'm sorry." Kira said very embarrassed.
"You came back? Why?" She asked intrigued all of a sudden.
"Did I do something wrong? Oh I'm sorry I shouldn't have, I'm sorry I'll leave." Kira said very embarrassed and insecure at the moment.
"No! That's not what I mean, I was just wondering why you returned. I'm sure you are hungry now, are you not Kira?" Lacus asked.
"Well, yeah I am... but I thought I would wait for you, it seemed like the right thing to do." Kira said with his hand at the back of his neck, incredibly embarrassed at such a horribly flat response.
"Oh! Thank you, that's so nice!" Lacus said with more enthusiasm in her voice. "Well I'm sorry but may I have time to brush my hair? It is sort of messy right now." Lacus indicated to her hair that was still wrapped in a towel.
"Oh, not at all, I can wait."
Lacus nodded and went to her drawer. Within her drawer was a box that held her usual vanity appliances. She took out a pink brush and walked to sit on the edge of her bed. She undid her towel and grimaced at her still somewhat damp hair. She tried to dry it one last time before brushing it. It didn't get much accomplished but she didn't care. She started brushing her hair starting gradually from the bottom up.
Lacus didn't notice it at the moment but she started singing one of her songs. It was a habit that she couldn't break ever since she was a young child. She brushed her hair, not noticing how relaxed Kira was at hearing her voice.
"Mizu no naka ni yoru ga yureteru
Kanashii hodo shizuka ni tatazumu
Midorinasu kishibe
Utsukushii yoake wo
Tada matte iraretara
Kirei na kokoro de"
Lacus took a look at Kira and smiled at what she saw.
"Kurai umi to sora no mukou ni"
She saw his face take on a peaceful expression.
"Arasoi no nai basho ga aruno to"
She was glad that her song could do that.
"Osiete kureta no wa dare
Dare mo ga tadori tsukenai
Soretomo dareka no kokoro no naka ni"
Kira had his eyes closed and he had a dopey smile on his face.
"Mizu no nagare wo shizumete
Kureru daichi wo uruosu shirabe
Ima wa doko nimo nakutemo"
Lacus was done with her brushing and was just singing for Kira now.
"Kitto jibun de te ni ireruno
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto
Mizu no akashi wo kono te ni
Subete no honoo wo nomikonde nao
Hiroku yasashiku nagareru
Sono shizukesa ni tadoritsuku no
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto
Anata no te wo tori..."
Kira seemed at peace for the moment, and Lacus didn't want to break such a moment for him. It was rare to see him totally at peace so Lacus savored his expression and just continued to look at him. Kira soon seemed to break out of his trance and smiled sweetly to her.
"That was nice Lacus."
"Thank you Kira, are you ready to eat now?"
"Yes I think I am."
"HARO!"
Both of them jumped forgetting about the pink Haro completely. It was so silent the past day that Lacus herself forgot about it. Lacus smiled thinking that Haro understood how special the moment was for her and kept silent. She bent down and picked up her mechanical friend for several years.
"Well hello Pink-Chan, did you have a good day?"
"HARO, YES, HARO!"
Kira smiled watching Lacus; she seemed like such an innocent at the moment. Playing with her toy HARO, it reminded him of when he first really met her at the Arch Angel. It was his first true talk with her in her room. After all the commotion that Lacus received from Fllay. Even now he was embarrassed at how his former friend/girlfriend treated Lacus on the ship.
He watched Lacus and felt something in the depths of his chest. He didn't know what it was but it felt nice. He patiently waited for Lacus to finish talking with her Haro and just enjoyed spending time with her. Kira saw her turn around and face him.
"Are you ready Kira?"
"Yes" Kira answered amused at answering this question many times already.
"Then lets go, I am also feeling rather famished."
Kira nodded while opening the door. He turned and exited the room, waiting for Lacus to also exit the room. She walked out with her Haro held in both her hand and they both walked towards the mess hall.
(Command Room of Eternal)
"Do you think this is wise, what is your view on this?" Andrew asked.
"Yes I believe for the moment this is the best course of action. There is an ever growing threat of the Blue Cosmos, and we should be the forces that deal with them. It shouldn't be that surprising considering that the Naturals would never trust ZAFT enough to allow its forces free roam on Earth, and that the Coordinators still do not know how much the Blue Cosmos has infiltrated the EA forces."
"Yes, neither sides trust each other, so they bring up their wild cards, in hopes of us being successful, and it's obvious they don't trust us, what with them each sending a pilot of their own." Andrew said sarcastically. "Does the Orb Union know about this?"
"Not at the moment, the news just came to me from one of the EA Supreme Counsel that supports us. You also have received word from a ZAFT member have you not?"
"Yes, I did a few moments ago."
"Just making sure, but while we have the support of the EA or ZAFT, the Orb Union is in limbo with them right now. So I'm guessing that I will have to tell them sometime soon."
"Roger, so this is it then, we still can't be allowed to live our lives." Andrew said, for once showing his exhaustion.
"Try not to see this as war, but as a peacekeeping operation. See us as the police if you will." Captain Ramius said trying to ease the situation of things a little.
"Still doesn't change the fact that our lives are still brought to a hold." Andrew said spitefully.
It was not a good day for a teen named Athrun Zala. He spent much of the last evening being quarantined for attacking a fellow soldier. Then he was released in the morning. After that he spent most of the morning looking for his friend to hurt him some more, and even now he couldn't find him. All of that and the fact he was hungry didn't make matters better. He had ignored food in order to search for Kira, but it seemed like such a waste now.
He grudgingly went to the mess hall planning on eating then continuing his search for Kira. He entered the mess hall and found to his surprise that the object of his search was in the mess hall all along. He wanted to scream in frustration, but also noticed that Kira was currently eating with Lacus Klein. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves and that somewhat eased his anger at Kira.
He smiled while walking to the mess hall's kitchen. He grabbed his tray of food and sat at a table far in the corner. He watched them from a distance while eating, and noticed that both Kira and Lacus seemed much more at ease around each other. For the moment all his thoughts of hurting Kira went out the window as he saw how much Kira was helping Lacus. Even if they didn't realize it they were helping each other just by being with each other.
Another person sat next to him scaring him out of his thoughts.
"Do you mind if I join you?" Cagalli asked.
"Wha- Oh of course I don't."
"Good, you better now." Cagalli said in amusement.
"Are you always going to come to the Eternal? I mean you probably spend more time here then on your own ship... excluding the time for sleeping that is."
"What, you don't like me spending time with you?" Cagalli huffed with mock indignation.
"You know that I love it when you're around me, but you have to admit your crew must be annoyed that you spend more time on a foreign ship then your own. What would they think about the leader of Orb spending more time with the Klein faction's ship then their own? They must be really hurt." Athrun said, with an extra emphasis on the 'leader of Orb' part, knowing how annoyed she was about the leadership role she would play in the Orb Union.
"Well tough for them. I want to spend time with my boyfriend, and nothing will stop me." Cagalli said poking Athrun.
"That's good, have you seen Kira and Lacus?"
"Yeah, it's a relief to see them like this, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is." Athrun said.
"Come on hurry up and eat faster, let's have some fun today."
"Fun? Were on a battleship what can we do for fun?" Athrun asked.
"Good point, but there has to be something, anyways rumor has it were going one of the Plants, so we can have fun there."
"Oh really, why are we going to one of the Plants?"
"Well smart one, we probably need supplied considering how long we have been out in space."
"Yeah, but why go all the way to the Plants, why not just get a supply ship to come?"
"Well we all need a stretch of the legs and so I guess the Plant are supposed to be a place to do that.
"Oh, that's good, I wanted to get out of this ship for a while anyways. I feel so confined in such a place." Athrun added.
"Well that's good. Supposedly were going to a Plant near us so... it might take an hour to two. It's a good thing that we were drifting towards the Plants anyways or it might take forever to get there." Cagalli said.
"Yeah... Well we might as well do something till we get there, what can we do...?"
"Looks like Athrun and Cagalli are having fun." Lacus said.
"Yeah, and it looks like they're trying to be inconspicuous in leaving. I wonder why?" Kira said with a grin.
Lacus giggled, while looking at the happy couple that was exiting the mess hall.
"Lacus, are you going to talk to the Plant council so that I may talk to the leading genealogist. Who is that by the way?"
"Um... I haven't talked to them yet, because I was preoccupied as you know. But I think the person you're looking for is a woman named... Heather... Frelow."
"Oh, well whenever you have time, can you arrange a meeting?" Kira asked not really thinking that time was sparing, but he didn't want to worry Lacus, too much.
"Okay Kira, but do you want to talk about why you need to talk to her? I mean you don't have to but I really wish I knew why you want to speak with her."
"Do you really Lacus? I'll tell you if you really want to know, but not here too many people.
"Umm, sure Kira, let's leave now and we could talk in your room."
"No it'll be better if we talk in your room, less chance of someone hearing through the door. Especially since yours is soundproof."
"Okay." Lacus said wondering just how important what he had to say was, considering that he was never this cautious before.
They reached Lacus' room and entered. Kira locked the door and sat down on Lacus' desk chair. Lacus sat on the edge of her bed and looked at Kira. She was waiting patiently for him to tell her what was going on.
"Well this has to do with... I don't even know what the name for this is. But it has to do with the end of the 4th generation coordinators. Maybe under some cause they might even reach the 5th generation, but that's about it. The majority of the coordinator race will die by this "defect" by the 4th generation."
Lacus felt her heart twist. She knew of this "defect" as they called it already.
"Kira, this defect is already known by the Plant's high council and most of the high ranking genealogist. Telling Ms. Frelow won't change anything. Even I just found out about this a year ago when I overheard my... father speaking with one of the council chairmen at our house." Lacus' voice cracked when talking about her father.
It hurt Kira to hear Lacus when she talked about her father. He felt guilty but right now he had to make his point clear. "I figured that the Plant's council knew already and were just keeping it a secret. At least I know that this is true. That would make my next case much easier to explain. What I found by going to Mendel colony is a cure to this defect. I know that it sounds funny, I just happen to go to this rogue colony and I find a cure to a problem that the Plant's leading scientists have been trying to cure for god knows how long. But it'll be too hard to explain further then telling you that I have a way to cure it. That is why I need to talk to Dr. Frelow."
"Oh? A cure..." Lacus wanted to believe that a cure for the coordinator race has been found but she couldn't help but be skeptical.
"Lacus you don't have to understand right now, all you have to do is trust me. Do you trust me Lacus?"
"Of course Kira, I'll always trust you." Lacus said.
"Good, then you need to arrange that meeting with Dr. Frelow."
"Alright, Kira. What are you going to do now?"
"Well, I'm going to go to the hangers; I just remember that I forgot something. I'll talk to you later Lacus." Kira floated to door and unlocked it. He opened the door and exited. He calmly went to the hanger, figuring there was no point to hurry. He got there in a few minutes and he walked out to the hanger storage space. He was glad to see that the ship he used yesterday was still there. He opened the cockpit and dug around.
Kira pulled out a laptop that he brought from the run down lab. It's memory capacity wasn't gigantic but it was enough to store the lifework of the lab in it when he flushed all the extra software in it.
Kira walked back into the main hull of the ship knowing that the laptop was one of the easiest ways to prove what he knew. And to also explain it to Dr. Frelow. He just hoped that he got to talk to her as soon as possible. The knowledge of what he knew was heavy on his heart and he just wanted to rid the burden as soon as possible.
He went back to his room and placed the laptop inside his drawer. He then closed it locking it with a key. He knew he was being foolish into believe that someone would try to steal something it. The fact of the matter was that no one even knew about the contents of the lab top on this ship, save for a few, let alone know that it was on this lab top. He walked out of his room and wandered around not knowing what to do.
(About 2 hours later at a Plant)
"Come on; let's go get some real food!" Cagalli said while dragging Athrun.
"Alright, alright there's no need to rush." Athrun said laughing.
Kira watched them from a distance smiling at their at-ease manner. He looked to his left and saw that Lacus was also amused. He tapped her shoulders to indicate that he had a question.
"What do you want to do?" Kira asked.
"I'm not quite sure, why don't we eat a real lunch for once, then maybe we'll think of something to do from there."
"Okay, sounds like a plan."
They walked to a normal restaurant and took a seat. Those few that were already eating must have noticed Lacus Klein for they stared. It unnerved Kira at their stares, even if they were not directed at him, it was in his vicinity. He wished they would stop, but Lacus seemed ignorant to it so he didn't do anything. Kira ended up ordering a steak with potatoes and salad. Lacus ordered a small salad with clam chowder for the side.
When they finished Kira paid, having collected a fair amount of cash from enlisting in the military. They didn't pay much, but considering that he didn't have to pay for much while in the military it was sufficient. He left wondering what they should do.
"Oh Kira, now that I remember, your meeting is scheduled for next week. I can arrange for you to have leave around then so that you may go visit the Plant that she is on. I reserved the whole day for you, in case you need that long to speak with her." Lacus told Kira.
"Oh, thank you. So what do you want to do now?" Kira asked.
"Hmmm... How about we go to the..."
(Eternal)
"Load up the cargo, and be careful this is important equipment." No one important said.
"Yeah, yeah I know. We'll get our asses handed to us if we fuck this up. Besides I don't we could do anything to damage this considering it's been on the battlefield and still came back in mostly one piece." Second no one important said.
"Idiot, it had the Phase Shift Armor on." Third no one important said. (Do you see a pattern?)
"Oh yeah, still it's pretty hard to damage these things, either ways."
"Yeah, just load up the Freedom II and then we can get on loading Justice II also. Then maybe we can go to the Plants and eat. God knows were the only ones not to."
(Archangel)
"You heard the captain, fix the Buster Gundam on the double. We never know when an enemy might strike." Kojiro said.
"Don't you think your being a little bit too paranoid?"
"Are you stupid you heard what the Captain said, there might be a threat of a Blue Cosmos rebellion anytime now! Were probably it's main target considering the we are the only ones that are truly pulling the weight for peace between Coordinators and Naturals." Kojiro said.
"Okay, okay if you say so. At least all these extra supplies are coming in handy for the repair."
(Kusanagi)
"How are the repairs to Strike coming?"
"It's 95% repaired, we should have it done in an hour."
"How about the rest of the Astrays, how are they coming along?"
"Well they are 80% complete we have more trouble finding able pilots. Most of them won't be able to pilot anything for at least a month. We'll just have to make do, we can scavange pilots from other ships, I believe that some of them don't have anything to pilot anymore."
"Don't see how that's logical, I mean how do you come back alive, but your suit isn't repairable?"
"Who knows, who cares."
"Well I for one go against letting some deck washing scrub pilot a mobile suit for the first time. Who knows how much damage a single idiot might cause."
"Yeah, yeah who knows we might not even need those extra scrubs, but we'll train them just in case. So no need to worry about scratched being put into your precious suits."
"Yeah, yeah, you have to wonder, when will the fighting ever end?"
Author's Note: I'm sorry this has to be the most corny and out of whack story ever. I reread it and I can see that it has grammar problem, however I just don't know how to correct it. Don't you just hate that? Knowing that you have a problem, just not knowing how to fix it?
By the way thanks for all the reviews, hope to update soon, but I seem to have come to a writers block. I know the destination I want for this story but I can't find the road to get there.