A Song is Born Chapter 4: Because of You, a gundam seed fanfic

Chapter Four – Because of You

The rays came through Athrun's balcony doors and shone its light into the room. It was yet another beautiful aurora. Athrun was aroused by the brightness of the morning and the harmonious twittering of the sparrows, which never failed to give his balcony a morning visit. He slowly opened his eyes as he stared into the ceiling. He blinked a few times as his conscious self awoke from its dreamy slumber. And then he remembered the previous night. His first lovemaking with Kira.

Athrun closed his eyes and visualized that moment in his mind. An entire day spent with his lover was the happiest day of his life as a prince. He had forgotten about everything else when he was with his Kira. He had forgotten about time, his troubles and his castle. Athrun laid back and dreamed about it. Everything was too beautiful to be true that he thought it could just be a mere dream. The prince could not help but smiled to himself and chuckled under his breath. Lady luck was by his side that night. By the time he returned to the castle, it was almost midnight. Thank God there were no soldiers in sight. Most of them could probably be asleep or he was just lucky to have escaped their vision while he sneaked into his chamber.

'We talked a little as my eyes met yours again'
'My heart throbbed and I hid my feelings behind the smile'
'As I was afraid I might not be able to go back to the times'
'When I had not known you'

He could feel his heart beating faster, eager to see him again. He placed his hands on his chest and hummed, trying to calm himself down. He remembered slightly the melody of that lullaby which Kira sang after they made love for their first time. His angel sang for him in the moonlight. It was beautiful.

Athrun tried to close his eyes again as he hugged his pillow tightly, remembering the vision he had last night…

Meanwhile at the dark alley, Kira slowly reached for a flower that had sprouted from the hard ground. He smiled as he straightened his body and observed the flower. It was a pleasant surprise that a flower could survive the harshness of the parched ground. It was pretty lucky for him to find one at all. The petals were a dark purple and the stem comes in fresh green. Purple and green. Kira smiled that these two colours coincide with the colour of their eyes. He placed the flower on the rock next to him and slept beside it. He just wished the moment they had would never end…

The sound of a stone hitting against a wall brought Kira out of his daydreaming. The first thing that came to his mind was Athrun.

"Athrun?"

The voice that returned though, wasn't that of Athrun's.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You got it wrong, my dear."

Kira felt that something wasn't right. No one else, except for his loyal friends and Athrun, knew of that place where he had inhabited. He propelled himself into a crouching position, ready to make a run for his escape if in any case it was an enemy. Kira's eyes widened in disbelief as the truth seeped into his mind when he saw an armoured man with a shield in his left arm came forth, a stern look on his face. A soldier from the King had discovered him.

'But how?' Kira asked himself as he panicked and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape since he was outnumbered. The rest of the soldiers had rushed in and quickly surrounded him. They grabbed his hands and set him to the ground, rendering his struggles useless. Kira stopped his struggling only when he saw what appeared to be the head of the group. The smirking black mage emerged from the dark and revealed himself as he sauntered towards the helpless songster.

'The wind has already gotten cold'
'Laughing voices fill the air with white breath'
'It may be because of the winter'
'That I feel like crying for nothing'

"Ah…so this is that songster Athrun was talking about." Isaac spoke with disgust. He leaned closer to Kira, observing the other boy closely.

"What?" Kira couldn't believe what he just heard, "How do you know Athrun?"

Isaac laughed.

"Of course we know each other," He paused to grab Kira's lower jaw and leaned closer to Kira's ear to whisper, "and it was him who told me about you…"

"I don't believe you…" Kira was quick to reply as he struggled to free himself.

"Suit yourself…" Isaac shrugged and nodded to the soldier who stood behind Kira. With a swift swing of his arm, the soldier hit Kira's head with the back of his sword.

Kira heard a loud thump on his head. Then, everything went black.

'I remember that night when we first met even now'

The frantic knocking on the door forced Athrun to get up from his bed. He grumbled at the sudden disturbance as he lazily shuffled towards the door. Wondering what the matter could be at such an early hour, he pulled the door open and saw Nicol.

"What is it?" Athrun said in an annoyed tone.

"Athrun! It's terrible! Kira's in trouble!"

"What?"

"To the city! Now!" Nicole urged as he grabbed Athrun's arm and dashed to the city as fast as their legs could carry them.

Nicole's actions were too sudden that it had caught Athrun by surprise. He stumbled at first, but managed to catch up with the pace. As soon as they made it out of the castle, Athrun realised that the security level around the city had been increased. He could see a guard in every glance. The prince wondered what this was all about and asked his friend, as they continued their spurt around the busy city streets.

"What's happening around here? There are usually no soldiers around here!"

"It's Kira! Isaac had captured him!!"

"What?!"

After they ran for a few more minutes, a mass of commoners came into their view. As they neared the crowd, the both of them could see a somewhat familiar silhouette addressing the public from where he stood. Isaac wasn't alone. His soldiers accompanied him. Diacca took his usual place beside him and Miguel was there too, but he didn't seem to enjoy the terrible event. He spotted a figure kneeling on the makeshift platform, his hands tied behind his back. His clothes were tattered and torn and his hair was very messy. It seemed that either Isaac or his soldier had done something nasty to Kira when they had captured him.

"Have you all people forgotten?" Isaac spoke loudly, "This is what happens when someone does not follow the King's orders! Singing is a sin!" he spoke as he pointed the tip of his sword to the helpless songster.

'We have come to know each other little by little'
'But suddenly I find I know nothing about you'
'Please tell me what you feel by the time I understand it'
'You can even shout'

Kira closed his eyes, accepting every statement in Isaac's speech. His will to live slowly fades away. He knew he shouldn't trust Athrun. But for some reason, he didn't have the ability to resist. The moment their eyes met, he knew his life would be beautiful. But this? This was beyond his conception. All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice calling out his name. He almost couldn't believe that Athrun had come for him. After all his betrayal…

"Kira! Kira!" The whispering crowd became silent as their gazes fell upon the blue-haired boy. They realised immediately that it was the Prince. The entirety bowed or curtsied to show their respect. Athrun ignored this formality. All he wanted to do was to set Kira free. He dashed straight for Isaac but was stopped by two of the guards. Isaac smirked at Athrun's failed attempt and sauntered towards the helpless prince.

"Ah, prince Athrun. You arrive just in time." A satisfied smirk was stuck on his face, "Well done for the job."

"What are you talking about?" Athrun turned his face towards the other boy as he spoke a tone higher, "Release him at once!"

"Oh…I'm afraid I can't do that…" Isaac sneered, "This is an order from the king."

"What?" Athrun spoke in disbelief. He almost couldn't believe it.

All this time, he knew that his relationship with the songster had been kept in secret. He knew that Nicole was the only one he had let in on this secret relationship, but not anyone else. It couldn't be. Nicole couldn't have leaked out the secret. There must be a spy somewhere when they sneaked out on that day.

'My love grew when we couldn't meet'
'My heart ached because my voice didn't reach you'
'I found I couldn't go back to the times'
'When I had not known you'

"Yes, believe it." His face now turned to the civilians, "As you can see, people. Death will be the sentence for this songster!"

"Stop it, Isaac!" Athrun quickly ran towards him. But he weren't able to get his hands on Isaac as the guards halted his attempts. As the guards pushed him back, Athrun looked at Miguel who stood behind Isaac. His eyes pleaded for the captain to help him. Miguel showed his sympathy but he knew that he could do nothing about it. He was powerless against the Kings orders.

Athrun struggled but he couldn't break free from the guards' strong grip. The guards kept pushing him further away from his lover. He wanted to know how was Kira's condition. He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to tell Kira that it weren't him who turned against him. He wanted to tell Kira that he loved him no matter what his status was. He became desperate, as the distance between the both of them grew larger. There was really nothing much he could do except to reach out his free arm and shout for Kira.

"KIIRAAA!!!"

'Please don't smile with such sorrowful eyes'
'As if you were about to be broken and disappear'
'What can I do, my dear?'

This time, their eyes didn't meet. Kira squeezed his eyes shut, as if ignoring him. He didn't wish to respond to someone who had toyed with his feelings and betrayed him in the end. Athrun could see Kira's bitterness. He knew that something was very wrong. Athrun knew who was behind all this. He clenched his jaw, tremendous anger rising in him. He pushed the guards away and ran back to his castle to interrogate the King of his actions. He had to know the truth. He must.

'Kira, wait for me…I will release you soon…'

As he entered, he realised that the throne room was slightly darker than usual. The King stood silently in front of the tall, and dark window, and radiating a somewhat eerie feeling. He ignored this and slowly approached the person the people addressed him as king. He broke the silence within the room.

"Why did you do this?"

He could see his father's head turned slightly.

"I should be the one asking you…" the king paused before he finally facing his son, "I cannot control you anymore. You're a total disgrace."

'Why sometimes I can't say honestly?'
'Why sometimes I can't be tender?'
'Why sometimes we hurt each other?'

"You really want to know the answer? The answer will be the same." The prince increased his tone, "All this time, I never get any love from you! Now that I found it, and you took it away from me!" his voice broke as he fought back tears of anger.

"A love from a mere singer?" the king chuckled, "Don't make me laugh. What can you get from it?"

The king advanced a step with each sentence he recited.

"All you could ever get is humiliation."

He advanced another step moving closer to Athrun. The King's disapproval was showed in the tone of his voice, which had grown louder with every sentence spoken.

"What would these people think when it came to their knowledge that you fell in love with a poor singer?"

With that final step, he now stood in front of Athrun.

"And on top of that, you fell in love with a boy!" his voice boomed, his eyes livid with anger.

'Why sometimes we observe each other?'
'Why sometimes my heart aches so much?'
'Why always my heart goes out to you?'

In an instant, the King slapped Athrun across his face. Athrun cupped the side of his face, his mind breaking free from his fear. He let his hand drop as he spoke his mind for the first time.

"I know…" Athrun said as he lowered his head, "But, love is blind." The King laughed at those words, which he thought were childish, and naïve.

"No wonder…" the king said, "You and I have so many differences."

Athrun's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

The King turned his back on Athrun and placed his palms behind him. Athrun was perplexed at his father's sudden change of behaviour. He was boiling mad just a few moments ago and now, he seemed to have calmed down a little.

"You are not my son…"

'I can't think of anyone, but you…'

Note: Ayumi Hamasaki performed the song "Because of You"