Chapter 3
A mother's face
Murrue came back to Celina and said, "Very nice. It fits you very well."
Celina turned around and said, "Nah, pink isn't my color."
She looked at the mirror and said, "I'm right."
She looked at every side. Murrue said, "Nonsense. Pink is you."
"It would if I was a brunette or blond or pink haired, but I'm not." Someone knocked on the door. "Is it all right, if I come in?"
"No, Mwu!"
Celina said, "Come in."
Mwu came in and said, "At least, someone in this room likes me."
Celina raised an eyebrow. She said, "If you are talking about me, you're wrong."
He sighed. "Another person hates me."
Celina said, "I asked you to come in, because I need a man's point of view."
"For what?"
Murrue said, "She thinks that her uniform doesn't look good on her, just because it's pink."
Mwu said, "She's right. Pink isn't good for her. I'm not really fond of the girl uniforms."
Celina pointed at him and said, "At least, he agrees with me."
Murrue said, "But this is the only female uniform."
"Then, I could wear the kind you wear."
"No. This is for high ranking officers."
Mwu said, "She's right, you know."
Celina said, "Who are agreeing with?"
Both of them looked at Mwu, rather oddly. He said, quietly, "I'd have to go with Murrue on this one."
Celina put her hands up. She said, "Fine, I'll wear the boys uniform."
They said, "What!"
She said, "Well, there better than pink. And they do go with my hair."
Mwu said, "Now, you're going too far."
"But-,"
Murrue said, "No, buts. You're wearing pink."
Celina said, "Fine, you win. I'll wear the girls uniform."
Murrue smiled and said, happily "That's good. Now, come along."
Celina moaned while they walked down the hall. Mwu said, "At least, you're wearing something that most of the girls are wearing."
She said, "I did want to stand out from them."
Murrue said, "You're not cross dressing. Be happy that we stopped from changing to something you won't be."
"I will cross dress, if you guys won't stop bugging me."
Mwu smiled and whispered, something into Murrue's ear. What ever, he said made her smile. She said, "Yeah, he did say the same thing to them."
They looked at Celina. She said, "If you guys are going to bring that Sirally guy up, I don't know him."
Mwu frowned. "I wasn't."
Celina saw Kira, Sai and Tolle coming by them. They walked by each other and then, Celina grabbed Kira's arm. Kira said, "What are you doing?" Murrue and Mwu kept on going. She said, loudly "I need my knight with me."
Everyone in the hall looked at them. She continued, "A girl's always needs her knight standing, next to her."
Murrue came back to her with Mwu tagging along. She said, "C'mon, Julia. Leave Kira out of this."
Celina shook her head and said, "I need Kira." And wrapped her arms around his neck.
"He saved me, he comes with me. It's his reward."
Kira said, "Get off of me."
Murrue said, "Get off of him, Julia."
Celina wailed, "He's a Coordinator and I heard they have super-strength."
Everyone gasped. She said, "What? He told me."
Sai said, "Kira wouldn't tell you, that."
"Yeah, well. He did. Onward my slave."
Kira yelled, "I'm not your slave!"
He grabbed her arms, pulled her towards his face and looked at her carefully for any explanation for what she was doing.
She smiled that Cheshire cat smile that only Athrun knew what it meant. But, her eyes were what Kira noticed. Athrun's eyes. If, he knew Athrun, he knew that it meant that he was interested in something. Was Celina interested in Kira?
He let go of her. She said, "Thank you for letting me go and now you will come with me." Then, her eyes changed meaning. Kira saw that she really wanted him to be with her.
Celina saw that Kira got the message and mouthed, please.
Kira sighed and said, "Fine, I'll come."
Celina's eyes started to lighten up. She grabbed Kira's hand and whispered in his ear" Thanks."
Murrue said, "Fine, he can come. But, only him."
Celina said, "Thanks, Murrue."
Murrue walked ahead. Mwu said, "Sai, you can go on." Sai nodded and left them.
Mwu said, "Julia, I don't know how you could bring Kira to where were taking you."
Celina said, "Well, I do need a guy who probably knows me really well."
Mwu sighed and said, "Let's go."
Kira said, quietly "Why do you want me?"
She smiled and said, "It's your punishment."
"For what?"
She said, "You damn well know what I mean."
She added, "Besides, I have a feeling that Athrun would want me around you."
"So, you do know Athrun."
Mwu said, "Please, guys stop talking about me."
Celina laughed and said, "We're not talking about you."
They reached a room that was heavily guarded. Mwu showed his card and said, "They're with me."
One of the guards looked at Celina, carefully. She noticed that and said, "Old man, your on my list." Kira nudged her. She said, "I meant our on my list for being nice. Yeah, nice."
The man smiled and the guard next to him started to laugh. Celina said, " Is there something funny about calling him nice?"
Before he could reply, Kira grabbed her elbow and they went after Mwu. Mwu stopped in front of a door and placed his right hand on a scanner. The doors opened which revealed a dark old library. They walked into the room and saw thousands of books in shelves. It was so crammed. They reached the middle of the room, which was the most unique place Celina has ever been. The ceilings had paintings of characters from different stories. She looked down on the floor and saw the EARTH ALLIANCE Logo on the ground. She said, to Mwu "Is this a library?"
Mwu said, "No, this where all our files are."
Celina smiled and thought, ' Step two is done.'
He said, out loud, "Naturals!"
And then the ground started to shake. Celina quickly grabbed Kira. He said, "I thought your people weren't afraid of anything."
"We're not."
"Then, why are you clinging on me?"
She let go and said, "Everyone gets scared once in awhile."
"Right."
Celina frowned. She thought, ' This guy is too stuck to himself.'
The floor split in half and revealed a staircase that led way down below. Celina pointed at the ground. She said, "It split."
Mwu said, "Come along, now. Children."
Celina snapped, "I'm not a child."
"Well, you're acting like one."
She glared at him and stomped down the stairs. She said, to herself " No one has ever been that rude to me. Ever."
She reached a door and tried to open it, but wouldn't open. Then, she heard someone say please say the password.
She screamed, "I HATE MWU!"
The computer said, "Sorry, that is wrong. I must remove you from the ship."
She screamed, "FINE! DO WHAT EVER YOU DAMN WANT! I DON'T CARE!"
Then, Murrue opened the door and saw the computer about to saw Celina in half. Celina didn't care. She was so angry. Murrue said, "Are you all right?"
Mwu and Kira came down the stairs. Celina pointed at Mwu and said, " Your bloody boyfriend insulted me."
Murrue blushed. She said, shyly "He's not my boyfriend."
"Well, he's beyond scum."
Kira said, "Julia, calm down."
"Calm Down? Calm Down. I can't calm down. That man destroyed my dignity, my self-respect, everything."
Mwu said, "I'm sorry, Julia."
"Sorry isn't good enough for me."
Murrue said, "Julia, please. Calm down."
"I-,"
Then she saw Kira shake a finger and mouthed, ' No, Celina.'
She folded her arms and said, "Fine, I'll calm down."
"Good, come along then."
Murrue lead them into a room that was filled with computers. She said, " Welcome to the Research."
There was a large round table in the middle. It looked like everyday strategy table. Murrue sat down in the largest chair and everyone else sat down.
"Let's get down to business," she said.
A screen appeared in the center of the table. A couple of faces started to appear on the screen. She said, "Search, Coordinators."
The computer started to search. Murrue said, "Kira, this might disturb you."
He said, "It depends."
She smiled, "The Coordinators I'll show are the ones that were sadly killed here on Earth."
Celina said, "If they died, what's the point of talking about them."
"The point is that these ones probably still have families who are alive and seeking revenge."
"So?"
Mwu said, "These families were in the military and lost their lives to conflicts."
Murrue said, "But, there's one particular family that, the Earth Alliance is worried about."
Names appeared on the screen. Murrue clicked on something and opened a file which had the name ' Sirally.' A bunch of descriptions came on and finally, a picture of a browned haired boy. He had the exact same eyes as Celina! She got up and leaned to see him closer. She said, " He has my eyes."
She started to feel this really strong love. It seemed to be pinning for him. She felt her lips move and say quietly 'Troy'.
Murrue said, "This is Sirally." Celina looked at Murrue and said, " Is this the guy you were talking about?" She nodded.
Mwu said, "So, do you know him?"
Celina sat back down and said, "I've seen him from somewhere. But I just don't know where."
Murrue said, "Well, he was the youngest one killed by a firing squad and-,"
"He was what!"
"Killed by a firing squad."
Celina said, "But, why?"
Mwu said, "He killed a high official in the military."
Celina said, "Poor guy."
Murrue said, sadly "He was only 17 years old."
A year older than she was. She added, "He didn't deserve to die."
Kira asked, "Why?"
"Because, he was too young. He had his whole life ahead of him."
Was that tears in her eyes? Celina thought, ' Did she knew him?' Murrue said, "Anyways, his family. His family was all Coordinators and so we really don't know any of them."
Celina said, "So, what's my job?"
"I'm not there yet."
Celina said, "When did he die?"
Murrue choked, "Eleven years ago."
Celina frowned. She thought, 'That's odd. My cousin died eleven years ago.' She shook her head. ' It can't be. He died in an auto accident.'
Murrue said, "His father was the only Coordinator from his family."
A picture appeared of a really pretty woman appeared on the screen. " His mother we have no records of her. But we know for a fact that she had Coordinator for a sister."
Celina looked at her carefully. She looked awfully like her late Aunt Lenore. Celina knew that face. It was her mother's. Her dead mother's face. Kira said, "What happened to her?"
Celina said, "She died."
Everyone looked at her. They were surprised. Mwu said, "How did you know?" Celina said, "I don't want to talk about it."
Celina got up and said, "I have to go."
And she left the room.
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Celina ran to her room and closed it. She slid down the door. She cried, " Mom! I'm sorry. I betrayed you, I betrayed everyone. I shouldn't have said, that you died."
Then, something came to her mind. Murrue said that was Sirally's mother. She said, "I didn't have a brother, unless Sirally was born when my mother was really young."
Someone knocked on the door. Kira said, "Celina?"
She kept quiet and thought ' No, my mother would never had a child when she was young.'
"Celina?"
It sounded like Kira. He knocked and repeated, "Celina?"
She thought, ' No, my mother was an honorable woman. She wouldn't."
"Celina?"
' No, she wouldn't. Daddy said she never did anything wrong.'
