PLANT

He looked out of the window and stared at the cars passing by. He heard his friend, Commander Yzak, rambling on about some political event.

"Are you listening?" Yzak asked. He turned and faced a silver-haired man whose blue eyes were narrowed.

"You were talking about some ball," he lazily answered, turning back to face out of the car window.

Yzak sighed and looked at his comrade, Dearka. His friend shrugged and passed an envelope to him.

Suddenly, a white envelope was thrust towards him quite roughly. He looked at Yzak with annoyance.

"Read it," he was instructed. Having no choice, he opened the envelope and took out an invitation.

'Chairman Zala, we welcome you to our annual Peace Ball. This Peace Ball is organized in honour of the peace treaty signed by the Earth Alliance, Orb and Zaft. We hope that you are able to make it for the Peace Ball.

Sincerely, Ms Cagalli Yula Athha.'

He stared at her name. Calmly, he placed the invitation back into its envelope and returned it back to Yzak. "Since it is about the peace treaty, I guess I have no choice," Athrun said and turned back to face the outside world. Yzak grinned at Dearka who grinned back.

Though he was looking out at the cars and people, he was not really looking at them. Instead, he saw an image of a certain pretty golden-haired girl whose golden amber eyes lit up when she smiled.

ORB

"Ms Athha?" her secretary called out while holding the door opened. Cagalli looked up from the documents she was holding and narrowed her eyes at the intrusion. "Two letters have arrived from PLANT," the secretary said, immune to the glare that was given to her. She had been working for Cagalli for nearly six years now and had already known what the Princess of Orb was like.

Cagalli shuffled the papers in her hands and immersed herself into the documents again. "Just place them somewhere on the desk," she said, waving her hand. The secretary shook her head and did as she was told.

Just as she was about to close the door, she turned back to face her employer. "Isn't it time for you to pick up Kazuya and Rosalynn?" she asked. She saw her employer looked at her blankly and then at the clock. Outside, the staff jumped in shock as a loud scream erupted from the office.

"DAMN! I'M LATE! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER!" Cagalli shouted as she stood up, pushing back the chair roughly. Ranting again, she took the letters, her coat and keys and whizzed past the secretary. As she briskly walked, she took out her cell phone. "I'm so sorry. I'm on my way down right now," Cagalli apologized. Seeing that the elevator had arrived, she quickly ended their conversation and entered the elevator.

Exiting the elevator, she quickly walked towards the lobby and saw a young man with black hair waiting for her near a smart-looking car. His back was turned towards her. The moment she was outside, he turned and his bright red eyes shone with amusement.

"Wow, that was fast. What did you do? Fly down?" he joked. For that, he received a punch on the arm.

"Har har. Very funny. Come on, they are waiting for us," Cagalli said once she had gotten back her breath. She opened the car door and looked at her companion. "Anyway, thanks for the ride. I owe you a treat," she said. Her companion waved it off and told her to climb in to which she did.

Kazuya stared at the cars whizzing past as he placed his chin on both of his palms. Rosalynn followed suit. Suddenly, Rosalynn lifted up her head. Kazuya saw a black car drove in and stopped. A car door opened, his aunt stepped out and walked towards them. Both children quickly took their bags and ran towards her.

Cagalli squatted down and hugged the children. She smiled at one pair of deep green eyes then to another pair of bright blue eyes. "Ready?" she asked. Both children nodded and she let them go. She looked as the children hugged her companion and then entered the car. Seeing them seated safely in the backseat, she and the black-haired man joined them.

Athha Residence

She stepped out of the car and quickly entered the mansion, leaving Shinn behind. She saw Lacus and Kira climbing down the stairs. She let Kazuya go who ran up to his parents. Kira lowered himself and held the little boy in his arms while Lacus smiled at her son.

Cagalli smiled at the happy family in front of me. "If only - " she whispered. Tears threatened to fall.

"Cagalli? What's wrong?" Lacus called out, startling her. She smiled and shook her head.

"Honey, why don't you go and put your schoolbag in your room? Later there will be a nice surprise for you and Kazuya," she said. The girl gleefully laughed.

"Chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles and hot chocolate!" her daughter and nephew exclaimed. With that, the little girl sprinted off with her cousin. Cagalli shook her head smiling.

Lacus stared at Cagalli's back as she quickly climbed the stairs. She heard the door closed and saw Shinn near the entrance.

"Hey Shinn," Kira called, walking up to the black-haired man. She saw Shinn smiled.

She leaned her back against the wooden texture of her bedroom door. "Cagalli, you got to put yourself together. He is never ever coming back to your life," she scolded herself, closing her eyes.

She looked down and realized that she was still wearing her coat. As she took off her coat, two white envelopes fell out of the coat's pocket. Flinging her coat carelessly over a chair, she picked up the two envelopes and sat on her bed.

Her heart started to beat fast as she stared at the handwriting on the front. Opening one of them, she read the contents. Finally, she flopped back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Athrun was back in Orb and here to attend the Peace Ball. "And here you thought he had come back for you," a little voice in her head said. Outside, the moon rose up as a tear dropped.

Hotel

He stared out of the window while behind him Yzak and Dearka argued. Irritated by the noises they were making, he drained them out. He never thought that he would return back here.

"Hey Yzak. Were there any news about the Princess of Orb back at PLANT?" he asked out of the blue. Hearing his question, both of his friends kept quiet. Looking at each other, they had no idea on how to answer.

"Why do you want to know?" his friend asked. He shrugged.

"Well, there were news about her still single even at her age and people trying to match make her. Another was about her and Shinn Asuka being an item," Dearka finally said. "Ouch! What you do that for?" he yelped when Yzak nudged him at his side. But he had already drained them out again.

"Shinn huh?" he thought. His eyes widened at that name. "What!"