Churning Wheels : First Turn
. .
Lucas
. .
Lacus is engaged to Athrun. They will marry some day.
Everyone on PLANT knows this. Their fathers arranged it but it couldn't have been more right, they suited each other so well. They were young now but some time in the future when the war is over, the joining of the two teenage idols will be a happy, joyous event.
Everyone knows this.
Lacus is young but she doesn't mind. He wouldn't have been her first choice but she was young, who thinks of who they're going to marry at this age?
Lacus hadn't gotten to pick but she doesn't mind. Athrun is quiet but kind. He never talked much with her but he had given her Haro as a present and when she had like it so much, he made her many more (Silly - but kind).
Athrun was quiet but steady; he was a quick thinker and a source of ever lasting calm (guess you have to be in the army).
She knows that Athrun doesn't love her and that she doesn't love him, but they are young and they have time.
. .
Athrun
. .
Athrun walked away from Kira one day, that time long ago, back when things had still been peaceful and the war had not been so close. Back when people had not been as hurting and painful as now. Back then, Kira had promised he would one day come join Athrun soon in PLANT.
The day never came.
Athrun had promised he would not fight. Athrun had promised he would advocate peace and live a peaceful existence. Athrun had said he hated fighting. Athrun had promised they would be friends forever. Athrun had said he would never join ZAFT.
Athrun had lied.
Athrun had entered ZAFT after the incident of Junius 7, because there are things even Athrun can't forgive. The days and nights were spent in slow boiling anger and tenderly cultivated hatred. Athrun trained day and night to be the best he could be, so he would be picked and recognized, so he could fight in the front line. Athrun had shone in his talents for war so brightly so he could give back the amount of pain he had been given.
Athrun had forgotten about Kira.
Years passed without any letters or mail exchanged between the two of them. Years passed in which Athrun's body was honed, trained, pushed past its limits; years in which Athrun made new friends, comrades, and relationships.
Years passed, in which Athrun would once in a while think about his old childhood friend and their promise and wondered if Kira had come to PLANT yet. Years passed in which whenever Athrun felt like giving up he would look up to see the picture of the sweet smile of the brown haired boy he left behind and remember this was what he was fighting to protect. This was what was gong to get him through life.
Years, which, in the end, was tearing them apart.
. .
Kira
. .
Kira missed Athrun. That time long ago, he had wanted to follow him and join him in PLANT. But his parents didn't want to be involved in the war and he hadn't had the means to go by himself.
So he followed them to Heliopolis.
Kira was again the new boy, new kid, new transfer. Only this time they all thought he was a Natural, or if someone assumed he was a Coordinator they didn't ask. Kira spent his days in peace but he missed-missed-missed Athrun so much. He made new friends and met new people but they were different and weren't the same as Athrun.
Kira had spent the first few days sending emails to Athrun and occasionally the boy would respond until one day it stopped. The address did not exist, the phone number was no longer in use, and the mail always got sent back to sender.
So Kira tried to move on. He made new friends, smiled, and went out with them to have fun. He smiled sometimes, laughed sometimes, felt sad sometimes, was touched once in a while in that deep way, and lived - sometimes.
But in the end, it all came back to the feeling of Torii's lightweight on his shoulder, because otherwise he would not be able to be there at all.
. .
Cagalli
. .
Cagalli first met him when he saved her from the destruction of Heliopolis.
He was a slim boy, of strong shoulders and gentle touch. He treated her as a normal girl and put her in an escape pod, and ran back into danger where he could have been killed.
At some level or other, he had been willing to die for her.
She engraved his face into her heart, the sound of his voice into her head, and the feel of his touch in her skin.
She would never, ever forget him. She wanted to know his name and she so desperately wanted to see him again, safe and sound, to be able to feel his soft touch and be held in his gentle arms once more.
He appeared as pilot of a metallic angel, an object fallen from the paradise called ORB.
She felt betrayed.
But then she forgave him. Because he had to save his friends. He had to help those in pain. He was sad and wounded and gentle and she had to forgive him because he was safe now, and well, and alive next to her.
He hadn't changed and she wanted to take him away where it was just the two of them again so he could touch her softly and she could drown in his voice. She imprinted his every expression into her memory and she made him smile in the hardest of times.
He remembered her. He allowed her into his heart.
She loved him.
. .