DISCLAIMER: As Gundam Seed was created by Mitsuo Fukada, and Twelfth Night was created by William Shakespeare, so is this fic created by me (Ruru Kitsuneko)…
AUTHOR'S NOTES 2.1: Here's chapter 2 of Twelfth Night. I planned to just use Kira and Cagalli in this chapter, but at the last minute, I decided on using Col. Kisaka as the unnamed sea captain who saves Cagalli a.k.a. Viola. I don't know if he'll still be appearing in later chapters at all, but it seems such a waste to name him, and then just never mention him again. Most of the scenes aboard the ship involving Kira and Cagalli were based on the ship in the storm scene in "The Magic of You" by Johanna Lindsey; not exactly the words, but the story flow. I had a hard time deciding which of their last names I would use in this chapter, so in the end, I decided to compromise. I hope it's OK. Thanks to Ryo Kazunine and RougeShadow for reviewing the first chapter.
CHARACTERS:
Cagalli Atha-Yamato (Viola) – a shipwrecked lady, later disguised as Caleb (Cesario)
Kira Atha-Yamato (Sebastian) – the twin brother of Cagalli who is later involved in the story
Ledonil Kisaka (not named in the play) – sea captain who saved Cagalli when she was washed ashore on Illyria
CHAPTER 2: SEPARATED BY THE STORM
The storm was fierce. The ship rocked and swayed on the ocean's waves as the strong winds howled and tossed and turned the ship in every direction.
"Kira," Cagalli Atha-Yamato whispered to her twin brother, worry evident in her warm golden brown eyes. "Do you think the ship will sink?"
Kira Atha-Yamato glanced at his twin sister from beneath his dark lashes, and flashed her a grin to wipe out the worry he could see in her eyes. "Don't worry. It'll be alright," he said at the same time tightening his hold on her shoulders.
The Atha-Yamato twins were huddled in the floor of their cabin with a thick woolen blanket draped over their shoulders. Kira had his arm around his sister, while Cagalli's golden head rested quietly at the crook of her brother's shoulder.
The twins were recently orphaned, and they both decided that since there was nothing left for them back home, they would travel and search for a place where they could have a fresh start. Everything seemed to be going well—until the storm.
Just then they heard loud footsteps outside their cabin door. "More hands on deck!" someone yelled outside. "Any able bodied man here: we need more hands on deck!"
"I should go," Kira said suddenly, as the footsteps moved away from their cabin.
"No!" Cagalli cried terrified. "I won't let you. The storm's too dangerous. What if something happens to you out there?"
"Cagalli," Kira said smiling slightly. "If I can help, I won't just sit here in our cabin and do nothing."
"I know that!" Cagalli cried tears beginning to well in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her brother and hugged him tight. "Please, Kira," she implored, "don't do this. I don't want to lose you, too."
Kira wrapped his other arm around his sister and hugged her back. "If I don't do this, we'll lose everybody in this ship." Placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling her away so he could see her face, he added with a grin that made his lavender eyes sparkle, "Who knows, if I help out, we might all make it out of this none the worse for wear."
"You better come back," Cagalli threatened, still holding back her tears, as her twin brother walked toward the cabin door and opened it. "You better not catch a cold, little brother."
Kira laughed. "Keep your long blond hair dry, big sister. I don't want to have to dry it for you."
Shutting the door behind him, Kira walked out into the storm.
Cagalli snuggled by herself under the wool blanket, but it wasn't the same without her brother beside her. The cold seemed to seep into her skin more quickly. Before long, she was shivering. She tried to distract herself from the chill, by smoothing out her long golden braid, but after a while, when she found herself wringing it in agitation, she decided to stop. However, that didn't stop her from worrying about her brother.
A fierce bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, and although she didn't see it, she heard the deafening crack of thunder that followed it. In that moment, she was overcome with a terrifying certainty that if she didn't see her brother now—this instant—she'd never see him again.
Throwing off her woolen blanket, she rushed to the cabin door and threw it open, stumbling along the corridors towards the stairs that led to the upper deck. She almost broke her neck rushing up the stairs because she kept tripping on her long skirts. When she finally around on deck, she was almost blown backward down the stairs by a fierce gust of wind that was whipping the ship and everything above in every direction.
Spotting her brother pulling on a rope and attempting to tie it to the mast to secure the sails on the far side of the deck, she hurried toward him, unmindful of the danger to herself.
"Kira!" she called out.
It was almost impossible to hear anything because of the wind, yet Kira's turned his head in her direction, as if he sensed her presence.
"Cagalli!" he called back angrily. "What the heck are you doing here! Get back down below!"
When she was in touching distance of her brother, she threw herself in his arms.
"I had to see you!" she cried out, finally giving in to the tears she had been trying to hold back, though it went unnoticed because of the pounding rain that was pouring all over the ship and all it could reach that wasn't protected below deck. "I had to make sure you were alright. I felt that if I didn't see you now, I'd never see you again. I couldn't take the chance."
"So you took a chance with your life?" Kira asked angrily. He wanted to shout at his sister for her stupidity, but he couldn't because of the fear and worry he saw in her eyes. And with the twin intuition that was as tight as their bond as brother and sister, he knew that none of it was for her own welfare: all of it was for him.
The ship suddenly swayed alarmingly, and Cagalli was almost thrown across the deck if Kira hadn't grabbed her arm.
"Hold onto me," he shouted to be heard over the wind. "I'll finish with this rope, then I'm taking you back below. And yes—I'll stay with you."
Cagalli smiled in the rain. However, her relief was not to last. Just as Kira finished tying the rope of the sail to the mast, a huge wave rose up from the ocean and washed over on deck.
Cagalli screamed as she felt the wave carrying her away. She reached out her arm, and her brother's hand clamped on her wrist.
"Cagalli!" he yelled, panic in his lavender eyes. "Don't let go."
Cagalli nodded and tightly gripped her brother's wrist.
The wave receded and Cagalli nearly cried in relief.
"Kira—"
Whatever she had been about to say was cut short as another wave swept over the ship. Holding tightly to each other, the twins' eyes met and held: soft lavender to warm golden brown. For a split second the world receded, and it seemed that in that instant, they both knew—it would be the last time they'd ever see each other again. They very last time they would be with the other half of themselves. But the wave was too strong. No matter how tightly they gripped the other as a lifeline, it didn't prevent it from sweeping Cagalli away and wrenching her from her brother's grasp. The look of horror on their faces was profound. Kira could only watch helpless and hear his sister's screams in the wind, as she disappeared overboard.
The storm continued to rage all night over the ocean. Near dawn, the ship finally lost its battle to Poseidon, as it smashed into pieces and sank beneath the waves. The people who inspected the shipwrecked debris the next day believed that no one could have survived.
As the morning sun arose over the island of Illyria, the lone figure of an unconscious young woman could be seen lying at the edge of the beach.
Ledonil Kisaka, a sea captain who had docked on Illyria two days before the storm had hit, was walking along the beach surveying the wreckage that the waves had washed ashore. Spying the figure of the young woman on the beach, he rushes to her, and ascertains her condition. Sure that the girl was alive, he carries her back to his home, and nurses her back to health.
A/N 2.2: Well, hope you liked chapter 2. Next two chapters up will be Athrun and Cagalli ones, so stay tuned! Ja!