Title: Tadaima
Rating: K+
Warnings: Unbeta-ed, some OOC-ness
Genre: General, Angst
Main Character(s): Shinn, Rey, Lunamaria
Ship(s): None.
Summary: Shinn returns home. One shot.
Disclaimer: Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed, Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed Destiny, characters and places are copyright to Hajime Yate, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Sotsu Agency and Sunrise.
Author's Notes: Took me two weeks to write this part. I didn't want to make Shinn sound like a stubborn mule but as someone who had learned something. Besides, ORB is the one place he will always call home.
He woke up with a sharp intake of breath, blinking auburn eyes up at the ceiling. Letting out a breath, Shinn dragged his hand down his face before pushing his dark hair back. The room was dimly lit by the single lamp on the night stand at the foot of his bed. It was quiet, save for the steady breathing across from him. He sat up, pushing the blanket back as he looked across the room, able to make out Rey's sleeping form in the bed, bundled up in the blanket, only the top of his head peeking out.
He had been dreaming about the war again, despite it being over weeks ago. He couldn't still shake it off. The fear and rage that drove him to nearly killing one of his closest and best friends, all because he wanted to beat Athrun Zala. The relief when ORB wasn't destroyed and the sight of the Messiah falling, crumbling to nothing. He felt free then, from the weight around his shoulders and had cried, held by Luna on the lunar base. He had never wanted ORB destroyed. It was never part of his intention, despite what he may have said or done. He did love ORB. Athrun was right.
The three of them - Lunamaria included - still remained on the Archangel. The Minerva had been dragged back to ZAFT's military base for repairs, crew members were grounded until further notice. PLANT was in an uproar over the death of the Chairman and the destruction of Messiah, Earth Alliance's Heaven Base and lunar base, Arzchael. The former members of the Supreme Council had been called back to handle the current chaotic aftermath. Captain Gladys had been wise to put them on the Archangel, away from the mess and from the attention. They were to return to PLANT when they felt they were ready, though the way she had said it implied that she knew deep down they probably won't be returning to PLANT anytime soon.
Rey was still recovering, the broken arm still in that soft cast and sling. The bruises and scrapes had healed well. Lunamaria was able to walk around normally instead of the hobble. His own wounds had healed as well, leaving only superficial scars. The Archangel's captain, Ramius, had been kind towards them, allowing them freedom on board, despite that they had been enemies before. Most of the crew were still wary of them; though Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, Lacus Clyne and Mwu La Fllaga acted differently, treating them without reservations or wariness.
We were all fighting for the same thing, ne?
That had been Lacus Clyne, the warm smile on her face as they met face to face for the first time. It took Shinn a while to get used to it, that she was the real one, not the bubbly copy that they had seen several months back. The real one radiate a quiet confidence and calmness that the copy could never acquire, no matter how many times she sang the songs or tried so hard to be. Lacus Clyne was forgiving as shown when instead of hatred, she looked at them with sympathy and gentleness. And he had thought how lucky Kira Yamato was, to have someone to be with for a long time, to grow old with and to love.
"Shinn?" The voice was thick with sleep and exhaustion, breaking into his thoughts. He looked up, across the room to see Rey had woken up as well, blinking sleepily at him, the eyebrows drawn together in obvious puzzlement.
"Couldn't sleep," he told him.
"Nightmares?"
"Sort of."
"Ah." Rey shifted over to his side, carefully resting the arm on the bed. Sleeping with a cast was certainly not much fun and a nuisance, Shinn thought dryly. It was a wonder the blond didn't complain or whine about it but that was Rey. He took things without complaints. Not even... Shinn pushed the thought out of his mind angrily. He would have plenty of time to think about that. Now was not the time.
Despite the manipulative lies Rey had told him over the year, Shinn found that he could still trust him and call him his best friend. Call him a fool for trusting someone who could just easily lie about anything to him but he knew the reasons why Rey did it. Living in another person's shadow, expected to follow in that footsteps and never getting a chance to be yourself? That was just as bad as what the EA had been doing to the hapless children in that lab. With the Chairman gone from their lives, Shinn hoped that Rey would be able to break free from the constraints placed on him by the man and start over.
"Go back to sleep," Shinn said, after a while. "You're still recovering."
"And you're not?" There was amusement in the tone. Auburn eyes met blue before Shinn sighed, turning away and flopped back down to bed. He stared up at the ceiling once more, hearing the rustles that Rey had turned over on his back as well. There was a comfortable silence between them as they lay awake.
"Are you going back to PLANT?" he asked, breaking the silence. His hand reached out for the pink cell phone next to his pillow. Ironic that it was the only thing that survived the blast that day.
For a moment, it seemed as though Rey wasn't going to answer but when he spoke his voice was so soft, Shinn had to strain to hear.
"No. I'm not. There's just... too many things there that I don't want to be reminded of." A pause. "Gladys-kanchou made arrangements for me already. I'm to stay with Ramius and La Fllaga on ORB."
La Fllaga. Formerly Neo Lorrnoke who turned out to Mwu La Fllaga who was thought to be dead and turned out alive after all. Shinn remembered feeling that tightness in his chest when he saw them, Stellar on his mind. He had thought it unfair that man survived and was reunited with the love of his life while he lost someone he had grown to love in a short time. It had been a bittersweet moment until Lunamaria touched his arm and he had smiled wistfully. No use dwelling in the past with regrets. He was deep in thought that he nearly missed Rey's question.
"Will you return to ORB?"
"Will I... ORB?" Shinn blinked, looking over but Rey was staring up at the ceiling; at the patterns on it thrown by the light, his good arm across his forehead, eyes closed.
You were from ORB, weren't you? You used to love it and its ideals!
Athrun's words came back in his head during their fight at ORB. They had clashed at each other, him trying to take the other boy down. I did... and I still do, he answered in his mind. ORB is... will always be home. Did he want to return to that place? The place where all his sorrow, grief and pain start. He lifted up Mayu's phone, flipping the cover open and look through the pictures of his parents, his sister, himself. He had no place to go, really. No one at PLANT, no one at ORB. All he had left were his two friends. They were his only family now.
"PLANT and ZAFT have nothing for me anymore," he said with finality, voice firm and filled with resolution.
A soft chuckle. "You do know that Luna is going to follow, right?"
Shinn stared at the phone before clicking the cover shut and placing it under the pillow. "Aa. I know." He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Lunamaria was sure to follow them both. The girl had grown possessively attached to them both after the event; after she had found out Rey's condition and saw Shinn breaking down before her. She had took it upon herself to be the mother hen of the trio, insisting that if she wasn't around, they would both fall apart before her and all that. Rey had accepted without any grumbling but Shinn himself had protested loudly, saying wasn't it his job to protect her? One look from the redhead had silenced him; the look was fit to kill, if not maim. He had wondered when had she grown so fierce in such a short while, when had she matured so fast to take on such a role? He put it all to her being the older sibling of the family while he and Rey were immediately put into the younger siblings role that Meyrin had been. Rey had privately told him that it was precisely because Meyrin had left for PLANT that Lunamaria saw fit to boss them around like any older sister would. Exert her power to show them who's in charge. Shinn had agreed fervently.
"It'll be all right," came Rey's voice. Shinn made a sound like an agreement. He laid there until Rey's breathing even out and slowed, letting him know that the other boy was asleep. He stayed awake for a while before he drifted off to sleep as well.
The blue ocean that surrounded Onogoro Island sparkled under the bright sun like jewels. In the distance, he could hear the sea gulls crying against the sound of the waves. He remembered standing here before with a heart full of rage and hurt that time. It still hurt but no longer filled with the same rage before. Flowers had been planted and had grown around the marble stone. A memorial for those who had passed on.
New grass and flowers had sprung over the spot where the tragedy had happened, covering the scorched ground. It was as if it had never happened at all. He remembered that spot well. It had been in his nightmares for years. He turned away from that place, looking at the marble stone before him, kneeling down and placing the flowers he had brought on the ground, fingers lingering at the soft petals for a beat longer before he stood up, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Behind him, Rey and Lunamaria made no sound as they waited; Luna looked as if she might burst into tears from the way her eyes were so wide and she was biting her lower lip. Rey was looking over at the ocean, face impassive as usual but there was a hint of emotion in those eyes.
He turned to them with a small smile. "Let's go."
"Hai." Luna's smile was much brighter. Rey nodded.
Tousan, Kaasan, Mayu-chan. Tadaima. I'm home.
Owari.