He was surprised really. She had forced him to drag his father out of Genesis. He had been just as ready to leave him there and had almost done it. She had stared at him angrily, but Athrun believed what he said.
"He's already dead to me; there's no need to save him." He was sure if she had, had the time Cagalli would've have yelled at him harder and longer. After all to her a father represented something different than it did to him and her's was dead.
So, a week later – after the final battle - when he received a call from a hospital he'd never heard of, telling him about a person he wished he'd never known, he almost hung up the phone. When they told him his name was on his father's catatonic lips, he stopped and paused and told them he would be right over. He almost changed his mind and almost didn't go. Funny how there were so many almost involved with his father.
Without putting the telephone down he pushed a button and waited for the dial tone. Athrun proceeded to call a number his fingers had already memorized and saying words his mouth had become so familiar with, "I need you."
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What was only minutes, seemed like hours as he waited for her to make her way across the hanger from the Kusanagi to the Archangel. Athrun waited outside his door for her and when she arrived quickly hugged her around the waist and told her who had called.
"You idiot." Cagalli sighed, not exactly what one would call words of romance, especially when the one involved in her romance happened to be squeezing her around her mid-section. "This is no big deal; I'll definitely go with you. You can talk to him and I can stand over your shoulder and glare at him."
His noticeably tense body relaxed and Athrun let a relieved chuckle rumble through his chest. Cagalli's toes tingled when she felt her own head vibrate from where it was lying on his vibrating upper body. Blood was rushing to her head faster than her body could keep up, and all she could do was stare down at the floor when he released to her.
"I don't know if I'll talk to him." Athrun gave a tired little breath, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the exit of the Archangel.
"Why the hell not. It's not like he can really do anything."
"Well he is in a practically brain dead condition; I doubt he'll even recognize me. It was hard enough for him to do it when his brain worked. Though, I dunno…"
"Oh, right, I forgot that little stupid state part… well, it's your name he's saying, right?" She looked at him questioningly, wisps of blond hair blowing back as they walked along the outside, searching for a working turbocar that might take them to the hospital Patrick Zala was stationed at.
"Mmmhmm" he murmured with a nod of the head, spotting a car.
"Then maybe he will wake up, stop being so pessimistic. It's freaking depressing." Cagalli gave him a light punch on the shoulder before Athrun gallantly opened the car door and let her in before crawling in after her.
When the turbocar was finally on it's way he laughed and said, "How can I be depressed with a girl like you around." She blushed and smiled, preferring to stare out the window of the car as it directed itself towards their destination.
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The Hospital was not what one would expect the chairman to be housed in. It wasn't run down or anything, just very, very small. In fact Chairman Zala might well be the only patient in the clinic. Cagalli let out a surprised noise when they came upon it, and scrunched up her face in what Athrun would call a cute, confused face.
"It's to escape the publicity." Her face loosened and Athrun almost wished he hadn't explained it, if only to keep watching her.
She grabbed him and pulled him inside, letting out a "Well, let's get this over with."
The nurse inside – probably the only one that worked there – smiled at them and pointed in the direction.
"Think we'll get lost." Cagalli joked, looking down the hallway with only two doors.
"I don't know, you are leading the way." Athrun laughed and dodged a flying fist. He then moving ahead, stopping in front of the door to look back at Cagalli's red face.
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The door seemed to grow before him, to the point it loomed over him. All the tension he had been avoiding by picking on Cagalli the way here returned and he clenched his fist. Sweat ran down his palms and he couldn't grasp the door handle. His hand seemed so far away from it and a pounding began resounding in his head. Memories of all that his father had done flooded him and he remembered his almost suicide in an attempt to reverse his father's work.
Cagalli held his hand and opened the door for him.
She then shoved him inside, telling him she was going to get something to drink, and then locked the door behind him. Athrun refused to panic, he also refused to take a step or look up or stop rattling the door knob in an attempt to escape.
He eventually gave up and walked forward, passing a small bathroom and entering a space that reminded him of a hotel room, a hotel room with bright, hot pink walls. Green eyes widened slightly as he saw his father sitting on the edge of the bed nearest him. His hand twitched at his side and his first reaction was to walk up and punch the man hard, but he stopped when his father looked at him. Athrun stared into supposedly dead eyes and saw a broken man, burdened with the death of his wife and maddened with his almost revenge.
"Hello, father."
"Address me as proper, traitor."
Patrick Zala was back.
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All of Athrun's fear melted away, and he took that step, attempting to hit his dad. With reflexes faster then what one would expect from a man who had just snapped out of a practically brain dead state, he grabbed Athruns's fist twisting it and clenching it in a painful arm lock behind his son's back.
Cagalli chose that moment to barge in with three sodas and a candy bar.
Athrun unclenched his teeth and looked at the blonde girl who just stared at the two men before her. He shook off his father and wrenched his wrist free before heading towards Cagalli and picking up a soda.
The Chairman observed them carefully, like a lion stalking his prey. Watching the way Athrun's hand lingered on the girls when he was handed the soda, and the way his hand played with a golden lock of hair as he whispered words to her. "Who is this?" Patrick Zala demanded.
A Lion may have been the predator, but the prey moved faster this time. "I'm Cagalli, soda?" She offered up a diet coke to the stiff man on the bed.
"A natural, Athrun? You truly have turned traitor to all of our ideals." He sneered at the girl holding a soda out to him and curled his lip up in disgust when addressing his son.
Athrun stared calmly at his father, Cagalli was in the room after all. When she was there it felt like there was an invisible hand reaching across the floor and clenching his. "Your ideals, not mine." He unscrewed the cap on his own Mr. Pibb.
The older Zala glared angrily at the violation of his own principles, a natural and a coordinator together! "I do not approve."
With that Athrun abruptly picked Cagalli up and carried her bridal style out of the hospital, her face matching the color of the room they had exited.
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Chairman Zala almost yelled after them, but did not even mutter in anger, only continued to stare at the diet coke bottle placed on the edge of his bedstand.
Funny how there were so many almosts involved with Patrick Zala.