June 7th, CE 74
Flay was absolutely confused as she entered her hotel room. She berated herself mentally for flipping out on Kira like that. They had just been reunited and had spent a wonderful night together just like they used to, and then she lost it and let her emotions get in the way.
Flopping on her bed, she wondered why she had said those things … and she knew of only one way to find out. Flay grabbed her phone out of her purse and dialed a number. The intended recipient picked up after two rings. "Hi Milly, its Flay. I need to talk to you; can you meet me at the Tim Horton's downtown? Thirty minutes will be fine, thanks."
Hanging up, she got up to shower and change, trying not to let the memories overwhelm her. The coffee shop she had specified was only a five-minute walk from the hotel, but Miriallia was usually early, and this time was no exception. The blue-eyed Natural already had a cup of French Vanilla sitting on the table alongside a coffee with one cream for Flay as she talked on her own phone.
She noticed Flay walking over, so she finished her conversation. "I'll call you back later Ronaldhino." And then she hung up. "Hi Flay, sorry, I assumed you still take one cream in your coffee."
Flay sat down and stared at the milky coffee. "Thanks, yes it's still the same." She took a sip. "You know, I almost ordered two black coffees as well, force of habit I suppose." Mir said.
For a second Flay thought her friend knew about Kira's return, but then quickly dismissed that notion. Milly caught the forlorn look on Flay's face. "What's wrong?" she inquired.
She inhaled deeply. "Kira's back." She nearly mumbled. Miriallia froze with her coffee halfway up to her mouth as she struggled to comprehend what Flay had just said. When it clicked that it couldn't be anything else, she put her cup down. "Really?" she didn't want to trust her brain and ears in case it wasn't true.
Flay nodded. "I went out last night for a walk and one of Sai's creepy people tried to force me to go see the damn nerd, but then Dearka intervened. It started raining so he took me back to his apartment and Kira was there." She explained.
"We all talked for a while, and then Dearka left us alone, I fell asleep in his arms, and then woke up in his bed." She continued.
Mir interrupted. "So why aren't you with him right now? Our flight doesn't leave until tomorrow, and you could easily take a few days leave to spend with Kira." It was a sound idea.
This was the part she wasn't looking forward to explaining. "Well this morning I flipped out on him." The look Miriallia had on her face demanded an explanation, so Flay continued. "Remember the attack during the Valentine's Ball? Turns out it was Kira who rescued us from the Fenrir, only he and the others were operating covertly."
It seemed as if the ability to form words had left Miriallia, instead of speaking, her jaw dropped. "So I let my emotions get in the way and now we're here." Flay finished. Milly snapped her mouth closed and then took a sip of coffee.
"You can't let something as silly and minor as an argument keep you two apart, not after how long it's been. You're both adults now; don't let his actions cloud your judgment." Miriallia told her friend. Flay thought about it for a second. "When did you get so wise in the matters of relationships?"
Milly waggled her finger at Flay. "That's not important, what is important is talking to Kira again, this time in a civilized manner. Hear out his story entirely and then when you have all of the facts you can decide."
As goods as a plan as it was, it wasn't meant to be. Flay's phone rang, and the ID display showed it to be another Vice Minister. "Excuse me for a second Mir." She answered her phone. "Flay speaking."
"Flay, get to the airport and book a flight back to Washington as soon as you can." The man said. "What happened?" Flay asked concernedly. "Just get back here ASAP." He said and then hung up.
"What's wrong?" Miriallia asked. Flay stood and put her phone back in her purse. "Apparently something urgent has come up; they want me to fly back as soon as I can. Thanks for the coffee, I'll see you soon."
Kira sat on the couch with his head resting on his palms. Flay's last words to him kept replaying in his head. "Man, I really messed it up, didn't I?" he muttered. Dearka walked back into the living room. "Yes, yes you did. And not just a little either, you messed up a whole lot. In fact, I don't even think it's possible for a person to have messed up more."
A violet eye glared at the tanned Coordinator and was quickly joined by the other eye. "What? If you can't handle the truth then don't ask." He said defensively. "I can see why she broke up with you. There's only one thing I can do to fix this; apologize to her." Kira stood up.
"Good luck with that." Dearka said sincerely. Kira nodded in thanks and opened the door to their apartment. He stepped back in surprise as Miriallia stood on the other side of the door, her arm raised, ready to knock. "Miriallia, hi." He said, still somewhat surprised.
Faster than the speed of light, or so it seemed to Kira and Milly, Dearka appeared at the doorway with a hearty smile. Kira pointed to the grinning idiot standing behind him. "Milly, you remember Dearka." He said. Mir looked at her watch. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, catch up on everything with you two, but Kira, you're running out of time."
Kira looked at her with a confused look on his face. "What?" She pulled him out of the door to his apartment and closed the door behind him. "Flay is going back to Washington." She said. Kira shrugged. "So? That is where she works." Milly resisted rolling her eyes. "She's being called back there Kira, we're not scheduled to leave Orb until sometime tomorrow evening."
"So why is she going back now? Because of me? Of our argument?" Kira demanded to know. 'Or was it because of my actions in these past years?' he asked silently. "Another Vice Minister called her back, for reasons unknown. I came to find you as soon as she left, but I know that she still had to pack, and it'd be difficult to secure a seat with his little notice even for her."
He stood there in the hallway for a second, not quite believing what he was hearing. And just how did Miriallia find out where he lived? Finally he snapped back to reality. "Thank you Miriallia." He said right before running back inside, nearly bowling over Dearka to grab his stuff.
Watch, keys, cellphone, wallet and sunglasses. Kira was out of his apartment faster than a bolt of lightning, leaving only Dearka and Miriallia. "So how have you been Miriallia?" Dearka asked, breaking the silence left in Kira's wake.
The speed limit was 100 kph on the main highway leading to the airport, but Kira was easily doing double that, zipping by cars, passing them with reckless abandon. All that mattered to him was apologizing to Flay before she left for Washington, even if he had to yell it as she boarded a plane.
Inside the airport, Flay stood waiting in line as the person in front of her went up to the booth to confirm his flight. It was a mere matter of minutes and then Flay was up at the booth, asking for a flight back to Washington as soon as humanly possible. Luck was with her, there was a flight outbound in fifteen minutes that had an empty seat.
The miles of road disappeared underneath the wheels of Kira's car as he urged the vehicle to go faster. He was almost there; he could see the air control tower in the near distance. Throwing caution to the wind, he parked in the pick-up zone and ran inside, heading right for the Washington Air booth.
The line-up had grown from half a dozen people to well over thirty by the time Kira found what he was looking for. He barged through the waiting people and pushed the man at the booth aside to speak with the travel attendant. "Excuse me sir, I'm going to have to ask you to wait in line like everyone else." The lady said as politely as she could.
"I don't want a ticket; I just need to know if Flay is on this flight." Kira replied just as calmly. "As in Vice Minister Alster?" Kira nodded. "What business do you have with her?"
Kira's eye twitched, he couldn't wait patiently much longer. "I'm her boyfriend." He stated. The booth worker eyed him with major doubt. "Right, you're Miss Alster's boyfriend. Listen sir, she's already passed through customs and I can't let anyone else through unless they have a valid plane ticket."
He banged his fist loudly on the counter. "Goddamnit just let me through!" he yelled. "Sir, please calm yourself." The attendant said, obviously frightened by his outburst, her finger holding down the silent alarm for security. Two large guards appeared in an instant, flanking Kira on either side. "Sir, could you please come with us?" one of them asked.
"This is the final boarding call for Washington flight zero one five, bound for Washington D.C. international." The P.A. announced. Upon hearing that, Kira made a dash for the doors leading to customs and the waiting area that was beyond. One of the guards reacted in time, grabbing hold of Kira's arm before the young man could get any further. Kira struggled, but it was ultimately useless as they handcuffed his hands behind his back.
"If you stop resisting, things will be easier on you." One of the guards said. They stood Kira up, and he acted. One guard took a rough shoulder-check to the stomach as the other one got a back kick to the head. Both uniformed men dropped to the floor and Kira burst through customs and entered the waiting area for outbound flights.
Being taxied onto the runway was a Washington Air jet, and Kira swore that he caught a glimpse of brilliant red hair. "Flay …" he breathed, and then was tackled to the floor as five guards pounced on him. The other passengers stayed as far away as they could as Kira was escorted under heavy guard out of the area and into a security office.
He was offered a chair and his cuffs were taken off. Kira sat down glumly as someone placed a black coffee in front of him. "Pardon me sir, but do you have identification?" the small man asked him. Kira looked at him blankly, so the man clarified his request. "Preferably picture I.D? Perhaps two pieces so we can cross-check them?" he finally understood, moving slowly to get his wallet out of his back pocket.
Rather than open it and find his license, Kira handed the man the wallet and started to stare at the table. "Alright then." The man said and walked off to check the I.D. Kira waited for over forty minutes, pondering on how he had messed up again. 'She comes back into my life for one measly day and suddenly I'm a zombie? What the hell is up with that?' he wondered.
Finally a man wearing an Earth Alliance uniform and a dark mask entered the holding room. Kira looked up and was shocked, but was on his feet in instant, saluting. "Colonel Lorrnoke sir!" Colonel Neo Lorrnoke of the 81st Independent Battalion, codenamed the Phantom Pain, saluted in return. "Dispense the formalities Kira, covert ops teams don't salute to regular military men like me."
"Habit, sir, some things I just can't change. But what are you doing here?" Kira replied, still confused. Neo took a seat and relaxed. "Apparently when the Airport officials ran your ID through their system, a flag was raised on their system. They obviously had never seen it before, so they called the Triad personnel department. That's when I got a call saying I should head to the International Orb Airport to 'clean up a covert mess', as I was told."
"So where's everyone else?" Kira wondered. "Captain Lee is back at the training center; my three pilots are waiting outside. I've cleared you from anything they wanted to pin on you, but you should be a little more careful in the future, I might not be around to bail you out."
Kira smiled. "Thanks again Neo, I'm starting to lose count just how many I owe you." Neo laughed. "Seven now." And then he stood up. Kira followed suit, and smiled again upon seeing Sting Oakely, Auel Neider and Stella Louissier. "Hey hey, Yamato, long time no see." Auel greeted in his same cocky fashion.
"Yeah I know. What's new big blue?" Kira asked, using Auel's annoying nickname. "Hey Sting, Stella." He greeted them as well, noticing that the timid blond girl still wasn't used to his presence which was why she was hiding behind Sting like he was an older brother.
"Thanks again Neo, I'll see you guys around." Kira said, waving as he left. As soon as he turned out of their sight, his smile instantly fell, replaced easily with a grimace. Flay was well on her way back to Washington, and while his team hadn't received any orders yet, it wouldn't look good if he left the Orb safe house to pursue his one-time girlfriend.
The drive home took longer, partly due to Kira no longer speeding like a crazed person. No thoughts ran through his head as he walked up the stairs, one step at a time until he reached the door to his apartment. Numb fingers fiddled with keys until he finally managed to insert the right one into the lock and turn.
The door opened, revealing Dearka and Miriallia sitting on the couch and laughing as they spoke, each telling tales, but stopping as Kira slowly shuffled inside. "Kira, buddy, you okay man?" Dearka asked, sitting up straight. Kira put his keys on the counter, or at least he tried to, but missed the counter and the keys fell to the floor.
"Kira?" Miriallia started to say, but couldn't finish as Kira stumbled into his room and flopped onto his bed. She walked in cautiously, not knowing what to expect. "What happened?" Kira was staring at a wall. "I lost her again." He said weakly. "But I guess I know what it's like to be walked out on, whether she meant it or not." He laughed just as weakly.
"I'm such a coward, not telling her what I was doing, she deserved to know. We should have told you as well, but we didn't, we couldn't. Now things are messed up beyond belief." He brooded. Milly hushed him and stroked his back smoothly. "Things will work out Kira, I promise." Her touch was similar to Flay's, soft and affectionate, if in a different way.
Kira fell asleep, and Miriallia stayed the night, but her flight back was the next early evening, so she had to go back her hotel to pack. Dearka helped and saw her off, relishing the little time they managed to spend together. Kira lay in the same position on his bed for days, not moving or coming out to eat. It certainly wasn't healthy, even for a Coordinator, but nothing Dearka did seemed to be able to rouse Kira.
It had been almost two weeks before Kira lethargically opened the fridge to grab a bite to eat. Dearka was stunned at the fact that Kira was moving and he dropped his cup of coffee, the ceramic cup shattering. Kira glanced over at his friend. "Don't even mention it." He looked at the floor. "You dropped your cup."
Dearka rolled his eyes and then laughed. Kira turned on the radio to KATT Rock 100.5. "It's good to have you back Kira."
July 6th, CE 74
Flay was sitting in her office reviewing a file that Triad Chairman Gilbert Dullindal had sent down. It covered the latest technology dreamt up by Sai, the Beam Shield. It had been a month since she had found Kira in Orb, and even when Miriallia returned, there had been no word about him, and it seemed that the harder she looked; the less she found any mention of him.
There was a knock at her door, and one of her secretaries peered in. "Uh, Miss Alster? The President wants you to know that you're going to gain access to level 9 information starting tomorrow morning. He's bringing in one of the Triad's covert ops teams to brief you on everything that has passed so far." The young man said.
Flay looked up. "Clear my schedule then Dale, I get the feeling that this is going to take all day." He nodded and left to make the necessary arrangements. "Now maybe I can find out what you've been up to Kira." She said to no one.
It was business as usual the next day, Flay arrived at work wearing a navy blue skirt-suit, her hair done up in her usual fashion. She passed by her secretary, "Morning Dale." She greeted as always.
"Good Morning Miss Alster. Your briefings will being in twenty minutes in Room 203 down the hall, and I think the team has arrived already to set up a few things. One man in particular was quite anxious to being as soon as possible, but I told him he'd have to wait until the appropriate time."
Flay nodded. "Thank you Dale." There were a few documents that she wanted to sift through before she resigned herself to the all-day briefing. She read over one particular document and her eyes found the word Kira in it, and suddenly she couldn't concentrate on work. All she could do was wonder what he was doing right now. It wasn't until Dale came in to remind her that the meeting started in moments that she realized she'd been daydreaming.
The room in question was easily a ten minute walk from her office, having to pass through a few checkpoints and go down a few levels, and by the time she made it to the room, she was already late. Opening the door, Flay was ready to apologize, but found no one inside, and the digital projector mounted on the ceiling warmed up, ready to be used. "Err, hello?" she called out, receiving no answer.
The doors on the other side opened, letting two men enter, one of them older and wearing a suit, the other much younger, taller and built, wearing simple cargo pants and a green t-shirt. "Miss Flay, so good of you to join us. This young man will be briefing you about the past activities of teams operating under level 9 clearances. His name is Kira Yamato."
V90 is updated, so is my profile. I've got a new homepage courtesy of and my request for the PlanetSide category went through. Check 'em out in my user profile, and please don't forget to Read and Review.
Thanks! Prayer