Disclaimer: Gundam Seed will never belong to me.
a/n: I'm back! Thanks for the reviews! And thank God for Founder's Day! No classes today! Woo-hoo! Um, well, maybe some of your questions will be answered in this chappie, but maybe the next chapter will give you more info. Anyway…
Chapter 1: I can't get over you
April 12 CE 75 8:10 am
The next day, Athrun Zala was on his new desk in his new office, trying to work on his assigned papers. He'd just graduated, for Pete's sake. He sure as hell wasn't expecting a job as vice-chairman of Zala Corporation. But that wasn't exactly what was on his mind right then. What he was thinking was how he was going to tell her girlfriend about his engagement with Lacus. But that was going to be hard, seeing as he just told her about Kira Yamato's death. And Cagalli wasn't too happy about it either.
Flashback…
April 12 CE 75 4:35 am
"So, Athrun, what happened? What did Kira do?" Cagalli asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
Athrun couldn't look her in the eye.
"Well?" Cagallli said with an air of impatience.
"Kira's dead," Athrun said in a sort of blunt way.
"You're joking aren't you? Well it's not funny," the princess of ORB answered, her eyes narrowing.
"He told me to release the balloon, and I did. He caught it, but it flew off. He stood on the edge of the bridge, and… and…" By this time, Athrun's tears slowly fell from his eyes. Cagalli's situation was the same.
"No, no he's not. He can't be. He can't die!"
"But he is, Cagalli. He's gone. I'm sorry." Athrun enveloped her in a tight hug. "I should've told him it wasn't a good idea. I should've-,"
"Listen, Athrun, stop blaming yourself, okay?" Cagalli cut in, getting annoyed in spite of the pain she felt of losing her brother. "It won't… it won't bring him back."
She was right. Nothing could bring Kira back now.
April 11 CE 75 7:53 pm
Kira felt like it took forever for him to land on the water. And when he did, he felt the intense cold. His hands and feet were numb. His energy had been sapped by his fall. He couldn't swim, even if he desperately wanted to.
I'm not going to make it, he thought. Athrun, Cagalli. Lacus…
And then he lost consciousness.
April 12 CE 75 9:49 am
Kira Yamato, Cagalli's brother, had loved her deeply. And she felt the same for him.
So what if he was just adopted? That didn't make Cagalli stop loving Kira like only a sister could. But now he was gone. And she felt like a part of her had gone along with him.
And as for Athrun, well, she didn't know that they were going to have problems too. Until this afternoon.
"Cagalli," Uzumi called. He was holding an elegant white envelope in his hand.
"What is it?" Cagalli said unenthusiastically. Her father sat across her on the dining table and handed her the envelope. She took it and opened it. And after reading what was said in it, she dropped it.
"I-I'm sorry Father but I have to go," Cagalli said softly. She stood up and ran out. Uzumi wondered what was wrong, but immediately knew when he, too, read the letter.
"Lacus Clyne and Athrun Zala wedding," he muttered. "Poor Cagalli…"
He knew of course, that Patrick Zala and Siegel Clyne arranged this wedding more than ten years ago. But he couldn't do anything about it, either, since he didn't have any shares in any of their companies. So he didn't exactly have a say in this. But he was worried about his daughter.
"You're strong, Cagalli. You'll be okay."
10: 40 am
Lacus hadn't touched the food Mana gave her. She didn't lock her bedroom door, but she wouldn't get out.
Her eyes were closed, but she wasn't asleep. She was clutching a brown-colored teddy bear. The teddy bear Kira had given her for her birthday a year earlier.
Flashback…
February 5 CE 74 2:09 pm
Happy birthday, Lacus," Athrun said with a smile as he handed her a box. "That's from me and Cagalli."
"Thanks Athrun, Cagalli," Lacus said, smiling. She unwrapped the gift slowly, and when she opened the lid of the box, a green object flew out.
"Birdie!" it chirped. Immediately, Haro went near it.
"Haro?"
"Birdie!"
They both flew to who-knows-where.
Meanwhile, the three humans in the garden laughed. "By the way, where's Kira?" Lacus said, a small frown crossing her face.
"I thought you'd never ask," Athrun said. "Hey, Kira, you can come out now."
The said boy went out of his hiding place, which was behind a bush.
"Uh, hi, Lacus," he said shyly. He was obviously hiding something behind his back.
"He said he wouldn't come out till you'd ask us where he was," Cagalli explained. "Idiot."
"I thought you wouldn't come," Lacus said. "But I'm glad you did."
"Kira, aren't you going to give Lacus your gift?" Athrun questioned.
"Oh. Oh yeah," Kira said sheepishly. "Here."
Lacus took the wrapper off the gift. She took the brown teddy bear from the box.
"Thanks, Kira," she said, holding on to the bear.
"Hold its hand," Lacus' boyfriend told her. When she did, Kira's voice sounded from a speaker inside the bear's mouth.
"I love you, Lacus Clyne."
"I love you, Lacus Clyne," Kira's recorded voice said when Lacus held the teddy bear's hand.
"I wish you were here," Lacus whispered. "I wish-,"
"-He wasn't gone," Athrun finished for her. He had opened the door when he heard Lacus speak.
The pink princess sat up and faced him, never mind that she didn't wipe her tears before she did.
"A-Athrun, hi," Lacus said, her voice not the usual cheerful one. The raven-haired boy sat next to her.
"I know it's hard to get over him dying but… I think we should move on," Athrun said. Speak for yourself, Zala, he thought. You just lost your best friend.
"I'm trying to, Athrun. I really am. But… I-I can't."
"Take it one step at a time, Lacus. Eventually you'll get through all of this," Athrun advised. "You don't have to do it in a day."
"Th-Thanks, Athrun. You're a good friend."
"No prob-," Athrun started, when his phone rang. "Um, excuse me, Lacus," he said, facing away from her.
"Hello?"
"Athrun," Cagalli said from the other line, her voice serious. "I need to talk to you. I'll meet you at Coffee Palace."
"Okay, I'm on my way," Athrun replied. To Lacus, he said, "I have to go somewhere. I'll see you sometime I guess."
Lacus managed a small smile. "Yeah, see you."
Athrun then went out of the room. What if Cagalli knows about the engagement? He thought, and hoped against hope that that wasn't it.
11: 27 am
Cagalli saw Athrun hop out of his convertible. He scanned the room, looking for the blond-haired girl. When he found her, he went to her and sat down the other chair.
"Cagalli, what-,"
Cagalli slapped him before he could say anything else. Athrun looked at her, wanting an explanation, although he already had an idea what it was.
"You should have told me sooner, Athrun," Cagalli said, her voice cracking.
"I'm sorry, I-,"
"You should have told me sooner!"
People were now staring at the couple.
"I didn't want you to get hurt anymore," Athrun said, his voice slightly louder than a whisper. "I would've told you already, if Kira wasn't dead."
"But now that he is, you wouldn't tell me about your marriage till I saw it myself, is that it?" Cagalli almost yelled, tears spilling out of her amber-colored eyes.
"Dammit, Cagalli, let me explain!"
"Sorry, Athrun, but I don't think I'll be able to attend your wedding with Lacus," she said, standing up and walking out.
"Shit, shit, shit," Athrun said under his breath.
He'd made a mistake. A horrible one. And he didn't know if he could make it right again.
a/n: Well, watcha think? Did it rock? Or maybe suck? Well, just so you know, more about Kira will be revealed in the next chapter. Till then, I'm gonna go update on WB.
