Disclaimer: Gundam Seed will not be mine no matter how hard I try. And I'm too lazy to prove myself wrong, anyway.
a/n: Yes, that cliffhanger was suspenseful wasn't it? Now you get to find out what happened to our Shawny. Er… I mean, one of our main characters.
Chapter 13: I'm still here
December 25 CE 77 1: 10 am
He opened his eyes, with a little difficulty. And all he saw was white.
The walls, the floor, hell, even the bed he was lying on. They all had one color: white.
What am I doing here? He asked himself.
Then, in a flash, everything came back to him. Everything that had happened before he slipped away from consciousness.
December 24 CE 77 9: 30 pm
Shawn thought he had seen a shadow behind one of the trees near the sidewalk. But he gave no notice to it as he twisted the arm of one of the men that wanted to hurt him. That was until he saw the black object the shadow was holding and aiming at him.
Move! Shawn's head screamed. But he was frozen. His legs felt numb. It was as if Shawn was a deer standing in he middle of the street, and the shadow was the big truck that was about to hit him.
Shawn saw someone lunging at him, tackling him to the ground at the same time the mysterious person shrouded in darkness pulled the trigger.
"Gideon!" the brunette shouted. Gideon, one of his other bodyguards, had taken the shot. There was blood gushing out from below the back of his shoulder. Gideon rolled off Shawn and lay on the ground, barely conscious.
Shawn stood up, running to the shadow, wanting to know who it was, and wanting to get revenge for shooting Gideon.
Bad idea.
The man with the gun shot him, making him stumble to the ground. There was a smirk on his face as he walked away to his limousine, which was a few blocks away from where he had stood.
The young man lay sprawled on the ground. He heard a laugh, which he was sure belonged to a man. But who was he? He couldn't answer; he had no idea.
All Shawn knew was that his eyelids were suddenly becoming heavy, and so he closed his eyes, the evil laughter still ringing in his head.
A woman clad in a white uniform and a nurse's cap entered the room, making Shawn's thoughts evaporate.
"Oh, you're awake," she said. Before she could say more, Shawn spoke.
"Where's Gideon?"
"Oh, Mr. Sinclair? He's in room one hundred and seventy-eight, sir," the nurse said politely.
"Is he okay?"
"He sustained a lot of injuries besides his gun shot, so it will take time for him to recuperate. But he'll be fine."
"Can I see him?" Shawn asked, even though the nurse had barely finished her sentence. He sat up, forgetting that he was injured. He winced at the pain in his stomach. The nurse quickly went to his side.
"I don't think you can, Mr. Frost," she said. "Besides, it's one o' clock. I don't think he'd want any visitors."
"Now, lie still," she went on, placing the clipboard she'd been holding to the small coffee table in the room. She took out the thing used to check a person's blood pressure and placed the strap around the brown-haired man's arm.
And Shawn stared into space, thinking about something else.
He'd failed Lacus. He didn't get to go to the Clyne mansion. And worst of all, he couldn't tell Lacus what happened to him, since it would be bad publicity if the news leaked. He wouldn't care less about the media, but he didn't want Mwu to know anything about it.
Shawn had that feeling again. And as always, it wasn't good.
That person was going to come back and finish the job of killing him.
2: 02 am
Everyone who had attended the party was gone by then. Everyone except Athrun and Cagalli, who were sitting on metal chairs in the garden, drinking wine. Lacus was with them of course, sipping on a glass of lemonade instead of wine, which she never really liked to drink.
Cagalli was on the verge of getting drunk, while Athrun remained sober, since he knew the blondie was, in fact, going to get drunk.
They started their conversation hours ago, and their topics went from constellations to animals, to music, and so on. But Lacus had no idea why Shawn Frost and Kira Yamato had become the subject of their discussion.
"I mean, really," Cagalli said, managing to speak in her normal voice despite her current state. "Kira and Shawn? You take one look at them both and you're like, 'They're like twins!' But when you look at their personality, pretty much everything is different."
"You're right about that," Athrun agreed, bringing his hand to his still-hurting cheek, where the brunette had planted his fist on days ago. "But Frost does have some similarities with Kira."
"Like what?" Lacus said.
"Well," Athrun replied. "I noticed that he's really concerned about you, just like Kira was before. If I didn't know better, I'd think he likes you."
Lacus opened her mouth to speak, but Cagalli spoke first. "I really think you would know what Shawn and Kira's similarities are better than anyone, Lacus," she said.
"Why would I?"
"Because you know both of them."
"I can't really tell if they do have similarities," Lacus lied, not wanting to point out what she did know. "They're both such opposites."
"Well, obviously, Kira always kept his word. Shawn probably doesn't," Cagalli said, taking her wine goblet for another sip.
Athrun stopped her, taking the wine glass away while saying, "You were pointing out a difference, not a similarity. And by the way, you've drunk too much."
"No I haven't," the amber-eyed young woman retorted, taking the wine glass back.
"I wonder why he didn't call," Lacus said, not realizing that she had said her thoughts aloud. "He said he would."
"Like Cagalli said," Athrun replied, "He didn't keep his word."
"Something might be wrong."
"Maybe Shawn and Fllay made up and they're spending their Christmas in their hotel room," Cagalli theorized, a smile - that was becoming a smirk - on her face.
"Not likely," her boyfriend said. "You did see how he broke up with that redhead."
Athrun and Cagalli did not notice that Lacus was not listening to their talk anymore. She was still wondering if something might have happened to Shawn.
And her gut confirmed it.
2: 06 am
Shiho leaned back on the sofa, still watching ESPN. She, Yzak and Dearka had opened their gifts two hours ago. And right after that, Dearka went to his room again. Yzak had asked Shiho, in his not-so-polite-way, why the tan young man was, in Yzak's own words, "hibernating in his room like a grizzly bear in winter".
"Something about his ex-girlfriend in high school who dumped him for another guy," Shiho had answered unenthusiastically. After that, no conversation took place between them.
She tried to stay awake watching the baseball game, but her eyes were slowly closing. After a while, she decided to give in. She fell asleep, her head leaning on the top of the sofa.
Yzak took another glance at her. He remembered the kiss they shared a few hours ago. And a smile - that rarely appeared on his usually frowning or smirking face – appeared on his lips.
He saw Shiho's head tilt to the left as he watched. He wondered what he should do.
With a trembling hand, he gently moved Shiho's head so it rested on his shoulder. He put some brown strands of stray hair behind her right ear.
And he continued to watch the baseball game, as if he'd never done anything.
3: 00 am
Tanner. Tanner Johnson. Her boyfriend. Dearka couldn't believe it.
He never thought he'd see Mirialla again, and he really wanted to see her, but now that he did, he wished he didn't have anything to do with her.
He wanted them to pick up where they left off in high school only to be told that she loved someone else.
The twenty-two year old was staring at the ceiling. He had his arms folded behind his head.
Sure, that Tanner guy was handsome, hell, he was hot. But Dearka knew Milly only belonged to him. He might seem selfish, but then again, all humans are selfish about something.
Dearka was wondering how he'd get Miriallia back. Away from Tanner.
"He has to get out of the picture," he said aloud. For a moment he thought about a lot of possibilities except killing. And then he knew.
He was going to bring down Tanner's reputation. The best way he knew how.
8: 01 am
Usually, Lacus Clyne would be awakened by the ringing of her mobile phone's alarm clock, but this time the ringing of her telephone woke her up.
"Clyne residence, Lacus Clyne speaking," she said when she picked up the phone.
"Hey, Lacus, it's me," a familiar voice said. "Shawn."
"Oh, hi, Shawn," Lacus replied, forcing her voice to sound cheerful despite what she really felt: stood up. "Why did you call?"
"I wanted to apologize," Shawn said. "I really wanted to accept your invitation, but my father came here for a surprise visit. I was busy, so I couldn't call you."
Shawn hoped Lacus would buy it. His excuse was convincing, after all.
"Oh? Then how come I wasn't informed that the chairman of Munchausen electronics was in Orb?"
"It was a surprise. Mwu never wants a big fuss about him when he comes to a place. He likes things private."
There was silence on the other line.
"Lacus?"
"What really happened, Shawn? I'm sorry, but I don't believe what you just said."
This time the silence was on his line. Lacus waited patiently. Her gut was right. It always was.
"I'm not sure you should know."
"Are you afraid I'm going to tell anyone?"
Shawn, with a little hesitation, said, "Yes, I am."
"Then don't be. I won't even tell Athrun and Cagalli."
The amethyst-eyed man decided to tell Lacus. He did owe her big time for standing her up last night.
The brunette took a deep breath. "Someone…" his voice faltered.
"Someone what…?"
Shawn tried to find his voice. He did. "Someone ambushed me. I got shot at."
Silence again.
"Lacus?" Shawn said again. "Are you okay?"
"I should be the one who's asking you that." Lacus said.
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
"I'll go there. If you want," she replied.
"No, you can't," Shawn said, dissuading her. "If you do, people will start wondering."
He was right. The tabloid Shawn had told her about already worried her. She really didn't want a repeat of that.
"Well, okay then. I guess I'll see you at work."
"Yeah. I'll see you." He hung up.
Lacus closed her eyes briefly. He was ambushed, she thought. He could've died. No, he can't die. Not like Kira.
Please be okay, Shawn.
January 15 CE 78 8: 00 am
It was three weeks later when Lacus saw Shawn again. He didn't look like he sustained any injuries. Then again, he did have twenty-one days to recuperate.
"Mr. Frost," Lacus said, her mood cheerful as usual. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," Shawn said, returning the pink-haired girl's smile. As his smile faded, he said, in alower voice, "Can we talk?"
"Okay."
Lacus went towards the elevator, with Shawn following.
As soon as the elevator closed after they went in, Shawn spoke.
"Listen, Lacus, I don't think I can see you that much anymore," he said. "Someone's after me. And if that someone knew that we're friends, he might target you next."
"How do you know that that someone is a 'he'?" Lacus asked, pressing the button for the eighteenth floor.
"Believe me, I know. I just don't know who he is."
"Do you really have to stay away from me? Can't you just have added security or something?" Lacus said. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Shawn out of her sight if someone was after him.
"I can't risk it, Lacus," he said, as lavender eyes met light blue ones. "I don't want you involved. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Lacus looked at him more intently. Athrun's voice was in her head.
"…he's really concerned about you, just like Kira was before…"
"… I think he likes you…"
"I guess it has to be done, then, Shawn," she said, when she snapped back to reality.
"Yeah. So, I guess this might be my last day… with you."
"We really should be spending it somewhere other than here," Lacus said, tucking some strands of hair behind her ear. She brightened. "How about the beach?"
"Are you sure we can get out of work?"
"We can make up for it later," Lacus said, pressing the button just as the elevator opened. The elevator closed again, this time descending.
"Okay then," Shawn replied, trying to sound nonchalant, when inside he was jumping for joy. Lacus was going to the beach. With him. Shawn felt like a teenager all over again, although he didn't exactly remember how he felt when he was a teen.
This was going to be the happiest day of his entire love life. Or at least, the best day of his love life that he could remember.
a/n: Well, next chapter Shawn and Lacus are going to go and relax at a resort. Gee, how lucky can they get? By the way, I just snagged the OC Tanner from Phil of the Future. So if any of you guys watch POTF, you'd know what he did to Keely, and he might do the same thing here.
Anyway, since exams are coming, I won't be able to update any earlier. But I'm working on it. Well, outta here!
