Chapter 8: Mystic

Yzak was about to give the guy on the floor a quick chop at the base of his neck to send him back into slumber land when he stopped him, saying

"Don't be so quick to disarm me. Don't you wanna help your friends? You think your two mobile suits can stand up against a fleet of fifteen?"

Yzak considered the statement, too lazy to think.

"So?"

"Follow me."

Cagalli hugged Athrun, both of them on the ground and neither made an attempt to get up. Athrun was too busy blushing as he felt something soft pressing against him. For Cagalli, it was just because she was happy, happy to see him well and alive. Their position was awkward, but it just couldn't hurt to stay like that for a while longer. They really don't get too many moments like that, warm in each others arms.

Athrun sense that Cagalli wasn't angry, but clung to his neck like a Koala, slowly…… he returned the embrace. He could feel that Cagalli's shoulders give a slight jerk every few seconds, her head pressed against the nook of his shoulders.

"Are you crying?"

She looked up at him with wet and swollen eyes, and started to punch him repeatedly on the shoulder. "You stupid, idiot! I thought you were…I thought you were…."

"You thought I was…?"

"I thought…I thought you were dead." Athrun's eyes widened in surprise. "The stupid battle report! Kira he told me……"

"Doesn't matter now, does it? I'm here now. Don't cry……" He replied, biting his lip to suppress a laugh. How can what Kira said go so wrong… the battle report would have to be drastically edited to give such a false and ridiculous impression too. A combination of factors must have lead to her concluding he's dead, it was almost comical. From the extend of swelling and redness beneath her eyes, he could tell that she probably cried herself to sleep. The misunderstanding had taken its toll upon the silly girl lying on top of him, yet he couldn't help but want to laugh. She obviously didn't want to admit her reason for crying though.

He was glad that those tears were meant for him only, but at the same time equally grieved by the fact. Seeing her like this was nothing short of heart-wrenching. He couldn't really contemplate why, but he knew… he didn't want to see her cry. He never want to see her cry, for she's someone who doesn't shed tears easily, but when she does, they were precious.

He lifted a hand and combed through her golden hair, stroking the fringe away from her moist cheeks. His hand cupped her face, with a light smile, he asked:

"Do I feel real and alive enough to you?"

Cagalli was speechless; she could feel him breathing slowly beneath her, clearly enjoying every moment spent teasing her. His hand was warm and familiar to touch, and the tingling sensation every time he touched her was still there. He's just Athrun. He's back.

With both hands she wrapped about the one on her face, feeling the warm and dry touch, wanting to make sure it real. She closed her eyes, wanting to make sure the owner of the hand is real. Athrun remained silent, and did not pull away, merely continue stroking the length of her cheeks slowly.

"Well……do I pass?" he whispered.

Cagalli nodded slightly, and opened her eyes, seeing that familiar face of the handsome coordinator come into focus.

"Close your eyes." She told him.

"Huh…?" he asked, slightly startled.

"Close your eyes." She repeated. This time he obeyed, and smile with expectation.

Cagalli clasped both their hands together; and she leaned forward slowly, planting a kiss on his lips…… He responded eagerly, reciprocating her actions, their hands tighten around each other's. Caught up in the moment of passion and desiring more of each other. All else were forgotten at that moment in time, the world around them haddissolved and the only important thing, was the only other person who existed in their world.

When they broke away, both their faces were flushed and red hot. They just looked at each other with wonder, in silence. Till Athrun broke the silence.

"Something's ...erm, amiss."

"What?" She asked in spite of herself.

"The ring, take it off."

She was startled by the sudden proclamation from him and was not sure if she heard him right. The demand stung in a way she never knew. She quickly got off him, and removed the ring, reluctantly placing it in his outstretched hand.

He took it, and gently lifted her left hand. Unceremoniously slotting the ring onto her fourth finger again, she was surprised.

But why did he…

"I can't let you put on your wedding ring yourself…" He smiled at the surprised Cagalli, looking deep into her eyes with his piercing green ones.

"You told me, that I don't know how to give a girl her ring… I've had practice now." Gently, he touched Cagalli's hand to his lips. Cagalli blushed, she received kisses on the hand before, but most were done out of formality and often accompanied by wetness and cheesy lines like 'greetings, your highness'. Unneeded gestures filled with hypocrisy in her opinion. But when Athrun kissed her hand, she could hear her heart throbbing in her ears. She was also a little amused to find him being so cheeky all of a sudden, but…that's her Athrun, someone who never failed to surprise her. He was quiet and talks very little, but every time when she thought she figured him out, he does some thing else that utterly surprise her.

"Did I do it right this time?" he asked jokily, looking at her again.

The guy introduced himself as Samson, and was the vice-captain of Celsius. He took Yzak to the docking bay, there were two mobile suits there, one was the damaged GOUF Ignited, and the other was another white mobile suit. Silver had plated some surfaces and the effect made the sight of it awe-inspiring, it was a magnificent mobile suit.

"The Mystic." He introduced, liking showing Yzak off to an old friend. "From the same line of production as Destiny and Legend. It belongs to our captain, but if you're really up for going out to save our captain…I'll loan it to you."

"Why do you think I'd want to?" Yzak asked skeptically, never taking his eyes off the Mystic.

"I'm begging you." He said as he bowed deeply.

Ten minutes later, Yzak was suit up and scanning through the list of armaments of the suit while going through the launch sequence. A beam shield, a long-ranged rifle, a double beam saber, plenty of fire power. But what puts it in the ranks of the Destiny and Legend is what eluded Yzak. Putting his concerns aside, he went through launch sequence he was so accustomed to. "Yzak Jule, Mystic. Launch off!"

Cagalli loaded her stare with as must venom as she could and glared at Athrun, who didn't even flinch, for he was used to staring matches and knew the best strategy is to wait it out.

"I'm angry." She said finally. "I'm angry because you made me cry for nothing, these eye bags are so ugly and its all your fault."

Athrun remained unperturbed, and asked in his bodyguard tone,

"Okay, I'm sorry. How would your highness want me to make up for it?"

"I want you……to be with me all your life…" she declared, smiling sheepishly. Athrun blushed, blinking at her, thinking,

That was really bold of her…

He hesitated, not sure if he could give her his word, his promise. Cagalli must have read his expression, because she quickly dismissed her last sentence with a grunt and tried to shrug it off. Athrun wrapped his arms about her small frame, holding her tightly.

"Athrun?" He didn't reply, nor made any move to let go. He just hugged her towards himself, not wanting to let the moment go. In his smallest whisper, he slowly told Cagalli, "I'm just glad I met you..."

Dearka had sunk two ships and three ZAKUs when one of the cannons on the third hit the Impulse. Dearka could hear Lunamaria scream, followed by a rush of static. He called to her,

"Luna, LUNA!"

They were fighting the battle on many fronts. Three ships were still in the wake of the damaged Celsius and the fleet and shuttle. He sunk two and blew out the engines of another four, leaving those terrorist stranded in space.

Serves them right for wanting to capture us.

Luna successfully sank three, disable two and destroyed several ZAKUs. Basically, they are supposed to warp back now or Celsius is fried.

He thrusted forward, evading the bullets that came from the port guns and thrust his weapon into the bridge of the ship. He pulled it out and jumped off, leaving the hole to sizzle and eventually explode. Than he rushed to the damaged Impulse and shouted into the intercom: "Lunamaria, are you alright! Answer me! I don't know how to explain to your sister if you died!"

"Hey chill, I can hear you…."

Her voice was shaky, but sound and audible.

"You're alive! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I think so, it doesn't hurt any where and I can feel my fingers and toes. We have to get back to them, or they'll sink Meyrin's shuttle!"

The two of them flew in the direction of the shuttle just as the severely damaged Celsius made a sudden 180 degree turn and accelerated straight into the ranks of the three enemy vessels which were clustered together in heated pursuit.

"The captain's gonna kill herself! Hurry…."

The moments snailed by as the three ships realized the deadly intention of the ravaged Zaft ship and tried to escape, desperately trying to correct their vector coordinates in time. Just as a gleam of white shot out from the escape shuttle, flying in alignment with the Celsius, as if attempting to Kamikaze as well…

The captain of Celsius set the vector and headed straight into the middle of the three ships like a bowling ball accelerating out of control. If she was lucky, she might be able to sink all three of them, on screen, the enemy ships came closer and closer. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"Captain Ileisus!"

She looked up with a jerk, totally waltzed out to see that it was Yzak Jule's face on screen. His face was pale and sweat-streaked, and he looked mighty uncomfortable.

"What are you doing out here in my Mystic! Trying to kill yourself and take my suit with you?"

"You're the one who's trying to kill yourself!" He snapped.

"Go back! NOW!"

"You can't order me around like the rest of your mindless curs!"

"What!"

"Have you spared them a thought? Do you want them to live the rest of their lives riddled with guilt. It's fate worst than death…"

"It's better than NOT having the rest of their lives to speak of! Now shut up and go back!" she shouted as the enemy fleetloomed closer and closer on screen.

"I'm not leaving without bringing you back…" He replied coldly, unsheathing the beam saber.

"You ARE! Please…just go back, don't try to save me. Save yourself, protect my crew…I'm no friend of yours, why are you so persistent? Please just do it…"

"No."

With that, he spliced the roof off the top of her head with the beam saber, exposing her suited frame to the deadly suction of space. With a flash of white, a large metal hand gripped about her, pulling her away from the damaged vessel just as the impact hit. The Mystic was caught in a bellow of orange flames the lapped at her just as the cockpit opened, and Yzak reached to yank her into the cramp interior. It closed just as quickly with him activating the airlock. And than it became very hot, and everything went black.

"YZAK!" Dearka shouted, racing towards the explosion site, only to be caught in the backlash of the erupting force and pushed backward. For a few long hard seconds, he just stared at the continuous chains of explosion issued from the destroyed vessels and felt helplessness weigh down on him. Smoke and debris drifted past his wind screen, but he could almost conclude that Yzak is gone, for no suit was built to withstand such extreme heat and destruction, even if the suit did. The occupant will most likely be fried in the inferno. Lunamaria was silent, and didn't offer any words of consolation, for she also knew it was too late…

The mystery has finally revealed itself to Yzak, the Mystic didn't have the fire power the way Destiny or Legend does, but is ridiculously maneuverable for a mobile suit that size and build, it moves like a bolt of thunder. And not to mention the fact that it has internal auto-sealing vacuum layer that insulates the interior of the cockpit from extreme temperature changes. Doesn't matter much in essence, but it just saved both their lives.

Yzak panted, the cockpit was still hot and so was the wound on his chest. The rocking had stopped and he looked at the wind screen in time to see pleasing-looking brain matter floating by.

Sorry. He thought without remorse, he had no time, no choice, no chance to change anything.

Captain Ileisus stirred and opened her eyes, she rubbed her helmeted head and asked: "Did…did we survive?"

Yzak thought it was a funny, silly question to ask for a smart woman of her caliber, he knew he was going to lose consciousness from the darkness eating away the corner of his vision, like a malignant computer virus. She had head-butt straight into his wound the moment she entered the cockpit, it couldn't be helped, and she didn't realize it. It knocked the wind out of him and he felt the stitches tear. Since she doesn't know, it was might as well. He managed a soft reply as he slowly closed his eyes, "Dead people don't feel pain……" She gasped in alarm as she saw spherical droplets of crimson liquid floating in his visor…

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That's all for Chapter 8, a nice pretty cliffhanger for all folks who read. I don't intend to let Yzak die, don't worry. And hope you enjoyed the little bit of romance from the two most awkward lovers in the whole series. Review if satisfactory, also review if not (Of course say why), glad to see reviews. Peace has not come, sadly. So expect more blood and gore in the next chapter, also might wanna check out my profile, I put up a few character analysis, Athrun first. Lacus's reply coming next chapter.