Chapter 27: Ti amo-part 1
The next morning Yzak sat up with a start, and rubbed his eyes absent-mindedly, amazed that it was still dark outside. He got up mechanically and washed up, when he was coherent enough he walked towards the window with a big yawn. And the most curious sight greeted him…
"Sedna…Sedna! Wake up!" He called and Sedna blinked irritably, "What time is it?"
"Seven thirty…" Yzak answered after consulting the clock briefly, "Get up, I've something to show you!"
"What?"
"Get up and you'll know!" he replied hurriedly, pulling her hand.
"I want a good morning kiss first…" she demanded sheepishly at the pajamas-clad boy, but Yzak didn't have the time nor the patience to entertain her. He dragged her off the bed and led her to the window and pointed outside. "See!"
She rubbed her eyes as she examined the scenery, "White…white…and white. New snow and more snow?" She asked uncertainly…
"White?" He whispered, "That couldn't be right…a moment ago it was…" But Sedna placed a finger on his lips and looked at him with her eyes half closed. "I'd rather look at you…You look better than the snow out there."
Yzak raised an eyebrow…just yesterday
"This, is December city." Sedna announced cheerily as she led Yzak out of the military base. Yzak's eyes widened as the doors slid open, he's never seen so much white in his life, and coupled with the fact that he was asleep all the way from Aprilius to the meeting room. He didn't catch the scenery beyond his car window either.
December city is said to be made to emulate an average winter on Earth, which is about negative three degrees out, natural refrigerator temperatures…
And Yzak marveled how some people could walk around in only the Zaft uniform. He was clad in his Senator's uniform, long johns, a warm coat, a yarn scarf and he still couldn't feel his fingers and toes. And he winched as a chilly wind blew past, stinging his face and worming its way into the loose folds of his clothing and attacking every expose bit of skin like a dagger.
"I don't like it." He told Sedna crossly. She's the one who suggested they take a few days off in December City to visit the ski resort, promising relaxation, comfort, excitement and breath-taking sceneries, but Yzak had already made up his mind that it was torturous enough to be standing there, much less move in this weather conditions.
Shiho responded almost immediately, "Mr Jule, this way to the car." Sedna pulled Yzak's hand back and looked into his eyes, the best strategy… "What!" He demanded, uncomfortable with the way she gazed into his eyes. She smiled eerily and waved an item in front of Yzak's face, and Yzak paled. "Where'd you get that!" He uttered as he reached out to snatch it back, Shiho went to help but was curious to see what it was, Sedna jumped backwards limberly and slipped it into her breast pocket. "Come get it then…" she teased as she skipped a few more steps, "Or I'll make a hundred copies and post it all over the internet!"
"Don't you dare!" Yzak hollered, trying to hide his panic.
"Coming then?"
And here he is with his first skiing experience, fortunately he picks things up quickly and by mid-day he had cleared the beginners and intermediate levels. After a lunch of spaghetti and hot tea, he and Sedna took the cable up the mountain to challenge the advanced level. Shiho insisted on following even though she hadn't cleared the intermediate, Yzak sighed, knowing a whole battalion will be following him whether he liked it or not, he just wanted to spent time with Sedna alone… and it seemed like the hardest thing on earth. He almost swore that he believed in genies just so one can appear and magic them away…
---
Shiho Hahnefuss bit her lip, itching to tear the female officer away from her commander, who is now her charge. That woman once tried to kill him, and Shiho wasn't about to forgive her anytime soon. It is quite unbelievable that now they are well-known boy and girl friend, and on the same cable car…
"Shiho." the twenty year old Zaft officer, Kelvin Turner called to her, which caused her to snap out of her trance.
"Hmm…?"
"You like Yzak don't you?" His statement caught her off guard and she almost fell off the open air cable car and to the treetops below, he caught her by the arm and laughed as he declared, "Bulls eye."
"Who says!"
"Yours truly."
She wanted to say something, but she shut her mouth quickly, knowing she probably couldn't win a verbal wrestle with of all people, Kelvin Turner, the most notorious loudmouth in the whole of Voltaire. He took her moment of silence to suggest, "You still have a chance…"
Shiho looked up in spite of herself, "You can keep a closer watch on our commander, and they won't have a chance to do a thing…"
"…I thought you were stupid, I was wrong…" Shiho replied hesitantly after a moment of silence, "You realize I'm a genius only now?" He said as he combed through his hair in a manner he perceived as suave.
"You're not as thin as the air here..."
---
"Yee…Haw!" Sedna shouted as she sped all the way down the steep mountain side, making a hundred and eighty turn to brake, spraying snow in all directions. Yzak came a few seconds later and Sedna congratulated him, "Hee…We finished the advanced, all in a day! And this is the first time I won you in anything…"
"I'm not enjoying this…" Yzak muttered with a deep frown.
"Just because I won?" She asked carefully as she pursed her lips, "Come on, my confidence has taken a bit of a dip when I lost to you 55 draws, 27 lost…" she admitted, looking at the floor. Yzak wanted to laugh, "It's not that… I'm not enjoying any of these because……" He hesitated, deciding whether Sedna was slow or she was acting as if she didn't see the pairs of eyes that came peeping out of almost every direction.
"Because…?"
"Ah… NOTHING!" he almost shouted as he threw up his hands in frustration. He kicked off his skis and took her hand, she did the same quickly and followed him, together the two ran to edge of the clearing and into the coniferous forest, boots crunching on the snow beneath their feet. "Yzak, you do know where we're going, right?"
"No idea…" He admitted as he flashed her a quick smile, one reeking with childishness that indicated that he was happy and someone else is gonna be very sad…
---
"Eagles's on the loose!" Shiho declared as broke out from cover and ran forward, "Yagami, Drake, Fabian, Kelvin, Elvin, give chase!" Kelvin ran forward even before the command is given, grinning from ear to ear, and several people were in the wake of their runaway Councilor, darting left and right to avoid hitting the trees…
---
Yzak heard the chase going on behind him and he changed direction suddenly, almost causing Sedna to fall. He steadied her before they built up speed again, it was the best way to lose them for they will run forward in the same direction until they realize his foot prints are missing and have to back track till they find it again. Up ahead, a light shined through the dense canopy and Yzak smiled, hoping that they have made it at last. But the moment was fleeting and he had to bend his knees sideways, braking just in time to prevent falling off the cliff…
After the close call, he plucked up the courage to looked down stoically, and found that he was staring into a deep, dead valley lined with whitish cracked ice, and a layer of deep mist shrouded the whole terrain, casting an eerie glow to its existence…His left leg was hanging dangerously off the thin slab of ice that form the cliff, and it was so thin that he could see through it. Yzak just sat there for the moment, unable to barge.
Sedna, who was not as unfortunate to be half hanging off an ice cliff, laughed at this point, and said cheerfully, "Wrong direction then… Up, next time I'll bring a map." She stretched her other hand to help him up, Yzak heaved a small sigh of disappointment and relief as he didn't move, knowing his escape plan had failed and he just escaped certain death owing to his own recklessness. Someone just had to make his defeat more pronounced as his head pooped up through the canopy of the trees, "Mr Jule!"
It was Kelvin Turner, and he looked happy. Shiho came running to him as well, "Mr Jule, are you alright?" And reached out a hand to pick him up as she bent her knees slightly.
And at this point he felt downright stupid, for she has been acting as if he was a five year old boy who fell down and started crying 'mama'. Coupled with the fact that he was now her eighteen year old charge, maybe she had a reason to do that. He admired Shiho for her bravery and level-headedness in missions, that's why she was made home guard captain by the council. It wasn't easy to go back to the subordinate-superior relationship, but Yzak thought she could manage. Now there seemed to be too much unneeded emotion in their supposedly formal relationship…He felt that Shiho was trying too hard to protect him, especially when there is nothing he has to be protected from. The humiliation didn't end there when Shiho, seeing his hesitation, asked him with concern, "Did you sprain an ankle or something? I'll help you."
"I don't need any help." He snapped defiantly as he shoved her hand away, deeply annoyed with his body guard. And when Yzak Jule is annoyed, somebody dies. He got up quickly just to prove his point and added, "See." Just to spite her. But his sudden movement has its consequences, and the consequence was announced by a loud crack that resonated somewhere beneath his feet and echoed in the empty valley.
"Uh-oh." Sedna managed to mutter before she wrapped her arm around Yzak as the ground literally just fell away beneath their feet. Yzak gasped in surprise as one hand draped protectively about the lady beside him and the other reached out to grope for a hand hold, anything. What he reached was some one's hand, namely someone named Shiho Hahnefuss. "Commander, HOLD ON!" She yelled as she reached out her other hand to grip Yzak's gloved hand more tightly.
Sedna was holding on to the side of the cliff, she winched as the icy edges saw through her gloves and ate into her skin, causing blood to stream down her hand. Yzak saw and shouted, "Don't let go!" She nodded grimly, as if his words suddenly gave her upmost courage. Yzak Jule is not in the business of encouraging people, but he just did…
The others are coming to help now, Kelvin's head disappeared from the treetops and reappeared pulling at Sedna's hand. Yzak also tried to pull himself upwards by searching for something to step on… He and Sedna held on together stubbornly, trying to prevent each other from falling if one of them looses their grip.
Just as Yzak found a little icy ledge to stand on and the chance of surviving seems good, Mother Nature had to thrown something into the mix. And the something was a strong gush of wind that caused the ice to crack audibly a second time under the combined weight of eight people, and the ledge bent forward with a sudden lurch…Sedna's hand slipped off the ledge but was caught shortly by Kelvin. Shiho desperately had to find something to hold behind her to prevent herself from slipping down the cliff that hung dangerously at thirty degree angle. Yagami and Fabian then anchored themselves to the tree and were holding Shiho's hood and arm respectively. The strain on her arm is becoming unbearable as she clenched her teeth to contain the pain. "Shiho, hold on!" Yagami shouted from behind her. "I won't let go!" she promised, both to herself and her comrades, she wasn't about to let Yzak die here…
At that instant, Shiho realized something is terribly wrong; Yzak's hand is slipping out of the glove… She was losing him… "Commander!" She called helplessly as Yzak realized it too. His blue eyes were oddly calm as he remained silent, and he took a deep breath as if to steady himself under these dire circumstances. In a small and firm voice he told Shiho, "You've done well, soldier… I'm proud to be your superior."
And with that Shiho lost grip, and could only watch as Yzak got torn away from her in slow motion. But Sedna circled his belt with her other arm and held on to him, and grimaced softly as more blood came streaming down her weaker left arm. She could feel Mr Turner's grip slipping as well due to the crimson lubrication, Yzak saw the blood and ordered her, "LET GO!", for he knew that she cannot hope to drag the combine weight of both of them upwards with her injured hand.
"No." she answered defiantly.
"Can't you JUST LISTEN for ONCE!" He yelled, "It's either me or the two of us…"
"I rather it be the two of us…"
And with that, her bloodied hand slipped out of Kelvin's grip……
Shiho leaped forward impulsively, trying to reach that woman's hand. But Kelvin grabbed her by the waist to stop her from falling over as well. "Don't STOP ME, LET GO OF ME!" She yelled as she struggled against the grip of the male coordinator. She could only watch numbly, as both of them tumbled gracelessly into the abyss below. "Commander…?" she asked no one, and her voice came out as a bare whisper, one strangled by fear. Tears threatened to blind her as she digested what just happened slowly and reluctantly, now that nothing can cushion the impact. Rationale told her he's really gone, but a part of her held on to the longing of seeing him again. And that part of her was feeling the pain…the pain that was tearing her apart……
Fat droplets of tears fell onto the snow, and Shiho couldn't control herself anymore as she shouted at the top of her lungs…"COMMANDER!"
---
Excitement, fun, no deaths, promise.