Cagalli braced herself for the uneasy landing her shuttle was just minutes from executing. She always hated boarding the Archangel via shuttle. Something about the ship rattling her insides made her a bit queasy. Of course Lacus' news about her brother probably played a large role in that as well.
"Cagalli the ship is in sight. We should be able to board in five minutes." Kisaki announced from the breezeway of the aisle she was on.
"Five minutes!" She cried out. "What the hell is taking so long?"
Kisaki frowned and folded his arms. "I know your feelings are unstable with the news of your brother, Cagalli. But this is hardly the time nor place to forget your position."
She tapped her fingers impatiently on the arm rest of her chair, cursing herself for losing her cool so easily. Sighing, she collected herself and nodded politely. "Forgive me Kisaki. As you said, I can't seem to get a hold on my emotions. I will do my best to see it won't happen again." Kisaki said nothing but his eyes gleamed with approval and Cagalli couldn't help but feel giddy. She had always respected her former bodyguard and although she hated to admit it, she valued his opinions and wanted him to be proud of the woman she was becoming.
The ship lurched forward hard and came to a sudden halt after a long, and as Cagalli would attest to, stomach lurching descent. "Lady Cagalli we have boarded the Archangel." A small and ruddy man announced from the front entrance of the shuttle. Cagalli bit down on her tongue to keep her from running full force down the shuttle steps. She was anxious to find out about Kira's condition and at the same time reluctant. What if it was worse than Lacus said? Though she couldn't imagine it could be. A coma was something to worry about and Cagalli doubted that Lacus would have bothered call her had it been something other than serious.
"Cagalli I will go to the bridge and touch base with Captain Ramius", Kisaki announced. He saluted her and took his leave, passing the two guards rushing to take his place at her side. Her trusted bodyguards. It annoyed her how eager they were to protect her. Even when she felt their time would be better spend with their own loved ones. Still she said nothing as her "guards in arms" followed closely behind her.
"Hey brat!" A smug and familiar voice called from the deck above her. She looked up, locking eyes with the owner of the voice.
"Mwu? I didn't expect the first person I see when I arrived to be you!"
He grinned at her. "It sounds like you aren't happy to see me Representative Attha?" He replied with mock hurt. She couldn't help but grin. He always went one of two ways with her. She either wanted to strangle him for being so smug and not thinking before he opened his mouth. Or she wanted to roll over in pain from laughing so hard at his 'unique' sense of humor.
"So what brings you here"? Mwu asked, as he studied her very conspicuous entourage. Cagalli noticed that he was sincere when he asked what brought her to the ship and stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell do you mean what brings me here?" She spat out. Of all the insensitive things he had done in the past in regards to her, implying that she had no right to be concerned about her brother's well being had to be the lowest. "I am here to see Kira! How can you be such a jerk at a time like this?"
"Huh? Whoa wait a second. Calm down! What exactly is going on here?" Mwu asked. He knew the young blonde had a temper. But she never really flew off the handle without a fairly good reason.
Cagalli snorted and folded her arms. "I really don't have time for this, Mwu. I have a sick brother to see!"
"Sick? Kira?" Mwu was getting more and more confused by the second. He remembered going to Murrue's quarters earlier to flirt with her, but he could have been gone for more than an hour. He wondered if that was enough time to miss out on something as important as a companion's well being?
"Of course Kira! What other brothers do I have", Cagalli snapped. "Now which med room is he in? Or did they take him to the main infirmary?"
"Uh I hate to upset you further but..I have no idea what you are talking about!" Mwu confessed. His mind started a new regiment of questions in his mind conerning Cagalli's mental health and rather or not she was in need of a break from the duties of Orb.
"WHAT?" she practically screamed. "I thought you were pretty close with Kira? How on earth can you be so calm when he is lying somewhere on this ship defenseless?"
Mwu frowned at her. "Lying defenseless? Look Cagalli, I don't know what you've heard or from who you have heard it. But Kira was doing maitenance checks on the gundams in the docking area just this morning!"
"EH?" Cagalli's eyes almost bogged out of her head. What the hell was going on? She knew she wasn't crazy and that Lacus had indeed called her just the other day to tell her about Kira's condition. "I don't understand!"
Mwu just shrugged and watched Cagalli hop in the elevator behind him. "Hey Where are you going?"
Cagalli frowned. "To find the infimary and for Kira's sake he better be in it!"
Kira scratched his head anxiously. He was nervous about Lacus' plan, not to mention terrified of Cagalli's reaction when she realized it was all a trick to lure her to the Archangel.
"Stop scratching or you are going to give yourself blisters!", Lacus lectured. Kira sighed and dropped his hands obediently.
"Sorry. Nervous habit and these bandages are killing me. Tell me again why I have to wear them?" Kira already knew what the answer would be, but it didn't stop him from hoping that Lacus would humor him and...well call the whole thing off. A reassuring smile that always made Kira believe that anything was possible as long as he had her, spread across her lips. "Trust me Kira. I know what I'm doing and remember..we are doing this for Cagalli and Athrun."
Kira couldn't help but smile at Lacus' enthusiasm. Though deep down he knew the truth about her inane plan. It could be broken down into two simple scenarios. Scenario one would have his sister arriving with him in the bed, wrapped with bandages and deep in slumber and thinking-'my poor brother'! And he would then make a miraculous recovery and she would have more time to spend refamiliarizing herself with Athrun. And then there was scenenario two, which Kira , unfortunately, found more likely to occur. In this scenario, Cagalli sees him, realizes she has been scammed , and decides to give him a real reason for being in the infirmary. Kira winced subconsciously, already feeling the sting from the slap he was certain he would soon receive.
Footsteps could be heard echoing, loudly down the hall. Each step rivaling the panicked beats of Kira's heart. Lacus pushed him back onto his pillow and to his amazement, produced the most convincing, grief-stricken face that he had ever seen. He had to admit that the girl had talent. Maybe they would be able to pull this off.
Cagalli paused at the infirmiry door. She took a moment to collect herself before pushing the door open. The first person to register on her radar was Lacus, who she found leaning forward, with her hair covering her face. "Lacus?" Cagalli approached her cautiously. She placed a hand on the young girl's shoulders, before daring to look at the occupant in the bed before them.
"Oh Kira!" Cagalli barely breathed out. She took a slow step toward his bed, reaching her hand out to move a few stray hairs from his face. She grasped the pillow tightly with one hand while placing the other hand tightly against her side. Taking in a deep breath, she yanked the pillow from under Kira's head and raised it high above him. Lacus inhaled quickly. barely having time to react.
Swak! Kira bolted up in pain. "Ha! I knew you were faking! We may not have some deep, supernatural bond that alot of other twins have. But I can certainly tell when my little brother is faking!"
Kira gulped loudy. He was certain now that he was about to die. Lacus stepped in between them and threw a pleading look at Cagalli. "Please do not be mad at Kira. It was all my idea".
"What was your idea? What is going on?" Cagalli demanded. She hated being the butt of people's jokes and hoped that Lacus had a very good explanation as to why she was thrown into a bucket of worry over an injury that never happened.
"Well you see...Athrun is here", Lacus began. "And we thought it would be nice if you two were able to talk properly, face to face. And since both of you are so stubborn, we had to think of a way to get you both in the same place, at the same time."
Cagalli frowned. "So you did all this so that me and Athrun could be together?" Lacus nodded and Cagalli, for once, was utterly speechless. She wasn't sure how she should feel about the situation. One the one hand, she was furious at the scheme and had to resist the urge to jump up and down on Kira's head. But there was a slight sense of intrigue as well. She was grateful that they cared enough to risk her anger. And that they did it all for the sake of her happiness.
A knock at the door jarred everyone in the room and Cagalli's nerves stood on end. Green emerald eyes met golden ones. "Cagalli?"
Cagalli found her voice missing in action and a lump the size of the strike gundam in her throat. She wasn't sure why he was having such a profound effect on her. Part of her wanted to run for her shuttle and get as far away from him as possible. And the other part of her, the one that annoyed Cagalli the most, wanted nothing more than for him to grab her and kiss the living daylights out of her. She was a tad bit peeved that he hadn't done it yet. "Athrun..it..is good to see you".
They stood in silence, taking in every aspect of the other. There was so much they wanted to say to each other and yet so much they were afraid to admit. Cagalli stepped forward to say something, when an alarm suddenly went off. All eyes shifted to the terminal and scanner on the wall. Kira frowned. "It seems the Minerva and the Earth Forces are at it again." Cagalli threw Kira an anxious look and Kira changed gears. "Don't worry Cagalli. I made a promise to you that I would always protect Orb and do what I can to stop the fighting. I have no intention of breaking that vow!"
Athrun threw Kira a "I'll be right there with you" look as Kira ran out. Athrun shot a quick smile to Cagalli and ran after Kira, leaving Cagalli and Lacus to their own thoughts and fears. Cagalli watched Lacus' study the schematics of the battle religiously and wondered if it was out of love for Kira that she even agreed to board the ship? If Lacus was capable of leaving PLANT and live a brand new life all for the man she loved, than why couldn't she? Cagalli wondered if she could ever be the type of person that could put her love above her people? She wasn't sure if it was possible but she believed that she also had the right to be happy. Or did she? She jumped, hearing the explosions around them and thought that it was something worth looking into.
TBC