Replies, replies...
King Arthur6687- Yes, it's a really good thing that the guys stood up for the girls...and of course, Cagalli's always up to something...lol.
mal- Yes she does. Isn't that annoying?
Lomiothiel-YzaknNicol fangirl- Sent you an email, you know what I wanted to say. XD
Chibi Fyrefly- Sent you an email too...Angel of Dreams- What are Ray's feelings? Hm...you'll see...
Thank you also to Miss Akira and Soi
By the way, those of you that didn't receive emails, don't feel bad. I'm not trying to favor anyone, it's just that they asked certain questions or made certain comments that required a very lengthy response, and it would just take too much room if I posted it with the chapter.
Anyways, on with the chapter!
Ch. 14: Realization and More Scheming
"Cagalli, why are we sneaking around?" Athrun asked.
"You'll see." Cagalli answered, confusing the others even more. She looked back and forth until she spotted one of the maids dusting. "Um...excuse me..." Cagalli approached the maid.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" The maid asked, although she seemed a bit started that Cagalli addressed her.
"Well, we're looking for a library...one that's accessible that is." Cagalli added at the last minute.
"Which one?"
"Which...one?" Cagalli stammered, taken by surprise. "You mean there's more than one that we're allowed in?"
"Sure." The maid replied cheerfully. "Most rulers of Icedale so far seemed to have taken a liking to collecting books, or other sources of data. Although most of them are restricted, there are still a lot selections that are you take us to one that has a lot of history books? Especially about Orb?" Cagalli asked.
"I'm not quite sure about where specific ones about Orb are, but I'll take you to the one that has the most history books." With that, the maid led them up to the third floor, and pointed at a set of double doors at the end of the north wing.
"Thank you." Cagalli said, as the maid went on her way.
"Why did you ask a random maid where the library was when Arabella or even Elise could have narrowed it down for us even more?" Dearka asked, skeptical.
"Do you honestly think Arabella or Elise will let us find out about anything?" Cagalli retorted.
"Good point." Dearka grudgingly admitted.
"Besides, they would probably get suspicious." Lacus added.
"Well, what are we doing just standing here? Let's get on with it." Yzak stated irritably.
"All right, all right." With that, the group entered the library.
"How am I going to find that book when this place is so big?" Cagalli remarked in frustration.
"Well, at least it's not as big as the one we accidentally stumbled in to." Lacus stated, trying to make things seem better.
"There's a computer there." Kira pointed. "Maybe it will help us search." Sure enough, the computer listed all the books in the library and where each was located.
"Come on, come on, it has to be here..." Cagalli murmured as she scrolled down the list of books. "Yes! It's here!" With that, she ran towards the location.
"Section D, row 24..."
"Just out of curiosity, why did you suddenly become interested in finding a history book on Orb?" Kira asked, right behind her.
"Column 12...You'll see." Cagalli mumbled as she picked out the book and headed towards the table where everyone else currently occupied. "Hm...let's see...was it in Ch.20, or was it in Ch.22...oh, it's in Ch. 25." She declared triumphantly. "Read." The others hunched over, and started reading from the place that Cagalli pointed out.
The nation of Orb happens to be one of the few countries left on earth that still manages to hold onto the declaration of neutrality...
"Yea, right." Dearka snorted. "That's why they made those mobile suits..." All eyes turned towards him, glaring.
"This isn't the time for this." Kira stated before things turned ugly. "So Cagalli what exactly was it that you wanted to show us?"
"Keep reading." Cagalli said gruffly.
...but there are others as well that keep such policies. Icedale, a quick reference to one of such places, on the other hand, seems to have it's own set of neutrality policies that seem to enforce both extremes. This goes on to show that neutrality has no one definite meaning...
Everyone except Cagalli blinked twice. "What the heck is that suppose to mean?" Dearka shouted.
"No idea. That's why I wanted all of you to read it too. I thought one of us could figure it out." Cagalli explained.
"History books have a weird way of stating things." Athrun remarked. "This one's too vague. Maybe that's why this one's not part of the restricted selections."
"How did you manage to come across this anyways?" Miriallia asked.
"Father used to force me to read books on Orb." Cagalli sighed. "Maybe if I had listened to him more, I would have been more useful..."
"Don't me so hard on yourself Cagalli." Kira insisted.
"Not everyone can be perfect." Lacus added.
"Sometimes it's better to let go." Miriallia suggested.
"Besides, there are people around you that are willing to support you all the way. It's just that you have to trust in them and take action when necessary." Athrun added last, giving her a reassuring smile.
"You know, this shows that sometimes the hardest advice to follow is our own." Yzak added. Silence followed.
"I guess you're right..."
"Ouch!" All attention turned towards the noise.
"Elise?" The group looked down incredulously at the girl who started to pick up the books she dropped.
"Oh...hi...what are you doing here?" She stammered nervously.
"Just catching up on some reading." Cagalli replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Well...same here I guess..." Elise muttered, slowly backing away.
"Hey, wait a minute! Are those history books I see?" Athrun questioned.
"Well...yes, so they are." Elise admitted, not knowing what else to say.
Cagalli's smile suddenly grew very wide. "Looks like we're looking for the same things."
"And just what would that be?" Elise challenged.
"Any information about Arabella or Icedale." Cagalli stated flatly.
Elise sighed. "You want to share information, don't you?"
"You got it."
Elise approached them, and starting putting the books in neat little stacks. Then she eyed them closely. "Fine. I'll team up with you. But I want to be part of whatever it is you're planning." Then she eyed Yzak. "All of it."
Cagalli considered it for a moment. Then a wicked smile came on her face. "All right then." Then she turned to Yzak. "Could you go outside and make sure no one comes and hears anything?"
"Huh?" Yzak remarked. "Why me?"
"Just because!" Cagalli yelled, her temper starting to get the better of her again.
"Fine." Yzak stalked off. "If you didn't want me to hear whatever it is that you're going to say, you should have just stated it straight off." With that he shut the door.
"Wasn't that a bit too harsh?" Lacus commented.
Cagalli shrugged. "Maybe, but we had to get rid of him."
"So what is it that you want to know from me?" Elise brought them back to the topic at hand.
"First of all, I want to know why is it that the best friend of Arabella needs to sneak around to find information." Athrun asked before anyone else.
"Just because I'm the best friend of the ruler doesn't mean I know everything." Elise stated. "At least not in this country..." She added, murmuring. "This place is filled with so many secrets that sometimes it drives me crazy. But often times I get the feeling that I would be far more shocked knowing the truth. Still, for some reason, I try to find out the answers. I honestly don't know."
"I see what you mean." All eyes turned towards Miriallia, surprised that she said something. She smiled. "Since we asked you that question, I'm sure you're going to ask us something similar. I don't think I'm speaking for everyone here, but I'll just go ahead." She slightly blushed at her boldness, but continued anyways. "I don't know why exactly I'm so curious about what's going on. To tell you the truth, I have my own problems to deal with, and I'm sure everyone else has something like that too. But for some reason I'm drawn to finding out more about this place and Arabella. Maybe it has to do with the secretive atmosphere that surrounds both of them, or maybe it's because I want to get away from my own problems and focus on something that I'm not very familiar with. I just don't know."
"Helping others and at the same time helping oneself." Elise smiled meekly. "I see."
"You know, when we first saw you, you seemed like the cheery, naïve type that would prance around everywhere. But now, that's very doubtful." Cagalli commented.
"Oh, don't think that yet." Elise contradicted. "I am pretty much like that. It's just that when I came, and I saw Arabella happy...actually happy, mind you, that's really hard to see...something came over me. Anyways..." Elise swiftly changed the subject. "You also need to let me in on that project." She eyed the direction that Yzak stalked off.
"Oh...that..." Cagalli couldn't help but laugh. "So you noticed. Well, what do you think of it?"
"I'm definitely not going to disagree." Elise sat up straight. "But I'm going to have to give some more details."
"Like the fact that Arabella's a Sub-Coordinator?"
Elise accidentally knocked over one of the stacks of books. Her eyes grew wide. "Who told you that?"
"Lucia."
"Figures." She sighed. "Lucia always had too big of a mouth for her own good."
"Not to mention too inflated a head." Cagalli added.
"True, very true."
"I don't get it." Dearka suddenly interrupted. "Is it really that much of a big deal that she's mixed? Especially in a neutral country?"
Elise's eyes narrowed, almost in disdain. "You really don't understand, do you?" She sounded exasperated. "All right then, I'll try to make it clear for you. Sit. This may take awhile." Obeying, the others grabbed the nearest chair and sat. "Look, it's no secret that there will always be some tensions between Naturals and Coordinators, even with the war over. Am I right?" They nodded their heads. "Arabella is unique in that she has both attributes. She gets the good attributes of both. But she also gets the hatred received by both. A blessing and a curse. Get it? But most people, especially when there's crisis, like to focus on the bad rather than the good. So the blessing gets canceled and the curse becomes worse." Elise shook her head. "I don't know if any of this is making any sense to you but let me try to make it simpler. Arabella has very little to turn to. She receives hatred from both sides because she's neither one nor the other. And surprisingly, in a lot of ways, a neutral country is a worse setting because both sides are present."
The group just nodded their heads. After all, what could they say to something like that? "Anyways, back to what I was going to say before we got into that topic."
"What were you going to say?"
"There are a lot of things actually, but we'll come to them eventually as things go underway. First off, Arabella is not very comfortable around the opposite gender."
"Huh?" Everyone asked, not expecting something like that.
"I know, I know. No one really notices that." Elise started to explain. "But it's there. She just hides it really well."
"What makes you so sure?" Cagalli challenged.
Elise took a deep breath. "Arabella is really going to kill me if she ever finds out that I told anyone all this, but since I started it, I might as well finish it. All right, listen closely because I'm not going to repeat this, EVER again."
"All right, we're listening." They huddled together eagerly.
"I remember when we were about nine or ten, I was sitting in the main parlor, waiting for her to show up. Then suddenly, I heard shouts and screams and saw my grandmother rushing somewhere. Naturally, curiosity got the better of me, so I followed. What I saw still scares me. The first thing I saw was Bella, looking extremely pale, her clothes torn, blood smeared all over (hers or someone else's I still don't know). But what scared me most were her eyes. They were blank. No anger, no remorse, not even a hint of apathy. They were just...blank."
"So then what happened?" Cagalli asked, perhaps a bit too eagerly, that people couldn't help but give her a look.
"Well, within the week, she was crowned the new ruler of Icedale, since both her parents passed away, and me and others (because back then, this place had more people in it, and Bella had a lot more friends) were sent off far away, mostly to different countries. Luckily, since my grandmother still stayed here, I got to visit, although not as often as I would have wanted to. But Bella was always quiet, not bothering to speak unless absolutely necessary. And she alienated people. She didn't feel comfortable with anyone. Especially the opposite gender."
"Do you think that...well...maybe what happened was..." Lacus stammered, not knowing just how to put it delicately.
"Surprisingly, it wasn't that." Elise corrected. "But she might have seen, and or have experienced something just as terrible. No one really knows. Arabella never spoke about it. And the only one who knows about it is her and the bastards that did this to her." She added bitterly.
"Wait, she became the new ruler when she was only...how old was she? Nine or ten? Is that even possible? Why didn't someone else take over for her?" Dearka asked, incredulous.
"I thought that you would understand by now." Elise sighed. "Look, she took the position not necessarily because she wanted to, but because she had to keep the country from going into total chaos."
"Huh?"
"Look, she's the last of the royal lineage. If she abdicated, she would have to give the position to someone, right? And in the Icedale constitution, when a ruler abdicates, he or she has to name the successor. Now do you see where this is going?"
Cagalli nodded, understanding. "If she picks a Natural, everyone in the Coordinator faction will retaliate."
"And if she picks a Coordinator, the Naturals will retaliate." Athrun finished.
"So basically a civil war then." Dearka concluded.
Elise nodded her head. "Exactly."
Everyone stayed silent, fidgeting. None of them had any idea just where to go from there. "Anyways, what do you plan to do now with the Yzak and Arabella situation?" Elise spoke up first, lightly, trying to break the tension.
"Well...I have an idea." Cagalli suggested. "Supposedly there's going to be a New Year's Eve Ball, right?"
"As always."
"So then Arabella won't be seeing Ray until then, so why don't we try to make the two of them get to know each other better before then?" Cagalli's eyes suddenly twinkled. "In fact, I have a plan..."
"I have a plan too." Lacus added.
"And so do I." Miriallia stated.
"Well then..." Elise concluded. "Why don't we try them all?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, why not, we have three days, and three plans. It seems simple to me." Elise explained.
"Sounds good." Cagalli remarked. "This way, maybe we could get two things done at the same time. While one group distracts Arabella, the others can do some research."
Elise smiled. "You and I work very well together."
"Likewise."
"Hey, are you people done there?" Yzak poked his head inside.
(next day)
"Well, I wish you two luck Cagalli and Athrun, since you two are going first." Elise smiled.
"Don't worry about us, just do your parts." With that, the two disappeared.
"Well Kira, lets go and do some research." With that, Kira and Lacus went off on their own.
"Hey...what about us..." Miriallia protested, but by then they were gone.
"I think you should leave those two alone." Elise suggested.
"But what about..."
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be taken care of." Elise reassured her.
"So what do we do now?" Miriallia glanced back and forth between Dearka, Elise, and herself.
"Well why don't you two go and enjoy yourselves?" Elise suggested. "I mean, you can't possibly think only about Arabella all the time. I'm sure you have enough things to deal with on your own. Just like you mentioned before." Elise added.
"What about you?"
"Well, I'm just going to sit here and see how everything goes." Elise smiled, amused.
"Well, alright then...but that doesn't mean that my problems necessarily have to do with Dearka or anything." Miriallia stated quickly, perhaps too quickly. "I'm just going to let him tag along because I'll probably be bored by myself."
"Sure. I never meant anything by it." Elise gave them an innocent look.
(Elise POV)
I watched the last two leave.
Smiling, I relaxed, getting comfortable on the soft cushions and pillows of the sofa. Then I grabbed a cup of tea with my right hand, and a novel with the other. This was going to turn out very interesting. Sure, this was mainly about helping Bella, but that didn't mean no side effects would occur...
Good things come in pairs. When we help others, sometimes we accidentally get something good back in return. I can't help but smile at the different couples. How true it is.
Chapter done...
Yes, a lot of angst. This chapter has more dialogue and thoughts than actions. It just turned out that way I guess...
Hm...I don't know...I'm seriously starting to worry about this story now...maybe it's not turning out so well...I don't know...(maybe it's just cause I've been in a bit of a depressed mood this week that I'm thinking that...) Maybe my writing's starting to get messed up? I don't know...
But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing or anything. Just need to try harder, that's all.
So how was this chapter?
I really appreciate reviews (yes, even criticism) anything's fine.
Next chapter we'll see just what Cagalli's scheme is, and also a little scene with Kira and Lacus, and also what Dearka and Milly are up to too...
Oh, and of course, thanks always goes to all the readers out there.