A/N:
Thanks for all the nice reviews, really appreciate them. I'm glad you liked it, so here is the second chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I had some technical problems(again) and the school has started :S
Special thanks to TheDarkSpirit182 for being the first one to face my horrid writing and grammar. So the rest of you can enjoy it some more.
Hehe, forgot to put up a disclaimer at the first chap…oh well (BTW does anyone actually care?)
DISCLAIMER : I don't own anything from GS/GSD
XOXOXOXOX
Athrun slowly opened his green eyes and winced from the bright light. Quietly muttering some curses under his nose he turned off the annoying alarm clock that had interrupted his sleep and looked at the time. It was 10am. The blue haired boy sighed and sat up in his bed while stretching. He hated mornings, even despite the fact that he actually got plenty of sleep more often than not.
He stood up and vacated his bedroom after making up his bed. After exiting his bedroom he turned left and proceeded down the hallway, passing three other rooms. He never knew why he had a total of four bedrooms in his home. It was not like he could occupy all four of them. Athrun walked towards the bathroom, located at the end of the hall, enjoying the feeling of his bare feet brushing against the soft, blue carpet covering the floor.
After ending his morning procedures and cursing over the little cut to his right cheek he gained while shaving he proceeded back to his room and opened his closet to pick his outfit for today. There was not much to pick from – the closet was filled with black pants and black shirts, few blue and green t-shirts aside. After getting dressed he got downstairs to the first floor and turned towards the kitchen.
After standing there for a few moments he realized that he is not feeling hungry today and decided to head to work straight away. He crossed the large guestroom, which occupied almost all the first floor and could easily get mistaken for a dance floor due to its polished, wooden floor, if it wouldn't be for the leather sofas positioned across the room.
After putting on his black shoes and coat he opened the door and stepped outside. He shivered for a few seconds while getting used to the cold weather outside, opposite of his warm and cozy house. Athrun raised his emerald eyes towards the crystal clear blue sky and sighed, after noticing his own breath. It sure is getting cold. I wouldn't wonder if it would start to snow later on.
After hesitating a bit he decided he would walk to work instead of driving – after all it was not far and he decided that the fresh morning air would be good for him. Athrun looked over his shoulder towards the house and his eyes narrowed a bit, as if he would be focusing on something. After few moments he heard the electronic lock of the door closing, and a small, red light lit up on his watch.
Looking content with this the blue haired boy turned left and started to walk down the tidy sidewalk letting the cold wind brush against his face. After a while he passed another house that looked just like his, only difference was that this one had dark red curtains covering its large windows instead of dark blue ones. Athrun stopped for a moment and wondered should he snatch Shinn along the way or not.
He decided to let him sleep if that was what he was still doing and crossed the street, entering what seemed like a large park. Athrun frowned while walking forward the narrow stone path. All the trees and bushes had lost all their leaves and the usually colorful park now seemed lifeless, although fountains were still working, breaking the morning silence with the sound of a flowing water.
The blue haired boy stepped towards one of the fountains and placed his hand in to the icy water, causing small waves scatter across the surface. Athrun lifted his hand towards his lips and took a sip of the icy liquid. It refreshed him, he felt completely awake now. He wiped his hand in his coat's sleeve and proceeded towards the big, round building with large glass windows, which towered at least 15 stories high above the ground.
His sight traveled from the tall building towards some small houses that could be seen in a distance, towards a building that seemed like a large restaurant and finally…towards a high wall, stretching to both sides as far as he could see. Athrun smiled sadly and resumed his walk towards the large tower-like building, with golden letters "Gundam OS" above its entrance.
After the company was established Kira and him had decided to buy a piece of land around the main building – in the end the said piece turned out to be a nine square kilometer large, three kilometer in width and length. About ten month ago, after some 'incidents' with the syndicates the large wall was built around the property. It was 3.5 meters high, made from reinforced steel, processed with some other material developed by Kira.
Electric fence was located at the top of the wall with enough magnitude to kill a human should he touch it. Sounded a bit radical, but one could assume that no one had any business on top of the 3.5 meter high wall, and if someone was up there – he was up to no good anyway. It was like an island of peace in the middle of a raging ocean, which no storms could reach. Only one gate connected the small island and the rest of the city.
The large gate was located in the east wall and was heavily guarded. Just like the rest of the wall. It was guarded by guards that could not be bribed with anything - the newly developed defense net system which consisted of computerized defenses. All cars going trough the gate were fully scanned with the newest scanners available, searching for any weapons or explosives onboard.
If such things were located…well…the newly developed defense net system would activate and turn the car in to pile of rubble in matter of seconds. All along the wall and especially in front of the gate small metal circles could be seen on the ground. Should the need arise these small metal plates would slid aside allowing undersized gattling canons to appear and take action.
The best part of this defense net system was the fact that it can be directly controlled by human brainwaves, if one was given such authority - which ensured that no computer hacking could tamper with the system. And only three people had the authority to issue orders to the Gundam OS defense net. Basically this protected area around the Gundam OS had become the only safe zone in ORB.
Zone around the east wall was empty for the most part, only three identical houses were placed alongside the 3 km long wall, along with a local hospital and fire station. Living complex and some private houses were scattered along the north wall. Most of the employees that worked for the Gundam OS were living in the apartment buildings. The small private houses were occupied by various people with high status in society, or simply with thick wallets – people who didn't want to have anything to do with Seirans and Azraels and could afford to pay the rather large rent.
And many people did – there were enough rich people who would gladly sacrifice a part of their wealth to be able to live in this safe haven, secure from the grim reality that raged on the other side of the fence. The area beside the south wall was filled with shops, restaurants and other facilities that would satisfy the needs of inhabitants.
Middle area was basically a large park with lots of fountains and benches where people could sit during the summer. A small world born only ten months ago, a little island of relative peace where some people could forget the worries of their lives. Syndicates held no influence here.
This is how people would live in a normal world. Instead this was but a small box inside a container. And he hated it. Athrun hated the scenery of this little peaceful micro world that lied before him. It reminded him how fake this peace is. Tidy walkways and parks… happy people walking around the southern streets… this was but an illusion. World was not like this.
Each step outside this small cage reminded him that the world is not like that. The world outside was cruel and merciless. It took lives and homes of people without hesitation, happiness was almost non existent outside these walls. Cruel reality ruled outside that crushed everything in its path. Everything that was not covered by these walls, just as it had crushed his and his friends' childhoods.
Athrun clenched his hands in to fists, standing in front of the OS building, watching back on this small utopia. If only we could expand these walls… he turned around and gazed up, eyeing the tall building, located at the centre of the large park. But maybe some day they will expand. His green eyes narrowed, sadness appeared on his young and handsome, yet harsh face.
Yes, the walls will definitely expand. Too much had been sacrificed already. There was too much suffering in this country for it to continue living this way. A lot of good men have died in their vein fight for a better tomorrow. But all was not in vein. After all, they were still alive, and as long they were here there was still hope. After all – the peak of all the efforts to stop the syndicates was still alive. And that man was also still alive.
Athrun sighed and helplessly lowered his head. Such grand dreams, yet all they could do was sit by in their sanctuary and watch as ORB gets slowly devoured of all its life. Their home was slowly dying along with the hopes and dreams of the people living in this nightmare they called home. But people still hoped. Still dreamed for better days to come... a dream considered lost by many. But it will come true.
Of that Athrun was sure. Just as his two friends. Only thing they didn't know is when. All they could do for now is sit by and watch for the most part. The grip of the Syndicates was too great… at least for now. Athrun turned around and entered the building, heading towards the reception desk. Yes, only for now.
As he approached the reception his face had regained its normal appearance. He was ready to work again. It was not often such nostalgic thoughts crossed his mind, but everyone had their dreams and worked their best to achieve them. And that's what he had to do now – work.
"Good morning, Zala-kun". Athrun was greeted by the young man sitting behind the desk, cheerful expression on his face.
"Good morning, Youlan" Athrun slightly nodded his head towards the young man "Anything I should know?"
"Yes. Mr. Yamato said he is leaving for today because of some personal matters, so he asked for you to attend to the business meeting with the 'Gondova' company."
Athrun sighed. He hated to attend to business meetings. They usually were a waste of time and nothing more than talking over the facts that were already stated in the contract. The 'Gondova' was a network of banks across ORB and they were interested in purchasing the new defense net system for all their banks, which promised to be quite profitable. And Athrun could very well guess what the 'private matters' of his friend is, so he didn't mind to take Kira's place to help his friend.
"Oh, and another thing" A large grin appeared on Youlan's face.
Athrun raised an eyebrow "What's that?"
Youlan nodded his head in the direction of the waiting room. "You have a visitor"
Athrun didn't even have time to turn around when he heard someone running towards him from behind. He sighed as he felt two arms wrap around his neck.
"Athrun, sweetie, how are you today?"
The blue haired boy freed himself from the woman's grasp and turned around. "Nice to see you too miss Campbell." His expression sure didn't seem as happy as his words exclaimed.
The girl in front of him was quite beautiful. She had nice features and her pink, wavy hair reminded him of that girl Kira liked and most probably was visiting now. She wore a pink miniskirt that didn't reach her knees and black stockings, along with almost knee length brown boots. Her black jumper was a bit shorter than it should, reveal a bit of her slim waist.
Doesn't she feel cold walking like this outside?
The pink haired girl pouted and placed her hands on her hips. "Geez, what's with all the formality? Just call me Meer."
Athrun sighed and turned away annoyed look on his face. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to talk right now. I have a lot of work to do." With this phrase he turned away and started to walk towards the elevator, located at the far wall of the hall. Meer watched as the blue haired boy takes his leave with surprised look on her face for a couple of seconds, but then her cheerful smile returned and she quickly shuffled her feet and caught up to Athrun and clung to his arm looking up at him and smiling.
"You sure are a very liable man, Athrun. You always do your best and never let anything interrupt you, as should be expected from someone in such a high position." A curious expression appeared on her face. "What are you working on right now?"
Athrun turned towards her and looked in her blue eyes with a rather harsh glare. "Miss Campbell. That is not something I can discuss with anyone, and I have a meeting in an hour, so I really don't have time right now." The elevator arrived and Athrun stepped inside, not looking quite pleased with the fact that the pink hared girl followed him.
He sighed and moved his finger towards the button with a number 14 on it – his office was located on the 14th floor. Suddenly something caught his attention as his eyes traveled across the large mirror covering one fourth of the elevators cabin. He stared at the reflection of his own cheek with a tad of surprise for a second, before his composed look returned on his face, with a tad of satisfaction added to the mix when he didn't find the small cut he had received while shaving.
I see. I guess the research data were correct after all. Who would have thought that … his thought were interrupted by Meer's voice "Oh, that's ok Athrun, I will go to the meeting together with you."
Athrun looked at the smiling girl with annoyance in his emerald eyes and freed his hand from her grip. "Look, this is an important meeting and ordinary people have nothing to do with it."
Meer pouted for a second "that was mean, Athrun" smile returned to her face "but don't worry – I asked my father and he said I could come. Oh, my father is the vice president of the 'Gondova', so he will be there as well, so see – I can come" She grabbed Athrun's arm again and obviously looked very content with the shocked look on the boys face.
Athrun's finger froze just before pressing the button and he looked at Meer in disbelief. He opened his mouth again and wanted to say that he won't let her come anyway, but stopped. Damn…if her father is the vice president then he might consider it rude that I didn't let his daughter to come, and that could be bad for the deal, but spending at least two hours with her sitting next to me…Athrun shivered a bit at the thought.
Well it was not like Meer was bad or anything. And Athrun had to admit she was quite pretty. But he didn't like her attitude – she was too loud and lively. Not that he would mind a girl being lively, but somehow to him Meer seemed lively in annoying way, and her constant talking tended to get on his nerves. It was pretty obvious that Meer had a crush on him.
But Athrun was not interested in her. That much was obvious to probably anyone but Meer herself. He was never interested in her during the two month she had been trying to get closer to him, ever since she and her family had moved in to live in the 'garden', as he and his two friends referred to this little haven they had created. As always the three friends had visited the new residents, and the young girl had showed interest in him from the first moment they met.
And now Athrun was stuck with a dilemma. Damn, what should I do…? I can't just tell her off because that might affect the business in a bad way… but I sure don't want to spend that much time sitting beside her either. Damn.
Feeling a bit lost at what to do Athrun quickly slid his sight across the hall, as if hoping that a salvation of some sort would come. And it did. Trough the glassy doors he could see a figure of a man with black hair dressed in black approaching. An idea quickly formed in his mind, and he slid his finger down the panel and pressed 4th button. Shinn's office was on the fourth floor.
"Athrun, what's this?" Meer pointed towards a red button without any symbols on it, located just under the button 1st.
"That's nothing, it doesn't work right now, don't worry about it."
Meer pouted and looked like she was a bit offended "Come on, Athrun, why don't you tell me anything?"
Athrun looked back at her, a little annoyance appearing in his green eyes as well. "I told you it doesn't work, so please don't bother me about it Miss Campbell." He trailed off, looking at the red button. This is not something that anyone should ever know… especially you.
Meer let go of Athrun's arm and crossed her hands on her chest, giving Athrun an offending look. "That was rude, Athrun. That is not how you talk to a lady."
The blue haired boy just rolled his eyes and stepped out of the elevator which had stopped at the fourth floor and took the right turn and started to walk down the hallway, Meer closely following him. He stopped at one door that said 'Asuka Shinn'. Athrun quickly stroke a few keys on the small panel located near the door it opened. He turned his gaze towards Meer.
"I'm sorry, but you can not come in here, I have some work to do, it would be best if you leave now." With that he stepped inside the office and closed the door behind him, leaving the obviously confused Meer behind him.
The pink haired girl stood outside without moving for a few seconds, disbelief showing in her widened eyes. Then she finally sighed and sat down on a chair near the cabinet's door. Geez, how rude... leaving a girl just like that, what is his problem. Her face lit up a bit. But it can't be helped he must be very busy right now, so his mind must be occupied with work. I'll just wait here until he comes out, then we can go to the meeting together.
"Athrun-san, I will just wait for you here, that way we can both go to the meeting, okay?" She decided to take the silence as a 'yes' and laid back I the chair, closing her eyes and starting to hum a quiet song.
Athrun sighed and heavily fell in to Shinn's chair behind the desk. Damn, I just hope Shinn will agree to this. He hates meetings a lot more than I do. He slid his fingers trough his dark blue hair and sighed again. Why can't she understand that I am not interested in her? Why can't she just stop following me around like this. I hope that Shinn gets here soon.
Elevator door opened and Shinn stepped outside and slowly started to walk towards his office, head bowed down, clutching a bouquet of blood red roses in his hand. The look on his face showed that he was deeply sad about something. His eyes were not focused on anything in particular.
"Oh. Good morning Mr. Asuka."
These words, said in a cheerful voice made him lift his head and look forward. After few seconds he slightly bowed and continued to walk towards his office, near which Meer was sitting, looking at him with a bright smile on her face. His red eyes narrowed a bit. He didn't like Meer. One might go as far as to say he hated her.
He hated her for always being so noisy, for trying to talk to everyone, even when it was clearly seen that the person does not want to speak right now. He hated how she was always in this building whenever Athrun was here, following him around. Her mere presence annoyed him, and he showed it on certain occasions, but Meer didn't seem to mind Shinn's rudeness.
Which annoyed him even more – it was as if she didn't understand when it's time to stop bugging someone. And there was no reason for him to tolerate the girl, it was hard for him to suppress the urge to throw her out and forbid her from entering this building again. He could try to tolerate her if Athrun would actually like her, but it was dead clear that he didn't, he was just too polite to show it as clearly as the raven haired boy.
"Miss Campbell, why are you here?" His voice was cold, as was the look in his eyes he gave her, but she didn't seem to notice it.
"I'm just waiting for Athrun. He is very busy" She pointed to the door beside her "he is in there right now."
Shinn raised an eyebrow. Why would Athrun be here now? Well, ill just ask him, it's not like I want to talk to this girl more than necessary. He stepped past her and turned the handle on his cabinet's door, but turned her head back when he heard Meer clasp her hands.
"My, these are beautiful" Her blue eyes were sparkling as she watched the rose bouquet in Shinn's hand. She looked up, catching a glimpse of Shinn's surprised red eyes. "Are they for your girlfriend?" She asked with excitement in her voice.
Shinn's eyes narrowed, his hand clinched the bouquet tighter and started to shake lightly, slightly grinding his teeth, looking at Meer, anger radiating from his blood red eyes.
Despite the fact that she usually didn't mind Shinn, this time Meer backed away a bit, feeling a bit frightened at the sight of Shinn being this angry. It was obvious to her she had said something she shouldn't have. "I…I'm sorry" was all she said, bowing her head in an apologetic manner.
After watching her for few moments with clear disgust and anger Shinn turned away with a loud hiss and entered his office without looking back at her. As expected his red eyes spotted Athrun sitting behind his desk looking back at him. Shinn slowly nodded his head and walked up to his desk, still looking pretty annoyed, which didn't go unnoticed by Athrun.
"Shinn, are you ok?"
Said boy nodded his head "Why is she here?" his voice sounded kinda harsh. Athrun only sighed and leaned back in the chair. He knew the dislike Shinn had for Meer, so he was expecting this question. "It's damn obvious you are not interested in her, so why don't you just say it to her if she is too dumb to see it on her own? I can't stand her and her yapping, and I see no reason for her being her at all!"
Athrun raised an eyebrow at Shinn's heightened voice. She must have really said something to anger him this time.
"Look, Shinn" Athrun spoke up in his usual calm voice "I know I should just tell her, but I don't want to be rude to her. She means no harm. And I thought that the fact that I show no interest in her for two months should be enough of a hint for her. But I promise to talk to her about this." He quickly added as he noticed Shinn's eyes narrowing. After all he had a favour to ask of him, and making Shinn upset right now was not in his best interests.
Before he could continue the black haired boy beat him to it "Alright, since you are here means you want something from me. What is it?"
Athrun sighed at this straight forward question. Might as well get to the point, he wont like it one bit, but… He raised his emerald eyes and looked up to Shinn. "Shinn, it's…"
XOXOXOXOX
Outside the door Meer pouted and looked angrily at the closed door. Why can't they be nice to me? Especially Athrun, I'm trying so hard, but he doesn't even notice me. A small grin appeared on her face. But he will be. I'm sure he will in time. She sighed and turned around. She knew Athrun probably won't be coming out for a while, so she decided to go back and stay in the waiting room, until Athrun appears.
She entered the elevator and looked around, then slowly pushed the red button on the panel, tensing as she expecting something to happen. After a few moments nothing happened and Meer sighed and pressed the 1st button, and just as the elevator door closed her cell phone rang. She took out her pink phone and answered the call.
"Hello, this is Meer speaking, who am I speaking to?" she asked in her cheerful voice, seemingly happy that someone was willing to call her.
"Have you anything to report?" a cold male voice could be heard at the other end of the phone. The naïve look disappeared from Meer's face and was replaced by a serious one, her blue eyes displaying no more childlessness.
"Yes, Sir" Her voice suddenly sounded cold as well "I have managed to…"
XOXOXOXOX
"Fine, fine, just stop begging, you look like an idiot begging for me to go just because you don't want to meet that girl there." Said Shinn, being somewhere between angry and amused at Athrun's request.
The blue haired boy raised an eyebrow. "That was pretty harsh. But thank you."
"The meeting is in three hours, right?" Shinn asked, while looking at the clock. Athrun nodded. "Good, then I should get going. I still have to visit someone." His voice suddenly sounded sad, and his expression had gained a distanced look.
Athrun eyed Shinn with curiosity about this sudden change, but his features also darkened when he noticed the bouquet of roses in Shinn's hand. "Are you going to…?" he asked in a silent voice, without finishing the sentence.
"Yes…" Shinn answered, lowering his red eyes. He lift his hand and wiped away a tear that had formed in his left eye before lifting his head again. "You know that Meer is probably waiting for you to appear downstairs, right? How do you intend to get out of here without running in to her? I assume you don't want that."
This question struck the blue haired boy dumb, as he hadn't thought about it up until now. He looked around the office, as if looking for something. He froze as he looked over his shoulder, and a small grin slowly appeared on his face.
Shinn widened his red eyes, as he followed Athrun's sight. "You are kidding, right?" He sighed heavily when he saw Athrun's grin widening. "Anyway, I am not carrying you to hospital just because you can't gather yourself to tell that girl to get off your case. Going to that meeting is all I am going to do." With that Shinn left his office while shaking his head, as he headed towards the elevator. Idiot.
Athrun sighed at himself as Shinn left the room and walked towards the window and opened it, filling the room with chill air. He stood there for a few moments, closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of harsh, cold autumn winds brushing against his face. He liked this feeling. He opened his eyes again and looked down, eyeing the leafless bushes and trees surrounding the building.
I am acting like an idiot, right? I should just tell her to lave me alone. Athrun sighed heavily and looked around. As far as he could tell there were no people anywhere near the building. He didn't want to talk to Meer right now. Especially concerning her obsession with him. He just wanted to take a walk outside, under the clear sky, feeling the chill air surrounding him.
Athrun took out his sunglasses and put them on, made sure his gun is in its place and pushed aside another thought that he is acting childish and looked straight down. 4th floor huh…? I don't think I have tried this before. A small, confident smile barely appeared on his face. But everything he had said has been true up until now, and I doubt that he has made a mistake about this one either.
He placed his right leg on the windowsill and quickly examined the surroundings, making sure that no one will see him. Satisfied with his observations Athrun took in a deep breath and after a second of hesitation his feet left the windowsill and he felt ground quickly approaching, sharp gusts of wind whistling around him, his black coat fluttering behind him.
He landed rather gracefully, kneeling down on one knee, wincing a bit from the pain that could be felt in his heels. But it was nothing serious. He quickly stood up and left the scene as nothing happened, looking over his shoulder at the window he had just jumped from, smiling a sad smile. You are right as always…. Athrun started to walk towards the nearest wall in a steady pace.
The pain in his heels was gone. He looked at his hand and clinched it in to a fist. I hope you will find that answer as well… soon. Then you can finally rest. When he was few meters away from the wall he looked around again to make sure that no one was nearby. Athrun increased his speed, starting to jog. When he was about one meter away from the wall he tensed his leg muscles and jumped in to the air at seemingly impossible strength.
He barely made it across the high wall, his cloak almost touching the electrical fence on top of it. Still he landed with feline grace, quickly eyeing his surroundings for any human presence. Once he had almost landed on some unlucky bystander when jumping across the wall. Rather luckily for him the man had fainted and Athrun had simply hurried away.
Satisfied with the fact that there was no one in sight Athrun shuffled his feet and started to walk towards the city. Much like Shinn he liked to simply stroll around the city. If not anything else, it kept reminding him about his hatred towards the syndicates, because the results of their activities could be seen almost everywhere. Athrun sighed and lowered his head, walking forward without actually watching, hands placed in his coat's pockets.
I hope this will end soon. It has been one year, and we have come this far. Thoughts about a certain button in the elevator appeared in his mind. A dark hallway stretching forwards, disappearing in to darkness. A large steel door at the end of it… and behind that door…
Athrun's hands clinched in to fists, his eyes narrowed, something that seemed to resemble guilt and sorrow appeared in his emerald orbs, covered from the world by the black shades. I'm sorry that you have to endure this. But it will ensure the end of all this. It has to.
He took another turn around a corner, but his thoughts were cut short when he bumped against something, and a quiet "ouch" was heard. Athrun lift his head cursing at himself for not paying attention where he is going. The person he had bumped in to apparently had lost her balance. The girl was sitting on the pavement, rubbing her backside, pained expression on her face.
She looked young, her scarlet hair was hanging down in two pigtails at shoulder length. Before Athrun could say something she lifted her head and looked at him, obviously frightened look in her salty-blue eyes. "I…I'm terribly sorry. I just didn't look where I am going, I'm terribly sorry, please, I didn't mean to." She was stammering, her voice slightly trembling.
Athrun was surprised at her reaction. Why is she apologizing? I was the one who wasn't looking where I'm going. Why does she look so frightened?. Although he had to admit he certainly didn't look friendly dressed in his black clothes, sunglasses covering his eyes. He took another moment to examine the girl in front of him. It was obvious she was not from the higher society. Quite the opposite.
The blue jumper she wore looked rather old. the wool it was made from seemed rather rumpled. Her black trousers, just as her shoes seemed worn quite a bit. Before Athrun could say something another girl appeared around the corner and kneeled down beside the first one, and placed a hand around her shoulder, holding a humble bouquet of flowers in the other. The second girl had wine colored hair that enclosed her face.
Her dark green jacket and grey pants also seemed to be quite worn. She shifted her head and looked at Athrun with her big eyes, which were the same color as the first girl's, also worried look on her face. "I'm so sorry, my sister didn't mean to do that, we are terribly sorry, sir"
Athrun felt a bit shocked and sad at the reaction of these two girls. He sighed unhappily and kneeled down, a small and sad smile on his face, and reached a hand towards the red haired girl. Both girls looked scared at his action, the red haired one even closed her eyes, as if expecting something bad to happen, and the seemingly older sister tightened her grip on the younger one, despite the evident fear in her eyes.
"Please…she didn't mean any harm, she…"
Athrun slowly shook her head. Why are they so frightened? The answer to that seemed quite obvious. There were probably a lot of people who wouldn't let this slip by and would take the chance to insult, or even do something more to the girls in such a situation. No wonder people are afraid to even walk around the streets…
Ignoring the frightened look on their faces Athrun placed his hand behind the redhead's shoulder and carefully pulled her up to her feet from the ground, after which he removed his hand from her back. He could feel her flinch the moment he touched her. She opened her eyes and looked at the blue haired boy with interest and confusion, as did the other girl who apparently was the first ones sister.
He bowed his head towards the red haired girl, which seemed to cause even more confusion in the two. "I apologize. I was the one who was not looking. I hope you are not hurt." Seeing that the red head only slowly shook her head, still seemingly surprised, Athrun bowed again and continued his walk, looking over his shoulder towards the red haired girl before disappearing around the corner, continuing his aimless walk. Thinking about the weird encounter he just had.
"Meyrin, are you ok?" Luna asked her younger sister, who was still looking at the corner around which the blue haired boy dressed in black had disappeared. Her sister nodded, stroking her pants with her had, to remove the little bit of dirt that had settled there from her sitting on the ground.
"Y…yes, I'm ok. I didn't expect that man to be nice. He looked scary".
Luna nodded, then slowly turned around and started to walk away, signaling Meyrin to come along. They both slowly started to walk in the opposite direction.
XOXOXOXOX
Kira was standing next to his car, looking across the street, pained look in his purple eyes, covered by his sunglasses. The sight that appeared in front of him made him feel depressed. He sighed and stepped across the empty street and stopped in front of a small gate, which had a small metal plate attached to it, with severally faded letters on it. Archangel Orphanage.
He slowly pushed the gate open with a rather loud creak and slowly started to walk towards the old house, while observing his surroundings. The small path he was walking on was laid with flat stones and was kept tidy. The small area around the orphanage was surrounded by an old wooden fence that seemed to be barely holding together at most parts – the boards were mostly rotten or otherwise damaged.
Broken swings could be seen under what seemed to be a large, leafless oak-tree, located in the middle of the yard. Despite it being cold outside there were several children playing in a large sandbox, located further in the yard, their voices filling the cold autumn air. Kira took of his sunglasses and eyed the building with compassionate look.
It was an obviously old, wooden house, two stories high, with slate covering the roof. It was impossible to determinate its original color, whatever that would happen to be. Now it looked something in between grey and dark green. It reminded Kira of old moss. The building seemed to be in a critical condition.
Kira removed his sunglasses and placed them in his pocket, letting his purple eyes examine the building more clearly. As his eyes traveled across the building his features softened, leaving him with a sad and wistful look on his young face. Twenty thousand…I don't think that even that can save this place…
He slowly approached the building, noticing that few children quickly disappeared around the corner as soon as he turned his head to side. He smiled sadly and hesitated a bit before entering. He turned the handle of the door and stepped inside, wooden planks creaking under his feet, bending inwards under his weight. The house was indeed in a bad shape.
The brown haired boy took in a deep breath and was about to call out to get anyone's attention, when he suddenly heard loud voices from down the hall. One sounded like a woman. His purple eye's narrowed and he put down a small wooden box that he was carrying on the nearby table, and quickly advanced towards the hallway, floor no longer creaking under his feet.
"I told you, I don't know anything about it. Now please let me go!" followed by a low yelp was the things he heard from the room to his left. Kira flattened himself against the wall and carefully looked around the doorpost. A young girl with brown hair dressed in sleeveless orange dress was sitting on a couch, looking up to two men with a frightened look in her eyes. Apparently one of the men had just pushed her down there.
…Mirialia…?
"Don't lie to us!" one of the men hissed "our friends never came back yesterday, and we know that you and that pink haired friend of yours were talking to some strange man. Now for the last time – what happened there? Where are my men?"
Kira's eyes narrowed even more, leaving only shallow slit's open. Apparently these men had come to find the three men that had come to 'collect' the money to the concert yesterday. Not that there was much to find. Knowing Shinn their corpses were probably now at the bottom of the port.
"I'm telling you – I don't know. Please leave me alone."
"Why you…" one of the men stepped closer to Mirialia and lifted his hand, as if preparing to hit her. The girl turned her head to side and closed her eyes, preparing for the blow, trembling slightly. This made Kira to quickly interfere. After all it was pretty much his fault these men were here now. He swung around the corner and entered to room, his hand reaching inside his pocket.
Realization hit him at the same moment – his gun was not there, just as his knife. Apparently he had left them in his car. Kira cursed under his breath at his own imprudence and quickly lunged forward, grabbing the man's arm and stopping it in the air.
Both of the men looked at him with wide eyes, apparently shocked by his actions. "Who the hell are you?" the man whose hand he was holding growled.
Kira shot a quick glance over his shoulder towards Mirialia, who gasped at the sight. "You…"
"Quick, get out of this room" Kira said in a stern voice looking her in to the eyes. "Quickly!" he almost shouted when Milly just sat there looking at him. This made her move and the brown haired girl speedily stood up and vacated the room, completely ignored by the two men. The strange youngster in black now held their attention.
Seeing that the boy was probably not their friend they decided to act. Kira let go of the man's left arm he had been holding and jumped back just in time to dodge the knife the man held in his other hand. His eyes shot a quick glance towards the other one and noticed the gun pointed at him.
Mirialia couldn't stop a small scream escaping her lips as she ran down the hallway, when two gunshots loudly echoed through the air.
XOXOXOXOX
Tears were gathering in Shinn's red eyes as he kneeled down in front of a white gravestone with a figure of an angel carved in to it, placing a bouquet of roses in front of it with trembling hands. He remained in this position for a while, breathing heavily, clutching the pink seashell in his left hand.
His right hand slowly trailed down the gravestone, his fingertips touching the angelic figure, before sliding over some letters carved in to the stone. Stellar Loussier my beloved blonde Angel. He bowed down his head, no longer holding back the tears that started to stream down his cheeks, landing on the hand that clutched the seashell tightly to his chest.
"Stellar…" His voice was filled with pain, his features resembled someone who just had an heart attack. "I swear…I will find them…I will… And when do…ill make them pay for this. For doing this to you…" His voice had gained a tone of calm anger and sounded cold. Shinn took in another deep breath before running his fingers across the name tag again.
Flashback
Two youngsters walked down the street, holding hands and happily looking at each other. One was a young boy with raven black hair and red eyes that almost gave him a demonic appearance that could easily scare people. But the blonde girl with magenta eyes didn't seem to mind at all.
The loving gaze she was sharing with the boy clearly stated that she found this young man anything but scary. The pair stopped and Shinn embraced Stellar, placing his hands around her slim waist and looked in to her eyes.
"I hope you enjoyed the dinner, Stellar."
The girl nodded and gazed in to the boy's red eyes with sparkling eyes and spoke in a soft, almost childish voice. "I did. Thank you so much, Shinn. This is the best birthday I have had."
Shinn smiled slightly brushed his nose against hers making the girl giggle slightly, before placing a soft kiss on her warm lips. They broke apart and the blonde started to twirl around moving forward and giggling. Shinn walked behind her, watching his angel with a shining face, wide smile resting on his lips. This girl was everything that mattered to him.
He never knew his real family, he was an orphan. He never knew the warmth of love in his life, and the feeling to love someone back, until he had met this young girl with almost childish behavior and innocent nature. Not to mention he had never seen such beauty in his life before. She was everything to him.
Suddenly two men came running out of the nearby alley, watching over their shoulders. One of them collided with the dancing Stellar and fell to the ground. A scream of pain and anger filled the air – the man was holding his leg tightly, growling in pain. A rusty metal tube he had fallen on to was piercing trough his leg, causing drops of blood to fall on to the ground.
"Hey, you ok?" The other man asked the first one. His skin was tanned and he had wavy blond hair.
"You idiot! Are you fucking blind?" The first man shouted in anger, glaring at his blonde friend. He tightened his hand around one end of the metal tube and with a loud roar pulled it out of the wound and slowly stood up, panting heavily and wincing in pain.
Anger burned deep inside his ice cold blue eyes when he turned his gaze towards Stellar, who stood there, obviously frightened. "You stupid woman!" the white haired man yelled and pulled out a gun and pointed it towards Stellar, Shinn's eyes widened in shock and fear.
Without him realizing it he had already started to run forward and when the man pulled the trigger, he had already positioned himself between his lover and the gun. He felt something hit his stomach, pain streaming trough his body, overloading his brain and he felt like losing consciousness.
"SHINN!"
"Idiot"
And another gunshot was the last things he heard before his mind gave in and he passed out on the pavement.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, wincing from the light that blinded him at first. Beeping sounds of equipment and the loud screams of sirens were the first things that registered in his mind.
"Doctor, he's waking up"
"Good, we will soon be at the hospital, most likely he will survive."
Shinn's vision slowly focused and he could make out the figure of a man in a green gown leaning over him. Apparently he was in an ambulance car, judging by the sound of sirens above him and the fact that he felt the car jumping at each bump on the road.
"Doctor, we are losing her! We cannot get the bullet out without an operation! She has lost a lot of blood!"
At these words Shinn's numbness was gone in an instant, his head darted to side. At the opposite side of the car on a small pad laid his blonde angel, two nurses leaning over her. Her chest and blue dress was soaked in blood and apparently the doctors couldn't stop the red liquid from leaving her body.
She was wincing in pain, tears rolling down her cheeks and staining the small pillow her head rested upon. Gasping for air she slowly turned her head to side and her eyes met Shinn's. A tortured smile slowly appeared on her face. She slowly lifted her trembling hand and moved it toward Shinn, across the car.
"Doctor, she can't move. Doctor!" The elderly man only lowered his head and slowly shook it, never lifting his gaze."
Shinn slowly gathered the energy to move his arm, ignoring the pain in his stomach, and slowly moved it towards Stellar's trembling hand. She winced in pain again, her lips were moving in a silent motion, but no words escaped her mouth. She gasped again and her back arched a bit as another jolt of pain rushed trough her petite body.
Her magenta eyes closed, the tears stopped rolling down her pale cheeks and her hand fell to the ground, before Shinn managed to reach it with his own. Pain in his stomach was nowhere near the torturous agony that rose in his heart, tearing him apart, expressed in one desperate cry before his vision went black again.
End Flashback
Shinn stood up, wiping the tears away from his face with his coat's sleeve, feeling the numbness in his knee upon which he had been kneeling down on the cold ground. He took in a few deep breaths to calm down his heartbeat that had picked up the pace and tried to clear his mind from all these painful memories. Stellar…I will avenge you, I swear it.
He hoped that the silver haired man was still alive. So that he could kill him himself, as slowly and painfully as possible. His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a white, cold speck fall down on his nose. The black haired boy lifted his head and his gaze traveled across the grey sky. It had started to snow – the first sign that winter was here.
He trailed off, slowly sliding his gaze across the cemetery. It was filled with various gravestones, most of them looking fairly old and neglected, made from grey or black stone. Stellar's gravestone was the only one that was as white as the snow that was falling from the sky. His attention was caught by two girls standing in front of a gravestone not far from him.
One of them had red hair, pulled up in two pigtails that made her look rather childish. She was holding her hand in front of her mouth, small tears falling from her salty-blue eyes. The other one was a bit taller, her pretty face was partially covered by her short, wine colored hair, almost covering the sad sorrowful expression on her face from Shinn's sight.
She was not crying, but it could be seen she is struggling to keep back the tears. The girl suddenly turned her head and their gazes met for a moment, her eyes was salty-blue, just like the other girl's and held a deep look in them. A bit of curiosity appeared on her face.
Realizing that he is staring at her Shinn quickly turned his head away and sighed. He shot one last glare at the gravestone of his lost love and slowly started to walk away, putting on his black sunglasses and placing his hands in the pockets.
"Nee-chan, who was he?" Meyrin asked, noticing that her sister was looking at the leaving man.
Luna slowly shook her head "I don't know. But he looked a lot like that other man you ran in to earlier." Luna looked at her sister and smiled softly. "Lets go, it is starting to snow, it will probably get a lot colder soon. We should find someplace where to spend the night." "Meyrin?" She asked again, seeing that her baby sister was crying again.
"Nee-chan…I don't know. I don't know if I can keep living like this." Meyrin broke down on her knees, covering her face with her hands.
Luna kneeled down beside her sister and placed a hand around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Shhh. It will be alright. We have made it this far, right?"
Meyrin hugged her sister back, now crying on her shoulder. "How…how can this be right? What's the point of living like this? Why? What's the point of these last three years we have spent like this?"
"Meyrin, don't say that, please. I still have you, and you have me. Don't say such things." Luna was trying to hold back her tears as she spoke. She understood very well what her sister was saying. It was almost three years since they had a home. And it was almost two days since they had eaten anything. But she was used to it. Or rather she had learned to ignore it. It had become normal in their lives during the last few years.
But she had to be strong… for her sister's sake. "Shhh. It will be alright, lets go. We have to get something to eat as well."
Meyrin's head shot up, looking back at her sister. "No." She slowly began to shake her head "Please don't, Nee-chan. It hurts you too much. I know it does. Please, don't."
"Meyrin, it will be ok. Besides, we have to live on, right?" Luna asked, well aware that her voice was trembling slightly. A single tear fell down her cheek. This was the only way she could get any money in this cursed place. She felt disgusting about it. She had her pride after all. But no one can live on pride alone.
A lot of young women were forced to earn money this way, there simply were no other options. At least she could protect her little sister from such a fate, at least Meyrin could keep her dignity. She knew her little sister cried every time she resorted to this, but Luna would never let Meyrin do it. She would do anything to protect her sister from doing it. The fact that she is doing it was enough, there was no reason to taint Meyrin as well.
Both sisters slowly started to walk towards the town, Meyrin crying on Luna's shoulder.
XOXOXOXOX
A/N: Yes, crappy chapter, I know. Read, review and flame away.