The Heart Doesn't Lie

Disclaimer: Nope, still do not own.

Note: There is still some alcohol consumption in this chapter, also a couple of characters are probably pretty ooc. Also I would like to thank my wonderful reviewers. It is because of you that I keep this story going. So, thank you very much! Please read and review this chapter as well.

Chapter 14 (Bonfire pt.2)

Recap to show what is going on at start of this chapter at the party: Dearka and Milly are walking down the beach, Yzak is thinking by Ari, Cagalli and Miguel are talking by the water.

Over on one side of the beach away from the fire the radio was blaring music you could dance to. Fllay, Luna, Mia, Rusty, and Jet were doing just that, dancing. Lacus and Kira were sitting there watching the others dance while they had a conversation. Athrun sat next to them but did not really have an interest in what they were talking about. Nicol sat by himself watching Mia. Heine and Sting were also talking. Shinn also sat alone just watching the scene play out before him.

By this point in the evening almost all the alcohol was gone and some people were feeling pretty good. Lacus, Nicol, and Ari were the only ones that had not had anything to drink. They all knew they would probably end up crashing out on the beach anyway. They usually did that kind of thing when almost everyone had been drinking.

Shinn got tried of watching the dancers and got up moving to the other side of the fire. No one was over on that side so he was all alone. That was fine with him though. He sat down leaning against one of the bigger ice chest that had been left out. He was not there long when he heard someone else coming his way. It was Athrun. Athrun sat down next to Shinn looking concerned.

"Are you not having fun?" he asked Shinn.

"I am." Shinn said, which was partially a lie. He had been having fun earlier in the evening, but then it seemed like 'couples' were going off by themselves. This depressed him. It depressed him because he found himself wanting to be alone with Athrun. And now he was.

"You don't look it." Athrun told him looking, at him closely.

Shinn could not help but blush at the way Athrun was looking at him so intensely. He was thankful once again that it was dark outside and the other would not be able to tell the redness of his face.

"Well, sorry if I don't look it, but I am. I just didn't want to watch them dance anymore." Shinn told him.

"Should I go away?" Athrun asked, wondering if Shinn wanted to be alone.

"No, you don't have too. Actually I was wondering if we could talk, I need some advice." Shinn said.

"Yeah, sure. You know you can talk to me anytime Shinn."

Shinn hesitated he was unsure of what to say. He looked at the fire as the flames jumped around inront of him. He knew he should say something soon or Athrun might become impatient.

"How does a person know when they are in love with someone?" Shinn asked, thinking that was a good way to start the conversation.

Athrun had not been expecting such a serious question. He had thought Shinn wanted to talk casually to him. He was not sure how to answer the question. He would just have to try the best he could.

"That is not an easy question to answer. It is hard to describe how a person knows. I can only tell you what I think, but others might tell you differently."

"Just tell me how it is you think a person knows, that will be fine."

"Alright, I think that person becomes very important to you. I think that person probably stays on your mind a lot. People long to see the person they are in love with, it is a deep longing. It's just something you feel in your heart, that you don't feel for anyone else. A desire to be with that person, to see that person happy, a desire to be special to that person." Athrun stated hoping that something he had said had helped Shinn someway.

"Something you feel in your heart, huh? What if you don't believe your heart?" Shinn asked.

"The heart doesn't lie Shinn. Your head can lie to you about what you are feeling, but the heart doesn't lie."

Shinn looked over at Athrun eyes wide. "Maybe it doesn't lie, but the heart can be misunderstood."

"I suppose that is true. If that is the case, a person would have to take a closer look to determine the answer." Athrun said, looking into the fire watching as it was starting to die down. Shinn watched as the fire did it's dance in Athrun's eyes. He was not ready to end this conversation. There were still things he wanted to know.

"Can I tell you what I feel and you tell me your opinion on it?"

"Okay, but understand it will only be my opinion. You have to determine the truth for yourself." Athrun said turning from the fire to face Shinn once again.

"I understand. There are things this person has done that made me blush. Simple things like a warm smile or touching my arm. I get angry when I see others to close to this person, or flirting with them. I get angry when I think of someone having a better chance with this person than I do. I say angry but it is jealousy as well. I find myself watching this person. I think about how I want to be special to this person, more important to them than anyone else. So now that I have said all this embarrassing stuff, will you tell me what you think?" Shinn said almost afraid to look at Athrun, even though he had been careful not to use a name or anything to give away it is a guy he was talking about.

Athrun sat there quietly for a while, wanting to think about all Shinn had said to him. He wanted to be able to give him his honest opinion of all of this.

"When I consider all that you have said, I can only come to one conclusion. You're in love. Why would you get jealous or angry like that if you didn't have feelings for that person. And other things you said are things people tend to do when they are in love with someone. But I'm not an expert on the subject. So maybe my opinion doesn't mean anything really. I just think if I was experience things like that it would be because I am in love." Athrun did not know what else to say. All he could do was look at his own experiences, his own feelings and compare that with Shinn's.

"What if it is someone you should not love?"

"What do you mean shouldn't love?" Athrun asked confused by Shinn's question. Shinn did not answer, Athrun felt he probably was not going to either.

"I think a person loves who they love, we don't really control those feelings. You can't force your heart to love someone it doesn't and I don't think people can learn to love someone either. Not truly love them anyway. You either accept the feelings in your heart or you live maybe without ever knowing true love." Athrun had to wonder when he ever got so deep.

"But even if I love this person I won't know true love if this person doesn't love me back."

"Have you confessed?"

"No, but even if I did I would be rejected." Shinn stated, sadly.

"So you have given up before even trying. I didn't know you were like that Shinn. The Shinn I know never gives up on anything, especially before even trying. He is not afraid to take chances. And even when he fails he tries again. That is one of his good traits. So where did the Shinn I know go?"

Shinn sat there thinking. It was true, Shinn was the way Athrun described. But this was different, this was his heart he was talking about.

"Unfortunately, not everything just comes to us. Sometimes you have to take risk, even putting your heart on the line. Yes, you might be rejected, but you might not. But at least you would know. If you don't take the risk you may end up regretting it. Always wondering what might have been if only you had tried. Think about it Shinn. Are you really not willing to risk it?"

"Would you?"

"Yes, if it was someone I really loved. The heart can be broken, but over time it will heal too. So that would be a chance I would be willing to take." Athrun told him. Could he really say that though, he has someone that he loves and has not confessed either, but it wasn't out of fear of rejection. It was because he had not felt that the time was right yet.

"Athrun, I..." Shinn started to say before a commotion stopped him. Yelling, someone was yelling.

Both Athrun and Shinn got up and ran to where the yelling was coming from. Everyone else arrived soon after they did.

"What's so good about her?" A very drunk Yzak was yelling at Dearka. Dearka had Milly behind him, he seemed to be protecting her from Yzak, as if he was afraid Yzak might attack her at any moment. In his current state he just might.

"Yzak, calm down." Dearka told the irate man in front of him.

"Answer me, what is so good about that girl? She doesn't love you. She will never love you not like..." Yzak continued yelling and then suddenly stopped what he was saying.

Yzak stood there quietly like he had just realized what he was doing. Then he looked up at Dearka, "not like I do."

Yzak had said that quietly, but everyone seemed to hear it anyway. Everyones eyes were on Yzak, they were all stunned by what he had just confessed. All except Ari. Dearka stared at him not knowing if he had heard right. Yzak was drunk after all, but it made sense really. Yzak was shocked himself by what he had just done and took off running. Ari ran after him. Dearka wanted to but he could not seem to find the strength to move.

After Yzak was out of sight everyones eyes went to Dearka to see what he would do. Dearka just stood there looking down at the ground, not paying attention to the eyes on him. Milly noticed this and grabbed his hand pulling him away, back down towards the beach. Conversations sprang up everywhere.

Athrun walked away from the group. He did not want to hear what they had to say about Yzak's drunken confession. Shinn watched as Athrun walked away and followed him. He was curious what Athrun thought about all of this.

"Does that bother you?" Shinn asked him, when the had gotten out of hearing distance of the others.

Athrun stopped walking and turned to face Shinn.

"No, why would it?"

"Because a guy just confessed to another guy." Shinn stated, his gaze never leaving Athrun's face. They had stopped next to the fire so Shinn could see him clear enough. Athrun face seemed to flash through so many emotions. Shinn thought he saw confusion, anger, sadness, and pain. Shinn didn't understand why Athrun would react that way to his question. Athrun looked away.

"No, it doesn't bother me. I don't have a problem with a guy loving another guy. What is important is that the feelings are genuine. I have already said that you can't control the heart. People should be able to love who they love freely." Athrun said, his voice cold and harsh. Shinn's comment had upset him.

Shinn could tell that Athrun was mad. After seeing all the emotions go over Athrun's face, when he had looked away Shinn felt that an invisible wall had been put up between them. He had not wanted to make Athrun mad, he just wanted to see if Athrun was alright with two guys being together. If he had said he wasn't then Shinn would know he definitely does not have a chance.

Athrun turned again and continued walking away. Shinn tried calling to him, but he would not stop. 'I should let him go for now. He was pretty mad. I really screwed up.' Shinn thought and sat back down, wondering how he was going to fix this mess.

X x x

Kira and Lacus walked away from the group shortly after Athrun had. They walked side by side down the beach in the opposite direction Yzak had ran.

"Do you think he is going to be alright. Yzak doesn't usually show his emotions like that." Lacus asked Kira.

"I don't know. In the past I would have said everything will be fine, but now I'm not so sure. It depends on whether he was too late or not." Kira answered as he looked out over the ocean.

"What do you mean too late?" Lacus asked confused by what Kira had said.

Kira looked at her and sighed, "A couple of years ago Dearka told Athrun and myself that he had feeling for Yzak. He was not going to tell Yzak because, well you know how Yzak can be. Dearka figured he would just be asking for death if he told him. That is why he became such a playboy, to distract his mind. But now he likes Milly and I know he really does, it isn't a lie. What I don't know is if those feelings for Yzak are still there."

"Oh, I see. This must be hard for him then." Lacus said, concerned for her friend.

"I imagine it is. To like someone for that long and not confess, only to find out later, when you are interested in someone else, that that person likes you too. I wonder what he will do." Kira said.

"We will just have to wait and see. Maybe people can learn a lesson from him."

"What do you mean? What lesson?" Kira asked.

"That if you have feelings for someone you should confess before it is too late." She stopped walking and turned towards him.

"Kira, I have those kinds of feelings for you. I have for a while, I was just waiting for some kind of sign that you felt the same." Lacus told him. Now that she had finally said that to him she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her.

Kira looked away from her and remained quiet, he did not know what to say. He did not want to hurt Lacus, but he saw her almost the same as he saw his sister. Lacus is special and important to him, but not in the way she wanted him to.

Lacus smiled softly, holding back tears, "I understand. You don't have to say anything. I can tell now that you don't share my feelings."

Kira looked at her sadly, "I'm sorry Lacus. You are wonderful and everything I just... there is someone else."

"I see, well I wish you luck with that person. I would really like for you to be happy Kira. You are a good man and deserve the best, you deserve to be loved." Lacus told him. She was speaking from her heart.

Kira smiled softly and thanked her. The two continued walking down the beach in silence.

X x x

"Dearka, are you okay? You seem really upset." Milly asked him. She was really worried about her friend. What Yzak said really got to him. Milly could understand that though, at least she thought she could. Truth be told she knew she had no idea what was going through his head right now.

"Why does he do that now? Why now? Why couldn't have been two years ago, or last year? Why now?" Dearka was mumbling to himself, but Milly could understand him.

Milly reached up and put her hands on both of his cheeks, forcing him too look at her. She could see the pain in this eyes, she did not like seeing him in pain like this.

"Dearka," she said quietly, "if you feel for him, then you should tell him. I don't know why now. Does it really matter, why now? You do have feelings for him, don't you?"

As Dearka looked at her, Milly could see more pain in his eyes. He was conflicted with his feelings for the two of them.

"You don't have to stop yourself because of me, I will always be your friend. I know that you really do like me, but it is clear to me that he is the one you love. You should go to him and tell him that. If you were to stay just because of not wanting to hurt me, that would just cause you more pain. I don't want that. So go and be happy with him." Milly smiled warmly at him.

Dearka smiled in return and hugged her before running off to find Yzak.

X x x

Yzak, who had sobered up a little after he realized that he had just confessed, was angry. He had made a fool out of himself. What was he thinking when he did that? ' Dearka likes that girl, he only see me as a friend.'

"Now he is going to hate me."

"No he's not" Ari told him.

"What makes you so sure? You don't know him." Yzak said.

"No I don't, you're right. He just did not seem like the kind of guy who would hate you for that. He seemed like a caring person. And you two are best friends, right? So I don't think he would just hate you so easily."

"She's right." came a voice from behind them. "Ari, was it? Could you excuse us, I would like to talk to him."

"Alright, Dearka." Ari said and walked away from the two.

"Two years" Dearka said confusing Yzak, who just looked at him. "That's how long I have liked you. Two years. I couldn't tell you, you probably would hate me for that. I liked you and there was nothing I could do about it, so I started going out with a lot of different girls. To try to keep my mind off you. Not that it worked, but I tried anyway. I never liked any of them, except Milly. I do like her. I will not lie to you. I like her, but I love you."

Yzak was shocked. "But you want to be with her right."

"I want to be with you. If what you said was the truth, then I hope to be with you. Was it the truth or was it the alcohol talking?"

"It was the truth." Yzak said almost too quiet for Dearka to hear.

"Then if we both feel that way there should be nothing keeping us apart." Dearka said as he walked closer to Yzak.

Yzak thought about arguing, asking him why he had never told him his feelings, but in the end he justdid not have the heart to. He was tired of feeling that pain in his heart. Tired of feeling anger and jealousy. Right now he just wanted to feel happy. He looked at Dearka and nodded his head in agreement.

X x x

Lacus and Kira made their way back to where the fire was. They smiled at each other before going over to where Cagalli and Milly were sitting. Mia and Nicol were sitting a little ways away absorbed in a conversation about music. Luna, Fllay, Sting and Rusty were still sitting by the radio. The girls had resumed dancing after the incident with Yzak was over. Now they had stopped again and were changing the station to find a song they liked better.

Miguel walked over to sit next to Cagalli. He had been helping Heine with the fire. Heine stayed by the fire talking to Ari about somethings that were being planned at school. Jet came walking back after taking a walk to enjoy the night view, he had told them. He walked over and took a seat next to Shinn. Shinn had been sitting by himself, deep in thought. Yzak and Dearka came back from their talk and went to have a seat by the group Miguel was sitting with. Lacus and Kira looked up and smiled at them.

"Hey, anyone know where the birthday boy is?" Heine asked everyone. They all looked around, Athrun was the only one missing now. No one seemed to know where he had disappeared to. Shinn started to feel really bad, Athrun had walk off after he had mad him mad. Shinn had not seen him since then. 'Where did you go?'

x x x

After Athrun had walked away from Shinn he just started walking. He was not heading anywhere in particular, he just wanted to get away and clear his head. He ended up on the road leading out of the beach back to the main road. He stopped when he reached the gate. The gate had been closed and locked to keep others out. Athrun looked around and saw a car parked on the other side of the road. There did not appear to be anyone in it. Athrun did not recognize the car and he knew that everyone who had drove to the party had parked inside the gate.

Athrun climbed the gate and walked over to the car. It was empty and locked. The hood was still slightly warm from the drive. Athrun looked around but did not see anyone. He decided he should head back to everyone else.

Athrun walked back the way he came only faster this time. He wanted to hurry up and get back. Within ten minutes he was back to the beach where everyone else was. A few of them clearly concerned. As he walked closer he was spotted, people started asking where he had been. Athrun ignored them and walked over to Kira. He grabbed Kira's arm and pulled him away from the rest of the group.

"Was there suppose to be someone else coming here tonight?" he asked Kira.

"What do you mean someone else?" Kira said not knowing what Athrun was talking about.

"Maybe some kind of security or something like that. Someone coming to check on us."

"No, why are you asking that?" Athrun was starting to worry Kira.

"I walked up to the gate. There is a car that I know doesn't belong to anyone here. It was not there when we came in, and the hood is still warm. There wasn't anyone inside it. I thought maybe you would know something about it, since this beach belongs to your family."

"I don't know anything about it. You didn't see anyone, maybe on the road or something? Maybe the driver had car trouble and had to walk." Kira said.

"Maybe, that's possible. I didn't see anyone, but it could have happened earlier. Maybe I'm being a little paranoid because of those things with my car and house."

"I can understand that. And we don't know if the person had car trouble, they could be out here somewhere. There are places a person could hide. We should talk to Heine and Rusty, maybe we should look into this."

"Yeah, maybe" Athrun said. Kira called the two over to them and explained what Athrun had told him.

"Let's go back to the gate and start from there. First we should tell the others so they can keep an eye out here. If someone is here then we don't know why, so we need to make sure everyone stays safe." Heine said.

"They should all move to one area and stay together by the fire." Rusty said.

Athrun walked over to the group still listening to the radio and turned it off.

"Hey we were dancing to that." Fllay said.

"Sorry, hopefully this won't take to long then you can continue dancing. For now could you all join everyone else by the fire." Athrun told them.

"Why should we?" Fllay asked.

"We're just trying to keep everyone together while Heine, Rusty, Kira, and I go look around."

"Athrun what's going on?" Sting asked him. Luna and Fllay were looking at him for the answer too.

"I saw a car across from the gate that doesn't belong to anyone here. We're just going to check into it.

We don't want to take all the guys and leave the ladies all by themselves."

"I'll go with you four. That will still leave plenty of people here with them." Sting told him. Athrun knew Sting well enough to know it was pointless to argue with him about this. He nodded his head.

After talking to everyone else, the five made their way up to the gate. They were almost there when they saw a figure climb over the gate, run over to the car, and drive away. One glance in the rear view mirror revealed angry eyes.

TBC

I think this is the longest chapter yet. I had a lot to do. The next chapter should show the last little bit of the party. I could have put it in here, but I like to put angry eyes at the end. I could not think of a way to continue a little further and point out that angry eyes owned the car. By the way, the guys didn't see the eyes, so it wasn't revealed to them, but to the readers.

Please review I love to read what people have to say.