Another short follow-up. Enjoy reading if you can...

Fragments

The days became weeks, then months. His absence began to send worries to everyone. And an unexpected feeling of anxiety over the person who never seem to remember who he was…

For three weeks, Kira had been the frequent guest of the Neuro-ICU, accompanying his sister.

Cagalli's attacks became more frequent. One night she became so agitated that she almost slit her wrist with a bread knife.

Kira never left her side. Lacus had a vacation leave to be with Kira on these times. Confusion was in everyone's minds, but the issues must first be set aside.

Cagalli's last attack leads to her confinement once again, at the ICU.

That night, Kira and Lacus were having dinner together with Shinn when the maid rushed inside the dining room, holding a piece of bloodstained towel.

"Master… Miss Cagalli…"

She didn't have to finish her sentence. Kira stormed inside Cagalli's room.

She lay there beside the broken piece of china where her food was supposed to be settling.

She was crying.

Kira held her in his arms. He saw her hands- bleeding. Lacus went inside the room. She got some medications and handed it over to Kira.

"What happened?" Lacus asked.

Shinn stayed on the doorway.

Cagalli suddenly struggled against Kira's arms. She broke free. She went towards her window- partly opened.

"Cagalli no!" Kira shouted.

"You… all of you… lying to me!" Her words were like a strange cry- from somewhere… a call of guilt.

"Please, I am not lying to you…" Kira was voice was weak. He doesn't want to cause any more anxiety to her. She might think of jumping off.

"Then… where…is Athrun?"

Kira went silent.

"He… said…he wouldn't leave! He promised me!" She wiped her tears with her bloodstained hands.

"He left you." It was Shinn who has spoken.

Cagalli's eyes diverted on him.

"He left you…"

Cagalli sank on the wall. Her heart was feeling heavy. She heard voices… of people she never knew. Her mind was turning. She collapsed.

Kira was supposed to go to her but Shinn stopped him.

"Let her deal with this," Shinn said.

" Are you crazy? She's…"

"Sick is that it?" Shinn cut him off.

Cagalli was still on the ground- quivering.

"You have to understand, she must decide for herself- and think for herself. She may be an extended, but she's still Cagalli. She can't be like this forever. And you too…"

Shinn's words were like a bucket of ice water. Realization… is truly painful.

"I think we'd better call her doctor," Lacus concluded.

She went to Kira's room to get his cell phone. Dialed the number.

An hour later, they were in the receiving area of the hospital. Cagalli was taken to the ICU.

She was unconscious for about two hours, and then she woke up.

Kira was beside her, waiting.

She looked at him, then to the other two people in the room- Shinn and Lacus.

She didn't speak.

"How are you?" Kira asked, as he runs his hands on her hair.

It took a while for her to answer. And her answer was a question.

A shattering one.

"Who…you?"

He couldn't believe his ears. Perhaps she was playing tricks on him. But she's not.

He looked at her- from her questioning eyes, to her hands…

Her hands. The ring was not there.

He wasn't able to notice… how did disappeared…

Memories came flashing one by one in a split second.

He remembered. She lost it that night when she almost drowned.

And now, it was his memory that was forgotten.

Is this… what Athrun felt back then?

Fate wanted him to experience what his friend felt back then.

Karma? - Or another stroke of ordeal?

He wasn't prepared for this.

He cried.

The nurse put Cagalli into sleep once more. The doctor talked with them in his office.

"Her brainwaves are extremely abnormal… and the focus of the disturbance in the neuronal firing is undetermined."

"What does that mean?" Kira asked.

"As you know, her attacks were becoming too frequent- the anxiety and respiratory a blackout. We have been giving large doses of conditioning but it's still useless."

Lacus blinked twice. Shinn stared at the window- as if he already knew where this conversation is leading.

"What do you mean?" Kira insisted the question, but was somehow paralyzed- unable to accept what he was about to hear.

"She's dying…"