"Why is there a knife sticking through our door?" Athrun asked. Dearka, Sai and Kira just blinked, staring in incomprehension at the three or so inches of serrated carving knife projecting tip first from their door. Athrun looked more closely at the door. "Our lock has been picked! Our room was broken into!" he said, pushing the door open. The common room was a mess. It looked like someone had just fought a boxing match with a pair of mobile suits in their dining room. The couch and nearly all the plush chairs were tipped over and pushed far out of place, while the table was canted at a crazy angle where it leaned against the base of the stairs, like a barricade. Silverware, pots, pans and plastic drinking cups were spilled all over the floor of the adjoining kitchen, looking almost as if someone had pulled out the drawers and then dumped them on the ground.
"I don't see anything missing." Sai commented, looking around. "Maybe the motive wasn't theft. Maybe it was just some crazy guy who gets off on vandalism."
"Or someone seeking revenge on one of us." Athrun replied. "This place looks like a madman worked out a lot of rage on it. Though it is curious that nothing seems broken either, just tossed out of place.
"Who of us could possibly have any enemies that would do something like this?" Kira asked. Sai looked at the three Coordinators.
"Blue Cosmos doesn't like us very much." He pointed out. Dearka snorted in dismissal.
"If this was a Blue Cosmos op we would have been gunned down the moment we entered, or this place would already be a blasted and burned shell, not just very messy." Dearka told him. Sai conceded that point.
"What about that guy who punched you earlier in the week? Frost was his name, wasn't it?" Athrun asked Kira. Kira looked at his hand, which was still taped lightly. The school nurse had told him he had come within a hair of breaking all of his knuckles and had nearly cracked his wrist. She asked what wall he had punched, to receive such an injury. Kira hadn't had the heart to tell her it had been Zacharis Frost's forehead, not a wall.
"Maybe. But he has it in more for Lacus, since she was the one who slapped him. He didn't really seem to notice me, even when I punched him." Kira answered. A sudden horrible premonition seized Athrun, Dearka and Kira at the same time. As one they burst out of their room back into the hall, nearly getting jammed together in the doorway. Their fears turned out to be unfounded. The girl's room was untouched and as pristine as it ever got. The girls themselves were just starting to take out their costume materials and assembling them. The guys excused themselves and hurried back to their own room. While they had been gone Sai had been taking stock of the situation.
"There's nothing missing or broken down here. I've been waiting for you guys to get back before I go upstairs. I think I heard somebody moving around up there." Sai reported. Dearka looked around, noticing something else.
"Where's Ysak? There's no way he'd ever allow something like this to happen without putting up a fight. At the very least, there should be some blood on the floor, if not a few bodies." Dearka noted. Athrun and Kira moved the tipped over table out of the way so the stairs were accessible. Slowly, Athrun led the way up the stairs, arms loose and legs crouched into a ready stance. The lay out of the rooms were such that there was a room at the far end of the hall which fed into the stairs, which was Ysak's, and then a room on either side of the second floor hall. The room on the right was Athrun's and Sai's, while the left room was Kira's and Dearka's. Dearka gave a low whistle, looking at the ceiling over the stairs. "Look at all those holes! It looks almost like someone had a gun battle in here."
Athrun eased towards his own door, careful not to make a sound before he threw the door open and leaped inside. His room was empty and untouched. Kira did likewise to his own room, and found the exact same thing. Nothing. Their rooms might as well have been in a different building. Dearka stole towards Ysak's door. His palms became sweaty. Everyone else flattened against the walls of the hallway. Dearka crouched up against the door, reaching up with one hand to slowly turn the knob.
"CRUNCH!" a knife point suddenly materialized within an inch of Dearka's head, having been thrown halfway through the door from the inside. "That's your final warning! Leave me alone or god help me I'll pin your head to the wall, Uncle Vladimir or no Uncle Vladimir!" Ysak yelled from inside his room. He sounded hoarse. Dearka just stared at the shiny combat knife blade located in startling proximity to his head. He let his hand drop and started to shiver slightly before quickly rolling away from the door.
"A… a little to the side… and… and he'd have put that… that… through the side of my HEAD!" Dearka whimpered.
"I guess we know who's been throwing knives." Athrun noted in a whisper.
"But why? Has Ysak gone totally off the deep end?" Sai asked worriedly.
"I don't know. But we should be very careful. None of us needs to get a knife embedded in our heads tonight." Kira answered.
"Why is he talking about that guy Vladimir?" Dearka muttered.
"Who?" Sai asked absently.
"That guy that Kisaka almost shot at the airport the first day we were here." Athrun explained. Dearka punched one fist into his other palm.
"That's IT!" he said triumphantly. The others looked at him questioningly. "Vladimir is the guardian of those two hellion girls. The twins that have the thing for Ysak. They seem to have a knack for coming around here when the rest of us leave Ysak alone. They must have come by when we were out shopping." Dearka explained quickly.
Athrun looked doubtful. "Those twin girls picked the lock on our door and created that mess downstairs?" he asked, incredulous. Kira looked at him and gave a slight chuckle. "What?' Athrun asked.
"You date Cagalli but still doubt the ability of a girl to pick a lock or break into an apartment and create a mess like what we saw? Are you sure you really spend time with my sister?" Kira replied. Athrun's face heated.
"Okay. So now we know whom Ysak THINKS we are. Now… how do we open the door without getting killed?" Sai mused. Dearka stood up and squared his shoulders.
"Leave it to me!" he said, striding to within a few paces of the door. Everyone else ducked for cover again. "HEY YSAK!" Dearka called. "YSAK! It's me, DEARKA! You okay in there?" Dearka shouted, making sure to emphasize his name.
"Dearka?" Ysak's voice replied through the door. "You alone?" Ysak asked almost immediately afterwards, his voice suspicious.
"Well, except for Kira, Athrun and Sai, yes." Dearka replied.
"Prove it." Ysak demanded. Dearka rolled his eyes.
"How?" he asked. "If I try to open the door, you'll probably put a knife through my left eye in your current mental state. And there's no way I can prove to you that it's just me and the others without opening the door."
Ysak seemed to consider that for a while. "I guess it's a stalemate then. Unless you want to trust me when I tell you I won't throw a knife at you, Dearka."
"Will you be throwing any other heavy, sharp or metallic object with the intent to harm?" Dearka asked. The very long silence that followed answered that question. "Stalemate it is." Dearka sighed. "You okay in there, Ysak?" Dearka asked again.
"Sort of." Ysak replied.
"You're injured?" Athrun asked in shock.
"Not physically, not really. Just some bruises, scratches and scrapes." Ysak told him.
"You're frightened of those two girls?" Kira asked.
"You would be too, if they tried to do to you what they attempted to do to me." Ysak answered. Dearka noted that Ysak hadn't denied being afraid of them.
"What were they trying to do? What happened? Downstairs is wrecked and there's a carving knife through the hallway door." Sai asked.
"Sorry about that. The girls don't understand "NO!" as an answer. I pushed Katie out the door when she tried to tear my bathrobe off me. She tried to get back in and I threw the knife at the door, hoping to scare her off. She cried out and I was scared I had actually hit her. She tricked me into opening the door again and that's when she tackled me. That's how the downstairs got wrecked, because she and I wrestled all over it, me trying to get away, her trying to strip me naked and search me for "Interesting stuff"." Ysak replied. The four guys out in the hall digested that for a while, trying to formulate an image of Ysak in a bathrobe grappling with a sixteen year old girl long enough to cause the havoc they had seen downstairs.
"It took you that long to get free?" Athrun asked in surprise.
"What were you doing, fighting with your arms tied behind your back?" Dearka added. "I mean, she's just a Natural, while you're an elite ZAFT soldier and a Coordinator." Dearka pointed out. "No offense." He added to Sai.
"Katie might just have been a Natural, but I'd like to meet her unarmed combat instructor and shake his hand. The man must have been a god. She knew a counter for every move I tried and nearly pinned me on six separate occasions. If I hadn't improvised using the furniture and kitchen supplies, she would have had me. Also added to the fact that I didn't want to cause her any serious injury, all told that's what made the fight so long." Ysak explained.
"Are you saying that this girl, Katie, is a martial arts expert good enough to hold off a Coordinator, even one trying to only subdue her?" Athrun asked, trying to set things straight in his mind.
"They're both that way, actually. While Katie was committing a minor sexual assault against me downstairs, Chanel was looting my room. She hacked into my computer, downloaded a lot of my personal files, carefully searched through all my clothes, unmade and examined my bed in minute detail and was just getting into my memento collection when I burst in on her. I had managed to hog tie Katie using the belt of my bathrobe and so had a bit of free time. No sooner did I put a hand on Chanel's shoulder that she judo tossed me over her shoulder and onto the ground. She almost put me in an arm bar before I started fighting back. I managed to drive her out of the room eventually by improvising a sling out of a pillowcase and using it to hurl some of those large metal ball bearings I took out of the Duel's destroyed legs. Those are those holes in the ceiling over the stairway. I've been barricaded in my room ever since. They've tried to get in four times since then. I'm nearly out of things to throw." Ysak responded.
"Well, why don't you come out of there so we can start cleaning things up? If the girls see the room like this, they're going to freak out." Dearka said in exasperation. Silence ensued.
"What girls are you talking about?" Ysak said in a suspicious tone. "You wouldn't be trying to lure me out into THEIR clutches, would you?"
Dearka sighed. "Look, I meant Mir, Cagalli and Lacus. Nobody else is here. You don't have to come out, but you'll need to eat sometime. We'll be waiting for you downstairs when you are ready. We'll be trying to clean up this disaster area."
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Ysak edged his way down the staircase. He had his pillowcase sling in one hand, with a ball bearing already nestled inside. His other hand was raised defensively in front of him. Ysak looked all around, checking every corner, nook and cranny to make sure someone wasn't planning to leap out at him. The clean up was proceeding slowly. Not because of lack of effort on the part of the cleaners, but because the room had really been devastated. It was a miracle nothing had been broken.
"Glad to see you decided to join us." Dearka called from across the room. "You can go pull that carving knife out of the door. I don't know how we're going to explain the damage to the landlord, but I'm sure we'll think of something."
Ysak stalked over to the door and yanked the knife out with a single heave, shedding splinters of wood and paint onto the jeans and t-shirt he had hurriedly pulled on after barricading the door to his room. After returning the knife to its proper location, Ysak slowly put down his sling and helped fix things up. With five people working, the job was done in three hours. By this time it was close to 3:00 am. Everyone was yawning and casting wistful glances at the stairs up to the bedrooms.
"Whew! Now we can finally get some sleep so we can work on our costumes early in the morning tomorrow. By the way, Ysak, are you coming to the party?" Dearka said, leaning against a wall tiredly.
"If you choose to stay here then you'll be all by yourself." Sai put in, from his seat on the newly righted couched. Ysak's jaw twitched slightly.
"I'm coming with you guys. You will NOT leave me alone. Not unless you give me the Duel back first." Ysak informed everyone.
"Sorry, but all our Mobile Suits, as well as all three ships, are undergoing repairs at Orb right now. They'll be out of reach for the near future." Athrun replied.
"You don't have a costume though, Ysak." Kira noted. Ysak just smiled.
"Don't you worry about that. I'll handle myself." Ysak replied confidently. Soon afterwards, they all filed upstairs and fell onto their beds and slept like the dead.
"Kiraaa! Kiiirrraaa! KIRA!" somebody shook him back and forth uncomfortably. Kira blinked his eyes and then shut them again before turning over and pulling his sheets up around himself again.
"Wha… col… seepy…lemealon." Kira mumbled, noticing the unpleasant sensation of cold air on his uncovered chest and legs.
"DEARKA! DEARKA!" another voice called from not too far away. Kira found it puzzling though, because the voice seemed to be coming from above him. Someone started shaking him again, before suddenly flinging his sheets away and sitting down full on his legs. The person placed small, cold and bare feet on either side of his stomach and leaned forward so that their long pink colored hair fell around all sides of his head, blocking out the painful light in the room.
"It's 6:00 am, Kira, time to wake up." The person sitting on his lap said brightly. Kira felt his lower body starting to get really warm from the soft weight sitting on it.
"Ummm." Kira groaned, trying to shake off his weariness. He cracked open one eye. And found himself staring into Lacus's face. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually connected seeing Lacus's face above him with the soft weight sitting on his supine lap. Kira opened the other eye. Lacus was dressed in her nightclothes, which consisted of loose light pink trousers and oversized t-shirt. She suddenly shifted her seating slightly and giggled. Kira finally woke up to the realization that while his mind may not have been working all that well, certain other parts of his body were responding with more than their customary attentiveness to this situation. The reaction whichfore had caused Lacus to move and giggle in a manner that did not help the situation at all.
"LACUS! What the…" Kira raised his head so quickly that he inadvertently banged his head into hers, sending her tumbling backwards and sideways, right off his lap and indeed the rest of the bed, ending up tangled in his bed sheets on the floor. Kira rubbed his forehead ruefully and blinked down at Lacus, who was lying on her back doing a similar thing. "You have a hard head." Kira noted. He tried to sit up straighter but a sudden wave of dizziness brought on by the banging of heads and tiredness brought on by only getting two hours and a few minutes of sleep combined to drag him down and sideways, so that he fell out of bed. Directly onto Lacus. After squirming for a while, he managed to raise himself onto his arms and knees, straddling her.
"I guess we switched positions." Lacus said, still rubbing her head. "I guess I should have known better than to lean over you like that." She commented.
"No, no, it was my fault. I shouldn't have jumped like that. It… It's just… well, I was surprised. Didn't expect to wake up with you sitting on me. I'm sorry for banging heads. And for other things." Kira whispered, turning deep red. Lacus raised her head slowly.
"For what other things?" She breathed mischievously. "You mean for that little hello your body sent me…" Lacus began, turning Kira even redder.
"You know, that's a position I'd only think to see Athrun in." Dearka commented from the upper bunk. Mir had woken him up by pinching his cheeks and then holding his nose closed while kissing him, rendering him unable to breathe. He'd had the choice of waking up or suffocating. "Usually he and Cagalli are the forward ones."
"You're not one to talk." Mir informed him from her post sitting on the foot edge of the bed. "At least Kira has shorts on. Unlike some people I could name." She hinted broadly. Dearka lifted the corner of his sheets and peeked underneath. He choked slightly.
"I'll be damned. How did that happen?" he asked, pulling the sheet down tight again.
"We must have been so tired from cleaning up last night that we didn't bother to change into sleeping clothes. I can't remember much more than a blur anyway." Kira replied.
"Wait a minute… how did you know I was shortless?" Dearka asked suspiciously. Miriallia just looked at him and smiled. "You didn't!" Dearka exclaimed, paling slightly.
"What if I did? It's not like you've got anything to hide, do you?" Mir told him wickedly.
"You didn't" Dearka repeated nervously. "Cagalli might, but you wouldn't." he tried to reassure himself.
"I've been trying to act more like Cagalli these days. She does a lot of things I admire." Mir replied, still teasing him. I almost wish I had peeked. She thought to herself. She blushed almost as soon as she thought it. What kind of thought was THAT? I've only been dating him for five days and already I want to peek at his nude body? What's happening to me? I didn't think my hormones were this strong.
Dearka looked around the room and his eyes narrowed. "You looked through my drawers and saw that my night clothes were still folded up. Then you noticed that the clothes I was wearing yesterday are scattered all over the ground. You didn't peek. You just used the evidence to guess." He accused her. Mir sighed and nodded.
"Dang, I was hoping you wouldn't figure it out." She complained.
"Hey honey, I am a Coordinator." Dearka replied. She stiffened slightly at his familiarity but then relaxed. Was it really all that bad that an attractive guy called her "honey"? Mir was sure that many other girls had nearly swooned when Dearka called them that. Maybe she should start taking it like the compliment she knew it was, rather than the insult she had once thought it to be.
"Far as I'm concerned, you're just a guy. A naked one at that. And one I happen to like." Mir responded simply. "Now, my guy, you are going to get dressed so we can start building our costumes like we agreed last night. We only have eleven hours till the party."
"Your guy?" Dearka asked with wide eyes. Mir grinned and leaned to the side so she fell over, lying kitty-corner across him. She turned her head so that it was facing his ear. Under her his body was warm, hard and well defined, like sun-warmed wood. She forced herself not to think about it.
"Yes. MINE." She repeated, whispering in his ear so only he could hear.
"What did you mean, about cleaning up last night?" Lacus asked Kira as he helped her to her feet after standing himself.
"Oh, just a little mess Ysak created." Kira said absently, trying not to give too much away. He yawned in a jaw cracking manner. Two and a half hours of sleep wasn't at all helpful. He shambled over to his clothing drawer and started to undress, pausing only at the last moment in realization that Lacus and Mir still hadn't left the room. "Out!" he ordered sternly, pointing at the door.
"No free shows today?" Lacus mock whined. Kira shuddered inwardly. She was hanging out with Cagalli too much, starting to pick up some of her wild and whimsical streaks. Not to mention her lack of inhibitions.
"Kira has a point. Since you did NOT peek, that means you don't get a freebie. Kira and I still have dignity to preserve. So you can wait outside. Besides, if you got to look, it wouldn't be very fair to deny US the same privilege, would it?" Dearka added. Quicker than two hares the girls sped out of the room and shut the door. "Typical girls. Always wanting to see you vulnerable but not wanting to be seen vulnerable at the same time." Dearka stated and chuckled.
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It didn't take all that long to get dressed. Most of their clothes would be covered by the costumes they were wearing anyway, so they dressed in comfortable and light clothing that could form a base to put the costumes over. Once they got out into the hall, Kira was dismayed to see Lacus examining Ysak's door. 'Kira… why is there a small hole in Ysak's door?" Lacus asked.
"Heck, why are holes in the ceiling over the stairs?" Mir asked from the other end of the hall. "These weren't here yesterday morning. What happened last night?"
"Long story. No time. Ask Ysak for details." Dearka summed up. Both girls gave him sour looks. Getting details out of Ysak was like trying to get money out of a bank without the proper account code and identification. As in, impossible. The door to Athrun's room opened and Sai half stumbled out, yawning.
"I'll go and make some coffee." He volunteered. Everyone thanked him. Warship coffee had been all that had woken them up in time for some battles. Dearka stopped the door to Athrun's room from shutting. Unlike Kira's and his room, Athrun's was still quite dark. Dearka kept the door open a slit and peered in.
"I can't believe he has the energy to do that." Dearka muttered. Kira tried to get a look but Dearka kept hogging the space. "I mean, the guy has slept three hours tops out of the last twenty four, put in a full day of school, then a long ass shopping trip, then did some work around the house. He must have a nuclear powered heart and muscle system. Though from what I've seen so far, Cagalli could give life and stamina to a dead man." Dearka commented. Kira tried to push him out of the way again, this time to shut the door. Dearka wouldn't budge, his eye glued to the cracked open door.
"What are you doing" Miriallia asked, annoyed. Am I actually feeling jealous? She asked herself.
"Taking notes." Dearka replied. "So I can get it right, when we try." He continued. Mir flushed again.
"You can't be serious. They aren't…" she trailed off. Kira turned pale and nearly succeeded in getting Dearka away from the door; though this time he was trying to get inside so he could pull Athrun off HIS sister.
"They aren't, don't worry. They may be lustful, but they've got the sense not to take THAT step so soon." Dearka replied. He took his eye away from his spy post and eased the door shut. He waited for Kira to start calming down before continuing. "Though they were getting pretty close. I'd give 'em a few more weeks together before Sai has to sleep elsewhere for the night."
Kira looked sick and had to lean on Lacus for support. Miriallia gave Dearka a significant look, which kept him cowed until they got downstairs and had started drinking the coffee Sai had made. After about ten minutes, Cagalli and Athrun joined them, both smiling secret little looks at each other than no one missed.
"Is Ysak going to join us?" Lacus asked.
"He said he'd be coming, but that he'd take care of his own costume." Dearka replied.
"Well, then, let's get started!" Cagalli cried happily, digging into the bags of costume materials and handing them about indiscriminately. Within three hours, the general groupings became distinct. It was no surprise to any concerned that each couple had complimentary or similar costumes. By the time the costumes were ready, only three hours remained before the start of the party. Athrun and Cagalli displayed a level of daring far greater than anyone expected, even of them, and adopted the costume choices of a Barbarian warrior for thousands of years ago and a Valkyrie from Norse mythology respectively. Athrun wore a shaggy loincloth of faux bear fur, with knee high fur mountaineering boots, thick brown leather wristbands with polished brass studs and a mantle of fake wolf fur. A plastic but exceedingly real looking two-handed sword was slung across his back. A red silk ribbon around his brow tied back his hair, the dangling ends making him look roguish. Everywhere else he went bare skinned, since he already had more than enough chest and other muscle to be proud of. He was a bit too thin to really pull off the look, but everyone agreed he did look intimidating.
Cagalli on the other hand, went with the somewhat unrealistic but completely jaw dropping chainmail and leather bikini outfit. She too wore calf high mountaineering boots with fur linings and thinner leather bracers without the brass studs. She wore a plastic short sword at each hip and a well faked horned helmet on her wildly mussed hair. Combined with Athrun there was enough bare skin visible to make a whole new person, but that was soon fixed with the application of some war paint. Athrun chose blue and red paint, in abstract lines all over his face and chest. Cagalli chose red and green paint, and drew mostly runic letters she looked up on the internet onto her arms, legs and cheeks.
While they were painting themselves and each other, Lacus and Sai helped Kira don his plastic armor. Kira had chosen to be a knight in shining armor, which pleased Lacus to no end. The armor only weighed about twenty pounds all told, and made the most wonderful creaking and clanking noises when Kira moved. It was covered in faux gold inlay and studded with paste glass gems. The outfit was completed by a helmet with the visor removed, also inlaid with false gold and fake gems, and sporting a long silk plume of a dark green color trailing from the top. Also a plastic sword like Athrun's but sized for one handed use hung at Kira's left hip.
Lacus, unsurprisingly enough, chose to dress as a princess, in a practically glowing pink gown and hoop skirt, which caused her to trip several times when she tried to run too fast. She had a tall pink cone hat with white silk streamers coming out of the top. Finally, there was a small silver circlet around her brow, one of her hair ornaments. After helping Kira, Lacus then helped Sai get ready. Sai was a history aficionado and was currently studying the Napoleonic wars, and had so chosen to dress up as a cavalryman from Napoleon's army. He had tight breeches of a stained white color, a blue overcoat rife with ribbons, braids of yellow rope and badges of rank. A pelisse, which was like a short cloak worn over one shoulder so that it covered one side of your body, front and back, was worn on his right shoulder. A plastic saber was hung on his left hip. Sai also attached two blond mustachios and a short goatee with some sticky gum like substance designed for that purpose. All in all, most everyone agreed that he was the most dashing looking so far.
Dearka had stumbled across an ancient flat video movie while out looking through the town. Upon finally finding a way to watch the ancient tape, he had become hooked on the movie. It was called "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Dearka had decided to become Indiana Jones. He had acquired a lot of battered but still clean clothing in various shades of brown and white. Over the shirts and sturdy trousers he wore a faded and worn leather bomber jacket with a wide brimmed leather fedora on his head. He coiled an actual rawhide leather bullwhip at his waist, though he had no clue how to use it. A pistol holster rode on the right side of his body, inside the jacket, but the pistol inside was disgustingly fake, designed only to look like a handle. He looked extremely rugged when all his costume was on. Best of all, it was quite comfortable, unlike Kira's armor, which quickly grew hot and sweaty, or Athrun's loincloth, which quickly started itching.
Miriallia had likewise taken a page out of ancient history. She had researched famous female explorers of long ago the moment she learned that Dearka was planning on being an adventuresome archaeologist. She had chosen Kitty Mannock, a little known Australian woman who set several world records flying ancient prop driven biplanes several hundred years ago. For her costume she wore sturdy but comfortable clothing much like Dearka, with a leather flight jacket, aviator goggles on her head, a leather helmet/ear warmer and a bright blue scarf, which was a personal affectation. She wore supple leather gloves on her hands, but did not carry any weapons, since Kitty Mannock was an explorer, not an adventurer.
Everyone was gathered around, comparing and adjusting their costumes, when Ysak came down the stairs, already dressed. People turned to congratulate him on his costume, but instead everyone just stared in shock. Ysak was no medieval knight or explorer. He wasn't flashily dressed or scantily clad. He just wore his red elite ZAFT uniform, with full dress honors, including medals, campaign ribbons and other decorations, all of which he had actually earned. His service pistol rode on his left hip.
"You can't be serious." Dearka said warily, eyeing the pistol, which, knowing Ysak, was certainly loaded.
"You can't show up in a ZAFT uniform! People will freak out! And especially not armed!" Athrun declared.
"There aren't supposed to be any ZAFT forces in Switzerland. Showing up like that to a party at a high profile person's estate could cause great political damage." Lacus said in a serious voice.
"So go change! With luck we can whip something up for you in the next hour or so before we have to leave." Cagalli ordered.
"No… I don't think I will." Ysak said calmly. He sat down on the couch in a relaxed manner. "You see, like Ms. Clyne pointed out, there AREN'T any ZAFT forces in Switzerland. Not a single soldier. So if I show up like this, people will just assume it's a costume. Maybe not a very politically correct one, but a costume nonetheless. As for my gun, it's strictly for show. I left it unloaded. It's no more dangerous than those absurd swords you have armed yourselves with… less so actually, since you can still swing those hard enough to hurt."
"That… makes sense. Sort of." Sai allowed.
"Besides, a really smart girl once told us that we should stop hiding from what we are. We can't go through life pretending we are something we aren't just to avoid causing others discomfort." Kira said, nodding at Cagalli.
"So we should just let him dress that way, and deal with the consequences, whatever they may be, when they arrive?" Lacus asked.
"Exactly. A ZAFT soldier is what Ysak is. If other people choose to see it as a disguise, well so much the better. If not, then Ysak shouldn't have to hide who he is because it will upset them. Besides, we'll all be there to get through it together." Kira replied. Lacus leaned against his armored form, taking comfort in his close presence.
"We should get going." Ysak said.
"Yeah. Her mansion is a ways away. And it never hurts to be early." Dearka said. He then offered Mir his arm. "Shall we go, then?"