"So this is the fabled Joule family castle I've heard so much about." Katie commented, peering around the foyer. In truth she hadn't quite known what to expect... she'd overheard Lacus talk about her own home a couple times, and she'd assumed that Ysak also lived in a multi-acre estate on a lakeside, since he was aso the child of a supreme councilmember. Not quite the case as things turned out. It wasn't an apartment complex by any means, but the two story glass and stainless steel building nestled away in the woodland a few kilometers to the "East" of the main lift spine of Martius Three's second continent was far from the near palace she'd been expecting. There wasn't even a wall around the grounds, which mostly consisted of pine trees with a few small patches of lawn around the drive. The next closest house was a good fifty meters away, extremely far by PLANT standards, so she guessed that meant the property was pretty prime, in terms of real estate value. But it just looked like a house, like any of thousands she might find in Orb or anywhere else mildly affluent.
"You should know better than to listen to Dearka by now." Ysak replied, taking off his shoes and placing them by the doorway, then stepping up from the entrance area onto the polished hardwood floor of the combination foyer and entertaining room. "Shoes off in the house, please."
"Who said anything about Dearka?" Katie replied, slipping off her own shoes as she continued to look around. The decor was modern, with spotless whitewashed plaster walls, medium pile white carpets and dark brown hardwood flooring. All the furniture was black, either painted wood or leather, with polished steel edging. The walls were pierced by huge windows on almost all sides, allowing plenty of light into the room. A fewframed photographs cheered up the walls, mostly landscapes on the outer walls, with a collection of personal ones on the wall of a corridor headed deeper into the house. There was a black wooden bar with six barstools seperating the carpeted entertaining area from a small kitchen/minibar area. A large flat screen TV hung on nearly invisible wires in one corner of the entertaining room. It looked like a room in a show house... barely any wear and tear on it at all. Either the place was fanatically well maintained, or hardly lived in at all. Given that Ezalia was a single parent with no live in children who also worked an extremely busy and important job, Katie was pretty sure she knew which it was.
"No one else you know but him has ever been here." Ysak frowned. The house was exactly the way he remembered it. Home, sweet home. Good to find one thing that didn't change.
"It doesn't look at all like it did in your dreams." Katie answered offhand, wandering around, poking at this and that. She glanced at him and smiled wickedly. "You're such a romantic when you're sleeping."
"Just when I'm sleeping, huh." Ysak actually smiled back. Here, in his own house, he could actually relax some. Especially since his mother wasn't home yet, and probably wouldn't be until late that night. He'd called ahead and told her he was coming home, pretty much as soon as he got with comm range of the PLANTS, but she'd had an emergency council meeting to go to, so she couldn't meet him at the shuttle terminal. After thinking about it a while, he decided it might even be better this way. This way he could show Katie around the house with a degree of control, and they could figure out just how they were going to bring up some of the spiky issues they had to his mother while they were at it. "Guess I'm off to bed then, if I'm no good at romance anywhere else."
"Ooh, someone sounds ruffled." Katie returned, trailing her fingers along the wall as she studied one of the pictures framed upon it. "These are pretty good. Who took..." She was interrupted by Ysak coming up behind her and embracing her tightly. He tilted her head around and kissed her fiercely. "Mmm... did I touch a nerve...?" She asked when he backed off a bit.
"My mother won't be home for some time now. More than long enough for me to show you that I can be plenty romantic awake." Ysak gently pressed closer, backing her against the wall. He kissed her again. "My father took them." Kiss. "Back when..." Kiss. "... He was dating my mother." Kiss.
"My... someone has had their confidence boosted now that they're at home." Katie observed with a smile. I like it. However... Katie took advantage of the slight reaction Ysak still had to being contacted mentally to slip from his grasp and turn it around on him, so that it was her pressing his back ever so gently to the wall. You were taking it too slowly. Now the initiative is mine. She cuddled up against him and allowed him to kiss her again as she toyed with the top button of his shirt. Just as he was bringing around his arms to lock her into an embrace that probably wouldn't have ended for at least an hour and would have put the entertaining room to a use it hadn't seen since Ezalia was single though, Katie pulled away with an impish smile. We'll have plenty of time to do that. Lots of times. As much as we want. I don't think Ezalia will mind at all. But first, I want some more insight into you. Show me the house.
Ysak sighed, wiping a single bead of sweat from his forehead, giving her an exasperated look. "Tease." He accused, straightening his shirt a bit. "And you're unfortunately right... my mother won't mind us sleeping together at all. In fact, she'll probably be embarssingly encouraging about it. I've already resigned myself to dealing with you both. It was bad enough when I lived at home and she was always urging me to go out and socialize, always hinting that it was just fine to bring a girl back to the house now and again, to "study" like normal teenagers did. Now that I have you, who knows what's shes going to start giving me advice on now... I shudder to think at times."
Methods maybe. Technique. Now stop procrastinating. The house. Show me the house. The longer you take showing me what I want to see, the less time we're going to have to break in your bed.
"I wish you wouldn't put it like that. And I will have to deafen myself if my mother starts telling me how to have sex."
You're the one who pushed me up against the wall first, Ysak-y.
"You're the one who hinted I couldn't be romantic except when I was dreaming." Ysak retorted. "We'll start with the ground floor areas. By the way, have you put any thought into just how we're going to explain to my mother about the whole Newtype thing?"
I figured we'd just up and tell her.
"How well did that work with me? My mother has a doctorate in aerospace engineering. She deals in facts that she can see, touch and hear. Newtype powers fall under zero of those categories. If she sees me walking around holding one sided conversations with myself, she's going to have me sent to a hospital for treatment."
There are ways to prove it. You won't like them, but there are ways. I'll take charge of proving to your mother that I have mental powers. You just be you.
"Why am I suddenly nervous... every time someone is relying on me to react like I always do... that bothers me."
Is that your dad? Katie gestured towards the first large photo on the hallway wall. It showed a much younger looking Ezalia Joule standing next to a tall, broadshouldered man who had short snow white hair and dazzeling blue eyes just like Ysak's. Ezalia held a small bundle in her arms that was just identifiable as a baby. Cute kid. Where'd they lose it?
"Hilarious." Ysak reached out slowly and just brushed the surface of the picture with his fingertips. Hello father. Long time, no see.
"How did he die?" Katie asked suddenly, reverting to speech.
"Flight accident. He was working with my mother, same project. She did the theory and the politics side, he made the aircraft and did the actual testing. They were a good team. That's what everyone tells me anyway. He died only a week after he took this photo. He was a semi-professional photographer in his off time. I never knew him."
"You still miss him though."
"I don't think I've ever denied that. If nothing else, I wish he was around for my Mother's sake. She spends too much time at work. Maybe its hyopcritical for me, of all people, to say this, but she needs to work on her social life. I can see that now, now that I have you. Maybe it is too bad about Patrick Zala."
What does Athrun's dad... oooh... your mom and Athrun's dad were attracted to each other? Wow. That woulda been something, for you to be related to Athrun.
"It would have been a nightmare, but if it made my mother happy, I could have borne it." Ysak abruptly turned away from the photo. The rest of the photos were of Ezalia and Ysak at various points in their life, from the point Ysak was just a baby to only a few days before he left for the Le Creuset team for the first time, resplendent in his brand new reds. Ysak looked over the photos critically, seeing in each a snapshot of what made him himself. The history of success and hidden pain that had led to Ysak Joule joining ZAFT and eventually treading the barbed path that led him back to here, this moment, contemplating it all.
"So that's what you look like without the scar." Katie observed, nodding at the picture of Ysak in his reds. "I like my version better." Captain of the middle and high school lacrosse, tennis AND swim teams? No wonder you didn't have a social life. Valedictorian too. Your classmates must have hated you.
"I never let fun interfere with being the best, that is true. And I was the best too. At pretty much everything. Until I met Athrun."
So THAT'S why you don't like him. Because he messes with your self confidence. Aww, don't be sad Ysak-y... I like you much better than I like him. Even if he is also a cute guy at times.
"If you're trying to make me jealous, it won't work. And no, I don't dislike Athrun because he's better at a very few, specialized things than I am... I dislike him because he does it all without seeming to try. He makes being successful look easy. Even natural. Everything he accomplishes or gains in life... it always seems close to perfect, from my perspective, and he doesn't even know how hard it is, or how lucky he is. That attitude of his is the reason I've only minimally been able to stand him from day one. I never even saw him struggle until Nicole died." Ysak clenched a fist in remembered agony. "His unflinching but misplaced trust in his ability to recruit Kira for our side also grated on my nerves, and perhaps directly led to Nicole's death... but thats a story for another time. Now, the house..."
The first floor of the Joule house consisted of the entrance foyer, the one car garage, the entertaining room/kitchen, a second kitchen/food storage area, a bathroom and a study that looked like it had been sealed up for a decade or more. The rooms were big, spacy and generally decorated much like the entertaining room, with large photographs framed on many walls. The study had several large bookshelves and a glass cabinet filled with all sorts of camera stuff, plus lots of mementos and other souveniers that Katie decided she and Ysak would have to spend some time going through later. Katie had no idea who her parents were, had no memories or photos of them at all. She wasn't going to let Ysak go on not knowing his father. It wasn't right.
The second floor of Ysak's house had the master bedroom and master bath, a second bathroom off the hallway, a guest bedroom that looked in similar shape to the study downstairs, a lounging room with another big TV and a computer system, plus several more worn and used looking couches, and two big storage rooms that were probably once guest bedrooms as well. And then the final chamber. That ultimate mystery. Ysak's room. His real room. The heart of every guy's psyche. And best of all, it was almost certain to be undisturbed. Virgin territory, quite literally. Everything was going to be just as it was when Ysak last left it. Katie was almost rubbing her hands together in glee as they approached the door. This was going to be a blast. She wiped away a single tear. Chanel would have loved this. She'd have to do extra good, for her sister's sake.
Ysak's room was nothing like the rest of the house. The rest of the house was open and well lit and airy and bright. Ysak's window had both blinds and heavy curtains, both shutting out all but a thin line of light. The walls were painted a more tan than white color, while the carpet was dark blue. The room itself was quite large, nearly as big as the master bedroom. The twin size bed was on the far side of the room from the doorway, right under the window, where the "dawn" light would splash directly into the sleepy eyes of someone who wanted to be woken up at a specific time by an automatic movement of the window drapes. There was a writing desk by the head of the bed, while a large dresser stood at the foot. When facing the bed the door off to the left led to the bathroom, which again was quite large and included a big marble tub/shower combo. The door to the right was a walk in closet, though it was mostly empty. To the right of the hallway door was a bigger desk with a computer system and comfortable chair. To the left of the hallway door was a multi-level shelf containing magazines, movie discs, books and a few keepsakes, plus a small minifridge. The whole room was tidy, though not obsessively so.
"Can I poke around and make comments?" Katie asked, standing in the middle of the room. Ysak sighed again and shrugged, going over to sit on his bed.
"Do what makes you happy." Ysak reclined on the bed and shut his eyes. Katie was more than aware that he opened them again and watched her move around the moment she turned her back. Ysak and his silly little games... he still hadn't learned what it meant to be two intimately connected Newtypes. Even Kira was more in tune with it than Ysak. Of course that very resistance was quite entertaining itself.
"You value order and quality in your things. I haven't been in many guy rooms, I'll admit, but compared to what you see in movies this doesn't look like a teenager's room. No band posters or anything on the walls except for personal awards and trophies. Some might see that as narcissism, but you see it as motivation to always keep your high standards. Your computer is password protected, even in a room that no one but you goes into. That combined with the darkness and relative isolation of the room... you really value privacy. Hmm... not much in the way of movie selection... you have a few favorites and you watch them again and again. Same thing for books. A little more variety in magazines, but you only keep the issues that deal with items of particular interest to you."
"You haven't said anything startling yet." Ysak sounded mildly surprised.
"They say a guy's room shows you the inner workings of his mind and personality." Katie answered. Don't you think I might already know those pretty well?
"Point." Ysak stared up at the ceiling. "So what are you looking for then?"
"Anything odd. Something to talk about. An embarassing secret perhaps. And even if I can read your mind, love, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy just looking. Touching what you touched... living your life just so ever briefly by proxy. Something like this. This camera. Its one of the old exposed film types. No one but serious photographers use these anymore. Nothing else in the room suggests an interest in photography... why this expensive and rare camera?"
"You did find something embarassing." Ysak rolled over to face the wall. "I don't particularly want to talk about it."
"I can keep looking for where you stashed your porn, and we can talk about that if you'd prefer?"
"I used it when I was younger." Ysak said slowly. "I used to think, when I was little, that by looking at things through my father's camera, I could see things the way he saw them. That I could see what he'd seen. Even that if I looked hard enough, at the right things, I could see him looking back at me." There was a dead silence. "Something wrong?"
"That is probably the cutest, most beautiful thing I've ever heard you say." Katie brushed a pair of tears out of her eyes as she choked up a little. She came over to the bed, still clutching the camera. "Will... would... please... could you look at me through the camera, Ysak?"
"Huh? It's just a 35mm camera. I haven't looked through that thing in years." Ysak rolled back over and saw the look on her face. "Hand it over." He took the camera and made a few adjustments, surprised that his hands still remembered what to do. He stood up off the bed and looked around the room briefly, making sure the focus was working properly. Meanwhile Katie clambered onto the bad and laid down where he'd been. "This better not have been a ploy to get me to give you my spot on the bed." He scolded her.
What do you see when you look at me through that lens, Ysak? Katie's mental voice was as serious as he'd ever heard it.
"Hmm... not quite the best angle." Ysak decided, standing by the side of the bed. He too climbed onto the bed and knelt straddling her. "Better." He held the camera to his face and looked down at her. There was pause of several seconds. I see a vulnerable girl who finally feels totally safe and happy. Someone who suffered so much and worried they'd never be able to be truly happy because of how different she is, but has been pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I see a person that means as much to me as my own life, if not more so. I see one of the only people to truly understand the real me, a person who actually helped ME see the real me. I see the missing half of my own soul, removed from my chest and given form and phsyicality.
"Flatterer." Katie smiled, not bothering to brush away a few more tears. She reached up and grabbed hold of his shirt, pulling him down so that he was forced to support himself with his free hand over her. "What do you see now?"
I see soft hair and smooth skin. I see darkness cuddling light and two sapphire stars glowing in the center. I see nose and ears and lips which I long to kiss. Delicate curve of throat, leading to the rest of a body I could hardly have ever dreamed existed and wouldn't believe in if I wasn't touching it. I see a heart that beats in time with my own. I see understanding, and love and faith. I see everything that makes life worth living, that makes waking up one more time always worth it, no matter how dark or grim the days get. I see the reason why I exist. I... I see... how my... father... sees my mother... and how she... looks back... Katie wasn't the only one crying at this point in time. Ysak gently lowered the camera away onto the floor. "I see Katie Belaruse, the love of my life." Ysak said softly, leaning down to cover her mouth with his.
------------------------------
"Ysak. Ysak! Ysak, wake up! Your mom is home! A car just pulled into the garage." Katie's voice drifted through the warm haze Ysak was floating in. He rolled over and adjusted the comforter to best preserve the warmth remaining in the bed. Ysak, if you don't get up right this moment, I swear to god I'll go down there in my panties and bra and let your mom make her own mind up.
"I'm up!" Ysak sat up, rubbing away the last of the pleasant half dreams with the back of one hand. That felt really good. One more thing to be glad of. He slid out of bed and began putting his own clothes back on. "Hard to believe it's that late already."
"Time flies when you're having fun. Or recovering from having fun." Katie pulled on her shirt and pants. "You make a very warm bed, by the way."
"And you have extremities formed from pure glacial ice, or it feels like it sometimes." Ysak groused. I can't believe I just made love with a beautiful girl in my own bed. This isn't a dream is it? I am really Ysak Joule, elite ace and soldier, right?
Not unless we're in the same dream, Ysak-y. Me, I can't believe I just made love with a beautiful guy in my own bed.
That was a private thought. And its not your bed.
Silly, you don't HAVE any private thoughts, save the ones you don't know you're thinking. As for the bed... we'll see. Katie waited impatiently, tapping her foot for effect, as Ysak finished buttoning up his shirt and zipping his pants. That isn't really necessary, is it? This is your mother. The only one who's seen you naked more often than me.
Ysak gave her a cold look that was better than a thousand words and finished getting dressed at his own pace. He then led the way downstairs, where his mother was just finishing taking off her shoes and hanging up her coat. She looked up as soon as he reached the top of the stairs... hearing was as keen as ever, despite how tired she looked. "Mother..."
"Hello, Ysak. It's good to see you again. I'm afraid you'll have to come down here if you want a hug, I'm feeling a bit too worn to want to climb the stairs and then descend them again." His mother said with a slight smile.
Ysak scowled, especially because he could hear Katie sniggering behind his back. Nonetheless, he did go down the stairs and gave his mother a tight hug. "Back together sooner than I expected." He commented.
"I saw what happened to the Archangel on the news. It looked like a pretty rough fight. The kind people do real good just to survive." Ezalia replied. She looked up at the girl still standing somewhat shyly at the top of the stairs. "Come on down, dear. Katie, right?" Ezalia released Ysak and moved into the entertainment room. "Don't mind me, I'll do what I can to stay out of your way. The last thing I wanted when I was your age was my parents cluttering up the house." She turned and arranged a few things on the bar top. "You do look a little rumpled, Ysak. Have you been waiting long?"
"We found a way to pass the time." Katie replied helpfully, with a big smile. Ezalia smiled back, and Ysak blushed furiously
"I'll bet." Ezalia quickly fixed herself a pretty strong drink. "You two look like you have something on your minds? You don't need to worry about... noise. My room is sufficiently far removed from yours I won't hear a thing unless you're burning the house down."
"Mother!" Ysak protested, even as Katie burst into a fit of giggles.
"Thanks for that information, Ezalia, but we actually did have something serious to discuss with you. And its not related to sex, which means Ysak will eventually stop blushing." Katie answered.
"He's cute when he's embarassed though." Ezalia commented, taking her drink and sitting down near a low table in the entertainment room.
"You're right about that." Katie agreed, leading Ysak over to sit opposite Ezalia.
"I'm... not quite sure how to say this... mother." Ysak began, hesitant.
"Ezalia, I am an Active Newtype. Do you have any idea what that means?" Katie said calmly and slowly. Ezalia took a sip of her drink and looked thoughtful.
"No, I'm afraid I don't. But I imagine you can explain?"
"Keep an open mind please and thats not a pun. Newtypes are genetic mutants. Our mutation is extremely rare, as it affects the way our brains work. We utilize sections of the brains ordinary humans can only briefly touch using their unconscious or subconscious minds. In simple terms, we can use a variety of mental abilities that ordinary humans, Natural or Coordinator, cannot."
"Like a psychic?"
"In some cases yes, though most psychics are entirely spurious and false. But the concept is generally correct. I myself am a tele-empathic projector/resonater. What this means is that, while my sister was alive, I could communicate via thoughts and emotions with her across nearly any distance, regardless of what barriers were between us. Now that Chanel is dead... a story we will get to eventually... I have began forming a similar bond with dear Ysak. Normally this would not be possible, because up until a short time ago, Ysak was like ninety nine point nine repeating percent of humanity. He was like you, Ezalia. Namely, a Stump. Newtype slang for a normal, non-Newtype, who are generally near impossible to affect with Newtype powers. However, due to circumstances created by my sister shortly before her death, Ysak has become a Newtype. What we Actives call a Latent Newtype, because they have no self directed, conscious power of their own... they are however extremely suceptible to the powers of an Active."
"This sounds a little complex for a joke."
"It is just about the most serious thing I will ever talk with you about. I know you are sceptical. If I didn't live it, I wouldn't believe it. And because you are a Stump, I can't contact you directly, like I can with Ysak. However, I do have a way to prove to you that this is true. However, it won't be particularly pleasant for Ysak. It won't hurt him, but he's likely to be embarassed quite badly."
"Well, if Ysak agrees I'll give it a shot. If nothing else, this makes a pleasant change of pace from talking politics."
"I wish I could just show you that its true mother... its been a struggle for me to accept it... but its true. I need you to believe and understand this. I agree. I can take a little embarassment."
"All right. Ezalia, I need you to think of questions. Stuff about Ysak only you and he would know. Stuff he might not want me to know about. Stuff he would NEVER tell anyone else, no matter how much he liked them. After you think of them, please ask them. Ysak won't answer of course, but he will think of the answer, or remember something about it, even if he doesn't know that he remembers. With my abilities I will answer your questions correctly. Does that sound to you like a workable idea?"
"We'll give it a shot." Ezalia said, her gaze piercing. This sure doesn't sound like some joke or make believe story. "When did Ysak first start masturbating and what was he reading when I caught him?"
"WHAT!?" Ysak jerked, blush reheating his face.
"It was three months, twelve days and six hours past his fourteenth birthday. He was reading a torrid romance novel, "Skin of Desire" that he stole from your bedroom."
"What was the name of his imaginary friend, and at what age did he stop believing in him?"
"WAIT A MINUTE!" Ysak was almost twitching from embarassment.
"Him was a she, and she was named Mary-Lynn. And he ditched that rather troubling fantasy shortly after he turned ten, after other kids started making fun of him for it."
"If Ysak had been a girl, what would we have named him? I also called him this when he was a toddler, because it irritated him so much it was just too precious to pass up."
"NO! DAMN IT, THIS IS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF WHAT I AGREED TO!"
"Jamie? Thats a cool name. Ysak, if we have a daughter, her name is going to be Jamie, okay?"
"This is amazing." Ezalia shook her head. "How long did I breast feed Ysak for?"
"There's no way she can answer that... my earliest memories go back to when I was two!" Ysak protested, suddenly calmer with concern.
"For three weeks after you got home from the hospital, until you got tired of waking up at all hours of the night to feed him, after which you switched to formula so your husband could shoulder some of the burden." Katie cut him off with a stern look. She noticed his gape jawed look. "The subconscious has a lot more memories in it than you'd think. It records pretty much everything, its just retrieving the recording that gets harder with time."
"Okay, I'm pretty much convinced, because like Ysak said, there was no way he could have possibly remembered that." Ezalia said slowly. "Here's the clincher though. What was his father's name?"
"Ikarus? That's an odd name, no offense." Katie stopped when she saw the moisture in Ezalia's eyes. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive of..."
"No, its fine. Ysak knows I always get a tear in my eyes whenever my husband's name comes up. Much as he hates to be embarassed himself, he hates it even more if I get embarassed. He made me a solemn promise that he'd never tell anyone his father's full name unless I told them first. My dear Ika, who ended up flying just a little too close to the sun and burned his precious wings off..." Ezalia dropped her gaze for a few moments. "So why did you illuminate this truth for me? Surely it would be easy to hide, because no one would ever believe its possible?"
"Some people know. I lived in a research facility as a test subject for Newtype studies for most of my life. I was an experimental animal. Thats how Newtypes are viewed by the few authority figures that know of us. If they could, they would take Ysak for study for the rest of his life. If they ever find out about him. And the thing is, we don't know who they are. That's one reason... you have a right to know that your son might be hunted. Another is that Ysak and I are in constant mental contact. I talk to him as much if not more inside his head than I do with my voice. And he's still not very good at talking back inside his head without also talking out loud."
"So if you're not around and he suddenly starts having a conversation, its not because he's crazy?"
"Even if I am around. And thats about the gist of it. Oh, yes. Lacus Clyne is an Active Newtype as well. A very powerful one, if only in surges. And Kira Yamato is a Latent like Ysak." I still can't get over the shivers when I think about what she did when Sai put that gun to Kira's head. I know I told her not to worry about getting mad... I was wrong. She does need to keep herself in check.
"I agree. I'm not scared of much, but I will never again directly threaten Kira in earnest while she's around. She could have crushed my sanity like a bug. She was controlling three Stumps at once, from more than ten miles away..."
See. That wasn't so bad. Of course, we could also have just sent me outside for a few hundred meters, then had you and your mom talk about some stuff after making sure there were no listening devices present, then had me come back and tell you about it... but I like my way better. I got to learn all sorts of interesting stuff I never would have thought to look for otherwise. Hard to believe that only words could get you off... considering what it takes now...
"You mean that we could have done this WITHOUT embarassing me? Why would you want to know those things!?"
Because now if you ever start getting uppity, I can sell them to Dearka and Athrun. And make a huge profit on the side, which is an added bonus.
"That is blackmail at its WORST! If... IF... you ever mention ANYTHING to Dearka or Athrun, they'll have to lock me up! Because I'll kill them before they can spread a WORD!"
"I see what you mean. This would have been pretty disturbing to me five minutes ago." Ezalia commented. A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Say... you are in his head all the time? Does that mean you can feel it when he's getting horny? That's a tremendous advantage."
"MOTHER!"
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"I'm surprised you managed to get Ysak to let us go shopping together so easily. After that first night, I would have thought he would be violently opposed to you and I spending any time together without him around to supervise." Katie commented as Ezalia's car pulled into a reserved parking spot at a nearby mall. That was one of the nice things about the PLANTS... almost everything you could usually think of was "nearby", not usually more than a ten minute drive, or a thirty minute tranist through the lift spine to the other continent. Shuttles to other PLANTS in the same city left every thirty minutes and shuttles to the other cities left every hour. A very organized and almost completely automated mass transit system far superior to anything on Earth. It took some getting used to, accepting that all the vehicles were automated, especially for someone used to driving with Alkire, but it certainly made having conversations easier if one of them didn't always have to be concentrating on the road.
"I'm his mother. Just about the only thing about him I cannot unduly influence is his sex life and I could probably make a good go at that too, if the inclination struck me." Ezalia turned off the car. She rarely used the reserved spot for PLANT government officials, but she and Katie only had until lunch, so she didn't want to waste any time with the car driving around looking for a parking spot. "And it's "only" five hours. And how much more embarassed can he get, after the topics we discussed that first night?"
"Ah, so you used deceptive logic and took advantage of his relative lack of experience with women, I see." Katie replied with a grin. "Dear Ysak-y has little clue just what sort of damaging topics his lover and mother can reach in as much as five full hours of shopping time."
"Indeed. He's used to me speed shopping, because that is how I usually do it when he is around because of all the tedious but important meetings I have to go to being a Supreme Councilmember. However, after the emergency meeting on that first night we all agreed to a few days off, except in the case of another emergency of course. And of course, I have a woman friend to shop with too, which helps."
"Hmm, there's one difference from Earth. On Earth anyone less than twenty is usually a "girl", not a woman." Katie observed, climbing out of the car to join Ezalia as she headed for the closest mall entrance.
"You took my boy's virginity?" Ezalia asked.
"Well, it was something of a mutual thing..."
"Have you killed people in self defence or to defend others?"
"Yes."
"You're more a woman than most." Ezalia said firmly. "Also, due to the relatively greater learning capacity of Coordinators, we generally consider people "mature" at the age of fifteen, which is the age when the parents cease having total legal control over their child... similar to the 18 year limit on Earth. Technically Ysak is his own man, and nothing I say or do can officially be applied to him. Of course he lives with me anyway, as do many PLANT children with their parents, because even if a Coordinator is physically, legally and intellectually mature at fifteen years, emotional maturity tends to take a bit more time. That's why the drinking age is eighteen, for instance, even though drunk driving accidents are almost totally impossible. Not that any self respecting teenager allows that law to apply to them any more than absolutely necessary."
"So where do we go first? You're the expert here." Katie glanced around idly... it looked just like the malls in Orb, if slightly more space constrained. She acquired a brief faraway look in her eyes that Ezalia could not help but notice.
"Ysak have something to say?"
"Ysak-y just wanted to stress that even if we do buy him some outlandish clothing, he's under no obligation to actually wear it. He's letting some the irritation of sorting through the thousands of emails he has built up on his account bleed over... he's going to be prickly in a few hours."
"That power would be a godsend at times, I'd imagine. Goodness knows, I know many women who would trade an arm to be able to be attuned to the emotional state of their man at all times." I might even be one of them.
"It has its ups and downs. It requires a lot of trust between Ysak-y and me. Especially with him in regard to me using my powers on him. And somewhat vice versa as well... mentally sensed emotions are raw things, uncluttered with the added meanings and shadings words apply to them. They can be overwhelming if you don't take them with a grain of salt... if Ysak-y was angry I wouldn't be able to tell why, or even how angry, unless I looked at some of his other emotions. And if he focused on his anger, he could blot out pretty much everything else. His emotions can even affect mine, if he's feeling them strongly enough and I don't concentrate on blocking them. That's one reason why when he gets horny, so do I, generally."
"I can see how that might be inconvenient, given how fixated men are on sex." Ezalia snorted. "We'll do some shopping for ourselves first, then we'll hit some stores for Ysak before we go meet him."
"Sounds good to me. And he's not so much fixated as just very curious. It's very cute at times... girls are still magical and wonderful beings to him. He doesn't see me just as a lover and friend, but as something of a mother figure, in some ways. And for which impression I can never thank you enough, because it helps so much with fortifying the trust between us. Because of you Ysak-y almost worships women, as long as they treat him with respect and kindness... more parent's should try and instill that manner of thinking into their sons."
"Ysak-y is your lovers name for him? You use it quite often." Ezalia studied a skirt made from polyfiber faux silk, it was soft as cream to the touch, but the color was off. Red wasn't her thing.
"It's something my sister came up with. We never would have used it, except it obviously chipped at his shell so much it was just too funny. I am so going to call him Jamie when we get back together with the rest of the Clyne Faction, just to see him twitch and try and explain it to our friends. But yes, it is my term of endearment for him."
"Does he have one for you?"
"Besides "omigod", I don't think so." Katie replied and they shared a chuckle. They spent most of the remainder of the morning poking through various department stores and specialty outlets. Most of the brand names were new to Katie, as they were almost all PLANT made products, but name didn't change quality... most of the products were superior to anything you could find on Earth, and cheaper too, in most cases. Ezalia had initially offered to pay for Katie's purchases, until Katie pulled almost ten thousand plant dollars in one hundred dollar bills out of her purse and explained that she had a "rich guardian" who provided for her. When Ezalia offered to hold the money for her, for safekeeping, only half jokingly, Katie politely refused.
"You sure? That's a lot of money. Purse snatching almost never happens on the PLANTS, but that clerk had a shifty look in his eyes. Targting a random woman on the street is a whole different kettle of fish from targeting a PLANT Supreme Councilwoman."
"Ezalia, no offense, but I pity the poor purse snatcher who tries to mess with me. I hold black belt level certifications in four different styles of martial arts, as well as the equivalent qualification in the free form style used by EFSOU agents to kill or disable foes in combat situations. If you put a pistol in my hands, I can hit a two inch target nine times in ten from sixty feet away with a one hand stance. I shoot better than your son does, and I can usually give him a run for his money on the fighting mat, even if his win ratio has been climbing of late. I know how long it takes to strangle a man to death using either standard suffocation or blood starvation stranglehold techniques. Not only that, but though I cannot influence Stumps, I am still aware of their minds and vaguely what they are feeling, and even while I'm talking with you, my perceptions are sweeping about a twenty meter radius, just to be safe."
"You had... a troubled upbringing, didn't you?"
"I lived most of my life as a lab rat, denied even the right to speak verbally. People tell me I'm actually reasonably well adjusted for coming from that sort of background." Katie walked a few steps more. "But enough about me... what about you?"
"I'm an over-worked politician single mom with incredible academic qualifications and next to no social life. I try not to focus on that, or else I get slightly depressed."
"No boyfriends at all since your husband died?"
"Nothing more serious than few one night stands when the need grew unbearable. Ysak doesn't know about those though. There was one man... but he died before anything could come of it."
"Just haven't been looking or is it something else? You appear to be an attractive, hard working and successful woman with a strong independent streak... I would have thought that men would be lining up at your door."
"I'm afraid it's probably my fault. After Ika passed away in that testing accident, I left the academics behind and threw myself into my political career. I focused on it so much that it kept everyone else at arms length... even Ysak at times. I acquired something of a reputation for being a cold hearted, career oriented bitch. That's stuck with me ever since, and it still severely curtails my social life. I've grown used to it, or I had, until you and Ysak showed up. Seeing you two together... well, maybe I can turn things around too, you know?"
"I know some cute single older men. Maybe I can introduce them to you?" Kisaka and Waltfeld won't mind a little matchmaking, especially since pining after Murrue won't get them squat right now. Course, Ysak-y will have an annuerism either way, but his mom needs help. He'll understand eventually. Victor would have been a good choice too... but...
"I don't think I'd turn down any help at this stage." Ezalia blinked and looked around. "Uh oh... look where our footsteps have unconsciously taken us. We're in THAT section."
Katie looked around too, and despite herself felt a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. The lingerie section. She and Chanel had always joked about shopping in there, but there'd never been any reason to until after they'd met Ysak, and then there was usually no time. "Heh, heh, imagine that. We must be two dirty minded women."
"I'm almost afraid to ask... but does Ysak...?"
"Of course he does. He's actually rather fond of playing dress up."
"That is actually a little too much information, even for me." Ezalia shook her head, stifling laughter. She walked over to a rack of articles. "Something like this, maybe?"
"No. Good material, good pattern... but the color is all wrong. He won't have anything to do with red. Red is Athrun's color and he refuses to be like Athrun. He tries so hard to not be like Athrun he can't even see how similar they are." Katie thought for a moment. "Just about the only red thing he ever wears is his uniform, and he doesn't really have much choice there."
"So he still gets along with the people from his old team, eh? He used to complain about them all so much in his letters. It was clear he valued them all greatly."
"Gets along might be putting too strong a term on it." Katie browsed through a rack herself, though she was shopping for Ezalia, not herself. "He and Dearka are best pals, that I don't doubt... but Athrun is more like a measuring stick. Ysak-y's so damn good at everything he does, he can't even figure out how successful he is unless he looks at how good Athrun is doing. Hmm... this look like it might fit you?"
"Black? Black is too dark. I once had a boyfriend in high school tell me that I had the perfect body to be a dominatrix... course I dumped the creepy bastard shortly thereafter, but I've had an aversion to black things from then on." Ezalia mock shuddered. "Ysak is like his father in that regard... Ika could never stop measuring himself against the other leaders in our field. No matter how brilliantly he did, he was always consumed with the need to do better, to prove again that he was the best. It was that pride that led to his accident, or so I believe. It was my job to be the brake on his enthusiasm and competetive nature, to tell him when enough was enough... but I failed him. I got caught up in his excitement, in his pride. And he died, when he would have lived if we hadn't been in such a rush to be the first to reach that next new goal." Ezalia brooded for a moment. "Don't ever fail Ysak like I failed Ika, I beg you."
"It's not easy... he just can't stand to be second best. Kira doesn't make it any easier, though its nearly impossible to hate Kira." Katie mused, browsing some more. "Piloting mobile suits well is one of the things that always makes Ysak-y happy, in my experience. He's really, really good at it and he works hard to be better at it all the time. But Kira... Kira is just better. Bald faced fact, Kira is better. Almost always has been, always will be. Which is ironic of course since Kira loathes mobile suits and fighting. No matter how hard Ysak-y tries to beat Kira, its just not going to happen in this world. And I think he already knows that, he just won't accept it. In truth I don't know how to tell him, to show him that he doesn't HAVE to beat Kira or Athrun. That there are so many people that love him just because he tries. Just because he is Ysak."
"Give him something that he can be the best at. Something he has to work his ass off for, but that once he achieves he will be entirely sure he is the only person who could ever have accomplished it. Give him a seemingly impossible goal, one even more intriguing than the desire to beat Kira and Athrun." Ezalia replied. "With Ika, the goal I used was being a father to my child. But I dropped the ball. After Ysak was born I didn't force Ika to share in taking care of things with Ysak. I kept my precious baby to myself while Ika continued to work on the last stages of the project. A less extreme method was letting him indulge in his hobby. Ika loved photography, but it was a non-competitive love. He didn't feel driven to be the best of all... just as good as he could be."
"Well, despite my teasing, I'm not ready to have children with Ysak yet. Eventually, certainly. But we have lots of time. Though I must say, your son is an absolutely incredible lover. Not that I have any prior experience... but..."
"He's a Joule. Pure energy, those men are." Ezalia said with a wicked smile.
"That's good advice about finding him a nondestructive hobby though. I'll have to think about that. Thank you."
"You're welcome... oh my, look at how time has flown. We need to get going, or we won't have time to shop for him and still meet Ysak on time. And as I'm sure you know, he HATES waiting."
-----------------------------------------
"So what are we going to do today, Ysak-y?" Katie sat on the edge of the bed and kicked her legs idly. Ysak had his back turned to her, and he had to fight to keep it that way, because she wasn't wearing anything. He was damn glad his door was shut... bad enough that his mother and Katie got on so well together that at times it felt like they were teaming up against him, he didn't need to throw fuel on the fire by letting Katie display herself. She knew it drove him to distraction, which was of course one reason why she did it. Others being that she really didn't see what was so special about clothes, besides the handy pockets, a consequence of her early years in the labs. It was a mannerism many guys Ysak knew of would be happy to take advantage of, but he was most assuredly NOT that sort of guy. He finished getting dressed and turned around. "You sure are dressed up all nice." Katie observed.
"I'd like you to be, as well, please." Ysak looked at her. He didn't stare, didn't let his eyes wander like they wanted to. God but she was beautiful. But that was what the "night" time was for, though there was no actual night on the PLANTS, which were illuminated twenty four hours a day. "We're going someplace special today and you can't go like that. Even jeans and t shirt would be disrespectful."
"Disrespectful? Where are we going?" Katie hopped off the bed and began getting changed into a semi-formal blue and silver dress she'd bought on the shopping trip with Ezalia a few days prior.
"To say hello to a few people I haven't seen in too long a time." Ysak concentrated on keeping his mental shields up. Not only were the emotions he was feeling somewhat painful and thus not ones he wanted to share, he always wanted to surprise Katie. It happened infrequently enough as it was. "Good friends of mine."
"These must be really important friends, if you need to get dressed up to see them." Katie commented. She knew Ysak was hiding something from her... his stronger than usual mental shielding was a sure red flag for that. But it wasn't malicious... not that it ever was. He just wanted to surprise her, so she decided to let him.
"All my friends are important." Ysak answered, which was both cryptic and surprisingly frank, coming from Ysak. "When you're done getting ready I'll be downstairs. It's going to be a bit of a trip... they're on Junius Twelve."
"Junius Twelve?" Katie asked, but Ysak was already shutting the door behind him. "Be that way then. But who is he talking about... I know all his friends..." Ysak refused to enlighten her during the trip, no matter how much she prodded and wheedled and needled. "Good friends" was all he would say, and perhaps sigh a little. It was driving her batty, but she refused to just pry the info out of his mind, which she could do even through the shields he fondly imagined kept his mind seperate from hers. The shields might keep out a unpractised or weak Newtype, but Katie was neither, for her the presence of the shields was more like a "do not disturb" sign hung on a door. The suspense was getting to her, but she would NEVER disrespect Ysak by forcing her way into his mind, unless absolutely necessary. That whole trust thing she'd talked with Ezalia about. It didn't matter what she COULD do to Ysak, she WOULDN'T do anything unless it was needed to save his or her life.
By the time they were on the last leg of the trip, aboard a surprisingly empty auto-bus, Katie was fidgeting with pent up energy. She looked around the countryside they were traveling through. Unlike the other PLANTS, the Junius city was mostly open plains and a few rolling hills, the better to provide space to cultivate food products. There were few buildings, mostly silos and packaging plants clustered by the lift spine, plus the odd maintenance shed or farmer's estate. There were no poor farmers in the PLANTS, where local produce was at a premium... if you owned farm land then you were almost assured to be well off. Suddenly she started seeing trees. Not a forest, but a regular, obviously artificial plantation, forming one wall of a square that looked to be at least a kilometer long. The auto-bus coasted to a stop in front of a nondescript building, little more than a couple of cubes connected by covered walkways. A large obelisk stood outside one of the cubes.
"Junius War Memorial no. 3?" Katie read the inscribed letters on the obelisk. "So these friends..."
"Weren't as fortunate as I have been." Ysak replied. He briefly entered the cube shaped building and returned a few minutes later with several bouquets of white roses. "It's a bit of a walk, but it gives me time to talk. This way." Ysak led her onto a paved walkway that twisted around through the ceremonial row of trees before heading out into the cleared field, which was divided into hundreds of neat rows of memorial markers made from white stone. Each marker was slightly more than a meter tall and about two thirds of a meter wide. There were eight hundred per row, and there were two hundred rows. "Almost none of these people are actually buried here. Most either did not leave bodies, or are unrecovered on Junius Seven or various battlefields. For the remainder, tradition on the PLANTS is to return physical remains to the environment, typically by breaking them down into fertilizer for the farms. On Earth that might seem a little ghoulish, but Earthlings have plenty of space and resoures to waste... we don't. The headstones are recycled from spoil taken from our asteroid mining operations, with almost every last molecule of industrial useful minerals squeezed out of them. They look pretty but they're even more worthless than plain cement, in terms of cost to make."
Katie looked around, noticing several other groups of people wandering the rows, placing mementos or saying prayers. An automated janitorial machine worked on the row above theirs, methodically washing down each stone in turn and collecting mementos by tossing them into a pannier on its back. Ysak noticed the look on her face. "It is the act of coming here and leaving the flowers in the first place that matters. The dead have no use for flowers. Once the mourner leaves, it is their memory of the act that is important. And the flowers are recycled as well, going back into our soil once more, where they serve a more useful purpose. Economy and efficiency aren't bywords in the PLANTS... they're a foundation for almost every aspect of our life. The PLANTS may look like little slices of heaven, but keeping them that way is neither easy nor free of sacrifice."
"We'll be visiting Miguel Aiman first. He died during the ZAFT infiltration of Heliopolis, during our covert mission to steal the rumored Alliance G-weapons, what we now call Gundams. If it hadn't been for that damn kid... by whom I mean Kira... everything would have gone without a hitch. We infilitrated the colony, planted our bombs and hijacked the Gundams like clockwork. It went so smooth even Alkire would have been impressed. Except for one hitch. There were five of us assigned to hijack the Gundams, but the fifth was shot before he could accomplish his mission. Kira and Captain Ramius boarded that machine, the Strike and kept it out of our hands. Miguel was there with his GINN, providing fire support and cover for us. He told us to go, and promised to capture the Gundam himself. Why would we doubt him... a Coordinator vs some stupid Natural who could barely even walk in the machine?" Ysak explained as they walked.
"Of course we didn't know about Kira. Even Kira didn't know about Kira, then. But he fought back. And Miguel was outmaneuvered and killed, sliced in half. This was of course WAY before Kira started his high and mighty crusade about not killing people... for which I have my life, spared twice over, to thank. Back then it was a crushing blow to my world. Miguel was a senior pilot, a war hero. He was a mentor to all of us on the le Creuset team, except for Commander le Creuset himself, of course. He was like the bigger brother I never had. I looked up to him more than I had to just about anyone else outside my family. It was seeking revenge for his "murder" that earned me this scar across my face." Ysak stopped in front of a specific headstone without even glancing at it. Clearly this was a practised event. Ysak faced the headstone and bowed his head for a moment of silence, before kneeling and gently placing one bouquet of flowers in front of the stone.
"I try and come here about twice a month if I can. Not only to visit my friends, but to experience the whole place. Many of these headstones are for civilians, innocent men, women and children who died during the Bloody Valentine attack. People who never did a thing to harm anyone, in most cases, all wiped out without warning or mercy. Back when I was in the le Creuset team, I always came away from here filled with righteous anger and hate for the Natural scum that could casually nuke a defenseless agricultural colony without warning. Now... well I still hate the people that nuked Junius Seven. I don't think that'll ever change. But I don't hate all Naturals anymore. And the anger has changed to determination. Determination to create a peaceful world that all of these poor people deserved to have been able to live in."
Ysak stood again and headed off without a single backwards glance at Miguel's memorial marker. Excess sentimentality was not something he indulged in often. "The other person we're going to visit today is Nicole Amafi. He was also a member of the le Creuset team, a member of the same class of ZAFT graduates that Athrun, Dearka and I came from. He was also a redcoat, though he squeaked in by a narrower margin than most. I'm not proud of it now, but back then I always looked down on him. He never should have joined the military, he wasn't suited for it at all. The idea of him fighting a serious fight was almost as ludicrous as imagining Athrun's then fiance Lacus suddenly deciding to enlist. He was a pacifist and a conciliator, always talking about negotiation and finding a mutual compromise to end the war. He and Kira would have gotten along together great. It was just too bad they had to be enemies." Ysak sounded more than a little bitter.
"Dearka and I picked on Nicole all the time, both in battle and out of it. We always called him a coward, because he preferred to fight with stealth and indirect guile... minimum effort applied to get the same results as Dearka and I got with our posturing and showboating. Athrun usually tried to protect him, with mixed results. If I could change only one thing about the way I acted before the battle of Jachin Due, I'd go back and slap myself into showing Nicole a few grains of respect. He practically disabled Artemis base singlehandedly, something an entire fleet of people like me could never have done. But I just sneered and continued to belittle him. I can only marvel now that he didn't develop a psychological disorder from all the crap Dearka and I put him through. Whenever I had a bad day, I always cheered myself up by making a worse day for him. Damn it, but I was such a bastard!" Ysak clenched his fists for a few moments as he walked.
"Kira also killed Nicole. Looking back on it, it was clear self defense... though half disabled, the Blitz was still a credible threat and Kira responded with the action any sane pilot would have chosen... he killed the threat. At the time though, it was like the end of the world to Dearka, Athrun and myself. Nicole may have been our scapegoat, the little brother we beat up to make ourselves feel better... but damn it he was OURS! It was only then, after he was dead, that I realized how much he added to our team. Dearka and I were the muscle, Athrun was the brain... but Nicole... Nicole was the life." Ysak flicked a tear off his cheek as his voice grew hoarse a moment. "He was a semi-professional musician, one of the best piano player's I've ever heard. If he'd lived he probably would have been world famous by now. But he loved us all, even if we didn't show him any damn respect. He sacrificed himself to save Athrun without a moment's hesitation, and I know he would have done the same for me or Dearka if we'd been the ones in trouble. That's just how Nicole was."
Ysak stopped in front of a memorial headstone at last. Again he bowed his head in silence and then knelt to deposit the flowers. "Thinking about how Nicole would despise what the world has become these days is one of the primary reasons I will never accept Sai's Isolation Plan." Ysak said, rising to his feet. Katie noticed he still had one bouquet of flowers.
"Is there someone else?" She asked, her first comment since they started walking amongst the headstones. This was Ysak's place, not hers... she felt privileged to even be here at all... this was obviously a very private thing for Ysak, a glimpse at some of his innermost motivations. The fact that she was probably among the very first Naturals to ever visit this memorial wasn't lost on her either. She'd had nothing to do with the Bloody Valentine tragedy or the first war... but she still felt like begging forgiveness from all the people here... all one hundred sixty thousand, barely a fourth of the total lost.
"After returning to the PLANTS from our attack on Porta Panama, I added one more thing to my bimonthly ritual. I had no idea who was going to die next... Dearka was MIA, I was being reassigned, Athrun was off on solo missions, the war was turning against us... grim days. So I offered up a third bouquet, to the future losses, whoever they would turn out to be." Ysak replied. He reached into the bouquet with his free hand and grabbed a single rose, tearing off the flower head and scattering the petals widely by tossing them into the air. He pricked his fingers sharply on the thorns, causing blood to well up in beads that stained some of the petals, but Ysak didn't let that stop him for reaching for the next flower. "It always stings, and more than just my fingertips. I think that's good. The deaths of people you care about should hurt. It's when I start tossing these flowers without feeling any pain at all other than that in my fingertips that I'll know I've lost the ability to feel love and grief. If that day ever comes, that is the day my life should end."
"Can... can I help?" Katie asked quietly. "I don't want to intrude on your private grief... but... I too want to make sure I retain the ability to grieve..." Ysak didn't consider long. With barely a second glance he proffered the bouquet towards her as they slowly made their way back towards the memorial entrance. They decorated the ground around them with their grief, beads of crimson on pure white petals that whirled like tears in the gentle breezes.
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"Ysak... I've been wondering this for a while." Katie asked one morning. Ysak grunted something incoherent and rolled over, facing the wall. He wasn't a morning person. Not that he couldn't wake up fully alert and aware at the drop of a pin... but if given his druthers he preferred to take his time easing into each new day. Not one to take no for an answer, Katie goosed him with one hand, trusting to the difference in their body temperatures to shock him into relative wakefulness. She sometimes suffered from poor circulation in her hands and feet, especially shortly after waking up. And Ysak usually burned like a furnace, or so it felt, though he was never feverish. An apt name, Joule (also a scientific unit of measurement for heat energy, if you weren't aware). True to her prediction, Ysak jerked and rolled over to glare at her, much more awake than he had been a moment before.
"I've warned you about doing that." He said crossly.
"Why is the redcoat red?" Katie continued, ignoring him in favor of her own question. "Why make two different uniforms for the same branch of service when you could just make a badge or something instead? You always talk about how the PLANTS don't like wasting resources... wouldn't it save a lot of cloth to just have one color uniform, like most military's?"
"Well, they didn't precisely ask my opinion when they made the uniform regulations." Ysak said after a moment or two to organize his thoughts. "But the structure of ZAFT is fundamentally different from that of Earth military forces. ZAFT was formed as a militia unit, not a professional fighting force. Our rank structure is much more fluid than the one the Alliance uses. Rank is determined as much by personal ability and charisma as it is by time spent in the military. You can't become a Redcoat elite no matter how long you spend in the military, unless you have the abilities to warrent it. Being a Redcoat is also a measure of your personal trustworthiness... kinda like how some jobs in your military require different levels of clearance... confidential, secret, top secret, etc. By being authorized to wear the Redcoat uniform, it signifies that ZAFT leadership... and by extension PLANT leadership... trusts your loyalty and competence very highly, which means you get told stuff other soldier's aren't and are given opportunities other soldier's aren't. A normal pilot would never have been allowed to keep one of the Gundams we stole... but ZAFT high command was more than happy to let the four of us keep ours."
"So instead of using badges and patches and other accoutrements to denote skill and trustworthiness, the actual color of the uniform is what matters?"
"In most cases yes. There are a few exceptions... FAITH members and highly decorated people like Rau le Creuset or Andrew Waltfeld have more authority than their uniform rank would otherwise indicate."
"That's a really stupid system. Why not just put big targets on your faces saying "hey, if you kill me you're doing more to hurt ZAFT than if you kill him"?"
"Like I said, they didn't ask my opinion." Ysak retorted. Katie was silent for almost a minute. Ysak was just about to drift off again... he had nothing to do today, an extra thirty minutes in bed wouldn't hurt, surely?
"Are you absolutely sure it's not because red uniforms are really sexy?"
"This conversation is over."
----------------------------------------------
"Only two more days to go until we have to meet up with everyone again." Katie said, with a slight pout. This vacation with Ysak had been one of the best times of her entire life. Even if she'd never quite been able to forget that they were only up in the PLANTS because they'd been soundly defeated down on Earth, but there was little use in getting angry over something you couldn't fix. No, it was better to take what enjoyment you could out of life while it was being offered to you. They'd get Sai back with interest for what he'd done to the world and themselves personally... but they would wait for the right time and opportunity to do it.
"I am dreading that day." Ysak admitted. "I don't think I've yet experienced a time where I could be as relaxed as I have these past days. Its been wonderful. I haven't even thought about fighting in more than a week, and I'm not even disappointed. You're a powerful influence indeed, love."
"And I've learned so much about so many things. It's been amazing. I practically live in your head, Ysak-y, and theres still so much about you I hadn't known. I'm so glad we got to spend all this time with just ourselves."
"Sure, make it sound like I haven't been here too." Ezalia harrumphed. She was slipping on her coat and shoes in the entrance foyer, in preparation for heading out to the office. It was late and she didn't usually work at "night"... but there was always lots of work to do, and Ysak had asked for privacy tonight, which she had been only too happy to provide. Plainly her son had big plans for making this night special in some way, which was just wonderful in her opinion. "It may be hard for youngsters like you to believe, but this old matron has had new life injected into her just by you two being around."
"You're not a matron, mother."
"Ysak, you're supposed to deny that she's old!"
"She is old. Older than most people I know..."
"I think that's my cue to leave, before you talk yourself too much deeper into a hole. Try not to burn the house down while I'm gone." Ezalia opened the door, but she paused in the doorway. "And have fun, you two. You deserve it." She shut the door after herself. Less than a minute later the car started up and drove away. Katie turned to face at Ysak's direction expectantly. He'd been shielding hard for two days now, plainly planning a big event, and she was burning up inside with anticipation. She'd been told to stay in Ysak's room pretty much all afternoon, while Ysak bustled around the rest of the house and the sound of delivery vehicles came and went several times. She'd been wearing a blindfold ever since Ezalia had come up to tell her to come downstairs since she was leaving for work.
"So how long do I have to stay blind? A little mystery is exciting, but I'm starting to get bored." Katie prompted.
"Not too much longer. Come with me." Ysak took her by the hand and led her into the first floor study. "Wait until I shut the door and then you can take off the blindfold. When you're ready, come back into the entertaining room." Ysak released her hand and quickly retreated from the room, shutting the door behind him. Slightly bemused but tingling with anticipation all the same, Katie slowly lifted the blindfold and blinked a few times to clear the spots in her vision. She gasped with surpise and admiration. Arrayed before her on a stand next to a portable full length mirror was a dress. But not just any dress, no it was a sapphire blue formal evening gown in a style that had first seen use back in the early twentieth century of the AD calender, several centuries ago. It was the kind of dress that fabulously wealthy and enigmatic women always wore in the ancient black and white romance and mystery movies that were so popular back then. Made from silk or something so like it as to feel identical, the gown was shoulderless and lighter than a feather, with one side slit almost to midthigh to allow ease of movement. It had to have been custom made, because outside of museums such dresses didn't exist.
On the dresser drawer to the side of the mirror was several different colors of makeup, a real pearl necklace and various other glittering accessories, mostly silver or platinum with sapphires or light blue pearls being the predominat gems. She could barely imagine how much it all cost... now she saw what Ysak had done with his share of Alkire's money. A pair of silvery open topped dress shoes with moderate heels were placed under the dress... Ysak knew she despised high or spike heels. She giggled... Ysak really did love playing dress up, even if he'd never admit it to most people. He sure did know how to go overboard with it too... not that she was complaining. Katie rapidly shucked out of her normal clothes and began getting dressed. The costume was exquisite... but when dealing with this fantasy game of Ysak's, the clothing was always just the tip of the iceberg. She wasn't very practised at self beautification... Chanel had been really good at it and so had taken care of them both while she was alive... but at length she had gotten dressed and was reasonably happy with how she looked. Almost trembling with excitement, Katie slowly opened the door and stepped out into the house proper.
All the lights were off, and the auto-tinting windows adjusted so that it appeared to be dusk inside the house. The only sources of illumination were candles. Dozens of candles, of varying sizes, some on wall sconces, others on candlesticks, still more on the table's and other flat surfaces... some even on the floor, tucked away in spots where they wouldn't be easily walked on, all giving off faint but still pleasant scents. She made her way down the hall and noticed something else. There were camera's set up all over the place. Not obtrusively so, but their coverage was good. Pretty much anywhere she could imagine standing or sitting was covered by the view of at least one camera. They all looked to be on some sort of remote program control. This was a new twist to the game... Ysak generally didn't like leaving evidence for other people to perhaps stumble upon. Finally Katie entered the entertainment room and spotted Ysak. Seeing her, he stepped out from the darker corner he'd been waiting in, allowing the candlelight to illuminate his own choice of clothing.
In keeping with his pre-chosen theme, Ysak wore a heavy outer trenchcoat of dark, nearly black fabric, worn long to the ankles and buttoned up tight nearly to his chin. A pure white rose wasattached to his left breast pocket, and he wore a fedora that matched his coat, with another, smaller white rose offset on the band of the hat. With the fedora angled just so, to hide his eyes from easy view and with his hands placed casually in his pockets, he was the spitting image of the gritty private eye or mysterious gangster who often played the male hero role in those old movies. He was absolutely delicious, in her eyes. He held out his hand and smirked. If there was one facial expression Ysak could pull off like no one else could, it was an arrogant smirk. This one was a superluminal example. "Care to dance a little before dinner, miss?"
Katie had to lick her lips and swallow to build up enough moisture in her suddenly dry mouth to speak without croaking. This was... WOW. "I'd love to, sir." Katie took his hand and let herself be pulled into a brief embrace. He continued to tantalize her though, stepping back to put her at half arm's length, slipping one hand down to her waist and taking her right hand in his left. She obligingly draped her own left hand over his right shoulder and smiled up into his face. Even this close the brim of the hat almost totally obscured her view of his eyes, but the smile was impossible to conceal. His right hand briefly left her waist and then returned, fingers tickling along her thigh before settling again, causing her to shiver involuntarily. He'd been practicing, that was clear.
"I scouted out some theme appropriate music, but I just didn't like it very much. My mother suggested I try some slightly more contempary selections...some of that new excavation rock trash thats getting so popular. I was pleasantly surprised, I only had to look forward eighty years or so. It's not the best dancing music, but I like it all the same." Ysak said, as the song "Love Like Winter" by the band AFI started playing from hidden speakers. Katie was forced to agree with Ysak... it wasn't the best type of song to slow dance to, but neither of them really cared. All they wanted to do was hold each other and sway back and forth and stare at each other. It was a perfectly good song for that. By the end of the first song Ysak's hand had crept up to her back and was slowly pressing them closer together. The next song was "All Around Me" by Flyleaf. At the end of the song Ysak kissed her for the first time that night. The hat bumped awkwardly against the side of her head for a few moments until Ysak reached up and brushed it off. The song ended and the speakers turned off.
Katie made a small noise of protest when Ysak pulled away from the single kiss. "Don't be so impatient, love. We have a full night ahead of us." Ysak disengaged from the dancing embrace. "Let me treat you to dinner for starters. Your first meal prepared entirely by my hands... though not without a great deal of supervision by my mother, I'll admit."
"Had me worried for a moment there, Ysak-y. Would hate to die of food poisoning just as you were showing signs of being a romantic after all." Katie needled, enjoying his scowl almost as much as the smirk from earlier. Dinner turned out to be venison filet mignon with asparagus topped with berenaise sauce and while not five star resteraunt quality, it was still pretty damned good. There was even real champagne, though only two glasses each... plainly Ysak didn't want even a chance of alchohol ending the night early. They didn't speak during dinner, not even mentally... though they did spend plenty of time eying each other and teasing each other by eating in the most languid, suggestive manner they could manage without bursting out in laughter. Ysak rapidly cleared the plates and other dishes away when they were done and then took off his coat. The suit and slacks he wore underneath were both pure white, with a azure blue shirt and black tie. A blue lotus formed his lapel pin. He took her by the hand again and led her out into a clear space.
"Time for a few more dances. And in case you were wondering about the cameras... well, I don't think I'd believe this night really occured if I didn't have phsyical proof to look at down the road." Ysak said lightly.
"Aren't you worried about De...! Dearka?" Katie was forced to resay the name because Ysak had leaned in and kissed the side of her neck while simultaneously running his fingers lightly down her spine, quite derailing her train of thoughts for a moment.
"Let him look. There's nothing in these pictures to be embarassed about." Ysak activated the sound system once more and pulled her into a dancing embrace again, though this time he put both arms around her waist, while she put both arms around his neck. The first song was "Hey There Delilah" by The Plain White T's.
"Most men put on something a little more... classical... when they try and set the mood." Katie commented, trailing one hand down his chest.
"I'm not most men." Ysak shrugged slightly. "Besides, even if I couldn't change the lyrics to include your name without ruining the flow of the song, I do think they are fitting for us." He stopped her from replying with another kiss. Both of them began to use their hands to roam rather more freely. Full, warm, slightly encouraged by the alchohol in the champagne, it was almost time for the best part of the whole ritual. The song segued into "The Fire" by Papa Roach.
"Got enough buttons on that shirt?" Katie half protested. "Almost like you want to make things hard"
"It's a challenge. I'm still trying to work out how that dress stays on at all, myself."
"You bought it."
"Yes, but I didn't try it on. Its one thing holding it by itself... quite another holding you in it."
"Ysak."
"Mmm?"
"This is beautiful. Where were you hiding all this innovation?"
"It's not even half over yet. And aboard a crowded warship is hardly the place where I can be my most romantic. Besides, you know what they say about us quiet guys..."
"I don't, but I think I can come up with a couple good guesses. Thank you, Ysak. Thank you so much.."
"Talking isn't speeding things along. If you must communicate, use your thoughts. Or better yet..." Ysak's fingers finally found the clasps holding the dress together in the back. He undid them with a simple flick ofthe wrist. The song was "What I've Done" by Linkin Park. "... let me hear some incoherence."
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Auter note: This is one of my first tries at actual romance writing, which nowhere near as easy for me as action (though I am feeling more confident in it now). I hope I did a good job, all you Ysak fans (especially the so called "fangirls". Because let's face it, generally speaking, guys like Ysak cause he's a badass fighter, not because of his romantic qualities). The music is eccentric for "romance", but I think most of the songs fit Ysak pretty well. In fact, "What I've Done" is my theme song for Ysak, for his representation in my fanfic anyway, which I think fleshes him and his family and his motivations for being the Ysak we know out a lot more than most fanfics. But that might be hubris talking. Oh yes... if anyone has any ideas for cool nonviolent hobbies for Ysak to have, well, I'm listening. Next is Kira and Lacus.