c h a p t e r 9

"Well... I ... I was wondering if... You..."

Shinn burst through the door, "hey you guys," he greeted, then fell onto hid bed, looking exhausted.

I frowned, I'm always getting interrupted! A sigh escaped my lips, "so what's up with you, Shinn?"

"That Lunamaria chick is my partner for this new project Mr. Lorrnoke assigned... That project we had before is being replaced.." he murmured.

I laughed, "sucks to be you." 'Yes! He's not with Stellar anymore!'

"Who am I with?" I asked.

"You're with Sting... and I think Stellar's by herself, Mr. Lorrnoke said that there weren't enough partners to go around."

I nodded, something was definitely up. He could've asked Stellar to join a group and make it a three person thing... so something was definitely up. Shinn had fallen asleep, probably stressed up about Lunamaria being his partner, while I got out of bed to take Stellar for a walk.

I wanted the chance to ask her to be my girlfriend. I wondered if there was still a chance of her rejecting me, but I didn't think so since she and I admitted our feelings for each other and even kissed!

We were walking along the shore, and I saw her gazing at the ocean with shimmering eyes. I loved her expression when she looked at the ocean. She looked like she was in a trance.

"Stellar...?" I called, my face turning red. I wanted to pop the question.

"Yes...?"

"Well.. about earlier... I was... I was wondering if..." I saw her turn to me, and my face turned darker.

"If you'd... want to be my girlfriend..."

Her eyes widened at my question, and I saw her cheeks turn pink. It was a small pause that seemed like eternity before she opened her mouth to reply.

"Stellar! Mr. Lorrnoke wants to see you!" Lacus called.

The blond nodded, then turned back to me, "Stellar.. will tell Auel the answer later," she said, smiling, then kissed me on the cheek.

She ran off towards the direction of Mr. Lorrnoke's class, and left me alone on the beach. I laid down upon the sand, closing my eyes.

"Auel... Auel!"

My eyes opened, and I realized I wasn't at the beach anymore. It was another dream like this again.

Stellar was in front of me, a worried expression on her face, "Stellar... what's wrong?"

I saw tears form in her eyes, and then... those wings again. Glowing wings sprouted from her back, and she began to float away. I realized I was holding the necklace that I had given her when we were children, and I wondered how it got there, but I shook the thoughts, and looked back at Stellar.

"Auel...! Protect... Stellar! Stellar is scared!" She shouted, and I reached for her, "Stellar!"

She began to drift away, tears streaming down her cheeks, "protect..." I heard her murmur, before disappearing completely. To my surprise, the dream didn't end. A gate suddenly appeared in front of me. A BIG gate.

I saw Mr. Lorrnoke, with Stellar in a large container. It looked like a capsule in one of those movies with humans that were created by humans. The capsule was filled with glowing liquid, and Stellar looked unconscious, her body glowing as well and the wings still appearing.

"Hey... what are you doing?!" I shouted to Mr. Lorrnoke. He didn't hear me, and continued whatever he was doing.

He pushed Stellar's capsule out towards the gate, then stepped back. The gate suddenly emitted a glowing light, as did Stellar, the glowing becoming more intense.

She emerged from the capsule, and floated over to the middle of the gate doors, her eyes open now but blank.

Mr. Lorrnoke had a smirk on his face, and I saw the gate doors begin to open, and inside, was many multicolored lights, dancing around.

"All this power... Is mine! I will destroy those stupid coordinators, once and for all!" He shouted like a mad man, "all thanks to Stellar.."

I awoke with a start, surprised at my dream. The sun was now a sunset, and I was alone on the beach. It all seemed so real.

I was about to run a hand through my sky blue locks, when I found that something was in it. My eyes widened.

It couldn't be.

I slowly lifted my fist up, before slowly opening my palm. The necklace.

Standing up, I began to run towards the academy. I had a feeling something was going to go wrong. Slamming the doors open, I ran into the building. At the end of the hall, I saw a bright light pouring from a classroom.

It was Mr. Lorrnoke's classroom.

He laughed, "this is going to fit in perfectly..." he said, seeing the girl crouching down as if in pain. Her body was glowing, well, beginning to, the light beaming on and off.

"No... Auel... protect.." she murmured, her eyes fading into blank magenta, her pupils shrinking as the bright light emitting from her body began to get stronger. She turned to Neo, "Neo... why is Neo doing this...?"

He didn't get a chance to answer, but just smirked when he saw the wings sprout from her back, and her eyes turn completely blank, and the glow on her body no longer beating on and off, now staying a steady light.

"Perfect..." Neo murmured, a smirk playing on his lips.

My eyes widened. So it WAS true! Those dreams I've been having... they were real all along.

So here I stood, at the doorway of Mr. Lorrnoke's classroom, seeing a strange band around Stellar's glowing neck. Wings were attached to her back, and her body emitted the same light as it did in my dreams.

"Stellar...!"

Mr. Lorrnoke looked at me, and I was surprised when I saw Stellar not even glance at me.

He smirked, "ahh... perfect, just what we need, a witness to my power," he laughed, then looked to Stellar again, before uttering the words, "attack."

Suddenly, the blond girl looked at me, "attack..." she murmured, then flew over to me in a surprisingly fast speed. I saw her fist pulled back, and I recognized that she was about to punch me. I ducked, then jumped out of the way.

"Stellar..! Wake up! It's me, Auel!"

She didn't respond, and advanced towards me, now carrying a knife. I dodged hastily when she tried to stab through my chest, and got a deep cut in my arm, wincing.

"Stellar..."

I looked up at her, and saw tears pouring from her blank, magenta eyes. She was raising the knife again, her arm shaking with clear hesitation.

"Auel... Stellar... is sorry..." she murmured, her voice shaking.

She brought the knife down, and I didn't have time to dodge, thinking that she would've gotten control of her body by now, and ended up with a deep cut in my shoulder. I winced once more, holding the wound gingerly to try and stop the bleeding, 'great... now I can't use this arm anymore...'

Mr. Lorrnoke had a smile on his face, and I wanted to wipe it right off, but if I did, Stellar would get a clear shot at me. I looked at the band on her neck, was it the thing that was controlling her? Her and her powers?

My eyes narrowed, I've got to try.

Launching myself at her, I pushed her to the ground, which actually took quite a bit of effort since she was floating all this time. Keeping her wrists above her head, I pulled at the metallic band around her neck.

"Stellar... I'll save you from this...!" I grunted, but found it terribly hard to yank it off. I thought I had it, I was so close, but Stellar had gotten a wrist free, unknowingly to me, and placed a hand on my chest.

I paused to look at the glowing hand, then looked at her face, 'uh oh...'

I flew off of her, then hit the wall, stopping me from going flying. I fell to the ground, panting, "ouch..."

I could no longer move, and just sat there, leaning against the wall, "dammit... get up..."

Mr. Lorrnoke approached me, "well, well... seems like you can't save her after all." He smirked, then immediately tied me up, and put me in that capsule I had seen Stellar in, in my dream.

It filled with liquid, and I thought I was going to drown, but surprisingly, I could breath in it. 'Cool...'

Looking at the two, I saw Stellar floating as she followed him outside, and my capsule followed her, "dammit..." I muttered. I wanted to protect her, but how could I in this thing?

Mr. Lorrnoke cackled, "I'm going to destroy all those coordinators finally! They should have continued that war that they started all those years ago...! But now, I'm going to finish them with Stellar, here..."

My eyes narrowed, this guy sure watched a bit too many movies. So that's why he came back to her, to use her like he usually did. But this was just crossing the line.

Tears were still streaming down Stellar's cheeks, but she ceased trembling, probably giving up fighting the power that controlled her.

I growled, "Stellar...! You can break free from him! Just fight it!" I shouted from inside the capsule. I knew she heard me because she glanced back at me with those empty eyes, and for a split second, I saw the Stellar I knew before come back. Her bright magenta eyes had replaced those dull, lifeless once, and I saw her rosy cheeks come back.

"Auel... Stellar... is scared..." I heard her murmur.

I forced a smile despite the situation, "don't worry... I'll find a way to get us out of this... I will protect you, Stellar..."

I saw more tears flow down her cheeks, and wanted so badly to hold her in my arms and make all the bad things go away, to protect her.

We had made it out on the shore, and the sun had set completely. Mr. Lorrnoke, AKA Neo, stood still for a moment, then turned back to us.

"Well now, Stellar... let's get this started," he said, "prepare yourself for the battle," he said.

The glowing blond had floated up high above the ocean waters, her wings growing much larger, and the bright white light emitting from her body turning darker.

I frowned, then looked to Mr. Lorrnoke, "why are you so caught up in killing the coordinators? The war is over and there isn't anymore hatred between the different races!"

He looked to me, "because, they killed the love of my life, and expect us to forgive them just like that?! I don't think so, I will get my revenge! Stellar here, will have no choice but to destroy them all," he replied, smirking.

I glared at him, knowing that I couldn't change his mind about this. Looking up at Stellar, I wanted so badly to get up there and protect her from what she was about to do. To Neo, she was nothing but a human weapon, something to be used for his own purposes.

But, I loved her.

I saw Lacus, Kira, Athrun, Cagalli, Shinn, and Sting appear on the shore, probably to see what all the bright light was about, hearing them gasp.

"W-What the.. Stellar!!!" I heard Shinn shout.

"No way..." Kira murmured.

Sting saw me in that capsule, "Auel?!" He ran to me, then punched Neo, knocking him away before opening the capsule to set me free. He noticed my wounds, "oh my god.. what happened?"

"Mr. Lorrnoke is using her... he's using her to destroy all the coordinators!"

Everyone gasped at what I shouted, then looked to each other. Shinn looked up to Stellar, "Stellar! Stellar..! It's me, Shinn! Don't do this!"

"She has no choice... that band on her neck is controlling her, she has to do what Neo tells her to..." I muttered.

Everyone looked to Neo, in such hatred it made him shudder, but he stood, "I will get my revenge against you coordinators... you'll see!"

Shinn punched him, hard.

"How the hell can you say that? You're just going to stir up more hatred! And using Stellar like this... she trusted you! You... you... bastard!"

We heard a light, tinkling sound coming from Stellar, then looked up at her. She was getting ready to attack, and I saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. Closing her eyes, I saw her hand reach to us, and she opened her mouth, "no...!!" She screamed desperately, but some sort of energy ball sprung forth in front of her finger, then headed towards us.

We all ran to avoid it, but once it touched the ground, it made a large explosion, knocking us off our feet. Neo had made Stellar make a large bubble for him to float in, and he was up there, beside her to avoid the attacks.

"Stellar...! You can fight it! Be strong!" I shouted, hoping she could hear me.

"Protect..." she murmured, and I tensed up, as did Shinn. 'Protect..' I looked up at her, 'I will protect you, Stellar...'