Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed nor Romeo x Juliet -cries-
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Act 2-2: Fourteen Years:
"… Because you haven't paid back the debt… I'll just have to take your daughter."
"B-But! T-The debt should have been already paid back…!"
A man was thrown back, as a group of rowdy men surrounded him, grins all over their faces. A plump man, who was some what dressed as a noble – but could be clearly seen as a commoner, grinned, as he pulled out a piece of paper.
"You signed this contract didn't you? It says right here that when paying back the debt, the amount would be twice as much."
"B-But…!"
Before the man could protest any more, he was kicked in the shin, as the plump man grinned once more. He then took the man's daughter in one swoop – walking away to the carriage, ignoring the family's protests.
He threw the girl into the carriage – where other girls were already in there, before sitting back on the driver's seat, smiling to himself as he rode down the street.
"To think, he's a commoner like us and he's going to sell women and girls off to nobles just for his own personal greed!"
"Despicable, he just wants to have an advantage with the Zala's!"
People whispered to each other, as they wearily eyed the carriage running by the street wearily. Not much farther away, a cloaked boy, with tussles of black hair sticking out, and a mysterious, red cloaked stranger were watching on the rooftops, silently listening to what was going on.
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The Plump man laughed as they continued to ride down the street.
"All these girls will be sent to those higher up nobles, and hopefully they'll offer me a good price. With this, surely one of them is the Athha's daughter, and I would be in the riches… The noble life…"
He started to day dream off about his 'future', not noticing two cloaked strangers standing on top of the arch that the carriage passed under. That was, until these two jumped off the arch, and landed on top of the carriage – disturbing the plump man and his colleagues immensely.
"A-And who the hell are you two?"
The Plump man asked, as his eyes laid on a red, cloaked man, who drew a rapier, pointing it to the neck of the Plump man. He swore, he saw the cloaked man grin, before his demanding voice reached his ears.
"If you value your life, you'll release these girls at once!"
"That's preposterous!"
He shouted back at him, before his colleagues had climbed onto the carriage – armed and ready to destroy the red, cloaked figure – or rather, the famous Strike Rouge. The Strike Rouge bore a grin once more, as he looked down at the man with the dagger in front of him.
The man with the dagger ran forward with great speed, attempting to attack the Strike Rouge. The latter blocked his futile attack, and pushed him back. He than turned a one-hundred eighty degrees, dodging the strikes of another swordsman. He was able to get a good angle, before planting his hands on the ground, and send a high kick towards his current attackers jar. This also didn't stop him from getting the other man he was dealing with either with another high kick.
Unfortunately, this left the Strike Rouge open to the final man, who had a victorious grin. He slammed his sword down, and the Strike Rouge wasn't able to block it with his rapier – a small, clear cut ripped through his fore arm, and the rapier went flying off the carriage.
The Strike Rouge glared down his attacker, as the man who clearly had the upper hand approached him slowly.
---
"This should be the last of them…"
Shinn mumbled to himself, as he cut the bonds off the hands of the girl. He blinked, as his red eyes slowly gazed up, as he heard something unusual.
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Just as the man stepped forward, raising his sword high to end the Strike Rouge, a man came falling from the skies, kicking him Right Square in the face. He tumbled off the carriage after, as the newly, cloaked man turned to the Strike Rouge, revealing the scar the ran down his left eye.
"Heya, kiddos, decided to crash the party. Even though, this has to be my last time for this kind of stunt, getting old you know."
He joked lightly, even though; he was slightly glowering down towards the Strike Rouge – giving him a playful yet, 'You-weren't-suppose-to-be-doing-things-like-this look. The Strike Rouge laughed nervously.
"T-Thanks Andy…"
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The Carriage halted to a stop, as the Plump man tumbled out of the driver's seat, attempting to crawl away. He was stopped, as Andrew jumped off, landing in front of him, and the Strike Rouge and Shinn blocked the other way – cutting off all of his means of escaping.
"P-Please! I-I beg of you! D-Don't kill me!"
"Take out the contract!"
As fast as he took out the contract, it was in mere shreds after a few flicks with the new blade that the Strike Rouge picked up. The Plump man scurried away no longer, having the thought of learning his lesson.
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"Now there's tales meandering through the town of the 'strike rouge of justice'"
In the corner part of Aube, a Doctor lived with his family. Every one loved this man very much, just because of his kind demeanor. What every one didn't know about him, was that he helped the Strike Rouge whenever any wound came up. For now this instance, the Strike Rouge sat in front of him, his shirt rolled up, as the Doctor was finishing wrapping a bandage around his arm.
"You really should be careful kid, or one day they'll catch you."
He paused for a moment, smiling gratefully. The Strike Rouge just grinned sheepishly back, pulling his sleeve back down, looking up at the Doctor. He was actually not that old, with shimmering blonde hair, and blue eyes.
"I'm actually very grateful of all the food you send me, it wouldn't be needed though if we were still in the past. There would always be a helping hand from the keep."
He paused for a moment, as the Strike Rouge looked at him inquisitively.
"Aube, has truly changed ever since Grand Duke Zala has taken the throne. Now it's only the Nobility who gets a helping hand, instead of all of the commoners."
The Strike Rouge sat in silence as he listened to the Doctor's words. Was the Grand Duke really that bad?
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"You know, if you really hate my lectures, you should really stop confronting petty thugs like that guy."
Andrew sighed heavily; giving the Kids the same lecture over and over again was very tiring for him. They were walking on a secluded path, which was surrounded by destroyed buildings – the safest place to get home. The Strike Rouge slipped off the mask as his amber eyes were revealed now – down cast slightly because of Andrew's little lecture.
"But still…"
"There are other things alone that only you can do."
"That I can do alone? Like what?"
Seth stopped, as he waited for Andrew's response. The pregnant silence was all he received, as Seth then continued on.
"Of course, you'll say, 'When your sixteen' right? Well, today's that day! So tell me!"
Andrew just looked back at Seth, before he moved down the path, not giving him an answer. Shinn gave a worried look at Seth, but ran after Andrew – leaving Seth alone. Seth just continued to stare at the two retreating figures, hoping for an answer, but all he got was the chilling wind.
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A hand slammed on the table, as the two boys that sat in front of the man winced at the loud thud it made.
"First, you went out yesterday! And now you caused an uproar today?"
The Man asked – or more known as Kisaka – Shinn's 'Grandpa'. It was the usual, he found out about Seth and Shinn's adventures and well – the scolding, lectures etc.
"And Andrew even went with you!"
"Than are you saying I leave the poor kid alone?"
Andrew asked from his seat next to Seth, grinning wildly, as he ruffled Seth's, short blonde hair. Kisaka was slightly taken back by the remark, but before he continued on with his scolding – Martin DaCosta decided to speak up from his spot next to Kisaka, while reading his book.
"Even though, Seth's remarkable sense of Justice and willing to lend a hand to the common people is rather amazing."
"T-That is a completely separate issue! I can't believe it…"
Kisaka sighed, as he trailed on, ready to complain about how reckless Seth's decisions were. But couldn't do so because Lacus picked that moment to walk into the room, which caught Seth's gaze.
"Ah! Lacus! Here."
Seth pulled out a little tube, passing it to the older girl. Lacus blinked, looking at the little tube in her hand, as Seth just grinned.
"It's hand cream that you can use on dry skin. Use it, it'll be good."
"Oh my, thank you Seth."
She smiled back, curious at the boy's charming attitude all of the sudden. Seth then stood up, waving back at Kisaka.
"I'm going to go see Willy!"
"Me too!"
"W-What?!? You two get back here! I'm not done with you!"
Seth and Shinn left before Kisaka could say any more. The Man sighed heavily, before he collapsed back into his seat, placing his aging head into his palms.
"It's a miracle she has lived to see this day…"
"This is a speculation, but, I think some one is protecting… that child…"
"What?"
DaCosta continued to flip through his book, before he gave his answer.
"By Aube itself."
A deafening silence came, as every one shifted in their seats uncomfortably – thinking about DaCosta's speculation, and the truth about Seth.
"Do you think, she'll be able to stay this way after tonight?"
Andrew dropped his playful demeanor, and brought up another topic, which made Kisaka remember what was needed to be done tonight.
"Has the signal been sent?"
"I took care of it."
Kisaka nodded his thanks to DaCosta, who went back to flipping through his book. Kisaka sighed, before he buried his head into his aging hands again.
"It's been fourteen long years…"
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A/N: Yay. Sorry for the long update - I was on a slight hiatus etc.
But I'm back, because it's Summer woot!
Any ways.
Yes, I know, this chapter was very long and tedious... But... Yeah.
Uh.
I dunno what to say. Curio and Fransisco is like a mix of DaCosta and Andy so err... Yeah, let's just not really got there.
Next Act: Athrun and Meyrin spend a little bit of time, but Athrun seems to have a certain medium length, blonde woman on his mind. When he leaves the Keep briefly for a ride on his Pegasus, he comes upon a woman that oddly smells like Hibiscus...
Until next time!