Part 16
Previously-
With that, she ran off, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cursed herself for breaking the promise not to cry about Athrun ever again.
As Athrun looked at her quickly disappearing figure, the look on his face was almost identical to the one Cagalli wore when he turned around and left for ZAFT more than a year ago.
When Meyrin entered the dining room for breakfast the next day, she found a room full of quiet and tense people. Raising an eyebrow, she cleared her throat, and immediately all eyes were on hers.
"Erm… Good morning. I apologize for interrupting your meal, but I would like to inquire if this belongs to anyone." Meyrin said as she held out a comb. "I went to the living room to see if I left my novel there, but I came upon this on the floor instead."
She scanned the 4 faces sitting on the table, and was met with 4 very blank stares.
"Oh, come on, this has to belong to someone. It definitely wasn't here when we came." She prompted, feeling just a bit irritated at the lack of response. She put it on the table and the 4 of them leaned over to look at it.
"Well, seeing that none of us have the initials 'A.R.', I can safely say that it doesn't belong to any of us." Athrun replied, pointing to the letters engraved on the handle of the wooden comb.
"Oops, guess I didn't see that." Meyrin said sheepishly.
Athrun frowned. "Still… Whom could this comb belong to?"
"Well… Perhaps one of the guests in your summerhouse before you brought it here, Mr. Zala?" Reyn suggested, "It may have been there all along, just that we never noticed it."
"But… I was… tidying up the living room the other day, and I definitely didn't see it." Meyrin protested.
"Maybe it was on a shelf and it dropped when someone bumped into it?" Reyn said shrugging.
The matter was more or less agreed upon, and they all went back to their food, leaving the comb very much alone. It was no wonder that no one really noticed when someone pocketed the comb.
Athrun was alone in the communications room, and after ensuring the door was locked, switched on the screen, which connected him with the palace.
"Good to see you, Kira." Athrun greeted, as his image flashed onto the screen.
"Good to see you too, Athrun. How's everyone getting along?" Kira asked amiably.
"Oh, fine. I suppose."
"Is everything with Cagalli alright?"
"Not… really." Athrun said, cringing involuntarily as he thought about how she had walked away the day before.
"Remember what I said about hurting her, Athrun…" Kira said, his voice sounding unusually stern.
"I… I don't want to hurt her, Kira."
Kira was silent for a while, and then he shook his head.
"This has nothing to do with wanting to hurt her. I don't believe for a moment that you ever wanted to hurt her, and yet you did. No, Athrun, this is about knowing what you want."
Before Athrun could reply, Kira raised a hand to stop him.
"But anyway, we have matters of consequence to discuss. I've managed to crack Kisaka's system and I've gotten the information you want."
"And?"
"And… It looks like your hunch, as unbelievable as it seems, has some truth in it."
Athrun sat back in his chair, the expression on his face grim. Kira had just revealed to him the information that Kisaka had obtained, the same information that had been stolen.
"I… see…"
"Athrun, since we both more or less know what's going on-"
"No, not yet… It isn't as simple as that."
"Athrun, Cagalli is in danger."
"She's in as much danger now as if we were to go back."
"At least there'll be more people to look after her here."
"But there'll be more people who might strike her as well."
Kira closed his mouth instantly, and then he sighed.
"Just… please make sure she stays safe, Athrun."
"Of course. I promised I'd protect her, didn't I?" Athrun said, smiling softly.
Athrun was sitting at the dining room table, looking very much perplexed, when Meyrin found him. She walked over to his side and tapped him gently on the shoulder. He looked up at her abruptly, the anxious expression still frozen on his face.
"Is anything wrong?" Meyrin asked.
"I… Where's Cagalli?"
"She's in her bedroom, taking a nap."
"Did she-"
"Yes, I made sure that she locked all the doors and windows before I left her there."
"Oh. Good." Athrun said, his face relaxing a little.
"How's work on the case?"
"I've nearly cracked it… or so I think."
"Or so you think?"
"I can't help… I can't help thinking that I missed something somewhere." Athrun replied, sighing. "Aside from that, I've got no solid proof, just a whole lot of coincidences which make me think that I'm on the right track."
"Ah…" Meyrin said, watching as Athrun started frowning once again. Trying to take his mind off his troubles, she decided to change the subject.
"So… this island… were you hoping that it would bring Cagalli and you closer?"
"Hm?" Athrun said, looking a bit surprised.
"You did mention to me that this was where you and Cagalli first met."
"Oh…" Athrun smiled, his face reddening a bit. "Well, to be honest, yes. I was hoping that she would… give us another chance."
"You and her go way back, huh?"
"Yes…" Athrun laughed, "Do you know that the first time we met, we were trying to kill each other? She shot at me and grazed my arm. I managed to wrestle the gun out of her hand and pin her down to the ground. I was about to strike at her with my dagger when all of a sudden she screamed, and I realized she was a girl."
Meyrin smiled in amusement despite the slight sadness tugging at her heart hearing the fondness of Athrun's voice as he recounted his first meeting with Cagalli. "Athrun Zala, always the perfect gentleman – I suppose you thought it would be ungentlemanly to strike a girl?"
"I… well… I was young. In my mind, all soldiers were men and… I guess… seeing a girl there startled me. Moreover, Cagalli wasn't even enlisted… She was a civilian."
"Do you miss those days, Athrun?" Meyrin asked.
"Pardon?"
"Do you miss… working in the military and flying in the Gundams?"
Athrun looked thoughtful. "I… I guess I do miss flying… But I don't miss the fighting, or the bloodshed, or the uncertainty. The war was borne out of so much hate, and so much hate resulted from it, it turns friends against each other, such that all become enemies…"
Athrun's voice trailed off as he thought of the time he had self-destructed the Aegis, and how he had woken up with Cagalli pointing a gun at him. She had jerked him by the neck of his shirt, and then proceeded to demand to know what he had done with Kira.
When he told her that he had killed Kira, or so he thought, Cagalli had started to cry.
"Why? Why did you kill him? He was your friend, wasn't he?"
"He killed my friend too…"
"One person is killed by another. That person gets killed for killing the other. Do you really think that peace will ever come this way?"
"And still," Meyrin's soft voice interjected his thoughts, "If not for the war, you would probably have never met Cagalli."
"Yes…" Athrun agreed, his eyes suddenly misty, "Maybe meeting her was life's way of smoothening out the pain that all the fighting caused."
And once again, Meyrin could only try to ignore the pain that was building up in her heart. She stood up, about to make an excuse for herself when all of a stood, Athrun's eyes focused and he snapped his fingers abruptly.
"The comb!" He exclaimed.
"Huh?"
"The comb… Meyrin, did you happen to see it after breakfast?"
"Er… No… Funny… It seems to have disappeared."
The two of them searched the area around but ended up with nothing. Meyrin scratched her head.
"Perhaps one of them took it on accident… I'll check with them later."
Athrun smiled grimly. "There's no need, Meyrin. I have a good idea that one of them took it, and I'm sure it's not on accident."
"What makes you so sure?"
"The initials… I'm pretty sure there's someone else here on this island."
The girl finally managed to scale up the walls of the summerhouse, and when she finally fell into the room, she was panting, feeling obviously exhausted.
A man was waiting for her, and when she finally managed to catch her breathe, she stood up and faced him, looking a bit nervous.
"Is anything the matter?" She said at last.
The man held out a comb.
"Does this look familiar?" He asked coldly.
The girl gave a gasp. "My comb! Where did you get it?"
The man gritted his teeth as he passed it back to her.
"Miss Hawke found it. In the living room."
"Oh."
"Oh? Is that all you can say?"
"I…"
"I thought I told you not to come into the house."
"But I wanted to-"
"Haven't I told you? There are some rules that must be observed! You know you're only bringing yourself to ruin by not listening to me, don't you?"
The girl stood silently, a sullen expression on her face.
"Just remember, be careful."
The girl scowled. "Yes, I know. I won't screw up anymore. I promise."