Crossfire

Author: Jusrecht

See Disclaimer and Warnings in the first chapter.

A/N: Since so many reviewers have protested about Ssigh's name, from here onward I'll change it into 'Sai'. I will also take care of the previous chapters and my other fic 'Masquerade' later. For now, thank you to those who have reviewed and enjoy!

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Chapter Eighteen: Millie – Dark Voices

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They were late.

Miriallia tapped a finger anxiously on the table as she looked around for probably the thousandth time since her arrival. The outdoor cafe was a busy scenery at eleven in the morning but so far there was no sign of those she was waiting for. Their meeting should be around ten and she knew very well that her old friend Sai detested unpunctuality to the point of revulsion.

To be frank, she could think of several reasons to this unusual tardiness – troubles that might come up during the journey, especially if the identity of his current companion was put into consideration. As a matter of fact, to not expect trouble when it concerned the Chairman of PLANT was a notion so laughable that it didn't even sound funny anymore. There would – must – be troubles. Whether they would escalate into bigger ones afterward or remain at the perimeter as small, quite harmless threats was hardly important at this stage. It was the anticipation that counted.

The problem was, they didn't have that kind of anticipation in this circumstance. Millie glanced at her camera bag. They only had one plan, no more and no less. Hopefully, it was enough and nothing went wrong.

She still found the whole situation hard to believe. A week ago, she had received a call from Sai and heard the most bizarre story in her life. The problem was, he wasn't making things up and she knew it. He had left a long, expectant silence at the end of his explanation and she had needed no less than one full minute to finish her pondering.

Thinking about Athrun Zala still struck a painful nerve somewhere in her. They had talked, yes, and sorted things out a bit, but it definitely took more than common sense and clear understanding to really, really forgive someone. Still, in the end she had agreed to help. It might be common sense and understanding taking over again, but Millie really felt that it was the right thing for her to do at this moment.

Did she love Tolle any less now than she had before he had been killed? No.

Did she like Athrun Zala better now than she had after just discovering who had killed her boyfriend? Yes.

There was a big difference between those two questions and Millie wouldn't let the first cloud her judgment and the second be disregarded. If not for the sake of her conscience, at least she was doing it for Kira. She would never forget his reaction when she had called and told him about the plan. The stunned silence, the out-and-out refusal to believe any of her words, the barely-concealed desperation, and then the small voice that had been outlined by fear, followed narrowly by something else much, much more painful.

If Millie didn't know better, she would say that Kira sounded like a crying lover. But she didn't want to overanalyze things and not that it was important anyway in this situation. Something else, something bigger was going on. She couldn't help but to feel it in the atmosphere, in the information she had recently come in contact with in her line of work. The murders, the shuttle incident, the satellite, the small voices that whispered dark news to her; everything seemed to point to one conclusion.

She had been there during the last two wars, seen with her own eyes and felt in her own heart the bitterness, the cruelties of ambitions, hate and revenge. She had seen enough to realize that the one she hated with all of her being was not a person, not the one who had killed Tolle, but the war itself. She had suffered enough to believe that no one should feel like she had – like they had – when a loved one had been lost. Athrun Zala was important, to PLANT, to the world, to peace, but for Millie, above all he was important to Kira and the people who loved him.

Was it easy for her to turn a blind eye at the fact that he had killed her boyfriend? No. Even after all these years, it was not easy. She just knew her order of priorities and for now, it was enough.

That brought her back to the present problem. Where were they?

Millie took out her cell phone and pushed the redial button again. When a flat voice informed her that the number was out of reach at the moment, her uneasiness rapidly doubled. Relax, she told herself. Sai might have just forgotten to recharge the battery again. It was often the case during situations like this – everything looked worse than it actually was.

"Millie!"

At last! Millie turned toward the direction of the voice and immediately spotted a blue car amidst the slow morning traffic. Sai was waving at her from behind the steering wheel and from that distance, she could vaguely see a figure sitting next to him. She left a few bills on the table and grabbed her camera bag before sprinting across the sidewalk.

"What took you so long?" she demanded once she had slipped into the backseat of the car. "The flight is in two hours!"

"I bought the wrong map," Sai made a helpless gesture and pointed toward the crumpled fold of map on the seat next to her. "You have no idea how hard it was to find this place without proper direction."

"You should have called me," Millie pointed out, and when her old friend opened his mouth, quickly added with a sigh, "Right, out of battery. You're just helpless, you know that? And don't say anything. Just follow the road. There's an intersection up front and you should turn right. I thought you've been here before?"

"I've been to the airport twice," he replied as the car left the long queue which was heading to the left, "but they were just for transits and I only had a little chance to look around. Are we going by the main road?"

"That's the easiest way," she said as her gaze furtively swept to the third passenger in the car. Wearing a pair of black-rimmed spectacles, the Chairman of PLANT was sitting rigidly in his seat, his eyes occasionally shifting toward her but quickly looking away when she looked at him. Millie tried to ignore a painful throb in her chest, an old wound and yet still aching like it had just been inflicted yesterday. Judging by his obvious discomfort however, it seemed that she was not the only one who felt that there was something enormously wrong in their relationship.

"Hello, Athrun," she said calmly, glad to hear her voice cordial enough if not entirely friendly. "It's good to see you're okay."

He raised a pair of self-conscious green eyes, meeting her gaze uncertainly, and replied with a faint smile, "Thank you, Miriallia."

"Millie is okay," she said with a – hopefully – casual tone and lowered her gaze to her bag, relieved to find means to escape from those anxious eyes. She pulled out a few papers she had carefully arranged only last night and handed them to him. "Anyway, I got these for you. A passport, necessary papers and a ticket to ORB, all under the name Alex Dino. The photo is old and a bit blurry, but it should suit our purpose nicely," she added with a meaningful glance toward his now short hair. "That's pretty good. With the glasses, I think you can pass safely unrecognized."

Sai tore his gaze away from the traffic in front of them and peered at the documents curiously. "How on earth did you get all those?"

Millie shot him a little grin. "As usual, a little connection here and there," she answered lightly. "And of course, with a tremendous help from ORB. Cagalli-san almost sent a private jet here when I told her about this plan, but then she understood that secrecy was important in this case."

An unreadable expression stole over Athrun's face. Millie, catching a glimpse of it from the rearview mirror before the chairman could look down and hide his face, was certain that it wasn't meant for anyone to see. She felt like she had spied on something personal, privately vulnerable, and was grateful that Athrun didn't seem to notice.

"How is everyone at ORB?" he spoke again at length.

"Cagalli-san sounded fine," she answered carefully, aware that the topic was sensitive if it could bring that look to his face. "I mean, as fine as someone can be under that condition. But you must hear Kira when I said that Sai had found you. I'm almost certain that he cried."

"Oh."

Again, the unreadable expression made a fleeting appearance although this time Athrun didn't bother to conceal it – or couldn't, she was not sure which. She knew that Sai noticed it too and felt the awkwardness which had quickly resurfaced as the result. They exchanged a brief glance through the mirror, both sensing the oppressive need to change the subject, but in the end, it was Sai who volunteered to undertake the task.

"Have you been here long, Millie?" he asked, looking pointedly at her.

She gave him a brief smile before answering, "Not really. I was in Lyon when you contacted me, but my friend who can forge those papers lives here, so I thought why not. It would make no difference to you anyway and there's an airport here." She paused for a moment and then asked in turn, "What about you? Was the journey here difficult?"

"Unexciting if that's what you mean," Sai replied, his voice suddenly sounding a little strangled. Millie raised her eyebrows, finding her friend's obstinacy to keep his gaze glued on the silver sedan in front of them suspicious. But he offered no further explanation, so she dropped the subject despite her firm conviction that he had deliberately left some details out.

"Anyway," she cleared her throat, drawing the others's attention back to her, "I think I should go now. Quite a few people know my face around here and if you two really appreciate what journalists are like, you won't want to be seen in my company. They will think that you're possible informants or something and believe me, you don't want that to happen," she threw a meaningful look at Athrun.

"It can't be that bad," Sai commented in an offhand tone but quickly shut up when she shot him a cold look.

"Athrun," she turned her attention toward the chairman, "Kira told me that someone would be there to pick you up once you've arrived. He said that it would be Mwu-san since you knew him fairly well and couldn't possibly mistake him. He also forbade you to go with anyone else no matter how convincing their credentials are, in case there is another attempt to your life. Except him, of course. You know, to avoid unnecessary risks."

"I understand," Athrun answered stiffly but politely. Millie wondered whether the aloofness was generated from fear for his life or something else entirely. It seemed almost unnatural, especially coming from someone who looked so smooth and confident in countless occasions she had seen him on screen.

"Are you sure you can manage by yourself from here?" she addressed the question back to Sai who was watching the traffic around them with some kind of rapt concentration.

He threw a sidelong look at her and shrugged. "I think so."

Millie felt that this was very inadequate. "That's not good enough," she declared, her brow creasing into a frown.

"I know the way to the airport from here – well, kind of – so it should be okay," Sai reassured her. "Unless the whole city has been redesigned, we can get there just fine. And don't worry, I'll make sure that 'Alex' gets into the plane safely even if I have to bribe the whole airport staff."

"The flight is at 13.20, OR-789," she reminded him.

Sai threw a glance at his LED clock at the dashboard and winced. "Well, I admit that we have to speed up a bit if we want to arrive on time, but it's still okay."

"Do that, but be careful. Don't create more trouble for yourself by getting the Chairman of PLANT injured," Millie said and winked at Athrun who returned it with a surprised smile. "Or you can take the highway if you want to be quick. Just about half-a-mile from here. With all those road signs, you can't possibly miss the way to the airport."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Sai obediently.

"Okay then, you can let me off in front of that bookstore," she pointed at an old building with a tall front window decorated with books of various colours and thicknesses. It didn't seem to have any patron at the moment and there were only a few pedestrians on the sidewalk, none of them sparing a glance at their car.

Sai halted the vehicle inconspicuously and turned his head, facing her. "Thanks a lot, Millie," he said, his tone of voice nothing short of serious, and paused for a moment before adding awkwardly, "You be careful too. Don't do anything dangerous."

She nodded with a smile before glancing at Athrun. Here, she thought, lies still the problem, deep-rooted, possibly irremovable. Even if she already could smile at him, it remained awkward, strained, and to be honest, untruthful. She had given up blaming anyone in this case and never ceased to hope that time would heal all wounds, but his politeness, something one could mistake as detachment, even arrogance, was hardly helpful.

"Thank you very much, Miriallia-san."

Yep. Exactly like that. Millie couldn't help but to wonder whether things between them would be better if he acted more like a long-time friend and less like a guilty prisoner in front of her.

And obviously he didn't pay any heed to her request to address her less like a stranger.

"I've helped you big time in this," she said with a frown. "Don't you think that earns me a right to demand by what name you should call me?"

He looked flabbergasted and the small murmur that fell from his mouth next was clearly uncertain. "Millie…san?"

"Drop the honorific. What do you think I am? Your aunt?"

At least that cleared the awkwardness a bit. She could see both edges of his lips quirking slightly upward, forming a – finally – less hesitant smile. "Millie."

Should've done that from the beginning. A good hook straight to the face, that was what he needed. Millie nodded her approval and decided to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, Athrun. Give my love to Kira and Cagalli-san and tell them that they owe me this time."

"Certainly," he replied with another smile, which she realized was mirrored brightly in Sai's face.

Millie descended from the car and stood at the sidewalk for a few moments, full of apprehension as she watched her friends drive away. Something was bothering her. It might be her journalist instinct going off again and after more than four years prowling in this grey side of life, she had learnt not to ignore it. For one, it was rarely proven wrong. She had gotten some of her best materials purely from the act of following her instinct.

But what could she do now? Sai had given her his word and she knew that he would do anything to keep it. The plane would then take Athrun back to ORB and once there, he would be in the best of hands because if the Protector of Peace couldn't protect him, then no one could. She had done her part. Whatever could happen during the flight was certainly not within her power to interfere, let alone change.

Suddenly a different kind of fear seized her. Dark sinister voices she had heard sometimes, often accidentally, echoed in her head like a distant nightmare striking during daylight. Long had she known that not everyone appreciated this hard-earned peace between Natural and Coordinator, and most of them had the strongest dislike toward those who fought to maintain it. It was a solid unchangeable fact that they were different. Only a very select few Naturals could stand on par with even the most ordinary Coordinators, and that was through extreme hard work and endless patience. Discontent was only the first on a very long list, and once it had ripened into jealousy, and then hatred…

Millie shuddered despite the cheerful sunlight warming her face. She couldn't bear to think of another war, but unfortunately humans were fast to forget certain things sometimes. The murder of three PLANT Council members was one of the most incontestable proofs. Coupled with the shuttle incident and the appalling slaughter in Cygnusia, it almost seemed like some of them had forgotten the horrors of war. She felt like she was back on Archangel, waking up every morning with constant dread that something awful might happen today.

"Miriallia Haww!"

Millie almost jumped on her feet at this sudden, loud interruption. She looked around quickly and noticed a tanned grinning face just across the road. Cad Haydock, a reporter she had worked with in a number of occasions, ran across the busy traffic without as much as a glance around, ignoring many annoyed honking from the passing vehicles and shouting, "Ha! I know it's you!"

"Hey, Cad," she greeted him once he was within reasonable distance to catch her voice. "What are you doing here? Last time I heard you were lurking somewhere in Africa."

"That's an ancient story," he waved a hand dismissively. "What about you? Not covering the governor campaign, I hope? As dreary as thousands-year-old bones if you ask me."

"I'm meeting a friend," she answered shortly but tried to sound casual. No matter how good of a man Cad Haydock was, he was still a reporter and Millie knew only too well what her fellow reporters were like.

"Meeting a friend, huh?" A knowing grin spread across his face. "Is that what you call it nowadays?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry, I won't try tackling your precious informant without your express permission," Haydock made a solemn gesture but his eyes were twinkling. "About the burning, right? I already know about it."

"Burning?"

"No?" His face only brightened at this display of confusion and he leant in, speaking in a low, conspiratorial voice, "Well, since you helped me once last year, let me give you a little scoop. There's this small town in Transylvania burned crisp to the ground last week, five days ago according to one of my informants. Near Bellshill or something."

For some reason, her heart started beating faster at this newly broken information. "Last week? Why isn't it on the news?"

His face suddenly gained a certain manic look she had seen only too often on many of her coworkers's face and his voice dropped into an ecstatic whisper. "That's the best part," he said, slinging a casual arm around her shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure why – well, of course it's rather out-of-the-way and probably too unimportant to make it to any headline – but if you ask me, something's fishy is going on. You know, hush-hush."

"The Eurasian Government?"

"Maybe," he shrugged, still sporting that wide euphoric grin. "Well, are you coming? I've been there before – hunting for vampire's lore, can you believe it?– so if you wanna go, there's no better traveling companion than me."

Millie pondered on the offer for a while. Her interest was tickled, that was for sure, and she could sense that it was something big. What kind of dim-witted journalist would ignore something like this, especially if it had all the possibilities in the world to be interesting and most likely dangerous? Like her, Cad Haydock was very seldom wrong.

And it wasn't the only reason. Sai had mentioned to her during his first call that he had been calling from an inn in a small town in Transylvania. It might have nothing to do with the burning, but for all she knew, it was not impossible. If they were really connected somehow, Millie felt that she must know the whos, whys and hows before something worse could occur.

"Well, I really want to go with you," she finally said with a sigh, "but there are things I need to take care of first. Two or three days maybe. You can go on ahead, Cad."

Haydock seemed slightly disappointed but the look disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Hurry up or you'll miss the hot stuff," he told her. "Look for me once you're there, 'kay?"

"Sure. Just be careful if you're going to stick your nose in shady places."

"Certainly, darling," he winked at her and sauntered down the sidewalk with a small wave before disappearing around a corner, leaving her still standing thoughtfully in front of the bookstore. Making up her mind, Millie took a deep breath and turned around, walking toward a nearby bus stop to catch a ride back to her hotel.

The news disturbed her. Immensely. She spent the better part of the ride brooding in her corner seat about various possibilities, linking one fact with another and then another in her head, occasionally consulting a little notebook she always took with her everywhere. She didn't like this, but she could hardly approach Kira or Cagalli without any definite proof. They were already too busy as it was.

But the uneasiness didn't disappear. Millie found out why later that evening in her hotel room when she had just finished a long, meditative bath and turned on the television for a bit of evening news.

"...flight number OR-789 which has gone missing at approximately 2 p.m. this afternoon. The Eurasian Government has dispatched a search-and-rescue team one hour after the disappearance of the plane's signal. So far, there has been no information on the whereabouts…"

She stared at the screen and her hand flew to her mouth, muffling her horrified scream to a single hitched gasp.

End Chapter Eighteen

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Notes: Our boys still have a LONG way to go before they can be together again… In the meantime, please review.