Weight of a decision

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"Woow...this dress is really pretty."

Cagalli was too annoyed with her veil to glare at the girl. After successfully removing the white veil and flowers from her hair and tossing it to the ground, she turned around to look at Lacus, who was practically swooning at the laces decorating the waist of her dress. "Lacus, will you please stop staring and help me with this?"

The pink haired girl stopped walking around Cagalli, and looked up to smile at her. "Sorry, it's just that your dress is really nice. Though I think it's not really your style, Cagalli."

"Nope," Cagalli said, trying vainly to reach the zipper on the back of her outfit. "I requested something simpler, but the designer said that my wedding dress needs to signify my lineage or something like that."

"Oh, let me help with you that," Lacus said, reaching to her back.

Cagalli peeled the white material off her body roughly as soon as Lacus finished, and step out from the dress. She reached to her uniform, neatly folded on top of the bed and started wearing it. Meanwhile, Lacus couldn't stop staring at the dress.

"You know, if you like it so much, you can have it," Cagalli suggested, buttoning her shirt.

"Oh my, really?" Lacus said, pulling the dress up from the floor and flinging it around. "Little Beth always wanted a wedding dress to play the wedding ceremony game! Thank you!"

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could finally get rid of it, that thing weighed like a ton."

Lacus smiled quietly, and started caressing the dress' material. "A wedding dress won't weigh like a ton if you stand with your most beloved person on the altar, Cagalli."

The blond girl abruptly stopped buttoning her suit, and turned again to look at Lacus, who was smiling serenely at her. "Even if you try to return the ring without meeting him, the Athrun Zala I know won't stop at that."

"Lacus, do you think..." Cagalli started under her breath "He will scorn me?"

"Do you want him to?" Again, the songstress' voice was calm. Cagalli couldn't find any tone of disappointment or anger in it, which just made her feel even worse.

"I don't want to meet him again after I decided...I don't want to tell him that I've chosen my country over him. I know that just by looking at his face my resolve will falter," Cagalli's voice shook considerably, and her hand instinctively went to her face. "He doesn't need to say anything, just by offering his hand to me and I-I will instantly-"

Lacus placed the white dress on the bed, reached over to wipe the tears off Cagalli's eyes and hugged her.

"A-anyway," Cagalli said, clumsily releasing herself from Lacus and wiping the make up off her face "I'm going to give Kira a piece of my mind."

The blond girl stopped on her way to the door, and turned around to smile timidly at Lacus. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lacus answered, returning the smile. "And I think Kira also has something to give you..."