Freeze
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I still have trouble remembering faces up until now.
Maybe that's why I feel compelled to bring a camera with me after the war everywhere I go, to capture that one short moment into an everlasting one. People's faces when they decided was the most priceless of all, the way their eyes glow in determination, or the way their jaw are clenched in resolve. I always remembered that look in Kira's face when he decided to end the war by fighting, or how Athrun finally decided to go against his father, and went all the way out.
I had witnessed Dearka's face when he came back from an outing battle with Major Fllaga, how he would stare at the dining quarter's wall for hours, not answering even when I showed up in front of him. He was reluctant to say what's troubling him so, and when I finally made him to spill the beans, it was doubt – I could see it from a mile away – people often wonder where they're supposed to be. I knew first and foremost that his homeland was important to him, and that was the reason of his participation in the army.
When the time came for us to say our goodbyes, he asked me to go to Plant with him. I saw how badly he reacted when he saw my stubborn face, shaking my head and twisting the knife of hatred a bit further. He knew why I held a camera day and night, why I stayed in earth and took pictures of war remnants and took pictures of us in our private moments together. I've said a bunch of hurtful things that I couldn't take back, and the worse thing was I felt bound to do so.
Both of us belonged to different places, and sadly, war was the one that united us.
And with the second Bloody Valentine War escalating, was it wrong for me to expect Dearka Elthman to show up again, grinning with the haughty face that I loved and hated so much?