OK, so I'm sure you're all gawking and wondering what's with the early update. Well, the truth of the matter is this chap is sort of like part 2 of chapter six (though I'm still calling it chapter seven) and packed with all the ideas I wanted to put in the last chapter but couldn't. So, I hope you enjoy it, and to all of you who have been asking about when Athrun will show up, well he's here! I gave him a small role in the chap, so I hope you're happy (enjoy it while you can, because after this, he's going to be gone for another few chapters)
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED, but Lionel's MINE (and Mayu too)
"So, Lionel," began Miriallia, "I hear you're a very good runner." Lionel looked at her in shock.
"Don't tell me you've been reading those gossip magazines again dear!" exclaimed her husband, Dearka Elsman, a man who could oftentimes be mistaken for his 17-year-old self. The three of them, along with Dearka and Miriallia's 2-year-old daughter Aya in her high chair, were sitting around a square kitchen table eating dinner together the way normal families often did.
"So, what if I did?" retorted the older woman, "it's a free country. I can read whatever I want."
"Yeah, but those magazines are crap!" her husband shot back.
"Well maybe I like reading crap!"
There was something odd about these two, Lionel concluded. They were married and living happily by the looks of it, yet their house was filled with the sounds of their constant bickering. He didn't get how two people who had decided to spend the rest of their lives together could spend all of their time fighting and not hate each other. It didn't make any sense to him. Meanwhile, Aya was happily painting her high chair table with her food.
"You'll have to excuse us," said Dearka, noticing the blond boy's uneasiness a split second before his wife, "Aya may be used to us and our constant debating, but I guess an outsider wouldn't be. We're like this all the time," he confirmed.
"Always have been," chided in Miriallia. Their child laughed as if agreeing with them whole-heartedly.
"Bickering makes married life more interesting," declared the older man like the ex-commitment phoebe he was, earning a tap on the head from the woman he loved.
"Don't you dare start filling his head with your stupid anti-marriage crap!" she said, "God knows he's probably never going to want to get married as it is!"
"Milly, chill," Dearka said like a smooth talker, "just because you needed to get married, doesn't mean everyone does…"
Once again Lionel found himself watching the two in a daze, they really did love to fight.
"Uh…hello?" he asked after a second, "I'm an outsider, remember? Could you please try and act normal for me?"
The two adults stared at him in silence for a moment, and then Miriallia giggled and Dearka laughed out load without holding back.
"Hunh, what's so funny?" questioned the teenager frantically, a blush slowly rising in his face.
"You should listen to yourself, kid," advised the older man through his laughter, "you sound exactly like your dad, it's hilarious!"
"Really?" asked Lionel, unsure weather to be flattered or not.
"Yeah, if you had blue hair and green eyes I'd swear you were him!" replied the coordinator enthusiastically, "about twenty years younger, but that's not the point." He laughed a bit more, and suddenly he stopped as his eyes went wide as he had just had an idea, "come with me, kid," he said, getting up from table, "I want to show you something."
"Aren't you going to finish your supper?" demanded Miriallia in a dangerous tone.
"Later honey," said Dearka, using the deadly 'H' word. He looked to Lionel, "you coming kid?" The blonde got up nervously, sneaking a peak at the woman who had taken him in, she nodded subtly and then started to scream.
"Hon-ey?" she cried, "what have I told you about that word?"
With a smirk, the coordinator grabbed the blond boy's hand and said: "run!"
After being interrogated by her father all through dinner about what exactly had gone between her and Cagalli, Mayu had locked herself up in her room and started doing some research. She had learnt that day that the Head Representative of Orb did NOT like it when outsiders meddled their way into her affairs. But she had also learnt that she was curious about Athrun Zala, Mayu had known for a long time now that when she was curious about something, she would do anything to find out.
She opened up the equivalent of google to us, and searched his name.
The first thing she found was the Kiwidepia article she and Lionel had found earlier, which turned out to be quite informative, as expected. From it, she learnt that Athrun Zala was considered a child prodigy as a child, that he had once been a ZAFT redcoat and piloted a number of impressive (red) mobile suits and that he had played a noteworthy role in the battles of Yakin Due and Messiah all over again. There were also a few pieces of information that she didn't know of listed on Kiwidepia. Like how Athrun had defected from the ZAFT military, once during both bloody valentine wars, and how he had served on the Minerva with her parents (who also had small articles on the site). He had been engaged to Lacus Clyne at a time and was now living happily (according to the article) while making a living as PLANT's best lawyer, answering only to the chairman.
Still not satisfied, Mayu returned to the index of web pages on Athrun Zala and clicked on a few others. The first few after the Internet encyclopedia were Kiwidepia wannabes and taught her nothing more than what she already knew. After those came the gossip sites which the young girl found rather amusing what with all the ridiculous rumors being proven true or false. It turned out that Lionel's father was quite the lady's man, much to her surprise.
Mayu continued her research for what seemed like hours, not getting all that far. It was beyond frustrating, but Mayu wasn't going to give up that easily, she had yet to find what she was looking for: Athrun's connection to Cagalli. A few web pages mentioned it, but very briefly, she was nothing more than a friend who had served with him on the Archangel it seemed, or that was how history remembered the two together. Not even the gossip sites had thought of pairing the two up. Boy are they going to get a shock if those two were to ever get back together, she thought as she clicked another link.
That was when she found it: The Athrun Zala Online Fanclub.
Fascinated, if somewhat freaked out, Mayu explored the site. It was old and hadn't been updated since, oh, before she was born at least. The young girl began to read through it, amused, when she saw what she had been looking for. Under a list of rumors as to who Athrun Zala would be into aside from Lacus Clyne (it seemed that at the time, they were a –questioned- item) was the phrase: Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Attha, a couple? Pressing on it, the young coordinator girl found a poorly written story about Athrun serving as Cagalli's bodyguard under the name Alex Dino way back in CE 73 and that there seemed to be more between them than simply responsibility.
The text had ended like this: If Athrun-sama really IS dating her, well then it's just a really sad day for all us Athrun fangurls (we rock! lol) who wish that we were his girlfriend and not that princess who has enough as it is!
By Lunamaria Hawke
Mayu screamed.
Dearka seemed to have mellowed down a bit as he offered Lionel a seat in his and Miriallia's living room while he crawled around the place looking for something.
"Here," he said, putting a photo into the younger man's hands, "have a look, this is me and my buds graduating from the ZAFT way back when." The picture was obviously old and starting to fall apart. On it, there were about 6 or 7 people, smiling proudly, Lionel recognized one of them as a younger Dearka.
"You were in ZAFT?" he asked surprised.
"That what I said, isn't it?" the older man asked back with a smirk, "served during both wars, defecting once," he told the teen proudly, "I was on the same team as your old man for quite some time, actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah," replied Dearka, "he's in the picture, see if you can find him."
Lionel studied each of the young men in the picture and finally decided on the one that looked the most like his mother's type. The boy was about 16 with dark blue hair and deep green eyes; he seemed proud, respectable and just a tiny bit smug. There was a certain air of familiarity to him, as if the blond boy had met him before.
"Yup, that's him," said the older man once the young man showed him his choice, "Athrun Zala, the most boring, know-it-all goody-two-shoes of all history who somehow managed to attract a harem wherever he went," he stated matter-of-factly, making the boy near him chuckle.
"You're kidding," he half said, half asked.
"Nope," replied the ex-ZAFT soldier, shaking his head as if to add truth to his statement.
"And I'm like him?" Lionel wondered, disillusioned and not at all flattered.
"In every way accept for the fanclub," said Dearka with a mischievous look on his face. "Just kidding, kid," he said, giving him a pat on the back.
"I knew that…"
"Whatever," let out the older man, sitting down next to the blonde boy on the couch and taking his picture back. With a reminiscent smile, he pointed to a cocky-looking blonde man, "that's Miguel Aiman, he was a mentor to the rest of us, an amazing pilot too. He was honorably killed in action during the first war." Dearka paused, then showed Lionel a laid-back redhead, "this is Rusty, he was also honorably KIA way back when. He was a real joker, the two of us used to play pranks on the others all the time." The older man didn't pause this time as he redirected his tanned finger to an innocent looking boy, "that was Nicol," he said solemnly, "he was the youngest of us all, I didn't really think much of him. He died honorably trying to protect your father," there was an awkward silence, "he loved the piano."
The blonde boy fiddled with his hands, while Dearka observed his photo, a bittersweet smile playing on his lips.
"Anyways, it's been a while," he said, not really making that much sense. Shaking off his one moment misery, he pointed to another young man on the photo, a boy who looked extremely proud and obnoxious, "do you recognize him?" he asked.
Lionel took a better glance at the picture and realized that yes, the obnoxious boy was familiar to him.
"That's the chairman of the PLANTs!" he exclaimed.
"En-uh, and my best bud, Yzak Joule. You know, I never thought he'd be that good at politics, but he turned out to have a flair for it." Dearka rambled on, "must be his mother's influence, or his wife's, Lacus Clyne is one smart lady," he trailed off, only to point to another young man; the one Lionel needed to hear the most about. "That, as you know, is Athrun Zala, your dad," he said, "who, after defecting from ZAFT twice, went back to the PLANTs and studied law. I don't know how he did it. Law is the most boring thing you could ever want to study, and to buckle down and spend four years doing nothing but that after having lived a life like ours…god it must have been torture for Athrun!" He laughed a bit, but stopped once he realized that Lionel didn't what he had to say funny, "but it paid off for him in the end, these days, he works as Yzak's personal lawyer and earns a salary to large to say out load."
"And here's me," concluded Dearka, "the screw up of the Le Creuset team."
"Screw up? Where do you get that from?" asked Lionel, to him Dearka seemed to have done pretty well in life; he had survived two wars, married the girl of his dreams, helped give birth to a lovely daughter and owned his own house. Screw-ups often never did more than survive two wars.
"Miguel, Rusty and Nicol all died honorably, protecting the homeland and killing naturals. Yzak's chairman and you can't do much better than that in life (not to mention he married Lacus Clyne) while Athrun has the best job in his profession and his harem's still around." Dearka laughed bitterly, "meanwhile, I'm down here in Orb, married to a natural, and working at the local high school as a sex-Ed teacher," Lionel laughed uncertainly, "not exactly what you expect from the son of one of the PLANTs councilmen, is it?"
"…No," the blonde boy admitted reluctantly. Dearka took a look at his picture and scratched his head.
"Aww, don't worry too much about me kid," he said smoothly, "I'm pretty happy for a screw-up, happier than a lot of successful people I know, actually." The teenager nodded and let him talk. "So, anyways, what do you think about calling up your old man?"
"What?" demanded Lionel, jumping off the couch, "we can do that?" Up until now, the blond boy had never fully realized that his biological father was alive, or even real, he had seemed like such a distant figure.
"Course we can!" declared Dearka as if nothing on earth or PLANT could stop him, "He and I are friends, I can call him up whenever I want!" And then, almost like a cartoon character, he took a slip of paper out of his pocket. Lionel guessed it was his father's phone number. "Wait a sec, ok?" The older man walked over to the phone and punched in the number. The blond boy stood nervously, frozen in place. Dearka had set the device on speakerphone, so he could hear the other one ringing. After about two and a half rings, someone picked up.
"Zala house, what do you want?" came the angry and load voice of the PLANTs chairman.
"Yzak!" cried Dearka happily, "since when do you pick up calls for Athrun?"
"Since he's gone to the bathroom and his infernal phone won't shut-up!" Yzak snapped, "what are you calling for anyways, Elsman?"
"So I'm just Elsman now? Oh, Yzak, you're cruel," taunted the tanned coordinator; Lionel could almost hear the platinum blond man seething in frustration. "Anyways, when Athrun gets off the pot, could you tell him that it's his blond princess?"
"DEARKA BE NICE!" came Miriallia's sudden and warning voice. Her husband groaned.
"Fine," he muttered, "tell Athrun it's me."
Yzak smirked.
"Athrun!" he called to his lawyer, who had just come out of the bathroom, "it's your blond princess!"
Before anyone had the chance to see it happen, Athrun had traded places with his competitive friend at the receiver.
"Cagalli?" he asked frantically.
"Sorry, Athrun, it's just me," replied Dearka. The blue haired man glared.
"What do you want?" he snapped angrily, "I hope, for your own sake, that you didn't just call to tease me about my love life."
"Nope, why I would do that? Yzak's the one who made the joke!" defended 'Le Creuset team screw up'. "But that's besides the point, I've got someone who'd probably really like to talk to you here with me."
The PLANTs most successful lawyer narrowed his eyes at the monitor, "and just who could that be?" he asked with mock interest.
"Your son," said Dearka.
"What the hell is with you today?" demanded Athrun, "will you quit poking fun at my social life?"
"I'm not kidding," said the sex-Ed teacher in all seriousness, "he's really here." He looked to Lionel, "you wanna talk?" he asked, handing him the receiver. The teenager, who had been watching the scene as if in a trance suddenly snapped back to life as he spoke into the phone.
"Hi…" he said nervously.
The man on the other line's facial features had been tense and angry when he had first seen in, but now his face was relaxed, hopeful and perhaps even a bit joyful.
"Hi," he said.
"Athrun Zala, right?" The teen's question came out a bit too fast, but his father seemed to understand it all the same.
"Yeah," he said warmly, "and you're Lionel Uzumi Attha Serian, aren't you?"
The blonde boy shook his head.
"Nope, it's Lionel Uzumi Attha, just that," he corrected.
Athrun smiled.
"Mayu," began Lunamaria, "you have to understand," she tried to continue her sentence, but no words came to her. It wasn't easy talking about your fangirl past to your daughter. Especially when you had been planning on keeping it a secret from her forever.
"You do stupid things when you're young," Shinn continued for her.
"Exactly," agreed Luna, thanking her husband with her signature you-are-getting-sex-tonight look, "so it's nothing to worry about."
Mayu, who was still a bit freaked out about what she had read on the net, nodded skeptically.
"So…so you two are ok, right?" she asked after a second, " I mean you guys don't have issues, right?"
"None that are threatening to destroy our marriage," Lunamaria reassured her daughter lovingly, "we might have gotten together quick, but we've been together ever since."
At that, Mayu decided that this was enough and that she knew enough about her mother's adolescence to last her a lifetime. She got up to leave.
"Oh, and Mayu?" came Shinn's voice, "don't you dare start thinking that you're another one of Zala's bastards!" he ordered, "Because you're not!"
Meyrin fiddled with her scrap of paper, rolling it up and unraveling it again, folding it as many times as she could and then unfolding it. She felt stupid doing so, but she couldn't help it; she always fiddled around with whatever she could find when she was nervous.
For something like the 12th time that evening, she unfolded the piece of paper and stared at it. It was the card Kira had given her the other day; the one with his number on. Glancing from it to the phone, Meyrin felt herself blush. Come on, she growled inwardly, giving herself an inner pep talk, you can do this, if he gave you his number it's because he wants you to call.
Finally, after what seemed like aeons of egging herself on, Meyrin picked up the phone, punched in the number, and waited as it rang. Almost instantly, someone picked up; it was Kira.
"Hello?" he said hopefully. Meyrin stopped breathing, she was ready to hang up and run as far as she could from the phone. But she couldn't do that, not at her age. Schoolgirl crushes weren't her thing anymore.
"Hello, Mr. Kira," she began hesitantly, "it's Meyrin…"
Well, nothing much happened there, eh? Milly and Dearka acted like husband and wife, Mayu found some truly scary stuff on the net and Meyrin called Kira, oh and Lionel was quiet as he observed things, as always. Anyways, tell me what you think, peace out!