Authors Note: Wow, so this is the longest it has taken me so far to update! Sorry guys, I'll try not to have that happen to often. It's a nice long chapter though, even longer than the last one with multiple point of views. I hope you like it! And yes, Athrun is very well introduced in this chapter and answers some questions. Thanks for all the reviews on the past chapters, it makes me so happy, and want to write more. Again, enjoy! Please review!
~Gonturan
Disclaimer:I do not own Gundam Seed or anything related to it. Wish I did!
Chapter Four
"Bartender, another please," a defeated Yzak called. He had his head resting on his arm on top of the counter top. His other arm was waving an empty glass in the air. This was a odd sight from the normally upright, and cantankerous commander.
"Ease up Yzak. You know that if you keep drinking like that you'll go to work tomorrow with a real raunchy headache," said Dearka.
"I don't care. My mother is ruining my life anyhow. Why does anything matter?"
"Dude that's the liquor talking. Come on, where's your ability to fight back. You never take no for an answer. "
It was during Miriallia's exhibit that Yzak had received a very blunt phone call from his mother, instructing him on her plans for his future. He had left early in order not to cause a scene, and had dragged Dearka with him.
Dearka himself had enough reason to be distracted, and drown himself in the whiskey he was currently drinking. Miriallia Haw. He hadn't seen her in a while, but there she was back in his life. After the first war they had gotten to know each other, and had spent a almost dream-like summer. It was in a sense one of the strangest summers of his life. Usually he would have dragged Yzak with him somewhere and have hit on a different girl every day all summer. His philosophy was that to see a lot of them was the only way to find the right one.
He was putting aside his own misery for later, his friend had the greater trouble. Yzak's mother was the most controlling woman he had ever encountered. She had also been a part of the government, and had very powerful political connections. In some ways it made him happy he didn't really have a family to keep in touch with. She was kind of scary.
Yzak had time to process this before the bartender slid another glass his way. He looked at the swirling amber in the glass. "Your right! If my mother thinks I'm going to follow her every whim, or command then she has another thing coming!"
His words were kind of slurred, but the emotion was there, so Dearka said encouragingly, "Yeah that's the spirit. There's the no-nonsense Yzak I know!"
"Yeah. YEAH! There is no way in hell that my Mother can tell me out of now where that I am now engaged. ENGAGED! And not even to a person of my own choosing!"
Mrs. Joule handled everything with efficiency, and did not tolerate any disobedience. She handled such affairs much the same way with her son. She told him to do something, and expected him to do it. Sure she cared for him, but still expected him to listen to what she told him. In some ways this trait contributed to Yzak's penchant for yelling. A way for him to let out all the frustration that came from having a domineering mother who doesn't realize she has a domineering son, just like her.
"So Yzak, who did your mother say was your fiancé anyhow?" Somehow they had never really talked about the who, just despairing over the what.
"Oh, um… SHIT!" he took a deep breath, liquor all but forgotten in front of him. "Shiho Hahnefuss, a member of the Joule Team."
_
Athrun was still at the office working late. He had told Lacus and Kira that he'd visit them tomorrow. Lacus normally seen as the sweet innocent pop star done wrong, was actually a brilliant mastermind on maneuvering people, and their emotions. He still loved her though, but like how a brother loves his sister.
He fully expected her to have some skillful setting set-up for a non-confrontational questioning about how his life was going. Complete with finger sandwiches and tea. She'd smile that smile of hers as though she was just so happy that he was there when really she had an ulterior motive of getting him to spill all of his feelings. Needless to say, he was looking forward to it.
He was just finishing up some paperwork on the experiment with the military that he had come up with. Athrun didn't think that this job would entail so many required appearances, meetings, and desk job qualities. He had always been a man of action, not the guy behind the scenes. Not that that was always the case, the press still loved the handsome dark blue haired Commander Zala.
He missed the privacy of being off the grid.
He walked out of the office to see his secretary Abigail Wilson still behind her desk as well. "Miss Wilson your free to go. I thought that I told you that you could leave an hour ago?"
"Sorry Commander Zala. I still had some details to work out in your schedule for the next few weeks. This years gala will be held in Orb. I had made arrangements for your stay, but it seems to have been canceled. I received a message that your accommodations had already been taken care of by Chairman Clyne, but I was just trying to figure out all the details, so you could be prepared."
Poor, Abby Wilson,Athrun thought. "Don't worry about it Miss Wilson. I'm sure that Lacus will inform me of her plans when I see her tomorrow. Please go home, and don't worry about it."
The petite blonde gathered her belongings, and gratefully left. She had heard from two previous secretary's of the Athrun Zala that he was temperamental and didn't care for his secretaries at all. She was relieved to be wrong, he seemed very kind, and unlike her previous bosses he didn't hit on her. Though she mused a little wistfully, none of them had been half so good looking as him either.
In truth that was the source of the problem for the previous secretary's. He was perfectly kind and good looking, but was not interested in them at all. When they made moves on him he politely refused their over the top attempts, and they had then been too embarrassed to continue working there.
Athrun knew what had happened, but didn't mind it. It really was of no consequence what his secretaries thought of him as long as they didn't go wagging their tongues to the media. Thank goodness for confidentiality agreements.
He went back to his office and finished the necessary forms. The plan was to exchange members from the military from each government as a show of good will. In each way the troops would train with the rest of the countries military, and be treated the same as them. The best way in his mind to forget about your issues with someone was to be forced to work with them and get to know them yourself.
Wherever the first country was that they did exchanges with would involve considerable traveling on his part. He would have to live there for the first trial period to oversee the functioning of it, and train his commanders on how to deal with the situations involved. After that he could go back to the PLANTS, and the experiment could move on to other countries without his complete surveillance being required.
The next day he drove himself to Kira and Lacus's home, giving his driver the day off. Besides he hated having a chauffeur anyhow, but was unable to turn it down when he had to accept phone calls in the car.
He was excited for the chance to see both of his friends on a non-work related basis. He wondered what approach Lacus would take to try and make him talk. She had already gotten him by forcing him to see the reality of the situation, and what he really wanted to do. Not to mention the first time by singing and then being attacked. She also had a way of plying people with their favorite foods, and smiling so innocently that made you just open up.
Not that Lacus would tell anyone else whatever it was you told her. She was just to good hearted for that, but she had a knack at knowing when something was troubling someone. She then would make that person eerily aware of the choice in front of them, and end up resolving the situation. Nothing wrong with that at all. Unless you were aware of that fact, and still didn't want to talk about it.
_
Kira was eyeing Lacus speculatively. She was especially happy about something today, his Lacus. Athrun was coming to visit, but it wasn't enough to explain the way she was acting. He had one hand on his chin wondering what had gotten Lacus to be going around the house humming, singing, in an apron no less. Sure Lacus was a very cheerful person, with a great moral compass that lead to great wisdom for her young years, but even Kira knew that Lacus had a certain quality about her that was well, almost maniacal in her sense to do what was best for others.
"Lacus," Kira started. "Lacus your especially cheerful. Want to let me in on your master scheme to get Athrun to share his deepest darkest secrets?'
Yes, Kira was also very interested in getting his best friend to talk, and was in a sense just as bad as Lacus. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why they fit so well together is because they were so different but then so much the same.
Lacus just leaned her head to one side and smiled that purely innocent smile, and replied "What plan? I have no idea what your talking about!"
She then winked at him making him laugh, "I'll go get the finger sandwiches."
_
Athrun entered the residence that Kira and Lacus were currently sharing. He was dressed in his normal civilian clothes, black pants, a collared white shirt, with a leather jacket against the cool air. He followed the butler to the room where Lacus and Kira were supposedly waiting for him.
The moment the door opened he was embraced by someone petite with a lot of bubblegum pink hair, going, "Athrun, it's so good to see you!" She then quickly released him, and it was his turn to notice there was Kira sitting calmly on the couch who gave him a smile, and greeted him the same.
He then noticed the finger sandwiches. Right there, stacked neatly in a pile on some fancy platter type thing that he didn't know the name for. He was resigned, it was, it was just so like her.
"Hey Kira, Lacus. It's great to see you too. How've you been?"
He purposely chose a seat that was far away from the finger sandwiches. He felt that they were connected to something that might bite him. A very irrational way to think about finger sandwiches, but it was just a precaution.
They made general talk, talking about their work how it was going what issues popped up, etc. Kira had some projects he was currently working on to help with the rebuilding on both sides. Better ways to rebuild a building or a new field. Things like that that could involve simple engineering help to accomplish. Lacus was more into the political aspect of everything which was the basis of her job. She had meetings, and paperwork. She oversaw everything, including what Athrun himself headed.
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask you Athrun, Haro has been, acting up lately. I was wondering if you could take a look." She smiled that happy smile that made it impossible for you to refuse her anything.
"Sure, that would be no problem. But I'm curious, why don't you just have Kira look at it? He's surpassed my skills in mechanics."
Lacus's face burned to match the same shade as her hair. Athrun had been wondering where the normally exorbitantly cheerful Haro had been. Then he noticed Kira starting to chortle.
"What did you do Kira?"
"Oh, nothing. Just livened up Haro's vocabulary that's all."
"YOU MADE HIM A POTTY MOUTH!" Lacus cried.
Lacus Clyne did not swear, or curse herself therefore it was highly understood as to why she was shocked by the way her friend was spouting profanities like they were Christmas carols. She was fuming now.
Uh, oh. Lacus Clyne has a scary side that moved beyond the whole people manipulation mode. Mess with her Haro and you'd find that the normally sweet tempered even-under-fire girl would kick your ass. Kira was still laughing, but he had begun to inch away.
A pillow was taken from the couch and swung by the pink pop star at her lover. He narrowly avoided it the first time, but soon after the next one hit him square in the face.
Athrun was stunned at first, and then all the laughter that had been building up was suddenly released. He hadn't laughed that much, and that genuinely for too long. He soon was too far gone in his laughter that he forgot to remove himself from the line of fire.
"Oomph!"
"You think that's funny! I brought Haro with me to a meeting with the German Prime Minister, and he started off." She eyed both of them, Kira and Athrun, with a very hard glare. "The worst part is that he started laughing! Laughing!"
They both began laughing again themselves, imagining how embarrassed the sweet Chairman Clyne would have been when her friend began spouting profanities. At least the German Prime Minister had a sense of humor.
"You will both go to Kira's work space, and are not allowed to leave until Haro is fixed!" She was actually wagging her finger at them. The normal effects of Lacus had no effect unfortunately upon her two men.
They both were ushered by the petite irate lady out of the room towards Kira's work room. "Oh, wait. Here take these with you." She pushed the plate of finger sandwiches into Athrun's hands. Apparently, her anger didn't go so far as to deprive them of food, and drink too.
"Don't worry Lacus I'll fix him up."
When they finally left the room, Lacus slumped down on a couch, and grinned. She then started to laugh herself. It was just too easy, she thought.
Kira had a nice set up, the "work space" was really a hanger that had areas that were covered with every tool he could ever possibly need. The other two walls then had high tech computers, and other general lab supplies. They walked over to a bench and set down the pink Haro on the counter, and Lacus's finger sandwiches.
"So, potty mouth, eh? What were you bored?" Athrun jokingly asked Kira.
"Ha, I love it when she gets mad. It's just so unexpected. I'll have to make it up to her though. Here it's just this one wiring here."
The Haro started spouting Spanish. They looked at each other mortified before once more cracking up.
"Give it here, Mr. Mechanical Genius," Athrun said. "I think you twiddled with the wrong wire, it's delicate." He smirked.
"Ha, so what when it comes to rerouting anything in a computer I can do it in mere seconds, but this takes me a whole lot longer," Kira mused. "So really, Athrun what's going on with you. Let's skip the pleasantry, and you just tell me what's been bugging you."
Kira was rather blunt sometimes.
Athrun's hand paused that was holding the tool. He took a deep breath. "Is it that obvious?"
"Only to me and Lacus, come on man out with it."
"It's your sister-"
"Cagalli?' Kira struggled not to roll his eyes, and smack his friend for taking so long. Again he and Lacus had finally decided that both of them had had enough time to resolve the issue on their own. Besides even though he was usually the one to say "leave them be" like Lacus he felt that a little nudge couldn't hurt, and he was more than sure that if they ended up getting married he wouldn't have to intervene with a Gundam.
"Yeah," started Athrun kind of nervous. She was his sister after all. "We had gotten really close, and when I left to go back to ZAFT for the second war, I gave her a ring. Did you know that?"
Hmmm… No he hadn't actually. He saw that she had been wearing one until the Seiran incident, and afterwards too. Man he was sure Lacus had put two and two together. Still.
"YOU GAVE HER A RING AND DIDN'T EVEN CARE TO TELL YOUR BEST FRIEND, AND HAPPENS TO BE HER BROTHER?"
"Sorry, but it wasn't like you were within easy contact at the time anyhow. I didn't say anything when I put on her finger, but I meant it. I was a promise to her that I would be back, no matter what. Then after I defected from ZAFT yet again with Meyrin Hawke things got confusing like they always do."
As he continued talking Kira grew less ticked off. His friend ran a hand through his hair, and shifted to look him in the eye.
"After I joined you on the Archangel, and Meyrin was with me she followed me around like a puppy. I had no choice, but to bring her with me after she helped me. So I felt obligated to look after her even when I was injured. I didn't realize how much she liked me. After the war when Cagalli wasn't speaking to me anymore, she stuck around, Meyrin. You saw that day in Orb at the memorial with You, Lacus, Shinn, Lunamaria, Meyrin, and I. She left with me. I didn't really get it until later how it might have looked. After a while Meyrin caught on that while I might have saved her, I wasn't going to reciprocate her feelings. She was my first secretary you know? She came into my office to let me know she was being reassigned, and when she gave me her notice she gave me Cagalli's ring as well. She left really amiably, apparently she had found someone else. Then the next time I saw Cagalli, she wouldn't even look at me."
"Huh, it all makes sense now."
"What! What do you mean?"
"Oh, just now I understand why two of the most important people in my life have been screwing themselves over because of some misunderstandings. You guys are so, not stupid, but blind. And you don't trust each other very much despite everything you've been through."
"Kira!"
"Hey listen man, I'm just telling you how I see it. I've been listening to both of you for the past two years. I think I have the right to say whose been stupid or blind in that intervening time. The only important thing though is, do you want my sister still?'
"Of course! That's what my big spiel was all about!" he said exasperated.
The pink Haro lay forgotten between the two of them. The poor thing no longer spoke Spanish but still occasionally yelled an expletive.
"Ok, good to hear because I really didn't want to have to beat you up, Athrun. Now let's fix Haro before Lacus looses it again, it may be funny but she's still my girlfriend and I have to live with her."
"Ha ha, that's right. When are you going to handle your relationship yourself, Kira? Eh? You know you guys are one to push, but really you guys are practically married except for the actual ring."
Kira just took the Haro and hit a button on the back that pulled up a holographic image selection where he turned off the expletive option, and the Haro was back to his completely innocent self. At Athrun's narrowed look at how easily just now his friend fixed the Haro, he grinned and said, "I am Mr. Mechanical Genius."
_
Cagalli couldn't sleep again that night after a full day of meetings, paperwork, and a public announcement. She was exhausted, but she still couldn't seem to relax. She got up from her bed and checked the time, it was an hour after midnight, she really should just try to go back to sleep, but her thoughts kept on swirling around in her brain.
She decided to go to her usual remedy. She put on her housecoat and walked down through her halls until she reached the shooting range that was in one of the many levels under the main floors of her house. She unlocked her gun from her special compartment and set up a firing range.
If any of the normal trainees had been there, they would have been shocked to see the Orb Chief Representative in her housecoat firing perfect rounds into the target. She wouldn't have understood why considering she fought with impressive skill in both wars, but really wouldn't have cared what they thought as long as the other representatives didn't find out.
The practice of shooting was a very cathartic remedy to a long days work, and because she often came in the middle of the night there was no one to see her. She just wished she didn't have to come down there so often in the middle of the night, she'd rather be asleep.
A middle aged man then came to stand beside her, and practice his own shooting in the next booth. It was Kisaka her once time bodyguard now head of security. He only looked at her and said, "Hello Princess" and continued to shoot. That was why she appreciated him. He didn't ask, he got it. He also understood that she had thought he didn't know about her night time shooting practices. Since he did, she wasn't too surprised, and didn't mind the companionship. Sometimes it was lonely.
He didn't want her to know how worried about her she was. She was fine in all ways except for her spirit. Kisaka wouldn't have been surprised if the only reason Cagalli had made it through the wars in piece was from pure spunk. He was worried that that spark was gone, and wouldn't come back. So he kept close tabs on her just like when he was her bodyguard. He loved that girl like she was his own daughter.
He hoped that things got better for Cagalli soon. If Kira and Miss Lacus were right, things might just get better soon.
He hoped they did. When Cagalli was finally almost asleep on her feet, he picked her up and carried her back to bed. Tucking her into her bed, and giving her a peck on her forehead.
Anonymous Reviews:
Survivor18: Thank you for continuing to read and review my story! Ok so, I hope that was enough Athrun for you for now! =D I like the idea of including a Mu and Murrue side story. I think I'm just going to have to work that into parts of my chapters.( And Shinn and Luna, the more I think about it the more I want to write.) Thanks again. I always appreciate your reviews, hope you enjoy this chapter!
Cagallirocks: Well I do agree, Cagalli totally rocks. To answer your questions: I wanted to make Cagalli and Athrun's story believable. I don't think that theirs is something that can be resolved quickly. I mean she gave the ring to Meyrin, and barely said anything to him at all before he left for the final battle. As to why he's a commander, he went back to Orb, was unable to talk to Cagalli and went back to the PLANTS depressed and eventually accepted the job offered by Lacus. I hope that this answers your questions, and that you don't hate my version of what happened after the war. Thanks for the review!