JC: Hey, what's up! I'm having fun for the past 3 days because I'm just inspired! I was able to come up with this in only 3 hours and I hope it's not messed up. Anyway, please read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed.

Gundam Seed: Mythical Legends

Phase 23: Secretive Flaws

"We were good friends before," replied Shinn, eyes shifting towards Cagalli.

Cagalli grew appalled as her eyes widened. She stood in silence as she stared at Shinn disbelievingly.

Shinn had already expected that kind of reaction from her, so it wasn't a surprise for him when she buried herself in silence. If he was in the place of Cagalli, he would've reacted in the same way.

"Heimdall was only a friend before and now we're enemies," Shinn remarked, clenching his right hand. "He has committed so many sins that are unforgivable." He stood and faced the wall to avoid Cagalli's eyes.

"Unforgivable…? Yeah… I agree… But he is…" Cagalli felt a little awkward for not saying anything to counter Shinn's statement. Sure, she had a lot of comments about Heimdall, but the fact that he was Shinn's friend was bothering her.

"Heimdall is not anymore the Heimdall I knew and cared." Shinn banged his fists on the wall. "He's long gone and it's all Odin's fault." He leaned his forehead against the wall with eyes closed.

Cagalli approached Shinn, wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself closer to him. "It must've hard for you to fight him," she said in a low voice.

"You said it…" he replied in a husky voice. Surely he was furious, but he also showing a hint of sadness in his face.

Cagalli tightened her grip around him, securing him and comforting him at the same time.

"Cagalli…" Shinn said softly, his cheeks burning up.

"There's no doubt in my mind that you can find the solution to settle things between you and him," the blonde goddess assured him.

"Aren't you mad at him?"

"Yes, I was. But now I feel differently about him," she answered, releasing him from her arms. "Heimdall was your dear friend, right?"

Shinn slowly turned around to see his blonde best friend smiling cheerfully at him. "Cagalli…"

Next day (Front Gate of School)

Meyrin had just arrived to school together with her older sister Lunamaria. Both of them were indulged in a very interesting topic that Meyrin rarely talks about: Boys! Lunamaria was leading the conversation and she went non-stop when she started talking about Athrun Zala. Meyrin stayed quiet as she listened attentively to her sister.

"I heard that Athrun Zala likes to read books about Mythology," Lunamaria said, adjusting her yellow back pack.

"Really?" replied Meyrin, doubting what Lunamaria said. "I don't think Athrun-san is the kind of guy who would spend his time reading books."

Lunamaria shook her head vigorously, disagreeing with Meyrin. "My friend actually saw him one time in the garden reading about gods and goddesses. You better believe it, Mey," she told.

"Then we have something in common because I love reading books as well." Meyrin giggled a bit.

"Yeah, you two are a bunch of bookworms," Lunamaria sarcastically said.

"Hey, don't say that!" retorted Meyrin. "Athrun is no bookworm. At least, he's not exactly like me… I think…" She toned down her voice as she shifted her gaze at her feet.

Lunamaria lightly laughed. "But you're one regular bookworm, Meyrin. The only thing missing is glasses to complete your geeky look." She quickly ran off, laughing hard, as she waved back at Meyrin.

"Onee-chan, you get back here!" demanded Meyrin, running after her sister. But Lunamaria was just too fast for Meyrin and she practically lost her in the hallways. She tried looking around in every corner and room along the way, but she found no trace of Lunamaria.

Giving up, she decided to go to her classroom. She spun on her heels and headed straight to the stairway. However, she wasn't prepared for a surprise attack from behind.

"Ha!" A person shouted beside her ear, giving her the scare of her life.

"Ah! Don't hurt me!" Startled, Meyrin dropped to her knees and trembled like crazy. "Please don't," she squeaked.

"Meyrin, it's just me Jean," the red-headed goddess spoke up, kneeling to Meyrin's level.

Meyrin slowly turned her head to look at Jean. With her frail expression, Meyrin buried her face in her hands. "You scared me to death, Jean," she said.

Jean giggled as she patted Meyrin's back. "Hey, sorry… I never thought you would be that scared."

Meyrin looked at Jean and pouted, "Don't you ever do that again, Jean," she said in a nice way, despite being upset.

"Okay, I won't," she promised, crossing her fingers behind her back. She then stood up and offered her hand to Meyrin. "Come on, we have to be in class before the bell rings," Jean reminded.

Before taking Jean's hand, she took a deep breath and exhaled pressingly. She grabbed onto Jean's hand and she was immediately pulled back to her feet. "Thank you," she said politely.

"No problem," replied Jean, her lips curling into a big friendly smile.

They were about to climb the stairs when Jean suddenly remembered that she left her history book inside her locker. She has to take a very long way just to get to the lockers and she was going to be late. Surely she didn't want Meyrin to ruin her perfect punctuality record, so she asked her to go on ahead.

"Are you sure?" Meyrin wanted to be certain, though she was a bit worried about the time.

Jean nodded slowly. "Just go… I have to get my history book because it's needed for today's subject," Jean explained sincerely.

"All right… I hope the teacher doesn't scold you."

"Nah, I bet the teacher won't mind." Jean turned around and ran towards the direction of the lockers.

Meyrin, on the other hand, climbed up the stairs while humming a tune. Reaching the desired floor, she saw Gilbert Dullindal, her new teacher, talking to a blue-haired guy that she had never seen in her entire life in school.

Thinking he was cute, Meyrin felt her cheeks burning up. She couldn't move properly as she kept staring at the guy with admiration. Her mind was telling her, "Go approach him for crying out loud. He's one hot guy like Athrun!" but she hesitated because of her shyness again.

Since she just wanted to hide from the blue-haired guy, she decided to stay at one corner and try to listen to their private conversation. "I wonder what his name is," she whispered softly, hoping Gilbert would mention the blue-haired guy's name.

"Everything is going accordingly to plan. We'll have Freya in no time," Gilbert muttered deeply, rubbing his hands together.

"With Freya at your side, nothing could ever stop you from ruling the realm of humans," the blue-haired guy spoke in an unruly voice. "By the way, does Heimdall know about his missing eye?"

Meyrin couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't even tell if they were just talking gibberish or not. It was definitely a complete surprise for her, especially hearing about the missing eye. Her mind was searching for answers to the mystery revolving around Gilbert and the blue-haired guy.

"No, he doesn't," Gilbert replied, "because he still thinks Loki took it."

Loki… Did he just say Loki? Loki is the god of mischief and I think Heimdall is a god too. Hmm… Oh, Heimdall is the watchman of the gods. Sometimes she just amazed herself with the information she gets from her stock knowledge.

"Odin-sama, you've done a great job manipulating Heimdall. I salute you," the blue haired god said, giving Gilbert a correct salute as if he was a soldier.

"I'm very grateful to hear that, Tyr." Gilbert extended his hand to shake hands with one his loyal followers. "I'm also looking forward to your plans of eliminating Loki," he stirred.

Tyr, with his bright azure eyes, grinned at the great god. "I won't disappoint you," he assured, shaking hands with Gilbert.

Once again questions filled Meyrin's head. Discovering the blue-haired guy's name was a thrill for her, but the thing about Tyr referring Gilbert as Odin was bothersome. First of all, how could Gilbert be Odin? Do gods exist in the first place? It didn't make any sense to Meyrin. She felt like she was trapped in vortex of confusion. She stopped and reflected for a moment. Maybe they're just using the gods' names as code names! Yeah, that's it! She placed a finger against her cheek and focused her sight on Gilbert and Tyr. There are no such things as gods, so it has to be the code names.

Still, a part of her wanted to believe that Gilbert and Tyr are real gods. She may sound crazy when she's going to tell everyone about it. No, not just sound crazy but psychotic. She had to make sure Gilbert and Tyr were real human beings before she could make any assumptions.

Rooftop

"Is this right?" Cagalli extended her right arm as she focused her eyes in one direction. She was currently having magic tutorial lessons with Stellar being the teacher. So far, Cagalli had been learning well and she had already done so many magical stunts that surpassed the powers of a normal god.

Stellar observed her arm position very carefully. With a smile, Stellar clapped her hands together. "Yes, it is. You're one of the best students ever."

"That's because I'm you're only student ever," Cagalli replied sarcastically.

"But you're still the best, Cagalli-san," Stellar uttered happily, proud to inform anyone who hears it.

Cagalli blushed a bit. "Hey…um… you're ruining my concentration…" She was trying to conserve energy to form an energy sphere in your hands.

"All right, I won't talk anymore until you're done."

Cagalli emitted some aura out of her body, causing Cagalli's body to glow in gold color. She gathered all her released aura onto the palm of her hand and transformed them into an energy sphere. "It's ready," said Cagalli, smiling contentedly.

"You did it. You're really good."

"No, I'm not really good."

"Oh come on! You already managed to control your powers now."

"But I can't utilize the full extent of my powers yet." With one flicker of her wrist, the energy sphere dispersed into little dusts of light. Cagalli pulled out her handkerchief and wiped away the sweat from her forehead. Obviously she was tired from all the training and she could sure use some break.

"I think we should end our session," Stellar declared, brushing her fingers through her golden locks. She, as well, was also itching for relaxation. Her sisters wouldn't give her a break whenever she gets home. They would always tell her to do meditations to maintain control of her powers. And school work was giving her a hard time adjusting her schedule. It was all work and no play for her.

Cagalli let out a sigh of relief, thinking finally some rest! She stretched her arms up high as she yawned quietly. "Thank you for your time again, Stellar," Cagalli said, smiling.

Stellar bowed her head a little and muttered, "You're welcome." She paused and faced Cagalli, with her innocent looking eyes and her adorable smile. "Cagalli-san… I'm looking forward to our session tomorrow."

Cagalli agreed with her. Not only was she excited for more magic lessons, she was also eager to gain more information about Asgard from Stellar. She was proud to say that Stellar was a great story-teller. "Stellar, I have to go now. See ya!"

"Yeah, see ya!" Stellar waved her hand as she watched Cagalli taking her leave. "Now, what shall I do?" She twirled around in a fashionably manner, leaping and prancing about, as she hummed a tune from her favorite song. For a moment, she felt at peace, free of worries and trouble.

To be continued…

JC: Chapter 23 finished! Wow, I couldn't believe I've written so many chapters already. Take note of the new character I included here—the blue-haired god named Tyr. Clearly he is one of Gilbert's minions and he'll be one powerful enemy. Shinn better be prepared for him. You may wonder what Meyrin will do after overhearing Gilbert and Tyr's conversation. Just wait for the next chapter. Please review and no flaming!