JC: Chapter 32 is up! I've received good reviews and I thank the reviewers for it. I got inspired writing this by watching GSD Special Edition. Yay! There were a lot of AsuCaga scenes there and I just love it! Okay, please read on…

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED.

Gundam Seed: Mythical Legends

Phase 32: Stronger Emotions

"Oto-sama, I don't want to fight you, but I can't control my body." Fllay was still in tears as she said those words.

"Hel…" Shinn approached her slowly, opening his arms to her. When he was an inch closer to her, he felt a strange feeling. He quickly jumped back and took a defensive position. "It looks like Odin's control on you is strong."

Fllay stood up and let her hands fall to her side. She raised her head and smirked at Shinn. "It took me awhile to gain control of this body again. I admire this girl's love for you, but her feelings are nothing more than thrash."

Shinn clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes in anger. "How dare you say such things!" he yelled. More than anything else in the world, he valued Fllay's love like a precious treasure, and to have her insult it just like that was unforgivable.

"Shut up and just die already!" Fllay, with blinding speed, zoomed forward towards Shinn and blasted him away with a dark magic attack. "I finally got you!"

Shinn landed with his hands first, then he pushed himself upward and landed on his two feet.

Fllay went on with the assault, giving it her all in very energy and power she unleashed. And Shinn had no choice but to evade since he didn't want to hurt his own daughter.

Stellar sighed deeply. "I wish I had the power to break Odin's spell." Then she remembered something about Kira. "Kira-san, you have the power to do that!" She stood with a face of new hope.

"I do have the capabilities to dispel Odin's spell," Kira replied, tapping his cheek with his finger. "But my power won't work well here." He pointed at the wandering spirits floating around them.

And Stellar immediately got the point. "I almost forgot about them."

"If you try to use magic to help Shinn, it won't be easy. These spirits will suck the life-force out of you if you're not careful."

"And those spirits are doing a number on Athrun," Cagalli said, holding onto Athrun's hand. She was impressed on Athrun's will to stand up to the pain he was experiencing. Her powers were not enough to keep on regenerating him. Not only was she worried for Athrun, but for her best friend Shinn as well. In her mind, she silently prayed for the welfare of Shinn and Athrun.

Warehouse

Gilbert placed the crystal orb on top of a crate and sat down on a stool. "Now that Hel is keeping Loki busy, I should go on ahead with my next plan," he said with a malicious grin. He looked at the orb and saw Cagalli holding Athrun tight. He laughed at the mortal and called him pathetic. "You're not worthy for a goddess like Freya. She's too perfect for rubbish like you."

He stood up and called his minions' attention. He ordered for the second plan to take place immediately. "Remember, there are no room for mistakes. This plan must succeed in order to bring back the lost memories of the fair goddess," he told them.

"This is going to be easy," Auel boasted as he turned his head at Rey. "I hope you don't get in my way, Heimdall."

Rey gave Auel one mean stare and teleported out of sight.

"Che…That Heimdall—so snobbish!" Auel grumbled and then teleported as well.

"Those two may not get along well, but they're the keys to make this plan successful," muttered Gilbert, motioning himself to the window. Leaning against the wall, he opened his palm and revealed a cobalt gem that shone beautiful in the sunlight. "And after I'm through using them, I'll destroy them both." He clenched onto the cobalt gem and smothered a smile.

His moment of delight was cut short when he heard the door creaking. He quickly made himself invisible and went to check who the unsuspecting visitor was. To his surprise, it was a girl, with long flowing red hair, who looked a lot like Fllay. She could pose as one of Hel's incarnation. He was getting ideas in his head again—ideas that would involve the innocent girl. He was about to show himself to her when all of a sudden…

"Meyrin! Another girl walked in and grabbed her by the arm. "You tricked me! I thought we were going to the ice cream shop and not some cruddy old warehouse!" she pouted, tightening her grip.

"Ouch! That hurts, Onee-chan!" Meyrin pulled her arm free and glared at her older sister, Lunamaria.

Lunamaria placed one hand on her hip and used the other one to hit Meyrin's head. "That's for lying to me," she spoke coldly.

The younger sister held her head and looked pissed off. She turned around swiftly and folded her arms. "I didn't tell you to follow me," Meyrin retorted.

"Um…hello? You're the one who told me to follow you to an icecream shop. How was I supposed to know that you were going here!? You didn't even tell me." Lunamaria pointed accusingly at Meyrin.

Gilbert found it annoying to see two mortals having a senseless argument. He decided to leave the girls alone and go back to his crystal orb to observe the battle between Fllay and Shinn.

Meyrin ignored her sister's complaint and went around looking around for her prince. She wanted to see him again to satisfy her emotions growing inside her. At first, she thought of it only as an admiration but she came to realize it as the feeling of love. She felt really wonderful and inspired about this. The way she had felt about Athrun was nothing compared to the way she felt about Auel. Though she didn't know Auel that much, she sensed that he was a good person. She even considered him as the ideal guy for her.

While Meyrin was enjoying her time in dreamland, Lunamaria mumbled some mild curses on her sister and sat down on one of the crates. "Meyrin, you should at least tell me why are we here." She thought absurdly of her sister, as Meyrin searched behind some old crates at the far corners of the warehouse.

Meyrin didn't pay attention to Lunamaria. Surely she knew how Lunamaria would bicker if she told her about Auel. She didn't want her to go teasing her again and criticize her for choosing such a cool guy. But her search came to an end after 5 minutes and she was disappointed that Auel was nowhere to be found. She decided to try again tomorrow and hoped for the best.

Suddenly, Lunamaria pulled her head and forced her to face her. "I'm totally getting sick and tired of you ignoring me." She presented a frustrated face.

"Okay…okay…sorry… Let go now!" Meyrin said, and Lunamaria released her ear. "Actually…um…I was looking for a guy here."

"A guy? Who?" Lunamaria got interested. She always liked talking about guys.

"You've heard of Auel, right?"

"The mysterious blue-haired guy who has been hanging around our school lately? Of course I have! The girls are practically talking about him every single day. They even wished for him to enrol in our school as a student," Lunamaria said and patted Meyrin's shoulder. She smiled suspiciously at Meyrin, sending some chills down to her spine.

"What?" Meyrin raised an eyebrow, thinking how stupid Lunamaria looked with that ridiculous smile.

"I thought you only had eyes for Athrun Zala."

Since she was caught up with Auel so much, Meyrin had forgotten her feelings for Athrun. She remembered the day he first saw him at Archangel University. It was an unforgettable moment when he accidentally bumped into her and made her dropped the books she was carrying. Being the gentleman that he was, Athrun helped her up and picked up her books. The soft touch of his hand made her blush like crazy. As he handed the books over to her, she caught a glimpse of his warm face. Indeed he was very handsome, she thought. She fell in love with since then. But her heart crashed when she heard the news about Athrun having a girlfriend. She didn't believe it until she saw him and the popular Cagalli together one time in the library. However, no matter how jealous and upset she felt, she didn't hold a grudge against Cagalli.

Athrun only served as a memory to her. Her heart was for Auel and she had a good feeling about him. "I met Auel here this morning. He was staring out in the ocean, thinking of something deep. I saw his face—it was sad. I didn't know why. I approached him to see if he was okay. I was shocked to see it was really Auel and I started to get nervous. We kinda talked for a little while and I enjoyed it," Meyrin spoke softly, clasping her hands together.

Lunamaria noticed how Meyrin talked about Auel. She was happy for the fact that her sister had those feelings for the guy. Being in love was a great thing, though it may hurt sometimes. She knew how fragile Meyrin's feelings can be, but she was surprised that she didn't go crazy when Athrun and Cagalli got together. She was relieved for that. It seemed like she had Auel to thank for.

Underworld

The battle between Fllay and Shinn had gone far enough. Shinn thought it was time for them to end it. He knew how risky it was for him to use his powers against his daughter. He could end up killing her and he'll never be able to live with that. But he had to take a chance and give it his best.

"Hel, wait for me, I'll release you from Odin's spell." Shinn jumped up to evade another blast sphere from Fllay. He back flipped a couple of times to distance himself from her.

Fllay launched in for an attack, confident she would hit him. But Shinn dodged it, grabbed her arms and locked them tightly with his hands. "Release me!" she demanded, struggling to break free.

"Not until I break the spell," replied Shinn, placing one hand on Fllay's temple.

Fllay smirked. "You don't have the power to break Odin-sama's spell. It's a worthless effort, oto-sama," she told him.

"Who said anything about breaking Odin's spell?" His hand on her forehead started to glow bright red. "The spell I'm breaking is yours!" he said and concentrated his energy in binding Fllay's power. He had done this before back in Asgard and he could do it again.

Fllay was rendered paralyzed. "Oto-sama, y-you'll…pay for this…" she managed to say.

"I'm sorry, Hel…"

The black field was disappearing and the spirits went inside Fllay's body. The surroundings changed back to the pier.

In an instant, Athrun's pain alleviated and his energy returned. He assured Cagalli that he was all right and stood up. "I thought I was going to die there," he said, smiling.

"Athrun, thank goodness… You had me so worried." Cagalli's eyes were close to tears. She hugged him so securely as if she had lost him for a long time.

"Shinn did it!" Stellar uttered excitedly.

"Since he couldn't break Odin's spell, he decided to destroy the illusion around us," Kira said, forming a blue sphere on his palm. He chanted out some words, which summoned a feeble wind to surround him. He looked at the sphere serious, preparing himself for dispel.

"Fllay, you'll be back to your old self in no time," Shinn told her, holding her tight. Having to battle Fllay was a difficult task for him. He managed to engage her without hurting her, which was a relief for him. He would never forgive himself if something had happened to his only daughter.

Kira approached Fllay and placed a hand on her temple. He began chanting words as he closed his eyes to focus. He focused his energy into her mind and started the process of dispel. However, Kira didn't expect the dark energy to persevere and attack him. He was pushed away by this energy. "Shinn, I managed to break the spell, but sorry to say that the dark presence inside her is taking over," he said to Shinn.

Shinn's eye widened. "No… It can't be…" He noticed the dark aura surrounding her daughter now—it was very ominous. He could feel her hands getting cold as ice and the colour in her eyes started to fade. "Hel, come back to me!" He hugged her, afraid of losing her forever. With the dark presence inside her, Shinn didn't know what to say or to do, except to hope.

Seeing Shinn so hurt almost broke Stellar's heart. She wished she could do something to stop the darkness in Fllay. She knew Shinn would be severely devastated if his daughter disappeared forever into nothingness. "Hel, please stay alive for Shinn!" she shouted, clenching her fists.

Fllay trembled as tears streamed down her eyes. She was afraid as well to lose to the darkness. But no matter how hard she tried to resist it, it was still consuming her. "O…oto-sama, I-I d…don't want… to leave you…" Despite the fact that she was feeling weak, she managed to clutch onto her father's shoulders and gazed upon his worried face. It pained her to see such a face from him, but she knew she was the cause of his misery.

The father and daughter kept each other close, enjoying a brief moment of looking into each other's eyes. The darkness was already eating up her body, so she was slowly disappearing. Shinn began crying hard and locked her in his arms again. He told her how much he loved her, how much he cared and cherished her. He told Fllay not to leave him. Still, it was getting harder and harder for Fllay.

Though she felt hurt and weak, she held a smile to assure him that she was going to be fine. She also apologized for fighting him and putting the others in jeopardy.

He shook his head vigorously. "Hel, don't you dare give up on me! You're my only daughter. I love you, Hel!" he uttered. "So please… I beg you… Don't leave me…" He leaned his head on her shoulder.

"But Oto-sama… My life is…" Fllay was convinced that there was no more hope for her. She had accepted the fact of dying, and it was painful to leave her father. Her body was slowly becoming transparent, making her look like a ghost or a spirit.

"Fllay, don't go!" Cagalli shouted, running towards them. "Don't let this darkness win. I know you can fight this, Fllay. Don't give up on your life so easily!" She was crying, but she still showed a strong face.

"Cagalli-san… This darkness… I cannot stop it." Fllay lowered her head. She didn't want to see the sad faces of Cagalli, her father, and the others.

"Fllay, I know you can if you put your heart and soul into it. I've said this to your father once and I'm gonna say it again; the greatest battle is to keep living. You, of all the immortals, should know that."

Cagalli was right, Fllay thought. She felt so foolish for letting a fickle thing like death stand in her way. She controlled death herself and she didn't want some darkness to overpower her. Gently, she pushed herself away from her father and smiled at him. "I won't leave you, oto-sama. I swear on it," she said, clenching her fists. A part of her body glowed in purple aura and the other part was in black. "I won't leave Oto-sama… I'm going to stay by his side forever."

"Hel…" Shinn was worried for Fllay, but he believed she could overcome the darkness.

A flash of light from Fllay blinded everyone for a second and afterwards, the light disappeared. Fllay smiled and did a V-sign with her finger. "I did it, Oto-sama. I've overcome my darkness thanks to my strong feelings for you," she said happily.

Shinn and Cagalli cried with tears of joy. They ran to Fllay and embraced her dearly. "I'm glad you're safe, Hel," Shinn whispered softly, while brushing her long red hair. "I knew you could do it…" Cagalli added, taking hold of her hand.

Fllay thanked them for everything they had done for her. She made a promised to them to be stronger and to be never again be used by Gilbert. She'll make sure she wouldn't make her father or her friends suffer again because of her.

To be continued…

JC: Fllay's back to normal—a relief for Shinn. When I was writing the part where Shinn hugged Fllay, I told myself that they would look like a couple more than a family. Sorry for the Fllay-haters and Shinn-lovers, okay? I didn't mean any harm. Next chapter would be about Kira and Cagalli! Please review and I'll update soon.

Next Chapter: Siblings in Trouble