A/N: Yes, I know I have taken just about forever to get this up

A/N: Yes, I know I have taken just about forever to get this up. Yes, it's my fault. And yes, you have my full permission to flame me for this.

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Seed.

Chapter 3 – Heart to Heart

It was always noisy at Reverend Malchio's. Always. There would always be kids screaming, running, playing. And there would always be Lacus making sure they were playing safe.

Usually, Kira would be contributing to the noise. It didn't usually bother him. But today, he just had to have peace and quiet to think. So alone he stood on the beach, under the warm afternoon sun.

He wouldn't be able to just let Lacus defend Fllay like that, not when she had nothing to do with her. Yet he couldn't just let Fllay be put on trial with a small chance of being acquitted when she was innocent. He was trapped between two equally undesirable options and he hated it.

Behind him, the sand made a soft shushing noise, and Kira whirled around to see Athrun making his way down to join him. That was both good and bad. Good, because Athrun had always been smarter than him, even when they were just children at the same school on the moon. He might be able to see the solution that Kira had missed. Bad, because this meant that Cagalli had told Athrun about it before he did, and Cagalli would never be able to express what was going on through his mind.

Athrun stopped right beside Kira, who had turned back to continue gazing out at the sea. Athrun could tell with a glance that Kira was feeling sour and probably wouldn't have felt like talking to begin with. Either way, Kira was glad. It was bound to be awkward to discuss such a matter already; he didn't want to make it worse by starting off cheerful.

They both waited for the other to start, and so neither did. Athrun realised that they would never get it over with at this rate and, groaning in horror inwardly, opened his mouth to speak. "So," he said quietly that if Kira hadn't been a Coordinator, he wouldn't have heard, "Cagalli tells me that you have a problem concerning your ex."

Kira replied with a "Huh" that might or might not be him agreeing with that.

"And you don't agree with letting Lacus help her," continued Athrun.

There was no reply this time round, but the frown told Athrun as much. Now to wheedle the reason behind it out of Kira, which was not going to be an easy task, judging by his response. Best to do it quick and get over with it.

"Mind telling me why?"

For the first time, Kira turned to look at Athrun full in the face. Athrun had known Kira long enough, and could see the conflict in his amethyst eyes. It told him of the struggle Kira was dealing with inside, and how it was slowly tearing him apart. Athrun met Kira's eyes and patiently waited for him to speak.

"I don't think it's fair to involve Lacus in this," Kira said finally. "She has nothing to do with Fllay. Honestly speaking, she shouldn't have to help her at all. Fllay wasn't very nice to Lacus on the Archangel, I admit it. But I don't blame her for that."

"Then neither will Lacus," said Athrun firmly. "You should know her well enough by now that she is far too forgiving to bear a grudge against anyone, and definitely not someone who has meant so much to you."

"That's my second point. Wouldn't it hurt Lacus if she were to find that I still care for Fllay so much?" asked Kira. "I'm not saying that I necessarily do," he said hurriedly as he caught sight of the change in Athrun's expression, "but if Lacus were to think so, would she be upset?"

"I can't answer you, Kira," replied Athrun honestly, his ordinarily-serious voice more so now than ever. "You have to sort this out yourself with both Lacus and Fllay. You'll have to decide between them one day, and it's really better not to drag it out. I can't help you in this because I don't know Fllay, and I'm not you, in any case. And ultimately, it's up to Lacus to make the decision. You can trust her to make the right one. Please just stop worrying so much. You'll making all of us overly concerned."

"Alright," Kira agreed out loud, but privately, he doubted that he could. In any case, now it was more a question of who could survive the stress and anxiety for the next few weeks.

Inside the orphanage, Lacus was teaching the children to paint. Cagalli observed with faint interest as Lacus calmly and patiently taught the children how to mix paints to get new colours. The more she watched, the more she was convinced that Lacus would be the only one who could end the discontent between the two armies.

"Lacus, can I speak with you for a moment?" she asked abruptly, interrupting Lacus advising a young girl against mixing black with yellow.

Lacus excused herself gracefully and promised that she'd be right back before following Cagalli with a confused expression to an temporarily unoccupied room.

Cagalli closed the door behind her. She had no doubt Kira would be extremely displeased with her afterwards, maybe angry enough to not speak to her for a week. Well, tough luck. Since he wasn't taking the initiative to solve his problem, she was going to do it for him. Personally, she didn't like Fllay either, but for both Kira and ORB she was going to have to put her personal problems aside.

"Lacus," she began, "as you know, the girl Fllay from the Dominion, the one who claimed to have the 'key to ending the war' which actually contained N-Jammer Canceller technology, she has been accused of handing this technology to the Earth Alliance. She didn't know it contained this sort of information, of course, but now the ZAFT and PLANTs are saying that she caused them to be bombarded with nuclear bombs. They're demanding that she be put on trial as a war criminal."

Lacus looked perplexed. "But she was not aware it contained N-Jammer Canceller technology. How could she have known she would be putting the PLANTs in danger?"

"We know that, but can we prove it? The man who gave her the information to pass on the EA is dead. And even if he wasn't, would he be willing to testify to Fllay's innocence?"

"Kira must be quite torn over this." Lacus' blue eyes were full of concern. "That's why he's out there, isn't he? To give himself some space to think."

"Yes." Cagalli didn't know what else to say. The pink princess always seemed to know what people were trying to say without them actually saying it. Besides, she had never been very good at being tactful.

"What do you wish me to do?"

Cagalli blinked in surprise. Lacus had known from the start that something would be asked of her, and yet she wasn't offended or begrudging, or even reluctant. Cagalli was beginning to see why she had been so popular and influential in the PLANTs. "I want you to help her defend herself in court. I know it sounds unreasonable to ask this of you, but you're both resourceful and influential. You may be the only one who can save her. So please, would you do it?"

"Yes," replied Lacus without hesitation.

"But I want you to know something first. Fllay and Kira used to be together," Cagalli said, leaving the less pleasant details out. Lacus would be hurt enough as it is. "He might still care for her in that way. Are you willing to risk losing Kira?" At this, she wanted to shut her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the other girl's reaction. But she couldn't. If she couldn't even put up a strong façade for such a trivial matter, was she still worthy to be Chief Representative of ORB?

Again, the songstress surprised Cagalli. "Whether or not Kira will stay by my side is secondary. Yes, part of why I want to do this is so that I will never have to see the pain he tries so hard to hide again. Yes, Kira might choose her over me, in the end. But nevertheless, I cannot just stand by and watch an innocent life taken away. Not while I can do something to help prevent it. So yes, I will still do it."

The two icons of their respective nations locked eyes. One a daughter of a lion, the respect for her born of her fierce determination in battle and the love she harboured for her people. The other a peacemaker, but no less determined or loving, who reaches out to the hearts of the world with her songs. Together, they were going to end the final tension between the Atlantic Federation and the PLANTs.

A/N: This is not an ideal chapter, but it will have to do, mainly because I have forgotten what I have originally planned out for this chapter. I had to revisit old chapters to remember how this story went, and I was rather surprised by the fluidity of my old writing style compared to this one. It doesn't flow as smoothly. At least to me, it seems rather "chunky" and disorganised. It's not a favourite.

Anyway, flame away. I'm serious, I deserve it. When was the last update? Last year? So anyway, if you don't want to flame, you can still leave a review.