The Isle

by puzzlepuzzle

In the aftermath of the Second War, Athrun Zala vanished without a trace for seven years - Cagalli never thought to find him. But fate deviates when he comes to find her himself and a web of desire and deceit lies before them. Original Cover Art SEQUEL OUT. .

30. Chapter 29

I own nothing of GS/GSD. R&R please.

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Hello dear readers! Sorry it's been taking me so long- the exams are breathing down my neck. Hard. Also I've been wondering whether to compress the final two chapters into one and have an epilogue (which trust me, is kinda important in many ways) or to cut out the epilogue and thus have two chapters. What I've done is to make this chapter a little shorter, but I'll retain the last chapter (31:chapter 30) and to keep the epilogue in it. Thanks for reading up to here and keep those reviews coming! I really enjoy those. :)

And look out for some surprises that I've been saving within this chapter!

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Chapter 29

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Yzak Joule had many accomplishments to his name. The title of Head General of Zaft was just one of those, although it was currently the crowning jewel of his military awards. At the same time, Yzak Joule was not going to stay stagnant in his collection of titles. There was already talk that he was going to progress to Vice-Chairman of Plant soon, for he had developed Zaft incredibly well over the years. It didn't matter who he really was away from the public—he was competent and a rising star in galactic politics and that was all that people wanted to know. Nobody wanted to know about the rationale behind his decisions, for they only wanted to know what his decisions were.

His colleague, one of the three as part of the jury, turned to him. His colleague whispered, "Head General, how long more do you think this will last before Athrun Zala pleads guilty?"

Yzak replied quietly. He looked at the list of charges and the relevant evidence supporting those. "It doesn't matter if he pleads guilty or not."

"That's true." His other colleague muttered. "He will still be pronounced guilty and convicted."

For people who didn't know him personally, Yzak Joule was thought to have been born and bred to be a politician. For people who knew him personally, Yzak Joule was definitely one who had been born and bred to be a politician. His whole life had been mapped out for him ever since he had been a child. From a private kindergarten to having horse-riding and fencing lessons, he had progressed to elite schools and the university—each place more elite than the last.

Even in Zaft, Yzak Joule had performed brilliantly and was put into elite factions. He was an elite in terms of his social and work circles, and that was that. Of course, his trial after the First War had been a minor hiccup, but that had been a small hurdle to his otherwise unchanged course to joining the political elite. His fiancée was not very different from him and both of them seemed to have been perfectly matched, even if not by their own choice. It wasn't merely that Yzak Joule had been privileged to be Ezalia Joule's son, for he had an aggression that flowed in his blood and the desire to carve his mark on the world in the highest places that he could reach.

Or at least, that was what he was expected to continue doing.

As one of the three current Plant representatives sat and watched people testify come and go, Yzak wondered if all his ambition and struggling was worth little now. It mystified him because he had seen very little failure in his life, and those stumbling events he'd encountered had usually been turned into personal victories anyway.

It seemed to him that he'd done everything that he was bound to do. He'd always planned his career path in the way the best of archers would have plotted their trajectories before drawing the bow; he'd always strived and aimed to do his best, and he'd always—always-- kept his duties as his top priority. He was respected by his men, regarded very highly by his superiors, and certainly on the fast track to the top. Some people said his achievements were actually his mother's, and some said that he'd merely had more luck that had brought his power. Certainly though, Yzak Joule's power had come in great magnitude.

But now he felt powerless.

As it was, the terrorists were witnesses in the case against Athrun, but they too were the accused with their own trials that would be carried out after they'd testified against Athrun. As each terrorist pointed to Athrun being the mastermind of all their crimes of conspiracy and treason against the High King of Scandinavia, Pietre Harraldsson, Yzak knew that they were lying. It wasn't so much that he had proof as much as his gut, and Yzak Joule trusted his instincts more than anything else in the world.

But with one cross-examination, each after the other, the prosecutor was having a very easy time. It was almost like a factory production of the answers that the jury needed to answer their questions. As Yzak gazed at the two other Plant representatives, he felt his stomach churn at how they were nodding and agreeing with everything Minrofherf was saying and implying about Athrun's character.

In fact, with how everything was turning out, Yzak thought to himself wryly, the defense attorney shouldn't even have bothered coming. As it was, Athrun Zala had refused to have a defense attorney as if anticipating the waste of time and resource it would be. Yet, one had been attached to him as a matter of procedure, and the attorney was basically watching as every criminal confessed without a way or much of a will to change Athrun's Zala's fate.

One Plant representative was from the Home Affairs division and the other a diplomat for Scandinavia. None of them had ever worked in Zaft or the Intelligence Council that had hidden so many operations secret for so long, and so the two would never sympathize in the way Yzak could towards Athrun Zala. The Plant representatives' lack of empathy towards Patrick Zala's enigmatic ways made it almost certain that Athrun stood no chance against the rest of the jury, who weren't even from Plant.

"I think Zala has no more defence left." Yzak hear the Plant representative on his right whisper to the other one at the far end of the jury's bench. "I'm just glad he was discovered before he could make use of his position to do something similar to his father's crimes. It's bad enough that Scandinavia's leader is already brain-dead."

Yzak knew that those whispers were coming from other sections of the jury as well. The Orb section was looking suspiciously at Plant and Scandinavia's representatives, and the Earth Alliance were preoccupied with scrutinizing Athrun, who sat at the far end of the courtroom in his binds.

Yzak was the kind of person who always planned; the sort of person who could never be caught unprepared except for his own weakness—his temper and brash nature. He'd mastered that over the years for most part, but now, he wondered why everything seemed worthless. What was the point of all the trying and all the power that he'd acquired when he couldn't even save a man he wanted to save?

As it was, it was likely that Athrun would either face the death penalty or life imprisonment. Every single one of the terrorists seemed to have been numbed by something and was testifying against him- naming him as Greyfriars beyond being Rune Estragon, the intelligencer that Zaft had brought in. At the same time, the terrorists seemed to show open admittance to their crimes. They confessed to arson, murder, bomb-planting, every single thing and the kidnap of Cagalli Yula Atha. The crimes varied and so did the level of ease the prosecution faced with each new terrorists that was brought to the stand.

Now, Yzak noted with sick satisfaction that all were consistently naming Athrun Zala as their leader. They were of like mind, he knew. None of them would admit that amongst the dead bodies scattered in the Swedish palace on the day that the place had been attacked and then the assailants led away, Greyfriars had laid amongst his loyal followers.

Nobody in the jury, not even his colleagues, had ever seen Greyfriars before. Yzak had though, and he knew that as Athrun had been led out of the place, Athrun must have passed by the bodies of those who had fallen and spotted Greyfriars amongst them. Amidst his followers, Greyfriars looked like any other grunt who had been swept up by nationalistic frenzies and had died in some random scuffle. There was nothing to differentiate Greyfriars from his followers. Naturally, the triers of fact turned their suspicions towards Athrun Zala, who'd suddenly reappeared after nearly seven years.

There was only tough luck for Athrun and the defense attorney, Yzak realized, for Athrun could not be saved when his own employers wanted their secrets to go with the Intelligencer who'd bungled everything up. And that was why Yzak Joule had been chosen to be one of the jury members—his job was to ensure that Athrun Zala did not spill the beans on the Isle's operations. While Eileen Canaver could not sit on the jury as the other heads of the superpowers and Scandinavia could not, she could still choose who to be part of the jury, and she'd chosen Yzak Joule.

He cast his eye to the spectators rather than listening carefully to the defence's slipshod cross-examination of yet another terrorist. Yzak spotted who he was looking for and prayed that his last attempt to reverse the flow of events would be successful. If it wasn't, Yzak knew exactly what would happen.

Yzak knew how it would be written in history if his attempt to save Athrun Zala failed—the people who spoke out and named Athrun Zala as Greyfriars would be classified under classic cases of fanaticism and not exposed as a clever conspiracy a Zaft intelligencer had been caught within. After all, Athrun Zala's father had inspired that a long time ago, and it would be poetic for the media to write that the son had followed his father's muddied footsteps.

"Witness number thirty-one, do you accept the charges of bomb-planting and deliberate murder of the second cousin, Erik Strumsson, to the Swedish royal family?"

"Yes. I'm not sorry though. Denmark, everything was for Denmark."

"When you captured the Princess, did the Denmark terrorists harm her?"

"No. We created the diversion. Everything was completed by Rune Estragon. He had the easy task, didn't he? He had his own submarine. Merely got the Princess to go with him."

"How?" The prosecutor questioned.

"Don't know how he did it. But he said she was injured when we wanted to take custody of her. Said she got shot in the chest and would have to recuperate."

Titters rose in the court. It was clear that Athrun looked as though he had botched his own job with Zaft. The mutters from the spectators increased in volume and intensity.

"Call the next witness." The judge looked frazzled.

"Yes, your Honour."

The next man took the stand.

"Name, age and occupation."

"Thor McKendrick. Thirty-seven. Engineer. I retired twelve years ago."

"Why so, Mr. McKendrick?"

"For misuse of company funds. But I was forced to- I didn't have the money to win acquittal of my children otherwise, and the Swedish authorities didn't allow a Denmark citizen to speak to his children if he didn't win the acquittal-,"

"Keep to the facts please." Minrofherf tapped his fingers on his arms impatiently. "Mr. McKendrick, can you tell this court how you came to know the accused, Mr. Zala?"

"He called himself Greyfriars." McKendrick nodded almost absent-mindedly to himself. "I met him while leading a few others in a protest against the unfair laws prohibiting the Danish from exercising their independence as citizens of Denmark rather than Scandinavia. Athrun Zala appeared during this time and offered to fund the Danish Nationalist Faction. He came out with the plans to kidnap the Orb Princess. He also came out with plans to manufacture weapons and biochemical drugs for the faction's purposes."

Yzak felt his mood worsening.

The next man, Yeltrel Borris, supported the already solid claims. The same few questions, the same few crimes. Even the gasps were absent now. Everything had been established, particularly with Kira's testimony. Crime after crime, atrocity after atrocity-- hearing the same atrocities numbed people. Athrun understood that.

"Other than the above crimes your comrades have admitted to," The prosecutor asserted, "You are accused of planting a bomb in a Swedish School eight months ago, on the twelfth of May."

"I did not." Borris said fiercely. But he started giggling and his general appearance suggested that he had long gone insane. The court was silent as he continued to rock back and forth on his feet, and the prosecutor looked distinctively uncomfortable dealing with someone who was either mad or a very good actor.

"The prosecution has established that the Denmark Terrorists group has been capable of planting bombs for world attention to be focused on Scandinavia."

"I did not." Borris repeated. He began to sing a little song to himself- Humpty Dumpty, in fact.

"Your Honour," The defense attorney said swiftly, trying to save his case. "Just because this man, along with so many others, have planted bombs before, it does not mean that he was guilty of this particular crime."

"I did not kill my son." Borris said suddenly, agony in his voice, and there was a hush in the courtoom. It was then that Athrun wondered why the most maddening grief could make a madman sound almost sane. "It was Harraldsson who did."

"What do you mean?" The defense attorney said. There was a mantle of silence that had fallen over the courtroom. "Borris, what do you mean when you say that Pietre Harraldsson, High King of Scandinavia, killed your son."

"My so was enrolled in that school. He was killed in that bomb blast along with a few other children my comrades had in that school. None of us planted that bomb there in the school."

Yzak held his breath. Perhaps this man would release a key that Athrun could use.

"Was Rune Estragon dealing directly with Greyfriars?" The prosecutor asked.

"Yes. They functioned separately though. Greyfriars was always doing whatever Estragon told him to do. He even agreed to let Estragon hold the Princess in his own quarters. Estragon convinced him that it was for the best."

"How so?"

"Not sure. We were told that she got injured during her kidnap."

"If Greyfriars planned this, why didn't he take custody of the Princess right after she had recovered."

"Estragon said she hadn't fully recovered. Complications with the lungs, he said."

"Could you have clarified that?"

"I don't know about that. But Estragon had a huge say in what we did."

"Was he one of your family?"

"Yes, very much so. He was not really Greyfriars though."

The legal clerks seemed to pick up pace again. The prosecutor had paled.

"You seem to think differently from number thirty one." The prosecutor said slowly. "Are you suggesting that Mr. Zala, that is, Mr. Estragon, is not Greyfriars?"

"He's just a bit loony. Don't bother with him." Borris began to laugh brokenly.

"Do you mean, Mr. Borris," The judge boomed, "That your comrade were lying while put on the stand? Or are you lying here?"

"I never said he was the same person." Borris was twiddling his thumbs together. "Greyfriars is a lot uglier than he-," He jabbed a finger at Athrun, who sat there silently. "A lot less cunning too."

The courtroom broke out into chatter. There was unease everywhere and the prosecutor looked lost for a second. Even the jury and the judge seemed unable to pick up their thoughts from this sudden jolt to what they thought they'd established.

But then Borris threw back his head and began laughing insanely. He did not stop, and his cackles rang out into the courtroom even as he tugged at his hair and his eyes rolled back in his head like a man possessed. He screamed and cried and the courtroom fell silent.

Minrofherf was the first to recover.

"Objection! Your Honour, the prosecution rests its case. Most of these terrorists have no clear sanity. This man cannot be trusted with his history of substance abuse and manic depression! Hallucination is very common in this case!"

"Objection sustained. Send for the next accused."

Borris was dragged away, screaming that he hadn't finished. But the court was focused on the next.

The prosecution did not waste a second in turning to the judge. "Your Honour, I humbly request that this witness be taken off the stand. He seems unfit to give an accurate testimony in his current mental state."

"Approved."

How ironic it was, Yzak noted, that a madman could tell the truth where the sane were capable of lying.

"Who suggested kidnapping Cagalli Yula Atha?" The prosecutor asked the next accused-cum-witness."

"I can't remember."

"Objection! " The prosecution's voice was triumphant. "The prosecution has just heard, one minute ago, that the accused was one of Greyfriar's trusted men!"

A very ugly scowl from the terrorist broke out over his face. "Fine! Greyfriars told me what we had to do to get the world to notice us. He told us that we had to get someone really important into Scandinavia. Then he told us that we would have to work things up by keeping the Orb Princess there."

"How did the Orb Princess land up at the Swedish Palace?" The prosecution had taken over the questioning and the judge seemed unwilling to push the defense to take the ball back into the defense's court.

"Don't know." The terrorist claimed. "He always had custody of her."

Yzak knew the jury was mumbling amongst themselves. His own colleagues were whispering that all the pieces fit together-- Plant had admitted that Cagalli Yula Atha had been in his custody and even the terrorists were claiming that. Athrun Zala was headed for the worst now.

"Did Greyfriars operate alone then?" The judge interjected.

"Greyfriars had no peer. He was a brilliant man. He was the leader, the motivator, the visionary- I tell you he had no comparison where we where concerned, he convinced me that my family would be happy in heaven to see us working together like this for Denmark's' sake."

"Who is your leader then?"

The terrorist had no hesitation. The others had already established the pattern for answering. "Athrun Zala. He went by the name of Rune Estragon at that time."

Nobody was surprised by now. Yzak could almost swear that the front row of people in the courtroom looked almost bored. Even the clerks were taking down the questioning at a far less frantic pace than when the first witness had pointed to Athrun.

"Send for the next witness." The judge said stonily.

"Yes, your Honour."

The man was dragged away, practically howling about how Greyfriars had been the next Messiah and the man who would create a new world for them. The jury seemed to look even more accusingly at Athrun. Yzak knew exactly how they were looking at him.

They were looking at him as if Athrun was his father.

---

In the holding room, Cagalli sat tensely, watching as Marlin re-checked his files and the authorities he was going to rely on. He was muttering something to himself while he sipped some coffee, and he seemed to be entirely at ease. If it had been anything less than a courtroom, Cagalli was positively sure that he would have been humming the latest, most popular radio tunes.

The thought of his confidence and what he was about to do sent tremors in her. She felt faint and almost transparent, but Marlin was in his element now. In his suit, his presence seemed to grow enormous and significant.

And yet, they would not enter until some time later. The bailiff had just informed them that Athrun Zala's questioning would be extended- apparently there had been some new testimony regarding something.

As Marlin had predicted, those being questioned now were the small fry. The terrorists had long confessed to their crimes while in the remand centre, and that was why the attention was only on Athrun Zala now. In fact, the court and the world outside it were really waiting for the key suspect once the context had been established. And as Marlin had predicted, the terrorists who'd become witnesses had established it quite quickly.

She shifted fitfully, thinking of what Marlin had briefed her on. In the pale tan blouse and a slightly too large dark navy skirt-suit that Marlin had picked out for her, Cagalli was ready to face the court. Her hair was neat and combed into place and her face appeared to be without colour, vigour and not a dab of anything that might have added some life into it—as was Marlin's plan.

She looked feminine but washed-out; young but passive and wan, complete but hollow. She looked steady but slightly displaced in her slightly too large clothes, willing to answer but unable to give what had been hidden from her in the first place. Basically, she looked like somebody that had fought but eventually been broken and someone who'd been manipulated at some point.

The truth was that Marlin had brought in a rather good acquaintance with dozens of make-up kits, skilled hands and a name that Cagalli had forgotten already. Nevetherless, the acquaintance had agreed to help Marlin and had created an image whereby Cagalli looked traumatized, weak, heartachingly young and disorientated. They'd brought in shoes without much of any elevation for her, and she was highly aware of how vulnerable and tiny her frame was when she stood next to Marlin.

Truth be told, Cagalli had always known that Marlin used the trick of appearances to aplomb. She had heard of him for winning this nearly impossible case. Early years into his first career, Marlin had defended a particularly tall man who'd killed a smaller, much weaker person. But he had won back then, bringing in a make-up artist to create a face that made one think of shifty, mentally-unsound patients along with the illusion that the man was mad and had killed because of his confusion.

Of course, the defendant had been slightly schizophrenic, but Marlin had magnified it to the point that an acquittal had been an obvious thing. Still, to find herself being one of these people whose appearance would tilt the balance in their favor was something Cagalli felt very ill at ease with.

After all, Cagalli realized, Athrun was being judged on his appearance too, and there was no way he could deflect blame the way Marlin was helping her shift hers.

She watched her legal counsel drink his coffee and she decided she had to speak up.

"Marlin," Cagalli said in a small voice, "Should I really keep insisting that I was misled? Harraldsson did try to kill me, you know."

"Cagalli," He said soothingly. "We've gone over this already. A court will be more sympathetic to you if you say that you were misled. Proving that Harraldsson wanted to kill you will be difficult even with that injury you had. What you have to do is to prove that you were there for a good reason, even if it turned out to be a mistake, and that you did not shoot him. You don't have any witnesses to show that he tried to kill you, so using self-defense as a reason for shooting him is not a good idea. In fact, the cordiality and welcoming mood he set by letting you into the palace easily suggests that he never wanted to kill you the way you claim to me."

"Alright." She said shakily. "So I won't say that Harraldsson tried to kill me."

"Exactly." Marlin confirmed. "Your winning point is that you had no choice but to follow what Athrun Zala told you when he put you on the yacht. Another thing is that it would be quite probable for anyone to be misled if they'd been in your position."

"But I wasn't misled at all, Marlin. I wasn't misled into thinking that Harraldsson was behind my kidnap. I didn't go to Sweden for that."

"Just stay calm. You've given testimony in court before- just relax." He patted her on the shoulder, talking past her.

Her eyes snapped back to him and Cagalli demanded, "How did you know that I've given testimony in court before?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Marlin asked in return. He looked at her defiantly without understanding why he even had to feel like he had done something wrong. "Aaron mentioned that you'd been involved in a case before. The one involving a planned assassination during your birthday."

She shrank back, her pupils dilating and the voices of the past tearing at her now. "Why did you look at those cases?"

"And that's not the only thing I found. I found the court records of Athrun Zala's preliminary trial in Orb— the case regarding the Orb Prime Minister's death in which he was a suspect. I passed that onto the main investigation team."

She clutched at the arm of the chair, feeling sick. "You-,"

"You were a witness who proved that the Seiran couple couldn't be the criminals, weren't you? He was a suspect. It makes it quite persuasive that he misled you into believing that Kira was at the Swedish palace and in trouble. Also, there was the incident in which you shot your assasins in self-defense and at close range." Marlin looked at her grimly. "I found a great deal of persuasive evidence from the past cases."

He recalled what Aaron had told him about Cagalli's inability to shoot at close range, and he reminded himself not to mention anything of this to Cagalli. He could not have her rearing like a frightened horse before the court entrance at any minute now. Marlin wanted to win, and it wasn't merely for his pride but for what he believed to be Cagalli's sake.

She looked still and deathly white, and Marlin tried to steady her. He knew she was upset about his knowing about her traumatic period, but he also suspected that she was concerned about Kira, who would be questioned next.

"Kira's mostly safe." Marlin assured her, thinking that she was worried about Kira. "As it is, you've given what Kira needed to prove his innocence. That's good enough. Besides, you've already given your testimony that you have never told him of the seal's details, which is very useful for him."

"But what about the letters?" Cagalli demanded. "Nobody's asked me if I wrote those!" Her mind was in a whirl and she thought of what she had written in those. Marlin had not asked her if she had written those, for he and the rest of the court seemed to have assumed that she would have never written anything while she had been in Athrun Zala's custody. "The fact that Kira produced those and showed those to the Orb Parliament and got them to support his decisions will still cast suspicion on him!"

"But why bother writing letters if nobody would ever believe they were from you?" Marlin pointed out. "The only thing that Kira needs to prove his innocence is that he didn't know there was a seal prior to the letter and he didn't know that the details were. As it is, the defense has done a pretty good job of establishing that if he'd known there was a seal, he wouldn't have waited for so long to fake letters and get support from your government. He's safe, so don't worry."

The implications of what that meant for Athrun Zala rang in the air. Yet, she could not find a direct way of voicing her concerns, and she found herself hiding once more.

"Marlin," Cagalli said softly, "If the court doesn't think I wrote those letters-,"

"Well, they obviously think that Athrun Zala did." Marlin told her. "He was an intelligencer after all."

She gazed at him, unable to tell him the truth about those letters and how she had convinced Athrun to send those for her. "If they think he wrote the letters-"

"That suggests he had a personal interest in the relationship between Orb and the rest of the world," Marlin told her. "A vendetta of sorts. He will most certainly be questioned about his past involvement with the Orb Prime Minister's murder." He paused, his eyes questioning her. "But don't you think he wrote those letters?"

"No." She said angrily. "He can't possibly have a grudge against Orb!"

Marlin mistook her outcry for disbelief. "Sure, he does. Orb was the one who threw him out, remember? By the time you give your testimony, it will be obvious that Athrun Zala misused his authority and planned for international crimes. It'll become even more obvious that he was the one who shot the High King, not you. After all, shooting Harraldsson would be congruent with his actions so far."

"But what about Kira?" Cagalli whispered, trying to find a way to indicate that she did not want to speak out against Athrun. Yet, she couldn't do it without telling Marlin everything, and Cagalli was ashamed to find herself hesitating. For now, the best she could do was to use Kira's name to shield Athrun. "He grew up with Athrun Zala. Surely, what you're planning to do--,"

Marlin frowned, and then shrugged. "I understand that he was very close to Athrun Zala in the past, as he admits in his testimony. But that's not the same now. I don't think Kira would blame me for shifting suspicion to Athrun."

"I don't think Kira would approve of what you're doing." Cagalli said. Her voice didn't sound like hers. "Whether I get acquitted or not."

Marlin shook his head. "I think we've discussed this before when you were in the hospital. Weren't you listening to me before this, Cagalli? Kira will have to admit that he and Athrun Zala were very good friends in the past. That will surely open him up to being painted as someone who was manipulated by Athrun Zala! And there's the fact that he reasonably believed the letters were from you. That's why you're being called in sooner than expected-- because Kira claimed that he thought you wrote those letters and gave him a reason to follow the directions enclosed in them." Marlin tapped his chin distractedly. "I wonder who wrote those though."

"Even if Kira could exonerate himself entirely, Kira wouldn't do it by shifting blame onto anybody else!" She side-stepped the issue of who had really produced the letters.

"Look, don't worry so much about a past friendship your brother shared with him." Marin interjected, starting to look a little impatient. "I'm on your side, just you remember that."

"Well, you shouldn't be allowed to defend me," Cagalli retorted, looking up at him. "You're the Prime minister of Britannia—not some lawyer for hire."

He looked at her coolly. "I was always aware of that even before you. But I'm in a position where I can defend you as your lawyer, because I resigned a week ago."

"What?' She cried, leaping up from her chair. "Marlin, you can't! You are craz-,"

He smiled ruefully, adjusting his tie a bit uncomfortably. "Just let me do this for you, Cagalli."

"No! I can't let you throw your position aside so you can go on some crazy mission to defend me! I can defend myself, I don't need-,"

"Please." He said heavily. "We don't have much time left before it is your turn to testify."

She looked at Marlin, wondering if she was obliged to follow, wondering if she was doing him and her a disservice by arguing now.

"Cagalli," Marlin said soberly, trying to disregard his own doubts as to what Cagalli had assured him of before, "You don't have to be frightened of anything. Not anymore."

He took her hand in his. "Just trust me." He looked at her hands, not really understanding the implication of what he saw. But he smiled a little, probably supposing that she was reconfirming the image they were portraying to the media. "It's a little less flashy than what I would normally give, but good thinking there."

She looked at her hand, small and closed in his warmer and surer one, and she felt her shoulders tremble a little. And she looked up at his steady, kind face, not sure what to say about her involvement with Athrun Zala and the past cases or the fact that he had found out about that. And she swallowed her protests, too weak and too uncertain to fight.

---

Meanwhile, Kira was continuing to face cross-examination. In his suit, he felt as if he had been stripped of something and been forced to crawl into a skin that was an ill representation of what he meant to express. His hands were cold, although he forced himself to look the questioner in the eye. Any hesitation would be used against him.

Sitting where she was, Lacus knew he could not quite see her at his angle. It was better that way, she supposed. Keeping her head down for most part, she watched as he was sworn in and brought to the stand. A sense of dread filled her as Kira faced the judge and jury. His eyes were focused but that quiet, mildness about him seemed misplaced in the court.

"If it pleases the court," The defense was saying, "Mr. Yamato cannot be guilty of criminal conspiracy with Athrun Zala when it is yet to be proven that Mr. Zala wrote letters that instigated Mr. Yamato to act as he did. Even if Mr. Zala can be found to have written those letters, Mr. Yamato could not have planned to produce those letters or to use them to his benefit as he had no contact with Mr. Zala for nearly seven years. Any letters he received were so carefully made to look like they were from Ms. Atha that Mr. Yamato could do not ignore their instructions."

"You may proceed with cross-examination." The judge stated.

"Mr. Yamato," Minrofherf asked, "Did it cross your mind that someone else could have written those letters?"

"Yes. "

Here, in the somber air, Kira seemed almost uncooperative and taciturn. The lack of a forthcoming nature made him seem unfriendly or even suspicious and she knew that the jury doubted him without him even speaking.

The prosecutor asked his questions and Lacus watched, clenching her hands as her husband looked at the questioner. If Kira was perfectly at ease with his machines and the tinkering he did in the small garage that served as a makeshift office at home, he was in the wrong place now. He was a person who could go for hours without speaking, and Lacus prayed that he would be fine here. She thought of what he'd confessed to doing that day when Cagalli had been found, and she had to grip her hands together to keep from trembling.

"Who did you believe sent those letters, even after considering the possibility that someone other than your sister could have written it?"

For what it mattered, Kira's voice was steady as he answered the prosecution. "I believed that the letters found in my possession were sent by the Orb Princess. I had every reason to trust those as being from her."

"That is a very interesting thing to say, Mr. Yamato," The prosecutor said with a mocking voice. "Would you normally trust any letter with detailed advice that arrived mysteriously without address, sender or a way of finding out where it had come from?"

Kira kept silent as a titter ran through the courtroom.

"Your Honour," The prosecution shot out, making use of the reaction of the jury and spectators, "The prosecution submits that the current witness was in cahoots with Athrun Zala, the primary suspect of the international crime. Together, they are responsible for withholding Cagalli Yula Atha's right to freedom and holding her captive against her will. Together, Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala prevented her from returning to Orb after she had recovered from her injury."

"Objection!" The defense for Kira was on his feet. "That is for the jury and judge to decide. At this point, the prosecution has done nothing except show that Mr. Yamato received some letters that he had to consider very carefully."

"Objection sustained. Continue, defense."

"Thank you, Your Honour. The defense also submits that the prosecution has inaccurately painted these circumstances as seemingly trite and hypothetical ones." The defense paced a little. "But in truth, the actual content of these letters was substantive and persuasive, regardless of their dubious origin."

Kira looked at the cold hard face of the prosecution and wondered how anybody could have stood in this box for so long. Certainly, the members of the Danish Nationalist Faction had, and so had Athrun. Athrun in particular, must have been grilled and hung out to dry for more than once, even when it hadn't been his turn for questioning.

"In his situation and with his overwhelming concern for his long-lost sibling," The defense continued, "Mr. Yamato had no choice but to take heed to the letters. Mr. Yamato had no way of disregarding letters that seemed to be from the Orb Princess. Moreover, he could not have written these as fake instructions because these would have not served any clear purpose for him."

"Objection!" The prosecutor was on his feet again. "Your Honour, the defense and the rest of this court needs to understand that the letters had a great deal of implication on the events leading to the grievous injury of Pietre Harraldsson. Arguably, the disgraceful clash between parties of a diplomatic agreement could be attributed to the very existence of these three letters. If Kira Yamato had not received and followed what he claimed the letters—particularly the third letter-- had led him to do, he would not have misdirected the Orb troops to Sweden. For that matter," The prosecutor's lip curled. "The first and second letter suggested that the Orb Princess was alive. Undoubtedly, Mr. Yamato would not have been able to persuade the Orb Parliament to let him be the Orb Proxy for as long as he did."

"Prosecution," The judge decided, "As salient as your points are, I think we need to proceed with the questioning to determine which set of facts are more likely where the current accused is concerned."

Within the jury, Yzak's jaw tightened. Kira did not see him, for Kira was already answering the next question. Lacus however, noted the unease her colleague showed, and she felt a sense of incongruity as she looked from him to her husband.

"Mr. Yamato, did you do anything to check the authenticity of the letters?" The prosecutor demanded.

"Yes." Kira felt his throat going dry. "I thought those must have been from Cagalli. Those were written in the Orb Princess' handwriting."

"Surely," Minrofherf said with a trace of a smirk, "You must have realized that handwriting can be forged." He gestured to one Plant Intelligencer who had given his testimony hours ago as. "It's not difficult to do."

Kira fought back his protest and swallowed. "I suspected that. But it seemed unlikely that the letters were forged even then."

Kira breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Mr. Yamato, you said that the content had information that was private between the Orb Princess and yourself." The prosecutor said. "What information was this, exactly?"

Kira hesitated again. He could not bear to think of how the letters may not have been really written by Cagalli. Unconsciously, his eyes flew to the far end of the courtroom where Athrun Zala sat, for Kira had been preoccupied with what Cagalli had come so close to telling him.

And in that moment, Kira realized what he had done and tried to anchor his eyes back onto the questioner. But that tiny, distracting gesture was all too significant and it had certainly been picked up on already.

Getting a little flustered, Kira repeated, "The content is private."

Those in the court began to mutter amongst themselves behind their palms. Lacus felt fear grip at her.

"Your Honour," The prosecutor said boldly, "Please make Mr. Yamato answer the question."

"I'm afraid you cannot use the confidentiality between you and your twin as an excuse in the court," The judge cut in, addressing Kira with a frown. "You will tell the court what the content was."

"Thank you, Your Honour." The prosecutor turned back to Kira, a small smirk on his face. "Well, Mr. Yamato?"

"The letters were well-wishes to my wife and child." Kira said after a pause. He was aware that the people around Lacus were probably staring hard at her, as did every other person in the courtroom. "Well-wishes and the reassurance that my sister was safe."

This was true, Lacus knew. The letters had been confiscated and all there had been were relatively innocuous messages, whether those had come from Cagalli or not. But all the same, the simple messages would have been persuasive to those who read them that Cagalli, if she had written them at that time, had been safe and alive. Surely, as the jury was suspecting, that would have made the Orb Parliament far more willing to keep Kira Yamato as a Proxy rather than holding an election right away, since the letters suggested that Cagalli was still alive.

The defense spoke up. "Moreover, the letter contained allusions to events that only Mr. Yamato and Ms. Atha had knowledge of. These include the first time Mr. Yamato and Ms Atha had met during the First War and how they had realized that they were siblings."

As it was, the jury began muttering amongst themselves, but Minrofherf stepped forward, his eyes glinting. "Your Honour, the prosecution submits that Mr. Yamato is certainly not lying where the content is concerned, but the issue remains as to whether it was really that harmless. At the same time, it seems perplexing that someone of his stature and intelligence could have believed that it came from Cagalli Yula Atha-- if it did at all. The letters definitely contained personal information and past experiences between Mr. Yamato and Ms. Atha. But surely, someone else would have known of these experiences or shared in them. The very examples that the defense has drawn out suggests that these were celebrated occasions that others would have known of, Mr. Yamato. Do you have a response to that?"

Every pair of eyes in the courtroom was drawn to Athrun. Kira did not know where to look. Throughout this, Athrun did not look anywhere above his feet or knees, and Kira was glad for that.

"I suppose others would have shared in those experience," Kira said quietly. "Or known of those. Those weren't exclusively mine and Cagalli's."

"Ms. Atha wrote, if she did at all, that she hoped you would forgive her for her mistakes in the past. In this letter," The prosecution produced the second letter that Kira had received, "The person who wrote this letter addressed you as her dearest twin, and she mentioned the name of your mother while inquiring over the health of your child. These two pieces of information are highly confidential and possibly controversial because Ms. Atha has long been declared the birth daughter of Uzumi Nara Atha. There is also the siblings' mother's name in the second letter, which suggests the person who wrote these letters must have known the two quite well."

"Objection!" The defense cut in. "I see no point to this line of questioning, Your Honour. Establishing that the information is confidential will not prove that Mr. Yamato used this to further malicious or unlawful purposes of writing letters and pretending that those were from Ms. Atha."

"No, Your Honour," The prosecutor countered. "That was not my intention. None of us are here in this court to find blame—we are here to find the truth." His lip curled as the jury nodded amongst themselves.

Kira felt his stomach churn at how the rhetoric was buying over the people present. Instinctively, he knew that Minrofherf was not interesting in convicting him. Minorfherf was far more interested with a more prominent target.

"Rather," Minrofherf continued, "I wanted to highlight the fact that Mr. Yamato and Ms. Atha's relation was not privy to the media. This information was only declared after Ms. Atha had disappeared and Mr. Yamato was brought in and declared her twin. And even then, those who heard Mr. Yamato's declaration were the Orb Parliament members who then came under a legal duty not to disclose that information. It is unlikely that this sensitive information would be spread around or even spoken of unless the person who included this fact in the letters wanted to convince you that it was from Cagalli Yula Atha. But this opens up a vista of possibilities as to the letter's sender and writer. At the same time, there is reference to your mother's name, and this was not told to any parliament member even when you declared you were related to Ms. Atha. Were there others who knew that you and Ms. Atha were twins and your mother's name even before she went missing?"

Kira paused, seeing the trap that the defense attorney had not seen. "I admit that there is more than one person who knew that we were related and who our mother was—even before I admitted my relationship with Cagalli Yula Atha for the purposes of stepping in as the Orb Proxy."

"One who is still alive anyway," Minrofherf concluded impatiently. "I think Lord Uzumi Nara Atha is not in question at this point. But there are others who had the information and could have used it to convince you that the letter was from Ms. Atha. Do you have a response to that, Mr. Yamato?"

"There were plenty of others." Kira said softly. "Many of our friends knew we were related after the First War."

"What about your mother's name? Surely, amongst this group of people, very few knew of your mother's name?"

"I'm not sure." Kira told him.

The evasiveness of his answer was quite obvious. Kira knew that the prosecutor and jury were not looking at him but right at Athrun. Kira was very aware what the prosecutor was thinking. He knew what the prosecutor was going to do, although he did not know how the prosecutor was going to do this. The prosecutor was going to try to link Kira to Athrun's supposed crimes, and even if it failed to do so, Kira's trust in the letters would be linked to Athrun's involvement in those. In any case, Kira had no choice but to continue.

"Well, Mr. Yamato," The prosecutor questioned, "Surely, there wouldn't be so many as you claim, even if it was more than one person. Can you tell the court when you found out that Ms. Atha was your twin and that your mother was the same one?"

He stumbled. "The First War."

The prosecutor smiled. Kira looked at him helplessly, unable to stop what was coming next. "Mr. Yamato, am I correct to say that Athrun Zala was your close friend during the First and Second War?

Kira knew what was happening, but he had no choice. The witnesses were ready to state how close they had been, and Kira had no choice but to admit this anyway. "Yes. We met in the war and fought together."

"More than that," Minrofherf led on, "Did you know Mr. Zala before the war?"

Kira swallowed, knowing that there was no way of proving otherwise. No memoirs of their childhood had been taken in as evidence. "No."

"Nevertheless, during the First War," The prosecutor carried on, "Am I correct to say that you met Ms. Atha and by extension, Mr. Zala met her?"

Lacus bowed her head. That information had been extracted from her. Their home in the Plants had been searched by order of the Galactic Court, and some old photographs had been found. She had no option except to agree that the four of them had been friends during the First and even the Second War.

"Yes." Kira had to agree.

"During the First War," The prosecution asked, "Did Mr. Zala find out that Ms. Atha and you were related to the point that he might have written that letter?"

He thought of how Cagalli had held Athrun's hand and showed Kira the photograph of Via Hibiki. In Athrun's presence, Cagalli had told Kira who they really were and who their mother was. Surely, Via Hibiki's name was a piece of information that few knew of. Caridad and Haruma did, but they had nothing to do with this case. Lacus did, but she had been cleared of any charges and any suspicion—her maternal leave had given her the alibi she needed for most part. That left very few people who could have written the letters.

As conflicted as he was, Kira was not sure if Athrun or Cagalli had written the letter. The court was slowly but surely becoming quite convinced that Athrun had written those letters to influence Kira into acting the way he had and storming into the Swedish palace.

With what Cagalli had told him about her relationship with Athrun however, Kira was sure that there was more to it.

Kira looked distinctively uncomfortable as he lied. "I don't think so. I didn't tell him that we were related or our mother's name."

This was half-true. It had been Cagalli who'd done that.

"But Mr. Zala worked as Ms. Atha's bodyguard after the First War," The prosecutor pressed. There were murmurs everywhere and the judge had to bang his gavel. "Your Honour, I think this is an important fact that needs to be considered in what Mr. Yamato is claiming about the nature of the letters. Mr. Ledonir Kisaka, the then-guardian of Ms. Atha, testified that Mr. Zala worked for her, although it is still unclear as to whether she kept in contact with him. As I understand, Ms. Atha had at least twenty bodyguards at any one time, and they were regularly rotated on different shifts. But the fact remains that Ms. Atha knew Mr. Zala through her brother, and Mr. Zala may have well found out that she and Mr. Yamato were related, along with what their mother's name was."

"Objection!" The defense called out. "Mr. Yamato has already stated that he did not tell Mr. Zala of the information that was used in the letters to suggest it was from Ms. Atha. Moreover, there is other evidence suggesting Ms. Atha wrote the letters."

"There was a seal that accompanied all the letters." Kira spoke up. Kira knew that he was in a dangerous zone, but he had not been able to help himself. "Only Cagalli Yula Atha could have known what this seal was."

The jury began speaking amongst themselves, their voices increasing with the mutters of the court.

"The defense would like to submit that Ms. Atha can confirm whether she wrote those letters or not." The defense added on nervously. It was clear he wanted to get Kira off the stand as soon as possible. "At this point, I would like to resubmit that Mr. Yamato did not tell anyone of the seal's details until the seal appeared on the first letter that Mr. Yamato received from an unknown sender."

"I'm afraid Mr. Yamato can still enlighten the court on the events leading up to the scuffle, Your Honour." The prosecutor was really just waiting for a chance for Kira to slip up. "As well as what was in the letters. Please let us continue with the questioning before we proceed to confirm these claims with Ms. Atha."

The jury seemed to agree more with the prosecution, for they were nodding and regarding Kira Yamato quite suspiciously. The judge nodded his approval to the prosecution, and the proceedings continued.

Thus, Kira had no choice but to explain. "There is a seal for every Head of Orb. It is personalized and nobody except the Head and the seal's maker knows of its details."

"Then how would you know it belonged to her?" Someone in the jury from the Earth Alliance section demanded.

"I was told so by the seal-maker." Kira replied.

"He has given his testimony," The defense supported, taking out an affidavit. "There is no evidence suggesting that Mr. Yamato could have possibly forged the seal. And as Ms. Atha's testimony currently goes," The defense added hastily, not really sensing what the prosecution was after, "Ms. Atha did not inform Mr. Yamato of this seal or its details. Mr. Yamato could not have written those letters."

"The prosecution rests its case." Minrofherf looked diffidently at Athrun and not Kira. "For now."

Suddenly, Kira knew that the prosecutor had never been going for him. He had only given that impression so that Kira would seem to be yet another person manipulated by Athrun Zala. Minrofherf was going for the kill, and that meant he was targeting only Athrun Zala. The rest would be incidental victories to the main one.

The prosecutor turned back to the jury, finally producing his trump card. "But Your Honour, I think Mr. Yamato's innocence suggests another key to the truth. Clearly, the person who wrote these letters must have known Mr. Yamato and Ms. Atha very intimately and must have been aware of the seal and its details. While Mr. Zala was only one of the many bodyguards engaged for Ms. Atha's protection, I think the jury would find it quite possible for Mr. Zala to gain access to this information eventually. For that matter, Mr. Zala could have well found out that she had a personal seal."

Haplessly, Kira looked at the faces of the jury. Each member seemed to be growing more and more doubtful or Athrun, even as they seemed less suspicious of Kira.

And thus, the other questions were equally subtle but just as pointed. Kira got through those without much difficulty, and various witnesses were called in to certify that Kira had never done anything less than a good job as the Orb Proxy. He would have little trouble from there on, Kira realized, because he had already been used by the prosecution to cast more doubt on Athrun Zala.

Throughout this, Kira wondered if he was wrong for suspecting Athrun. But the frail-looking figure in the chair seemed to be the same person that Kira was beginning to remember- an insecure, quietly desperate, unhappy person who fought his own hell every day. And suddenly, Kira was even less sure than before.

Kira stood, listening to the proceedings continue, answering now and then, feeling something in him break down as he noticed his wife's face within the swell and surging of all the others. The questioning continued even when Kira wished he could go to her and take her in his arms. Although the prosecutor called in others to question, Kira was led back to his seat and not to Lacus. He would not be able to go to her until later.

He sat, watching in a daze as people testified and drew the reactions that cemented already existing suspicions of Athrun Zala. He wasn't even aware that it was coming to an end—not even when the recess call sounded.

"Court will be adjourned for half an hour. Recess ends at three-fifteen."

The judge and jury rose, as did the spectators. They all waited for the judge and jury to leave, then the bailiffs lead the various suspects and witnesses out of the courtroom with Athrun amongst them. As Athrun passed Kira, Kira stared at him and saw that Athrun's expression was unfocused. Athrun's eyes did not even move towards Kira.

Then the rest of the spectators were allowed their turn to leave.

As people milled out of the courtroom, talking loudly amongst themselves and heading for the restrooms, Kira saw Lacus sitting still, pale and quiet. She was dressed in sober colours, as were all the other spectators who had been allowed into this particular courtroom. Her bright-coloured hair didn't even seem to put colour into her face anymore, and she seemed to have become greyer from watching the trial. He understood her pain—her husband's acquittal only meant her friend's conviction. His heart ached for her as he stumbled past people who were walking in the opposite direction, and Kira tried to make his way to her.

He rarely found her crying even when they'd had terrible rows at times and he'd never seen her weep if she could help it, but Lacus had tears streaming down her face today.

---

In a room that was reserved for the Plant jury representatives, Yzak was answering a call. Unfortunately, the other two representatives had left and he could not speak without feeling slightly cautious and self-conscious.

As he spoke to Ezalia in the most measured tones he could find, it struck Yzak that his whole life had been lead in a way where he could not reveal too much about himself. His personal opinions were not to be spoken of—only his official decisions. Even his private life had to be kept away from most people, and it made sense that most of his job dealt with intelligence. He was sure that Shiho blamed him for that to a greater or lesser extent, for she had looked at him wistfully this morning as he had left for the courtroom. They hadn't said a single word to each other last night, afraid that he would reveal more than he could, and afraid that she would learn what she could not. Even with Shiho, he had to be silent about many things.

"Hello," He said brusquely.

"Yzak," His mother said with great authority, matching his tone with her own. "I want you to come back as soon as you can. And you should get a present too."

"What?" He muttered, trying to keep his shock and confusion reined in. Normally, he would have exploded at Ezalia's high-handed, almost senseless order.

But he was aware that his colleagues were looking over with great interest at him, and he turned his back away. They did not get the message, for they were still under the impression that he was answering an official call, and so they continued sitting where they were, drinking their coffee in copious amounts. They had a long day in front of them.

"I'm in the courtroom now," He said as evenly as he could. "The trial's not over yet. It may go on for quite long."

"I know." Ezalia said with a touch of impatience. He could almost imagine her tapping her nails against the wood of her work table. "But you're not helping Athrun Zala by being there. You could be in plenty of other places and the outcome would still be the same."

His colleagues, unaware that he was speaking to his mother and trying his best to hide it, continued staring at him.

"I'm just doing my job," He nearly spat. Had she sensed what he was about to do?

"I know you are." Ezalia said in a calm, almost mocking voice. "You're being a nice little stooge. You know, Yzak, even on the worst of days, I stood up for what I believed in."

"Even if it involved Patr-," He remembered his colleagues were in the room and cut himself off just in time.

"That's right." She said with delicious satisfaction. "Even if I used to believe in genocide at that time. The point is that I stuck to my guns, even if they turned out to be pointed right at me."

"So what do you want me to do?" He snapped.

"Use your backbone."

"What if I think he's guilty?" His colleagues looked a bit affronted at the tone they reckoned he had adopted with a superior who had called up, and they seemed to become even more interested with what Yzak was saying, picking up that Yzak and the caller were talking about Athrun Zala.

"That's for you to decide," She said coolly. "I don't really care what your decision is as long as you make it for yourself."

"I will." He said coldly. "I don't need you to tell me to do that."

"Yzak-," Her voice was warning.

Thankfully, one colleague whispered to the other about going to the restroom, and the other made a reluctant sound and turned to Yzak, signaling that they were heading off for a bit. The one who was urgent made a funny face at him and pointed south.

Yzak fought back a response that would have probably expressed, "And why the hell did you expect me to care?" He also fought back the urge to say, "Do we look like the three little pigs who must always be together? Or do I look like the kindergarten teacher who must give permission before you can go to the toilet?" and nodded curtly.

He waited until the two colleagues had left, then spoke normally. "Look, I don't think he's guilty of anything except foolishness."

"Of course." Ezalia agreed. "I've said it before. He's more like his mother than his father. I knew it when I saw him."

He checked his watch, fighting back his pain. "It's almost time for me to get back there."

"Yzak," His mother said pointedly, quite ignoring what he'd just said, "Come home as quickly as you can."

"Don't be ridiculous, mother," He told her. "This trial could take months for all we know."

"Come home as quickly as you can." She repeated in a steely voice. "That's why I called."

"To tell me to come home even though I can't?" Yzak snorted.

"She said her first word today."

He paused. "What?"

"I said," Ezalia told him impatiently, "Petra said her first word today."

"Oh." He fought back his surprise and growing jubilation. "Is that right?"

"Of course I'm right." Ezalia didn't miss a beat, unlike his heart, which had skipped a few. "Get her a present after the trial finishes."

"You know nothing else will be on my mind. Besides, she's got at least ten rattlers." Yzak told Ezalia. "I doubt another one will be of any use."

"Then start investing in dolls or something else." Ezalia countered him firmly. "I don't care how you do it—I don't care if the trial only ends next year. You get her a present before you come home, because she's earned it. I'll have her speaking in perfect sentences before you and Shiho know it. " Her voice seemed to sparkle with energy and pleasure. "And you'll reward her for it."

"For Pete's sake, Mother," He said exasperatedly, "I don't want her becoming a brat-,"

"It's inevitable, you know. You were one, and she will be one. You will be, won't you, Petra?" Ezalia made a cooing sound, and there was gurgling in the background and a child's happy laughter. Yzak found himself softening and smiling, listening to those background sounds, and he was highly grateful for his colleagues' absence.

"I have to get back now." Yzak found himself reluctant to return.

"Alright." She cut off the line without delay, as was her style.

Yzak sighed to himself, the last of his happier thoughts fading away as he got up, downing the last of his coffee. Then he set down the cup and began straightening his jacket, taking more effort than he realized he needed to temper his emotions.

And yet, he thought of the diminished, even subdued figure with his hands in chains, and he thought of Cagalli Yula Atha's pleading eyes and her desperation. With a great deal of turmoil in his heart, his feet led him forward and he moved in the direction of the courtroom.

---

As Athrun stood to answer questions, he knew that he had become numb enough not to care how the spectators' eyes were boring at him.

"Mr. Zala, the records show that you applied for an Orb citizenship a month after the Second War ended." Minrofherf pointed out. "You did not obtain it because of some complications in a case where you were suspected of murdering the former Orb Prime Minister. You were repatriated for that, and you were necessarily forced to go back to the Plants. What happened there?"

"I was cleared of charges for lack of evidence." Athrun held his head high.

"Your Honour," The defense interjected, "The case Mr. Zala was implicated in has been closed for a long time. The Seiran couple died before Mr. Zala could be exonerated, but the evidence suggests that they were behind the murder. The case Mr. Zala was mixed up in is not relevant here because he was not convicted of murder."

"But the very fact that he was not convicted makes it relevant, Your Honour," Minrofherf said quickly. "The question remains as to why Mr. Zala did not return to Orb if the news of his exoneration came eventually."

"Continue, prosecution." The judge said.

"Thank you, Your Honour." The prosecutor turned to Athrun. "Why did you not return to Orb? Surely the news of the Seirans' suicide would have reached you?"

"I was offered a job with Zaft by then." Athrun said quietly. "There was no point chasing a past job and a citizenship in Orb." Of course, the fact was that if Athrun had returned to Orb, he would have not gotten back his old job or a stab at a citizenship. "I moved to Scandinavia, so it didn't seem likely that I could hold onto the family businesses."

"Mr. Zala," Minrofherf asked, "Did you ever work as Cagalli Yula Atha's bodyguard?"

"Yes." He could not evade that.

"Mr. Ledonir Kisaka has also stated that you were particularly close to Kira Yamato. The photographs from his house suggest you were on good terms with his wife and Ms. Atha. Mr. Ledonir Kisaka has also admitted that the four of you were on good enough terms for you to confide in each other."

"Good enough for certain things, yes." Athrun confirmed. He sensed where this was going.

"Mr. Zala, did you know that Ms. Atha had a seal?"

He took a deep breath. "Yes."

---

During the recess, Marlin had moved out of the holding room. Cagalli however, had felt unable to move there and to see people who were waiting for her to stumble. She had sat for half an hour in the holding room, trying to drink from a still-full cup.

But Marlin had just received news of how Kira's testimony had gone, and he came in to the room. He closed the door securely, suggesting that court had commenced some rooms away. Then he turned to Cagalli, nodding briskly. "Kira's been cleared of the charge of conspiracy."

She felt some relief passing into her.

"The jury unanimously decided that there was no way Kira could have contacted Athrun Zala." Marlin informed her, smiling a little. "The other Eyes have provided testimony for that. They testified that they trained in a base that had no way of being penetrated by outside communication, and this was confirmed by Yzak Joule. So even if Athrun Zala was contacting Kira Yamato, Kira Yamato could not have planned anything with a person he couldn't respond to. The issue has shifted to those letters, because the court now believes, the letters were unlikely to have come from you."

Cagalli's expression dissolved into panic, for she understood the implications of that belief. "Wait—so they really think Athrun Zala wrote those?"

"Yes." Marlin paced a little. "Of course, someone else could have written those. Someone who knew what your mother's name was and someone who knew that both of you were twins. That someone also had to know a seal existed and its details."

"There are quite a few people who know that," Cagalli objected. She looked at him. "Like you."

"I didn't know you had a seal." He pointed out. "And the people who knew you had a seal didn't know your mother's name. Amongst the people who knew a seal existed, nobody knew the details of it. That so many things have to be fulfilled makes the number of people who could have written the letter a very small number."

"That doesn't mean it's Athrun Zala." Cagalli pointed out.

"As it is, there's probably only Athrun Zala who might have known of these three things." Marlin looked directly at her. "Also, one of his colleagues provided a testimony stating that he had recreated the seal, so that's definitely against him."

She felt her pulse quicken.

"So that's why you were so certain that he wrote the letter." Cagalli said quietly. She looked dully at Marlin. "I didn't know one of the Eyes gave that testimony."

"It's almost decisive," Marlin told her. "But it won't be brought out until much later. The prosecution wants to prove that Athrun Zala committed international treason by knowingly causing Orb and Scandinavia to go into conflict."

She nodded, understanding that.

"To do that, the prosecution must prove that Athrun Zala directed Kira Yamato into bringing the Orb troops into full-blown conflict before the dateline passed. Entering before the dateline would make the Orb troops entry into Scandinavia an unlawful one, which is what eventually happened."

"But isn't his recreation of the seal decisive evidence?" Cagalli demanded. It did not make sense to her why the prosecution was playing with its prey. "Why doesn't the prosecution raise that evidence? Why are they waiting to convict him when they can?"

Marlin shrugged. "Maybe the prosecution still has to find a way to reconcile the fact that only the last letter had a detrimental effect on Orb and Scandinavia's relations. The third caused Kira Yamato to bring troops into Orb, but the other two had no instructions in the first place—just reassurances that you were safe. It's incongruent, and if the prosecution brings up this evidence now, the defense may claim that it is likely that people other than Athrun Zala wrote those letters, which is what the prosecution definitely doesn't want."

The air in the holding room smelt of sanitizer, and it unnerved her. The chairs were hard backed and it was soundproof to prevent any possible leak of information that the court did not want. Even the curtains were made of a certain material that was sound-resistant. She felt trapped in this room, even if he was being kind to her. And as she looked at him and saw her reflection in his eyes, she knew that she'd trapped herself.

"Marlin," Cagalli said quietly. "What if the defense is correct in claiming that Athrun Zala didn't write all those letters?"

"Unlikely," Marlin assured her. "The defense isn't that good, but I'm sure he'll eventually realize that he could argue that the first two letters were used to assure Kira that they were from you, and that the last one was really the main thrust of sending letters at all." He shrugged. "That's what I would have argued, anyway."

Marlin was so clever, Cagalli thought. She thought of what Marlin was planning to do with regard to the charge that she and Athrun were facing, and a shudder passed through her. Cagalli found that she had to breathe in to keep herself steady, and she turned away in case Marlin saw how pale she really was.

But she was spared, for a knock sounded on the door and the bailiff opened it.

"It's your turn now." The bailiff announced, popping his head in. He was young with strawberry blonde hair and a puppy-like excitement. He grinned bashfully at Cagalli, not sensing the nausea that rose in her as she tried to stand properly. "Don't worry, Your Grace- I'm sure Athrun Zala will be convicted in less than an hour's time. Nobody will cast any doubt on your innocence."

---

When Cagalli Yula Atha stepped into the courtroom, those present rose. Of course, they rose as a matter of protocol when the judge entered, but they rose mostly to look at Cagalli Yula Atha who was brought in, if only to get a better look at the limp, almost tiny figure that was overwhelmed by those staring at her and the size of the courtroom.

Athrun found his eyes trained on her from where he sat, far away from her, at the other side of the courtroom. She looked pale and wan, and she seemed to have lost a significant amount of the power and confidence that the world had once associated with her and Orb. Her arm was still in a sling, and he felt pain in his chest and had to look away from her injury.

Cagalli did not look in his direction, but seemed to be avoiding it. As the charge of the murder of Harraldsson was read out against her, she seemed not to hear it at all. With her, James Marlin was standing, dressed sharply as her defense attorney. There were murmurs in the courtroom again, for everybody knew that he was her fiancé and doubling up as a defense attorney. It was advantageous for Cagalli, Athrun tried to tell himself, because Marlin had been a reputable lawyer even before entering politics. Even Minrofherf looked slightly edgy as he cast his eyes on Marlin. Marlin would not be so easy to trump as the previous, court-appointed defense attorney.

Nonetheless, Athrun's thoughts rang hollow as he looked at the both of them.

For when Athrun watched as Cagalli looked at Marlin, he saw how Marlin smiled at her. Her eyes were on Marlin's face, and Athrun knew that she trusted him. Marlin could bring her out of this mess, but Athrun could not. Marlin had rightful claim of her, but not Athrun.

In that moment, Athrun's heart swelled with bitterness and jealousy.

"If it pleases the court," Marlin began, "I am James Marlin and I will be representing Ms. Cagalli Yula Atha to defend her against the charge of murder. Your Honour, I will require your permission to highlight certain crucial facts in Ms. Atha's situation before she gives her testimony."

"With all due respect to my learned opponent, I'm afraid I cannot agree to that, Your Honour," Minrofherf cut in. Clearly, he could sense what Marlin was trying to do. "One's state of mind that one kills with can only be considered in the defence, that is, after the offence has been proven. The jury should look at the charges against Cagalli Yula Atha and not the nature of her kidnapping six months ago. This cross-examination, Your Honour, should focus entirely on the charges."

The murmurs started again and Marlin smiled winsomely.

"Your Honour," Marlin insisted, "It is a salient point that Ms. Atha's condition is established before we look at her testimony. Her emotional state will tell us exactly why she landed up in that chaotic situation." He carefully hid what she might or might not have done while at the Swedish palace.

The jury muttered amongst themselves, and the judge nodded.

"Proceed, Defense."

"Your Honour and respectable members of the jury," Marlin began, turning to the twelve seated there, "Ms. Atha has suffered a great deal of trauma since her capture." Their eyes were drawn to her, where she sat quietly, and Athrun could almost see the sympathy pour from the jury and spectators. "But even before that, Ms. Atha had gone through some very terrifying experiences involving physical attacks. It is in this light that I beg this court to consider her state of mind when she appeared at the Swedish Winter palace. That is all, Your Honour."

"Ms. Atha," The judge asked in an almost kindly voice, "I hope you are prepared to testify to this court."

Already, her appearance was creating the necessary impact that Marlin was probably aiming for. His opening address had prepared the stage he had wanted.

"Yes, Your Honor." Her voice was very steady, and the court began muttering again. The judge banged his gavel irritably as she was sworn in.

The prosecution turned to face Cagalli, and her eyes snapped up to meet the questioner's. At the same time, there was no strength in her face, even if there was a determination that seemed to emanate from hopelessness itself.

"Ms. Atha," the prosecutor asked, "Have you met Pietre Harraldsson before?"

"Yes," Her voice trembled a little but she kept most of it steady. "We met when I was aboard the SS Rafael on an invitation that the royal family had extended to me. But I didn't get a chance to speak to him very much. That night--," She trailed off, shuddering a little, and Athrun saw many look at her with great sympathy.

"Ms. Atha," Minrofherf said carefully, "Did you know where you were being held after being taken from the SS Rafael?"

"No." Her expression did not change. "I was unconscious before I woke up and found myself in a new place."

"Do you know how you were injured, Ms. Atha?"

She paused, and Athrun pulse quickened. She said softly, "I think I was caught in crossfire—I don't quite remember, I'm afraid."

"Perhaps the defendant is a little confused still," the judge said slowly. "The terrorists claimed that you were on the deck at the time when the other guests were facing the attack."

"No Your Honour," Marlin cut in quickly. "Ms. Atha is quite clear in where she was at that time. Perhaps she was on her way to the deck in hopes of escaping when she was shot." "

"Yes," Cagalli said. She did this with enough conviction to smooth over the little jolt in her testimony. "I think that is it. But I was shot. When I woke up, I was told that I was to be held in custody for my safety. But I certainly did not know where. I was drowsy for most of the time—I think it was part of the medication."

"Ms. Atha," Minrofherf said, "It may have been kept from you at that time, but I think you should know by now that a Plant Intelligencer by the name of Athrun Zala, alias Rune Estragon, was asked to take you to safety. He and his aides, who went by the aliases of Epstein Cleamont, Cartesia and Laplacia Daemon, took care of you. For security purposes, I suppose he could not tell you where you were being kept in custody, but he was your main caregiver."

"Yes." Cagalli said steadily. "I do not blame Plant or Zaft for that. I thank them for their care and efforts towards my safety." She took in a deep breath. "I am no doctor and I do not know how serious my injury was, but I took more than a few months to recover. I believe that I was held there for that time, where I received constant and detailed medical attention from what must have been Zaft surgeons. I thank Plant and Zaft for this too."

The Plant section of the jury muttered approvingly at her apparent graciousness, and Athrun saw Marlin smile a little to himself.

"But even after you recovered, Ms. Atha," Minrofherf said insistently, keen not to let her get favour with the jury, "How did you enter the Winter Palace on the nineteenth of September?"

She took a deep breath, and the court seemed to be at the edge of their seats.

"I got into a yacht that departed from the place that I had been held at for six months."

"Ms. Atha," Minrofherf stated, "This vessel that you mention has been found and confiscated in Swedish waters, but there is no sign of a struggle that you escaped or that anyone was on board; other than you. Nor is there any indication that it is a Zaft-owned vessel. Did you enter the vessel by choice or were you forced into it?"

"I entered it by my own choice." Cagalli said quietly. Marlin was frowning, but Cagalli continued. Athrun knew it was likely that she was saying something that Marlin thought was detrimental to her position.

"Where did you find it?" Minrofherf seized the opportunity. "For a well-guarded military base, it seems strange that a civilian-looking yacht could be lying around."

"I was probably being sent back to Orb that day, although I was too confused to realize this." Cagalli spoke. "I was unconscious for most part because I was sleeping. I think I was on a shuttle then. I woke up and found myself at sea—on a ship, perhaps. There was a yacht nearby; a yacht that I managed to get onto by extending a bridge from the ship I was on. I wanted to try and get back to Orb even in my daze."

"I see," The prosecutor paced a little, obviously thinking hard. "Ms. Atha, there is indeed a yacht that was found at Swedish waters—an unnamed one that appears to not be a Zaft vessel. But the ship that you woke up in was a Zaft vessel, am I correct?"

"I am not sure." She said firmly. "I did not really know where I was and I panicked and got onto the first yacht I could get onto."

Athrun watched as she covered up the events of what had really happened. He could sense what she was trying to do, and he bit his lips, hoping that nobody would expose her lies. It would discredit the rest of what she had to say, and there was really no reason as to why she was risking so much for him at this point. He felt worry bubble up in him, and he had to keep his eyes focused on his feet to keep in control.

"Ms. Atha," The prosecutor carried on, "Have you ever piloted a yacht before?"

"It's not difficult." She said quietly. "When one is desperate enough, one finds a way." She looked wistfully at all of them. "Although I should have just stayed on the ship I was on."

The Orb representatives and others were murmuring admiringly at her pluckiness. Athrun though, thought of how he'd taught Cagalli to defend herself and how to pilot, and his heart sank at the mistrust she must have felt towards him. Part of him wished that she'd just focus on saving herself rather than trying to cover up for his role in the spate of events.

"Well then, Ms. Atha," Minrofherf was clearly not used to dealing with a defendant that was so well-loved by others—one who appeared to be as righteous and civilized as the jury members themselves. "May I confirm that you wanted to return to Orb?"

She paused, giving a glance to Marlin that Athrun caught. But it happened so quickly that she seemed to not have halted at all. "Yes."

A look of intense frustration crossed into Marlin's face, and Athrun knew why immediately. Cagalli was trying to cover up for what Athrun had led her to do. She was trying to take the blame on herself—which Marlin had probably not expected her to do.

"But you ended up in Sweden," Minrofherf said very quietly. His eyes were fixed firmly on Cagalli and he seemed to become more and more still. "You wanted to go back to Orb, and you knew how to pilot and to direct the yacht. And yet you ended up in Sweden, with a knife and a gun on your personage. Moreover, Your Honour and the respectable members of the jury," He paced and pointed to Cagalli, "The yacht shows clear signs that it was headed towards Orb's direction but someone had changed its direction towards Sweden."

The silence in the court was a strange one. Everybody was staring at Cagalli.

"Your Honour," Marlin told them, covering up for what Cagalli had just said, "I think the vessel that she was on is not an important point. The point is that she would have never wanted to go to Sweden if not for what she believed at that time. Ms. Atha was in a confused state throughout the whole journey, and her being there was a matter of bad luck and bad timing."

"Objection, Your Honour," Minrofherf spoke up, "I think that has yet to be decided. Where Ms. Atha intended to go after getting onto a yacht is of utmost importance."

"Continue, prosecution."

"Ms. Atha," Minroferf asked, "Did you want to go to Orb or Sweden?"

She was trapped, Athrun could see. By trying to shift away his role in the matter, she had caused problems for herself. He watched Cagalli lift her eyes, her voice trembling a little. "I wanted to go to Orb, but I think I misdirected the yacht to Sweden."

"Your Honour," Marlin spoke up hastily, "I think Ms. Atha has misunderstood the question's nuances. She was confused at the time of being on the yacht, for she was on medication as she has just said so herself. And it is quite possible that she did not know exactly what direction she was heading in. After all, she did not know where she was moving from in the first place."

"But Your Honour," Minrofherf cut in, "By that logic, she could have ended up at any place. For starters, how did she get a gun and knife?"

"My client found it on the yacht," Marlin interjected. "Wouldn't you agree, members of the jury, that one would usually take something for protection in a foreign place?"

The jury murmured its approval. Athrun watched Yzak's eyes narrow.

"Objection, Your Honour." Minrofherf called. "The prosecution submits that Ms. Atha had always planned to go to Sweden. She made use of the confusion at the docks at that time and slipped past all the red tape. It was a calculated decision. More than that, Your Honour, and respectable members of the jury, Ms. Atha's presence in Sweden had long been planned. Despite its unknown sender and writer, Your Honour, this third letter that Mr. Yamato received suggests that Ms. Atha had been planning to go to Sweden on that day itself."

Marlin looked rather disconcerted, and Athrun was quite sure that Marlin had planned for Cagalli to admit right away that she had wanted to go to Sweden instead of Orb.

"Sustained."

"Thank you, Your Honour." Minrofherf turned to Cagalli, and Athrun saw her lips tighten. "Did you write the letter in question, Ms. Atha?"

She looked at the prosecutor firmly. "No."

Athrun did not know whether to feel relieved or not. It was true that she had not written the third letter, but the prosecutor did not seem to catch the half-truth behind what she was saying. As it was, everybody present assumed that there had been only one person writing the letters to Kira.

"Then how, Ms. Atha," Minrofherf asked, "Would you have tried to get to Sweden?"

"I told you already." She said sharply. "I tried to steer the yacht to Orb."

"Hold it, Ms. Atha." The prosecutor shook his head. "The evidence of how you changed the course of the yacht suggests you knowingly set sail in direction of Sweden."

The jury watched as something changed in her face. Her expression became closed and tight, and she said quietly, "Alright then. I thought I needed to seek help from Pietre Harraldsson and to understand the condition back in Orb before I went back there."

She conveniently left out what Athrun had let her believe—that Kira had been in Sweden and was in danger. But Athrun wondered if her covering up for him was something that would inconvenience her greatly at some point. If this went on, Athrun realized, it was going to be difficult for her to get out of the mess unscathed.

"Ms. Atha, what kind of help did you need?"

She faltered. "I don't really know. I suppose I just wanted Harraldsson to explain what had really happened that night on the SS Rafael. He had been present then, so I thought he would help me."

"Your Honour and respectable members of the jury," Minrofherf said, "I doubt that Ms. Atha would have made such a journey and used such great effort for that mere bit of information. She had an ulterior motive that involved harming the High King."

"Objection!" Marlin called. "There is no proof of such a motive."

"Your Honour," Minrofherf countered, "There is such proof. Ms. Atha was under Athrun Zala's custody for six months. He was a member of Zaft then, and she may have well gotten the idea that Zaft could not let her return to Orb or Scandinavia because someone in Scandinavia had been behind the attack all along."

"Your Honour," Marlin said sharply, "That suspicion is a reasonable one for anybody with half a brain-," He paused as the Scandinavian members of the jury and spectators muttered angrily amongst themselves, "But it is not enough for anybody to want to attack Pietre Harraldsson! Besides, Ms. Atha was aware that the SS Rafael had been severely damaged that night—why would she suspect Pietre Harraldsson in the way that the prosecution claims?"

"But Your Honour and respectable members of the jury," the prosecutor stated, "Ms. Atha, made it a point to find the Swedish palace from where she got off the yacht." The prosecutor spoke up. "Even if we assume that it was pure luck that she steered yourself to Swedish waters, the palace is quite some distance away from the docks. I submit, Your Honour, that Ms. Atha had always intended to get to the palace, at very least."

"But why would I not go to a place where I could get help?" Cagalli said quietly. Her presence was so powerful and yet so gravely calm that Athrun wondered if she really needed anybody to defend her at all. There was steel in her eyes as she turned to the jury. "I lied about wanting to go to Sweden because I was afraid to admit that I sought help outside my country at all. But isn't it natural for a person to find a place where help is?"

Athrun looked at the jury and saw them nodding and talking amongst themselves. The other spectators were doing likewise. Their sympathy for this frail but apparently courageous woman was increasing, and Athrun knew that she was playing her cards right; drawing on the fact that she was of the weaker sex. Marlin was looking at Cagalli with great admiration, and Athrun realized that Cagalli was more than prepared for anyone here in this court.

"But Ms. Atha," Minrofherf said, a touch of anger entering his voice as he saw how Cagalli was making use of the jury, "Even if this court believes that your intentions for getting to the palace were innocent ones, how would that explain your entering the palace?"

"I showed my face to the palace guards, and I think they recognized me. They let me in immediately, as if they'd been expecting me." Cagalli stated.

"Did you meet Harraldsson eventually?" Minrofherf asked carefully.

"Yes." Cagalli said. "The guards willingly led me to him. I was admitted in, and Harraldsson twisted my arm. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I had sustained an arm injury and side injuries and was in a hospital."

"Objection!" Minrofherf barked. "The thirty or so guards claim with these testimonies-," He held up a sheaf of papers, "That you forced your way in! You had the intention of hurting Harraldsson from the time you entered the palace ad perhaps even before that, and the evidence lies in the nature of your entry into the palace."

Athrun's head jerked up. Were the guards lying like the terrorists too? He felt unease well up in him and prayed for her to be fine. He didn't care, he decided, that she'd be with another person and that she would be apart from him. As long as she could live in peace, he didn't mind facing the charges and losing everything he had left. He cast a glance to the end of the room, where other witnesses sat. Amongst them, Epstein was sitting, his head bowed.

"With all due respect to my client, the learned prosecution and judge, could a mere woman accomplish that?" Marlin forced a laugh into his voice. Her appearance, Athrun noted, suggested not. It seemed more likely that she had sustained the injury rather than caused it.

Minrofherf was silent for once, and Marlin seized the opportunity to continue. "Beyond that, Your Honour, Ms. Atha sustained injuries to her arm and her side. She couldn't have shot him point blank with that kind of injury."

"Harraldsson caused me this injury, Your Honour," Cagalli spoke now, and everybody turned to her. "When I entered the room, he twisted my arm and he broke it. We scuffled for a while behind the closed doors, and then I lost consciousness from the pain of the injury."

"Perhaps he did it in confusion?" One of the Scandinavian representatives asked uneasily. "The High King was a very gentle boy—a young man with great responsibility for his sister and a person who had suffered great grief over his father and brother-in-law's death. I know he was depressed over his father's death and suffered from nightmares alot—your sudden appearance may have confused him."

Cagalli frowned, beginning to say something. Athrun's heart leapt, but Marlin and Minrofherf cut in at the same time.

"Perhaps it was in confusion," Marlin was beginning to say. "As the respectable member of the jury has said, perhaps there was a tussle because of the panicky state both the High King and Ms. Atha were in."

But Minrofherf had already called out an objection.

"I'm afraid the defense has no proof that Harraldsson caused Ms. Atha her arm and side injuries," Minrofherf said loudly. "Even if she did sustain those and was found unconscious in that state."

"There was a fruit knife found in the room, with Ms. Atha's blood on it." Marlin pointed out. "It had Pietre Harraldsson's fingerprints on it."

"If Ms. Atha was unconscious at any point, as she claims," Minrofherf countered, "Anybody could have used the knife on her. It would not necessarily have to be Harraldsson, even if his prints were found on the knife. Surely, he would have used it in the past—he may not have used it on her."

Marlin kept silent. This was true.

As Athrun looked at Cagalli, he saw she looked frustrated and that she was biting her lips. He knew her well enough to release the significance of this tiny action. Surely, Athrun realized, she wanted to say that Harraldsson had caused her more than injuries and had threatened something else. But that would put her in a suspicious light as it would give her a motive to harm Harraldsson. She was trapped, Athrun could see. There was no way except to argue that Harraldsson had tried to kill her.

"Where then, would her arm and side injuries be sustained from?" Minrofherf eyes glittered as he focused on Cagalli. "I think the defendant's injuries are the keys to proving the reliability of the royal guards' testimony—that she attacked some of them and that they defended themselves. As the guards claim, Ms. Atha was not allowed in. She seized one person and used him as a hostage to get him to bring her to Pietre Harraldsson."

"Objection! Your Honour!These are unsubstatinated, wild claims!"

"Not sustained. There is some very persuasive evidence."

"Thank you, Your Hnour," Minrofherf said smugly. "As earlier established, Cagalli Yula Atha is capable of combat like this. At that time, she had no injuries, as she herself stated. Perhaps she was a little groggy, but she had recovered from her injuries that she sustained on the SS Rafael. The prosecution submits that she coerced the guards into letting her meet Harraldsson, where she entered his room and shot him point blank, before he had any way to respond."

"Hold it." Marlin interjected. "That premise is reasonable only if you ignore the fact that she had a gun with six bullets and little else. Her fists would not have lasted her through fifty guards before reaching the hall where another thirty personal bodyguards awaited her. She claims to have been allowed in, and this seems more reasonable, considering the fact that she is not harmed, not injured, and the bullets in her gun amounted to five out of six intact. Surely one bullet couldn't have cleared the way with fifty guards blocking it?"

"Your Honour," Minrofherf countered, "There is a witness who claimed that she used her gun to hold another him hostage."

The mutters in the courtroom increased and the buzzing sound did not die until seconds after the judge banged his gavel.

"Your Honour," Marlin said soberly, "I will need to question the relevant witnesses about the nature and purportedly murderous intent that the defendant had before the prosecution can proceed with his claims."

"Proceed with questioning of the witness with regard to Ms. Atha's entry and time of sustained injury, defense."

"Yes, Your Honour." Marlin turned to the witness stand.

Those present watched in absolute silence as a guard stood up.

"State your name, age, occupation."

"Donn Fermstrang. Twenty-eight. The third regiment, bodyguard to the High King of Scandinavia."

He was beefy and huge; the kind that seemed to be bursting from his suit, and Athrun could not help noticing how tiny and weak Cagalli seemed next to him. While Athrun was quite sure that Cagalli did not usually seem so delicate or meek, he was sure that it was working to her advantage. Already, the jury was muttering amongst itself and pointing at the contrast.

Minrofherf seemed to realize this, for he said quickly, "Witness, you claim that she put a gun to your head and demanded to be brought to Pietre Harraldsson."

"Yes." The guard said. His voice was deep and scratchy, and Athrun thought that it was a voice that suited his rough face. "That's her alright. She had a gun and a knife. She put it to my head and the others decided to let her in. She kept saying that she wanted to see the High King. Someone lunged at her and pulled her to the ground, and a few tried to arrest her, but she fought like an animal. One of us broke her arm--," He pointed to Cagalli's arm. "But she managed to get up. She put a gun to my head." The guard looked almost sad for a second. "And we got scared. Using me as a hostage, she forced us forward."

"Objection." Marlin spoke. "How could she shoot if she had suffered that arm injury?"

"It wasn't her right arm that got injured," Minrofherf countered. He pointed at Cagalli's left arm in a sling. "One can still shoot with a right arm that is intact."

Cagalli's expression had changed. It was no longer controlled, but pale and angry. Athrun saw it and knew immediately that the guard was lying. But it was not her time to speak yet. As it was, Marlin did not seem to take issue with what the guard was saying, and Athrun realized that Marlin did not believe that Harraldsson had attacked Cagalli.

"So she managed to use you as a hostage while holding you're the gun to your head with her right arm, and then you brought her to Harraldsson's quarters?" Minrofherf prompted.

"Yes. She managed to stab one guard pretty bad during the scuffle before that, and he was screaming really loudly. The other guards couldn't do anything—they were afraid that she would blow out my brains."

"And you didn't try to warn your employer?" Marlin interjected.

"We couldn't." The guard said embarrassedly. "He was awake at that time, but I was a hostage, so the others were too scared to shoot her. She told us to retreat and to move away from the stairs that we'd all climbed when we were right outside Harraldssons' quarters. We were too frightened to do anything, so we obeyed. We had to wait at the foot of the stairs."

The guard scratched his head almost comically. "Then at the base of the stairs, we heard a scream and a gunshot. But before we could get upstairs, we were distracted by the Danish Nationalist Faction, which had attacked the palace. Then in the midst of the fight, there was a smoke bomb that went off somewhere. By the time we understood what was going on, the fighting had ceased and we were being seized by Orb troops and we were told that Pietre Harraldsson was dead."

"The evidence at hand suggests this is the case," Minrofherf said smoothly. "The fingerprints on the gun that was found to have discharged a bullet belongs to the defendant. Moreover, the distance the bullet entered Harraldsons' chest at is approximately at the door where she must have stood. After all, she has admitted that she met him. He was shot at point-blank, which was when the guards heard the gunshot. That would also account for why she had five out of six bullets in her gun intact."

"Your Honour," Marlin butted in. "I would like to clarify something with the witness." He waited for the judge to nod and then turned to the guard. "When your colleague was stabbed, as you claim, where was he stabbed?"

The guard paused for quite long. "I'm pretty sure it was at the base of the staircase."

"And that was where he screamed, I suppose. Did any reinforcement come? Anybody else at all?"

"No." The guard looked almost awkward. "All of us were guarding the ground floor. But I was held hostage and I guess the others didn't think it was safe to shoot her from there."

"Alright," Marlin said cautiously. "And where were all the guards when you heard the gunshot come from your employer's room?'

"At the base of the staircase. It was pretty loud. We had just made our way down, as she ordered us to."

"Hold it!" Marlin thundered. He turned to the jury. "If there had really been a guard whom my client had stabbed to threaten the other guards, Pietre Harraldsson would have heard the scream and not to mention the scuffle from where he was in his room. If one can hear a scream from inside the room, why not the person inside the room when the scream and other sounds come from downstairs? Harraldsson wouldn't have stayed there after the scream that the stabbed guard supposedly made. A normal person wouldn't have waited for Ms. Atha to make her way up in the fashion that this witness claims."

The courtroom burst into chatter. Athrun felt his heart rejoice for Cagalli, but it was slightly tempered by the fact that it was Marlin, her fiancé, who had made the guard look unreliable. The jury was looking at Marlin and Cagalli with less doubt than ever, and Athrun wondered if they would ever look at him in that favourable manner.

The judge banged his gavel and Minrofherf leapt in. "Your Honour, I don't think it is as simple as the defense has painted it. It could well be that Harraldsson was sound asleep."

"No, I think not," Marlin interrupted. He turned to the court-stenographer. "Read out the relevant part, please. I think it is the first line."

"He was awake at that time, but I was a hostage, so the others were too scared to shoot-,"

"Thank you," Marlin stopped the reading. "Harraldsson was awake at that time."

"He could have been too frightened to go down." The guard pointed out. "That's why he has guards, right?"

"Guards who apparently lead an armed assailant to his doorstep," Marlin said nastily. "Your Honour, I think sufficient doubt has been raised as to this witness's testimony. There is little evidence to suggest that Ms. Atha forced her way into the palace with the intent of harming Harraldsson."

"Send for the next witness," The judge decided. The jury was also looking disapprovingly at the witness, who had one huge inconsistency that they simply could not ignore.

Minrofherf turned an ugly puce at the first defeat he'd seen in so many hours and so many days of questioning. "Yes, Your Honour."

---

The next one claimed that he had been at an angle where he had seen Cagalli shoot the High King. There was no way, the guard claimed, that Harraldsson could have twisted and broken her arm; not when she had shot him upon his opening the door.

As he gave his testimony, Athrun kept his eyes on Cagalli. She seemed to be losing her focus, for she was shaking her head at points and looking at Marlin in bewilderment. The guards must have known that Athrun and his aides had forced their way up the staircase in the midst of the fighting. But the guards were choosing to blame Cagalli instead, which suggested that they were intent on painting her as the murderer.

Athrun understood her confusion as to why the guards would be lying so blatantly. But he knew the real reason as to why the guards were lying against her. Harraldsson had probably planned this in many ways—even though he probably hadn't planned for himself to land up in his current state.

But Marlin began to question the current witness, and Athrun knew that matter how much Athrun yearned to hold her for himself, she would still be in safe hands.

"Name, age, occupation."

"Freud Jeschler, forty-two, First Regiment, chief bodyguard of the Swedish Royal Palace."

"Mr. Jeschler, were you present to see Ms. Atha shoot your employer?"

The witness said, "From my angle, I could see that she had shot him. But I couldn't do anything to stop it because at that point, the terrorists had rushed in."

"I don't quite understand you," Marlin said testily, ignoring Minrofherf's dark glare. "What you mean, I understand, is that you were present in such a way to see that she knocked on the door. You were also present in such a way that you could see how Harraldsson opened it. Were you present in such a way to see that she shot him immediately?"

"That's what I saw, yes." Jeschler nodded.

"And this was visible only if you stood at the right corner of the tenth pillar on the ground floor, as you say?"

"Yes." The guard looked defiantly at Marlin. "I saw her shoot him myself."

"Your Honour," Minrofherf concluded, "Mr. Jeschler's testimony fits all the evidence that the others have provided. The prosecution submits that Mr. Jeschler has given very conclusive, persuasive evidence."

The jury seemed quite swayed by what the current witness had provided. Athrun too, could not see a clear way for any contradiction to be found. It was true that Harraldsson had fallen forward, his front part of the shirt stained from where the bullet had entered his chest, point-blank. It was true that Cagalli had stood with her back to the door—at least, that had been the case when Athrun had entered. His hands still bound, he prayed that Marlin would find a way forward.

How strange it was, Athrun considered, that he was praying for the success of somebody who he somehow despised at the same time. In reality though, Athrun was aware that he did not have any right to despise Marlin. Marlin was the one who was risking many things for Cagalli too, and Marlin was her fiancé. Athrun had been the one who'd stolen her from him, and if Marlin was going to win her back now, Athrun could have no reasonable objection to that.

Marlin was pacing, thinking things through and obviously trying to find some way to knock the testimony out of the way.

"Well?" Minrofherf prompted. He sneered at Marlin. Marlin halted, right in front of the witness.

"Are you feeling alright, Mr. Jeschler?" Marlin suddenly suggested without a hint of guile.

The whole courtroom was stunned at this sudden swerve in topic. Already, the prosecutor was leaping to his feet, ready to shout an objection, but the bodyguard had taken the bait, hook, and sinker. "I'm fine."

"I understand that you've been serving for quite some time," Marlin said innocently.

The guard sensed something, but found no way not to answer. "Yes. Twenty years, I think."

"Your back must have taken quite a bit of strain over the years," Marlin mused.

"Well, yes." The witness shifted, looking a bit surprised.

"So do you go for checkups?"

"Your Honour!" Minrofherf was on his feet. "The defense is wasting our time. Clearly-,"

"No, Your Honour," Marlin interrupted. "I'm sorry, but this is a very important line of questioning. I would like your Honour's permission to continue and the witness' cooperation."

The jury cast curious glances at Marlin, as did the rest of those present.

"Alright, defense." The judge decided.

"Do you go for checkups?" Marlin continued.

The witness nodded.

"Often?"

The witness nodded again. "It acts up a lot."

Marlin broke out into a charming grin. Athrun was just as confused as everyone else, and clearly, from the look on Cagalli's face, none of them understood what Marlin was doing.

"Defense," The judge said warningly, "You seem to be wasting our time."

"I apologise, Your Honour," Marlin said cheerfully. "I just wanted to prove one point."

"And what is that, if there is any at all?" The judge asked.

"One of the disadvantages of having many witnesses, is that some of them are not really witnesses at all. This man was only fit to work just two weeks ago, according to these hospital records when he went for a back operation. He was given a recuperating order and was told not to work by the doctor—one that was to last for two months. He may have seen whatever he claims to have seen, but Mr. Jeschler certainly was not present to see what he did."

"What?" The chief bodyguard looked horrified.

"The hospital you were recuperating at claims you never left the premises that day. The nurse you were with can be brought in to verify this, if you'd like." He waved a sheaf of testimonies.

The bodyguard turned pale. "What? N-No, I don't-,"

"Your Honour!" Minrofherf choked out. "According to the rules of evidence, one cannot admit evidence that has not been approved of!"

"I agree," The judge said heavily. "Defense, you will be charged accordingly after this trial. The courtroom is not your circus."

The jury began speaking out simultaneously, each of them enraged at the lies that the bodyguard had concocted, the rest of the spectators talked amongst themselves quite loudly.

"Thank you, Your Honour," Marlin said cheekily. "I apologise, Your Honour."

It did not matter, Athrun realized, when he had already achieved his purpose. Marlin might have simply gone knocked this key witness out from the very start, but Marlin must have waited for maximum damage to be done to the prosecutor's key witness.

Athrun watched Cagalli smile for Marlin, and he saw Marlin return it. If Cagalli's smile had been soft and golden, Marlin's was confident and charismatic. How clever Marlin was, Athrun realized. No wonder Cagalli loved him.

The judge grimaced. "Call the next witness."

---

It went on for another hour. The eighth witnesse avoided the mistakes that the others had made and claimed that she had shot Harraldsson during the diversion that the terrorists had created. There were all sorts of similar claims that she'd shot Harraldsson. Marlin took each claim down, one by one, and he did so with so much ease that Athrun wondered if anything was too difficult for him at all. As each witness was dismissed, it became increasingly likely that Cagalli hadn't shot Harraldsson and that Harraldsson had caused her the injury.

"It was very messy," The guard claimed. "Lots of fighting everywhere and there were gunshots everywhere. It was terrible. She must have shot him at that point—when nobody had gone up the stairs."

"Where were you at that time?" Marlin pressed.

"I was at the entrance of the palace, fending off the terrorists with other guards."

"Hold it," Marlin said immediately. "How do you know that nobody went up the stairs?"

"I didn't see anyone going up." The guard said haltingly.

Marlin frowned. "Are you saying, witness, that no terrorist got past the main entrance of the palace?"

"Yes," The guard said. "Not before we heard the gunshot coming from upstairs."

"Are you sure you could hear a gunshot coming from the room upstairs? You weren't at the foot of the staircase—you were at the entrance of the palace."

"I heard it." The guard said stubbornly.

"There were other shots going on, am I right?" Marlin said, injecting doubt into his voice. He needn't have done that, for plenty of the jury were looking doubtful at what the guard was saying—even the Scandinavian representatives.

"It came from inside the palace." The guard said firmly.

"And who was in the palace at that time?"

"That person." The guard pointed to Cagalli. She reeled back, but Marlin reached out to steady her. He turned back to the guard facing the questioning.

"But there were other guards, Your Honour," Marlin said calmly. "She was not the only one who might have gone up the stairs and shot Harraldsson. During the scuffle, the other entrances of the palace were also used. There is evidence that fierce fighting took place on all parts of the ground floor from different entrances and even on the staircase, which guards and terrorists alike tried to climb."

"Objection, Your Honour!" Minrofherf interrupted, quite losing his cool. "There is no evidence that Ms. Atha got her injuries from the High King the way she claimed so. "

"As it is," The judge boomed, "The prosecution cannot prove otherwise."

"Thank you, Your Honour," Marlin said mildly. "The defence maintains that Harraldssson caused Ms. Atha her injury."

"Objection! Why would he do that?"

"The jury has agreed," The judge cut in, "That Harraldsson was in a very delicate state, and that he was tormented by nightmares frequently. Her sudden entry into his room when he probably thought it was a guard seeking permission to enter, would have made him attack in confusion. In the darkness of his bedroom, as it probably was at that time, he could have used more force than he intended to."

Cagalli had no clear expression on her face. But Marlin was already carrying on.

"Thank you, Your Honor," Marlin continued smoothly. "The defence submits again that she lost consciousness before she could shoot him. But the fact remains that Ms. Atha's fingerprints are on the gun that discharged the bullet Harraldsson sustained grievous injury from, as well as another person's. For that very matter, if a scuffle did break out between Ms. Atha and the High King, it may have well been confusion that someone had planned right from the start."

At this point, Athrun lifted his head and saw Marlin staring right at him. The jury began to whisper amongst themselves, some pointing openly to Athrn.

"Then what is your point, defense?" The judge said hesitantly. "As I and presumably the jury see it, the most logical explanation as to why Harraldsson broke her arm as Ms. Atha claims would be that a scuffle between them ensued while the guards were fighting with the terrorists."

"Your Honour," Marlin's voice was very clear. "The defense submits that Ms. Atha reasonably believed that could not have used the gun on Harraldsson. The defense submits that she did enter the room and there was an argument that ensued between two of them, but she had suffered an arm injury that had rendered her unconscious from the pain. And because she was unconscious, Your Honour," Marlin looked at all the members of the jury, his confidence cementing their every bias and ounce suspicion. "The gun had could be seized from her person by Athrun Zala."

"I will call for a recess." The judge decided. "If the prosecution wishes to reframe its charges, it may."

"Yes, Your Honour." Minrofherf said dutifully.

The noise of the courtroom had broken out again, and it was quite understandable in such a scenario. The climax of the circus was about to begin, and all the members of the jury were speaking amongst themselves. Now, Minrofherf looked less aggressive towards Marlin, moving towards him to shake his opponent's hand. As Athrun was led out by the baliff assigned to him, he passed by the two of them, who stared at him, and it was clear who both of them were really out to prove as guilty.

Perhaps, Athrun realized, both Marlin and Minrofherf had always known what the real target was. Perhaps, the adversarial nature of their questioning had been only geared to incriminate one person.

But as he passed Cagalli, he wondered why half of him hoped that she still believed he had kept his promise to her—that he would not kill anyone anymore. As he moved by, he noted that she seemed to be frozen, standing where she'd last stood at the podium.

Then Cagalli lifted her head, staring wildly, and Athrun felt a strange rush of triumph and relief at what Marlin had managed to do. Cagalli was going to get out of this, he told himself firmly. She was going to be fine. In truth, what Marlin had said was something that Athrun had been expecting and planning for since a long time ago.

What Athrun had not been prepared for was Cagalli's next reaction.

Almost unconsciously, Cagalli raised her hands above the podium, her head turning as he passed, putting them where he could see those.

And it was then that he saw what she was wearing on her finger.

---

As Yzak and his two colleagues moved sluggishly towards their chambers, quite tired from the questioning, Yzak felt his joints creak in protest to his movements. But as they neared the corridor where the resting chamber of the Plant representatives was, he noted that the door was slightly ajar. Still chattering behind him, his colleagues did not notice anything. But Yzak was already moving forward, for the sign could only mean one thing.

Yzak's plans could be carried through, now that he had come.

He increased his pace, ignoring the colleagues who called out and expressed puzzlement at Yzak's sudden burst of speed. As Yzak hurried down the corridor, half-running, half-brisk-walking, he moved hastily to the door and opened it. His face broke out into a smile when he confirmed who had arrived.

"So you came." Yzak said in relief.

"I must apologize for the delay. I couldn't gather enough evidence until a few hours ago." The stranger's face lit up slowly. "And with my wife's testimony, I think I can do as you have requested." He hesitated a little. "Even if it means that I will not be able to take her away now."

Yzak nodded. "Thank you."

"But you do realize what the implications of what I say will be, don't you? He won't be able to escape the responsibility of his acting independently from his instructions."

"He will most certainly be charged with insubordination back in the Plants." Yzak confirmed. But a smile played on his lips. "But knowing what the military courts back in Plant are like, I can safely say that he'll be fine in the end."

"I think so too. You are in charge of those courts, aren't you?"

Yzak scowled a little. "I never mix work with anything else."

"No." They shared a smile. "Of course not."

The two colleagues caught up with Yzak, huffing a little and complaining about his apparent mood swings. And they stopped, pausing exactly where Yzak halted and was blocking most of the entrance. The two representatives stared in surprise at the person who'd causally come into their chambers and had gotten past the security. Unbeknownst to them, the bailiff in charge of the Plant representatives' chambers had been given specific instructions by Yzak to allow a certain person in.

"W-Wait-," One colleague stammered, peering over Yzak's shoulder to see the person who was sitting on one of the chairs. "Isn't that- that?"

The guest stood up, moving towards them.

"I'm pleased to meet all of you." Erik Strumsson said quietly. He placed a gloved hand forward—a hand that Yzak took to shake; a steel hand beneath the glove that was there in place of flesh and blood.

He looked at Yzak almost diffidently. "I'm here to testify against my brother-in-law."

---

In their holding room, Cagalli was trying to keep from thinking about Athrun. He had passed her, and it had taken all her willpower not to grab hold of him and keep him there. Up close, the bruise on his cheek had been quite clear, and she thought of the pain he must have suffered for so long.

"Marlin," Cagalli said softly. "What happens now?"

"You've done well enough." He told her. "I'll handle the rest."

She ran a hand tiredly through her hair, trying not to feel suffocated in this room. While they were both clear that the room had not been bugged and their rights of privacy were being respected, Cagalli just did not feel safe. Her hands were tight in her lap and she felt faint. She was too tired to think anymore—too exhausted to blame herself for pushing Athrun into this situation anymore.

"When all this is over," Marlin said softly, "What will you do?"

"What will I do regarding what?"

Marlin stood up and began to walk over to where she was sitting. As he sat down, next to her, he pulled her hands into his, and Cagalli was forced to shift to look at him.

"Regarding your life." He said, in a very different voice from what she'd expected. In fact, Cagalli had expected him to show impatience at how unfocused she was being, how she was not following and answering his questions properly. Her performance in the questioning just now would certainly have made him upset, she thought briefly, except Marling began to speak again.

"Regarding your situation in Orb," He said. "Regarding how the media thinks we are engaged and to be married soon."

"I don't know." Cagalli whispered. "I haven't given it much thought about all these things."

"You'll have to, at some point." Marlin said quietly. "And that's why I'm asking you to marry me."

She stared, her eyes going wide. And then Cagalli chuckled, a soft, toneless chuckle. "April Fool's was a long time ago, Marlin."

"You still think I'm joking." He said tremblingly, losing that incredible measure he had over himself. "I'm not."

"You shouldn't be asking at this time." Cagalli said simultaneously, and they stared at each other, he with the wild blaze of hope she recognized in his eyes, and she without any emotion. While stunned, she was sadly, disconnected from the emotions he had wanted to transmit to her. She was entirely removed from his passions and his hopes, and it made her realize even more that he was engaging in a mistake.

But his voice grew slightly louder and more obstinate. "I don't want this incident to fade and have you forgetting about me. I don't want you to just thank me at the end and not hear me out."

She looked down and realized that her hands were still clasped in his. And uncomfortable, Cagalli pulled them away, turning back to face the seat he had vacated in favour for one next to hers.

But undeterred, Marlin took her hand again, turning her face to his, and slowly, his eyes sad and somehow hopeful, he began to kiss her. She had not been looking at him even if he had indicated he clearly wanted her to, and his kiss had caught her off-guard.

It was a familiar kiss. Familiar and strangely foreign all at once, and her eyes fluttered as she tried to blink and recollect her senses. He was urging her gently, easing her to him, and she almost forgot what she was doing. He kept one hand on hers, his fingers moving gently and almost non-threateningly onto the ring she'd worn, and it was all too clear that he thought she'd worn a random ring to carry on with their charade as fiancé and fiancée.

For a moment, she remained stunned and inanimate, but when he began to deepen the kiss, Cagalli pushed him aside, standing up in a fluster, and beginning to walk to the far end of the room.

He stood too, unsure of what to do next.

Her voice was quiet in the still room. "Don't do that again."

Marlin stared at her, and then tremblingly, he asked, "Why, Cagalli?"

She could not meet his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"All this time, who's been the one supporting you and making sure you aren't unharmed by the mess you're in?" He looked at her demandingly. His eyes flew to the ring she wore. "Is this really just a charade for you?Will you take that off immediately after the trial?"

He did not understand what that ring's particular significance was to her. She interrupted him by turning around, crossing her arms and saying, "I'm grateful for your friendship and loyalty, Marlin, truly I am. But-," He voice became slightly more sympathetic compared to the harsh one she had used, "Gratefulness isn't love. Experiencing another person's kindness doesn't oblige me to love in return. Kira told me that, and I agree with him."

Marlin turned pale. "That's not what he said to me."

"I'm not sure what Kira said in my absence," Cagalli told him. Her expression was gentle "But I think I know my twin well enough to say that he would only approve of a decision that I made for myself."

"But surely," Marlin began to argue, still standing there and staring at her, "I've moved you after all this time. Surely you knew why I did all I did for you- not because I wanted friendship. I wanted you to accept me, Cagalli-- not tell me you were grateful!"

Cagalli shook her head tensely, saddened by what he had said. But she remained with her arms crossed, unwilling to back down and unwilling to soften anymore in her sympathy for him. "Jimmy, I never knew that you wanted more than friendship. Truly, I didn't."

"Now you do." He said vehemently. "It doesn't matter that you couldn't see it all this time. Never mind that you didn't understand why I agreed to go along with Aaron Biliensky and Kira Yamato's plans and even resign so I could represent you as your defense attorney. I'm telling you now that I need you with me- and now you know."

He crossed the room too, grabbing her hands again, blind to her shock as she looked down momentarily at his hands and then at him. "I want you to marry me, Cagalli. Do you hear me? It doesn't matter that you didn't know I loved you more than anything I've loved in my life- ambition, the office, power, everything, anything!"

She shook her head, still cold and untouched, marble and unfeeling, even though she felt a twinge of compassion for him. She wondered when she'd hurt him, and she wondered if she ought to continue.

"It doesn't matter that I'm known as your fiancé only because it was a ploy to help you secure your power while you were away." Marlin said intently. "It doesn't even matter that a husband for the Princess of Orb has to be first approved of by the council- I've already been approved of, I can continue proving that I'm the right pers-,"

"Stop." Cagalli whispered. She yanked her hands from his for the second time in that hour, and wildly, she ran her hands across her face in her weariness. "Marlin, it's not possible! It makes sense for me to love you, I know."

His face was pale, and she was abruptly more aware of how exceptionally handsome he was, and what a dedicated man he would be to her. But all that was pointless now.

"But what I want and need isn't something that is necessarily sensible." She said steadily, her voice growing firmer. "It never was- or I would have married you when you first asked. Your doing so much more even after all these years makes me indebted to you. For that matter, your sacrifices for me are things I'll never forget or even be able to repay."

"You only need to tell me that you'll give me a chance to prove myself and that-,"

"No." Cagalli interrupted him, placing her hand on his shoulder and cutting him off. "I can't, Jimmy."

"Why?" His voice was filled with pain she never thought she'd hear in it, and she knew how despondent she was making him. But as she bit her lips, wondering how to tell him, Cagalli already knew that she had to be honest with Marlin. It was only fair.

"Because I belong to someone else." She said simply.

"Who?" He demanded.

She found no more reason to lie.

"Athrun Zala."

His eyes widened for an awful moment, and she thought she saw madness in his face. He covered his mouth in a silent cry, and then turned away, leaping to his feet, beginning to pace. Cagalli watched him dully, waiting for his outburst. But it never came—only more questions that she couldn't really answer.

"Was that why you gave yourself the opportunity to be shot down in court about wanting to go to Orb and not being instigated to go to Sweden?" Marlin demanded. "When you deviated from what we'd agreed on, I nearly wanted to cave in and give up. Your mistake was so obvious I thought it was hopeless. But you were doing that to protect your captor, weren't you?" His voice rose into an exclamation of simultaneous comprehension, disbelief, and worst, rage. He began to sputter. "You did it to protect that- that- bastard who tried to harm you!"

"I only wanted-,"

"No, shut up for a bit." He said violently, still not looking at her and pacing up at down. "I'm trying to think."

She leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes. And Cagalli felt incredibly drained even as he began to fit everything together.

His voice grew louder even though he did not spare her a glance. "Was that why you made me promise not to reveal that he had killed someone in his attempt to protect you? You wanted charges against him to be as light as possible- you were trying to protect him!"

"Yes." It made no more sense to lie.

"And all this while, I was trying to find evidence against him for your sake, evidence that would send him behind bars and put you in the best possible light as possible. Everything I did- all for your sake!"

She stared blankly into everything that lay before her, as consciously aware of Athrun's intent as Marlin was of hers now. Marlin had been trying, despite his promise to her, to force Athrun into a corner, to ensure that Athrun would never be pardoned or cleared.

She, on the other hand, had tried to protect Athrun by not giving the court the information that would have proved her innocence, for it would have endangered Athrun's hopes of being pronounced innocent too. He would have appeared to have instigated her into shooting Harraldsson by the very fact that he had caused her to go to Sweden.

Cagalli knew exactly why she had done what she had, regardless of the risks and of the trust Marlin had placed in her. Marlin had only just realized it. And Marlin was muttering himself still, pacing without any real ease in the room.

"I belong to him." Cagalli said softly, her voice still reaching Marlin when he was walking some distance, up and down, before her. And then louder and more firmly now, she repeated, "I belong to Athrun Zala."

Marlin stopped in his tracks for a few seconds, his face going pale.

Cagalli waited, hoping that he would allow her to explain.

But then he began to pace again, and his muttering grew louder until his voice crackled through his dry throat and his eyes grew more intense as they glared at the floor.

"You must be suffering from Stockholm's syndrome," He said bluntly, almost obtusely in his effort to ignore the truth that she had been trying to show him. "That's the only reason why you can stand before me and tell me that he did nothing wrong. That's the only reason why you believe that he never meant you any harm. That's why you're being so foolish as to refuse to wake up and see him for what he is- a beast!"

"I am not suffering from that!" She said sharply. Marlin was pacing even more furiously, and she felt a pang of pity shoot through her. "Don't doubt me, Marlin!"

"Stockholm's," He declared, more to himself than her. "That's the only plausible reason why you think you love him. That's why you can't bring yourself to see reality as it is- and you think he hasn't done you any wrong."

"But I do!" Cagalli cried impassionedly, unable to control herself anymore. She stood up now and pushed back the chair with a quick, rough shove. "And that has nothing to do with why I am willing to protect him at my expense. Nor do my feelings change the fact that he did not kill except in self-defense!"

Marling was already turning away, walking towards the door. His voice was cold. "I will get you the best therapist, Cagalli, and I will ensure that he provides a reasonably sound testimony to convince the court that Athrun Zala did mislead you in your emotionally-vulnerable state."

His voice became more and more broken, and when he spoke, she thought of deconstructed rails and thoughts that couldn't function properly and fully. "I want you to keep calm and trust me- I'm to be trusted, not him. I'm going to make sure you recover properly- I won't let him get away with doing this to you. And when you're all better, you'll see that I'm the only one you need, that I can make you happy but he can only harm you."

She stared at his back, realizing that he was going deaf to sense and becoming blind to the truth. That was the only way he could deal with the hurt of her betrayal and the only way he could make sense of why she was telling him that she wanted to protect Athrun Zala at her expense.

"This case will soon be over," Marlin said stubbornly, walking faster now, striding away from her and the obvious truth she had given him. "I'll win."

"Is this all a matter of winning and losing to you?" Cagalli said, recoiling from him. "Doesn't the truth matter to you?"

"The truth?" He laughed brokenly. "But what you're telling me has to be a lie!"

"It isn't." She said softly.

His eyes narrowed. "I'll show you that he's best as a dead man. You didn't believe me when I told you to distance yourself from him."

"Because there was no real reason to!"

"There was." His voice grated with its anger. "Now, you make yourself vulnerable to attack in court. When this ends and you return to Orb, how will you fend off accusations that you protected the person who tried to harm you and-,"

In that moment, she made up her mind. Cagalli ran across the room, sprinting as she had never, grabbing his hand and pulling him to face her. He whirled around, stunned, but what she said made his current state virtually unaffected.

"I am with his child!" She burst out angrily and in her desperation. Marlin's eyes widened. "Do you believe me now when I say I belong to him and that I can't let him die?"

Marlin had frozen, but now, she saw something rear in his eyes- something like insane agony and the madness of taking on too much pain in too short a time.

He lunged forward, shaking her by her shoulders, his voice a bellow. "What did you say?"

"I am saying," Cagalli hissed, pushing off his hands, "That I was his lover. We were together for all this time on the Isle."

"Impossible," Marlin breathed in shock. "That's not-,"

"Why not?" She countered fiercely. "The testimony I gave in court was fabricated by you and I, Marlin. You may have believed that he sent me away to be under the charge of one of his colleagues as soon as he got hold of me on the SS Rafael, as the court believed. But you and I know that it isn't true. More than that- I have always needed him. When I met him again, I-," She broke away, shaking her head and hiding her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking.

"But even if you were with him, he couldn't have-," Marlin's face was still like paper, and his shock was making him inarticulate. Cagalli took in a deep breath, staring straight at him. Her voice ridiculed him, as did the laugh that she started with.

"Six months," She said softly, derisively, knowing that this was the only way to make Marlin believe her. "With a man as busy as Athrun Zala, even a week is more than sufficient."

He stiffened, and then a roar ripped itself from his throat. He seemed to tower over her in his rage, shaking her shoulders with an inhuman strength. But suddenly, he fell into his chair as a lifeless creature would have. His eyes were protuberant in his head, and he was shaking.

"I don't believe you." Marlin said helplessly. "He- he must have forced himself on you- that bastard!"

"He didn't!" Cagalli denied, trying to make her friend understand.

"That's why you became so dependent on him!" Marlin continued, interrupting her, his eyes gleaming with a crazed denial and a strangely familiar glint of triumph and mad confidence returning to him. "I understand now. Finally, I understand it all now. Forcing himself on you would have made you submissive to him for the rest of your time there, so you would do as he said. Otherwise, you never would have-,"

She shook her head. Her eyes regarded him unflinchingly, and her voice was a laughing one. She was laughing at how ridiculous their plight was; how twisted the comedy had become, and how much pain they were all in. "No, Marlin. He was my lover- a very good lover, in fact. It was consensual. Even if there had been coercion at any point, it was I coercing him, not the other way around."

"No!" Marlin was shouting now, and Cagalli was glad that nobody would be able to hear them. "I don't believe that-,"

"You must accept it." Cagalli said in a low voice. "Seeing him once was enough, all those years ago. Seeing him again made all this inevitable."

Marlin looked at her, silent now. And then he turned around, looking at her still with betrayal in his eyes, and moved out where he could think clearly without the urge to blame her for all that he'd suffered.

---

-10 days