category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
THREE.
Hundreds of thousands of miles from Lacus, Cagalli faced not the trials of jumpstarting a government but moving on personally. Once the peace talks finalized, all of the Terminal's and Three Ships Alliance's ships and mobile suits were prepared to be hidden underground in Onogoro, perhaps for good. With no reason to stay, the crewmembers of the vessels began to disperse to faraway reaches, and it pained Cagalli to see them go. It seemed like the abrupt end of something important to say goodbye.
"Stay," she asked Murrue and Mu, offering them high ranks at her side. They declined apologetically and mentioned their calm house on the coast. "We'll be close by," they answered, "You won't miss us."
Andrew Waltfeld waved off her proposition to forget ZAFT and be one of her advisors. He ruffled her hair in a rare display of affection, "Don't worry. You'll be fine. And I'm not returning to ZAFT anyway."
She told Miriallia she could take a job as an official photographer for the government, make a nice living and get to travel diplomatically. Miriallia simply hugged Cagalli and said she was pursuing a different kind of photography now.
War inspired the closest bonds between comrades, and despite Cagalli's best efforts, she saw the people she regarded as her family slipping away like smooth sand through her fingers. Everyone left, in search of brighter suns and sweeter seas.
But there was a firm hand on her shoulder as she watched the huge metal doors to the underground holding facility, in which lay the Archangel, and the Strike Freedom, and the Eternal, and everything else she'd ever known, slide shut a hair's breadth from her nose.
"None of those people will forget us, Cagalli." She looked up quickly and met Athrun's warm eyes. "And we'll never forget them. We've all fought and persevered to share this future with them, together."
Cagalli smiled distantly at him, registering the conviction in his voice and the strength of his grasp. She placed the key to the doors carefully on a discreet chain around her neck and let Athrun lead her out.
notes: I despise endings and goodbyes with a passion, because I hate the idea of change, or of giving up friendships. I figured if anyone was as ardently loyal as me, it'd be Cagalli.
NEXT PHASE: Cagalli addresses the elephant in the room: when Athrun would be returning home.