category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
SIXTEEN.
Cagalli hated herself in the time before the beginning of the second war, when Athrun wasn't her closest friend and confidante but the distant, collected Alex Dino. It wasn't his name, she nearly shouted; it wasn't him. He wasn't a just a man who volunteered to be her personal bodyguard, he wasn't someone who stayed in the background and never said anything even when he clearly wanted to, he wasn't anonymous.
"Alex," she would call out, and an automatic scowl would form on her face. Sometimes when she was alone she would say "Athrun" out loud over and over, if only to make sure she didn't forget the way his name felt on her tongue.
It wasn't her fault, she wanted to think, but it might very well have been. Athrun Zala couldn't be in Orb with her, and she was powerless while he went through his days in the shoes of someone who didn't even exist. For all her meetings and diplomatic visits and treaties, for all the lives lost and souls shattered during the war, her inability to truly change the world shone glaringly in the fact that she couldn't even promote acceptance and safety for all peoples within her own borders.
Two and a half years of peacetime after the end of the second war, two years after Athrun enlisted formally in the Orb military under his own name, Cagalli announced her engagement to the public via a speech outside the Parliament building. Even after the debacle with Yuna Roma Seiran, the traditional doctrines of Orb mandated that the private life of its representative remain open and not confidential. The citizens were expecting a formal confirmation of the rumors that had been spinning around for months.
"This is Athrun Zala," she met his eyes and looped her arm through his as they stood behind the podium together. "I've known him for five years now." Finally, he was accepted as himself and not the shadow of another man. At last he was Athrun and she was Cagalli and they could be together and not care who saw. "He makes me happy."
notes: For once, I truly have nothing to say. I think this speaks for itself. Thanks for reading!
NEXT PHASE: Dearka and Miriallia started a relationship after the war, but it wasn't so much out of genuine feelings as convenience. Day in and day out, the two of them wandered in place without ever moving.