category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
TWENTY-SEVEN.
Cagalli signed her name carefully on the last page of a very long document and tapped the papers into a neat pile before drawing another set toward her. From the top of her vision she could make out Athrun's silhouette, leaning over his desk reading something from a large file. His posture was stiff and Cagalli absently noted how late it was at night. She wanted to say something to him, to break the silence that had enveloped the room for hours already. But the words that spilled out weren't those she had hoped for.
"Athrun, you cried when that girl died on the moon, right? Meer Campbell?"
Athrun's head shot up when Cagalli's voice first broke his concentration and then dropped a little when she finished speaking.
"…Yes."
Cagalli tapped the side of her pen against the arm of her chair quietly. Athrun's eyes were meeting hers very fixedly and she hesitated, momentarily disconcerted by the intensity. It had only been a month after the end of the war, and although they'd talked things out – sort of – they were still lingering at the beginning of the long path to recovery. Conversations weren't effortless just yet, and situations between them found ways to become awkward and stilted.
Cagalli's voice came out very soft and forlornly through the dimness of the room. "Would you cry if I died, Athrun?"
There was only a second in which Cagalli didn't regret her question. In an instant, though, a dark shadow passed over Athrun's face, and she wished she hadn't asked anything at all. Athrun's eyes turned hard and his mouth set into a firm line. If Cagalli had thought she'd seen him angry before, the presumption vanished immediately. Nothing compared with the breathing too slow to be natural, the drain of color from his face, the forcefulness of his glare, how tightly his fists were clenched together.
Athrun didn't answer. He only cleaned up his desk quickly, grabbed a pen and his file, and left wordlessly. Cagalli didn't watch him go, but when the door slammed shut she ran a hand through her hair crossly.
The next morning, a maid informed Cagalli that Athrun had left early to attend meetings with other military officials. Cagalli only narrowed her eyes because she knew for certain that he didn't have anything of the sort scheduled that day.
Athrun returned very late that night, and if he was surprised to see Cagalli waiting at the foot of the main staircase for him, he didn't show it and only brushed past her coolly.
"Athrun, stop!" Cagalli's cry sounded unnaturally sharp in the quiet of the empty foyer.
Athrun's footsteps slowed, and he grasped the base of the stair railing roughly. "What is it, Cagalli?"
"Why are you so angry? It was only a question. And I still want to know the answer."
He turned around suddenly and strode over to her in three long steps. "Don't ever ask me something so stupid again, Cagalli," he breathed and held her face in both hands before kissing her long. "I would never let you die."
notes: I rewrote phase 26, the one about Cagalli and Kira, today and uploaded the new version. Please do go back and read it. I know the old version was quite bizarre, but this one's better I think. Yes sir. Not much else to say, hope all of you are enjoying your weeks thus far. See you Thursday!
NEXT PHASE: Murrue meets Talia Gladys's young son.