blondeprincessa: Thanks for your review! It was meant to be that way, but things will become clear throughout the story. I hope I don't disappoint you with this chapter. Though I know a lot of questions, there may be some I don't know. What do you ask yourself when reading this story?
Well, I know I'm really late, but it was hard to write a lot with exams every week! Please leave a review and any ideas are welcomed for the next chapters! Without further ado, I present you the third fragment of the first shard. No wait, there's the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: I only own this story and Yula. Everything else belong to its respective owners. (I have a reason for writing the disclaimer like that!)
Shard 1, Fragment 3: the Unawakened Red Knight of Justice (Yula's POV)
Cagalli's face was priceless. I thought she'd notice it, but she didn't. The clues were so clear, it was easy to deduct. Thanks, Kudo for the survival and observation training. So, back to the point.
We were at the airport, and Cagalli was stuck with her siblings. Cagalli looked like she had been struck by lightning, couldn't get the situation. I could hear her mind screaming: 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'
'Be quiet, calm down.', I replied, 'It's gonna be fun, believe me. You won't be alone. It's after all, your family.'
'But-'
'Uh uh, no buts. Now let's go or we'll switch places. We only have an hour to check-in and get to the flight.'
'Ok', she accepted and called her siblings to come over. I looked at the board.
Departure Time: 5:00 AM
Right now, it was four in the morning. I followed Cagalli as she checked in her luggage into the plane. The luggage I had packed for her. I had only added one thing of my possession: this very diary I'm writing in; well, I won't call it diary, rather a chronicle. Everything necessary was written … even things about Cagalli, me … and the Time of this world. Truths which were better kept hidden. All those bitter truths the world shouldn't know of. Tings Cagalli'd be shocked to know. But she wouldn't become aware of it, ever. I'd take care of it.
'Yula, come on!', Cagalli called me. Apparently I was spacing out. 'Coming!' I called back and together (I was invisible, of course) we passed the terminals and boarded on the plane. We went up the stairs, with Kira and Stella behind me. First class. A flight attendant showed us our seats. 'Yula, there's our place', Cagalli said with an even tone. Our seat was a two-facing-two seat, next to a window near the wings of the plane. Cagalli took the place next to the window along the plane's direction and put her bag opposite her seat, where I was to sit. Kira and Stella took the outer seats. In the middle, there was a circular table with enough space for four portions of food and more.
As soon an Cagalli took her seat, she has been being awfully quiet and this silence was getting more and more awkward. The tension between her and Kira was so tangible! And because I knew she was angry with Kira and Stella, I had no choice but to lighten the mood in this very area.
'How far have you come with your song?', I asked her. Well, I knew about it, after all, I had taken a look at her properties while packing her stuff. I had seen a book and had decided not to open it, but curiosity had gotten the better of me and I had read that little book to find some songs. 'Precious Rose' was the first one. Then 'Realize', 'Even though we were so close', 'The wheel of dawn' … I knew these songs, I had always known it. These songs were those I listened to since the first cycle. I had flipped on. There was one unfinished song with the name of 'Door of Flames'. This had been, was, is and will always be my favorite song. All the lyrics and the melody were the same as I had remembered. It felt so … nostalgic. Long story short, I knew all the lyrics and all the songs she wrote were my favorite long before she has ever written it.
'Yula?', Cagalli asked.
'What?', I replied, then I remembered. 'Of course. You see, I'm talking about the song you've started. Actually, I know that song.'
'So … you've taken a peek inside my lyrics book? Oh you … !'
'Girl, I know those songs. I knew them long before you came up with them.'
'That can't be! These songs are originals-'
'Which doesn't mean they don't exist in other worlds.', I replied. Ha! 'But in this world, they're your originals, and I accept that fact.'
'Wait if you say you know those songs, do you know all of them?'
'Why yes! Precious Rose, Realize, Even though we were so close, The wheel of Dawn, even the Door of Flames!'
'You also know Door of Flames? No way!'
'Actually I don't know it, it's just one of my favorites. But don't think of abandoning that song, it's too good to be abandoned.'
'Well then, show me what you know about The Door of Flames.'
'Gladly', I replied as I then started to sing the lyrics. Cagalli seemed to be lost in the music, as did I. When I got to the end of this song, Cagalli looked at me, still in a daze. Seconds passed.
'Exactly like I had imagined! That very melody was haunting me every second!', she then exclaimed.
'It should, after all, it always was your favorite, your masterpiece every time … ', I murmured. She looked me with a puzzled look. Looked like she overheard it.
'I'm sorry, did you say something?', she asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
'No, no, just-' I was interrupted by an announcement, stating that we were landing. Kira, Stella and Cagalli fastened their seat belts. I looked out of the window. Onogoro was a very huge island; to think Cagalli has only come to know only a little of its geography … did she not like to become aware of Onogoro or …?
A few minutes later, we felt the plane hit the ground and clapped for the pilot. It was time for us to get off of the plane so we (excluding me) took out our seat belts, pulled out our hand carry and stated walking down all the way to the exit. "Thank you for choosing this flight, have a nice time", said the flight attendants. We thanked them for their cordial services and went on through the terminal, passed the immigration checkpoint, fetched our luggage at the luggage reclaim and went out of the airport, where Cagalli suddenly spotted … Mir, Shiho and Lacus! (Don't ask me why, I can read her mind) What were they doing here?! They'd never be here unless … they couldn't be …
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Kudo* seemed to be right in this case.
"Surprise, Cagalli!", Lacus smiled.
"Did you really think you'd get rid of us so easily?", Mir added.
"I hope it's alright for you if the three of us would join you?", Shiho politely asked.
"But how?", Cagalli was dumbfounded, though I had a theory about how they ended up here. I thought before Cagalli fell asleep, while she was crying, Kira and the rest were called to the Headmaster to hear the same news, except for Luna (that'd explain why Luna wasn't here, or she has forgotten about it), that they also got a scholarship and they'd be on the same flight as Cagalli. The Chairman must've asked them to keep quiet about it, that'd explain why we became aware of it only now. They then found Cagalli. So the three of them told Kira and Stella to lie about them (they left a long time ago) while Lacus, Mir and Shiho went home to prepare their bags and to surprise Cagalli. If my theory was right, Cag's siblings were good at acting, but then again that would explain why they didn't face Cagalli eye to eye or wouldn't start a conversation with her.
It turned out I was right. I took a look at Cagalli to find her suppressing her smile. 'Cagalli, there is no reason to hide your smile and pretend to be angry with them. Just don't try to lock up your emotions.', I told her, which made her relax and show that smile she was hiding.
kitto itsuka mieru hate made, egao no hana sakasetai …*
'Yula?', Cagalli called me. 'Come on, let's go!'
'Ok', I replied, then followed her. Outside the airport, there was a car waiting for the six (excluding me), no not a car, it was a limousine! We all stepped into the limousine, our luggage in the trunk. The doors were closed and the limo started to move. Cagalli was talking with her friends and laughing … I wished she could preserve her smile, no matter what the circumstances were. Or … was it my duty to preserve her smile, to shelter her from the hard reality? She had seen a timeline where everything went wrong … a corrupted timeline where time itself has stopped to exist. If I wasn't here, this world was going to have that future, regardless of whatever the humans were going to try to do. Not that they'd know about it, but it didn't mean everything would be alright only because I was there. For instance, if that information was to be given access to the public, a paradox would occur, leading this timeline to that nightmare Cagalli had been having before I came. If someone except my companions or special person should learn of my existence, the outcome would still be that future. I came here, partly to pull the strings, to play the puppet master. I also came here to retrieve what I had lost … but that wasn't the real reason, which I won't tell you now. But still, one of my most important objectives were to pull the strings to the right place … how was I going to do that?
I smiled weakly at myself as I leaned back. I closed my eyes and let the time pass together with the scenery outside the window as the car rushed n. At least now I could relax. It was peaceful … too peaceful to not be overlooked by my instincts as it was giving me a signal that this peace was just the calm before the storm. i had hoped my instincts were wrong.
Too bad it had been trained far too well to guess something wrong.
I felt shivers down my spine as the car came to a halt. We have arrived. I took a look out of the window. A silver-white metallic decoratively built fence and a gate of the same color with a plate on its top stating this was the entrance to the Archangel Destiny High, behind the gates a vast field of grass to be seen, though not the building itself … just how large was this 'Archangel Destiny High'?
While I was gawking at the sight, lost in my own little world, the doors were opened. I could only snap out of it when Lacus stepped off the limousine, thanking the man for holding the doors open. I stood up and got out of the car. After me (actually Cagalli, I was just beside her) Shiho and Stellar got off. Our luggage were with several other men in black suits and sunglasses.
"This way", said the man who had opened the door. The car had driven away the moment the luggage were out of it. The man walked towards the door and took out a card the moment he stopped right in front of the gate.
"Nothing's gonna -" Kira started as the gate opened all of a sudden.
"Kira, would your care to finish your sentence?", Cagalli replied.
"I think Kira wanted to say that nothing was not going to open.", Lacus countered. Kira eyed Lacus thankfully, while Lacus shrugged it off. We then went through the gate.
Again, this feeling. Someone was here … were they our allies? Or perhaps enemies? Whatever the case, they were strong, one could say that much. Though I hope they weren't enemies …
"Cagalli, what are you doing, standing there?", Shiho's voice cut through my thoughts. 'Yula, I was trying to talk to you for some time, you looked so unsure … are you alright?', Cagalli asked me.
'I'm fine, just nerves … ' Was I so obvious? 'You better go, or else Shiho will go nuts. I heard her call you.'
"Coming", Caglli called back as she started to run Oh well, time to go. I levitated form the ground and stated to fly, just without wings, just only to catch up with them.
We walked and I floated for one and a quarter hours! Right now, it was 7:15 a.m. of this world's time. Only then did we spot the school, which turned out to be .. bigger than a palace! If I had to approximate, I'd say this school alone would cover a quarter of Onogoro or even more! Together with its surrounding, it'd be two third of Onogoro or more! No wonder one wold know only little of its geography .The castle was made of three buildings: in the center a Japanese-style 7-story tower with two European castles next to it. The castles were built of three 'hallways' connecting 4 circular towers; the walls were white as marble; the roofs black-blue. This building looked just like … just like … this had to be a coincidence!
"There is no such thing as a coincidence in this world. There is only the inevitable."
Yuuko*. It felt like she was right. The similarity of this building with the fortress back in The World That Never Was had to have a reason, I was sure of it. That has to be found out. That was what I thought back then.
We were led into the right wing's front door. The structure inside the castles were also the same. The entrance hall had a staircase opposing the doors and two hallways leading to the towers were at the left and right corner. The huge staircase was split into two at the end of the room where they run round the entrance hall to meet above the front doors. Kira was led to the left side while we were led to the right. At the end of the hall, we climbed up the stairs. At the end, a hallway awaited us; but this time there were several doors at the hallways. We stopped at a door where it said: Cagalli Yula Attha, Shiho Hahnenfuss, Miriallia Haww … Stella Louisser Attha wasn't on the name plate. Cagalli looked around; Stella was right now being led to an another room. This was a little bit odd … And there was one more thing; on the name plate it said Cagalli Yula Attha … but Cagalli was just Cagalli Attha, why was there a Yula? Why my name? Was this inevitable? Did somebody actually know about … me? Cagalli seemed to be equally shocked to read this, the others probably didn't notice. Which I was glad of. The men then bowed and left us alone, in front of the doors. One of them gave us for the keys to this room.
The four of us went in. What awaited us was a small room with only a table; and there were four doors; excluding the door which we used to enter. On each door, one of our names were to be seen. Again, Cagalli Yula Attha.
"Woa, this is huge!", said Miriallia, "This is not a room anymore … more like an apartment in itself!"
"As expected form Archangel Destiny High. We are elites, after all." Shiho didn't look surprised. "Now don't look at me like that. I've expected nothing less, so why don't you go to your rooms for now? I suspect we'll have to leave in 10 minutes or at most in 15. You might need the time to do whatever you think is necessary for school."
"How can you be sure of that?", Lacus asked.
"Didn't you read the letters? They said we should be present when the school starts and that's in half an hour. We might be needing our schedules and that would take for about 15 minutes, give or take a few. So we will have to be ready in 10 - 15 minutes.", Shiho answered.
'Ok, I missed that part. Did you?', Cagalli asked me.
'Indeed I did', I answered. How could I overlook something so important?
'Whatever', Cagalli said and we went into our room. There were some shelves, a queen-sized bed, a rather big wardrobe made of wood, a desk and a computer. The walls were painted in a light shade of green, the carpet was white. Our luggage were beside the wardrobe, but we weren't in need of them at that moment, for Cagalli had everything she needed in her backpack. 'Ready, Yula?', she asked me. 'Of course', I replied.
Shiho was right. Two men were waiting for us at the joint room. Three of us were here, the only one missing was Lacus. Soon after, she also arrived. "Please follow us", said the men, leading us out of the room, the hallway, down the stairs all the way back to the entrance room, where Kira was waiting for us. He also seemed to be ready.
We exited the building and entered into the middle one; the Japanese castle. On our way, I felt a familiar presence and looked over to see a silver-haired, aqua-eyed guy with a tan blonde haired guy with purple eyes. Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman. I have met them before I came here, in my past lives. I had worked with them in my previous lives and I hoped I could rely on them this time. But it wasn't their presences I had felt while entering the gates of Archangel Destiny High. It was … somehow different. I assumed they noticed me (not Cagalli, me as Yula), for they both averted their eyes at my direction and smiled. I returned the gesture and went on. I would talk with them during recess, though I hope I'd be in the same class as them. When we entered the building, we were led 2 floors up to the principal. We all were standing in front of the door, where a man knocked. "Come in", a voice said. The director was … Reverend Malchio, both his eyes were still intact. "Good day and welcome to the Archangel Destiny High.", he greeted us,
"Likewise. Thank you for the scholarship.", Shiho replied for us.
"I have received your data, and therefore know what subjects you will want to take. You all will be transferred to the Class H2. I will call the president of H2.", He continued, "Before I forget, here is your schedule. Rules and regulations of this school will arrive to your room tonight."
He then made an announcement. Minutes later, I felt that presence. Again. I could feel shivers down my spine. It was coming near with time. Its power was overwhelming. Then the door opened and in came a boy with eyes of emerald green and hair of the night sky. The Unawakened Red Knight of Justice. I smirked. What I had to do here was to awaken him as one of our allies.
His name was … Athrun Zala. Let the games begin.
Kudo from the Detective Conan or Case Closed
kitto itsuka mieru hate made, egao no hana sakasetai ... (until I see it one day, I want the flower of your smile to bloom ...) the lyrics from Bloooomin' (Saki op 2)
Yuuko from xxxHolic
So … what do you think, guys? It was totally time for Athrun's debut. And see why I wrote the disclaimer the way I wrote it? Why Kudo and Yuuko and Saki? You'll find our with the story. This time, I'll be waiting until I receive 7 reviews in total. So please read and review! Reviews encourage me to write! Thanks for reading, guys (and girls automatically!) If there are any kind of mistakes or when you don't get the sense of the sentences, just tell me!
Yours,
Kaihou