Trials And Lies
Chapter 9
AN: This is the first Gundam Seed Fanfic by me and I deliberately wrote a Yzak & Shiho fanfic cause it is not so active... I also love this couple... And I don't own Gundam SEED or any of its counterparts... Too bad for me...
As per my previous attempt at this story, I will use the same format...
Italics represents a radio transmission from outside of the character's immediate location, as well as names of ships/mobile suits/vehicles.
Bold represents the time jumps or current location (but I plan to reduce the focus on this, I'm sure it disrupts reading flow, doggamnit!)...
"Hey, Ian! Did you see the latest issue of the magazine?" a few boys crowded in a corner of a busy classroom with a high school student named Ian at the center of attention, going through a magazine that would have left Lacus herself turn as red as a rose. The young man almost didn't want to reply as he was engrossed in the proportions of a certain model's heavenly body. With the Wednesday noon breeze gently sifting through his midnight-blue hair, there was no way he'd let distractions take him.
A few girls at the other side of the room just gave disgusted looks in response to how the male counterparts of their class were acting. Even if they are at the height of their sexual activeness, it is never acceptable if displayed in school or public. Or so they thought. Things went as normally as they usually would in one of the high schools within PLANTs. Even if there was a war waging, studies are still priority one!
"...What have we here?..." a deep male voice immediately broke the circle of young male hyenas, effectively dissolving their daily 'ritual'.
"Ah-! Wait! It's not-!"
"Detention! All of you!"
To the students...the discipline master had always been a much more scary evil than that from a nuclear warhead...
...Until now...
ZAFT headquarters was slowly finding peace and solace a few weeks after the critical hit they took from the battle to reclaim the Lunar bases from Radicalist factions. After much talks and conferences between all three nations, they found themselves significantly weakened after the loss. ZAFT had its fighting capacity down to a measly one-third, while Orb Union and the Earth Atlantic Federation lost close to half of their total armada.
Hubris.
That was ZAFT's greatest mistake. Launching all they had without weakening the enemy before hitting, nor knowing its full potential. Most tacticians say that a battle is mostly won through the use of information and knowledge against the enemy. With the souls of more than half a hundred taken away, ZAFT learned its lesson. Extending its defense net, abandoning all missions of peacekeeping and relief on Earth as well as PLANTs with full focus on defense.
What they didn't learn from the experience, was how futile it was when the enemy is already on the inside.
"General, I'm getting a reading of an unauthorized frequency from Decemberius colony sir," a techie in the usual green ZAFT uniform turned to his superior. Within that dark hall of consoles and monitors that was manned to the last by experienced hackers from PLANTs, the bespectacled soldier could see his superior furrow his brow.
"Isolate that signal."
"Yes, sir," as soon as the seasoned General gave the order, the tech officer started mashing on his keyboard. At first the hall was filled with static, then came an audio-only signal between different sources. ZAFT's network defense unit remained silent as they listened in.
"Hotel Quebec, Alpha Lima has activated Papa-Alpha-Lima. We're in place, and ready."
"Clear skies from Zone Delta to the Capital, Hotel Quebec."
"Delta One-Seven, already on our way out."
"I want someone to triangulate these chatter and narrow it down now!" the General commanded, his husky voice carrying not only influence but also power, "Tell the 3rd Fleet to mobilize to Decemberius immediately!"
"Hotel Quebec Actual copies all. We're in the clear. Activate the package once you're in minimal safe distance."
"Understood. Switch off, Librarians. We're already at the home stretch."
"General! Message from the orbital satellites! Ra-radiation flaring over Decemberius!"
"A nuke!?"
"Oh my God..."
"Condition Red has been issued! Repeat, Condition Red issued! Nuclear warheads activated on Decemberius 10 colony! All personnel, report to your stations!"
Without time wasted, Yzak Joule quickly sped down the corridors towards the pilots' ready room after cursing loudly, with the rest of the crew busy heading to their stations.
The Commander of the Voltaire was having an uneasy feeling in his stomach, his heart thumping loudly against his rib-cage. A nuclear attack so close to home was too much especially after the losses ZAFT suffered. He quietly went through his data-pad in his locker room.
"Decemberius 9, 10 and 11 lost. Commence evacuation of Decemberius 12? That's it?"
Yzak frowned, noticing that the report didn't say anything about any enemies. He stuffed the data-pad back into the locker as he changed, countless thoughts running through his mind. As soon as he was finished putting on the suit, Dearka came speeding around the corner with a datapad.
"Yzak! Look at this, its not just PLANTs that's attacked. Its everywhere," Yzak looked at the reports as they walked towards the briefing room of the Voltaire, "I don't know, but this monsters are really bringing out the big guns. I'm not even sure if we can win this."
"Commander, are the Radicals on the move?" Shiho caught up to them, noticing Yzak's face furrowed into a frown that spells doomsday."
"EAF, Orb, Eurasian...everyone is being attacked. What the hell are we facing, another LOGOS?" Yzak slammed his fist against the wall as he read the staggering numbers of dead and displaced, "God damn it. Don't spread this around, Dearka. We need to focus on evacuating PLANTs."
Dearka nodded obediently before running off towards the bridge, while Shiho just stood there with disbelief on her face.
"My broth-...Conrad...he won't stand for this...I-"
"Shiho, focus! I need you in the game. Innocent children and people need us. You're on evacuation detail. Get them out of there, Lieutenant," Yzak gave a pat on her shoulder before giving her a reassuring smile, to which Shiho nodded in return with a fresh focused look in her eyes.
"Sir!"
There was no turning back now. Crap has really hit the fan and everyone was getting pieces of it right in their faces. Cagalli Yula Athha took a deep breath as she limbered up before the start of the national emergency broadcast. Apparently, PLANTs wasn't the only one that was hit by an underhanded attack. Barely an hour after the nuclear activation that sent a colony to oblivion, Orb's major city centers were unwillingly welcoming a rain of artillery shells as well as a host of Mobile Suits.
"Don't worry, Cagalli," the pilot of the Infinite Justice walked up to Cagalli's side, giving a gentle pat on her shoulder before holding her hand, "Be honest with your country. Just don't tell them what they don't need to know."
The blonde Orb Representative gave a nervous look to her confidant, "I shouldn't be here you know," and she meant it. She'd rather be out there, bringing the fight to the terrorists for killing hundreds of the people she had sworn to protect.
Athrun just shook his head in response, "We have to keep this under control, Cagalli. We cannot let them know that Lacus had something to do with these attacks. Everything will go back to the fires of war."
Cagalli furrowed her eyebrow at Athrun's revelation. The truth that was, to be sure. Communications between herself and Lacus aboard the Nocturnal Delta had already confirmed that the simultaneous attacks all around the globe as well as PLANTs were the schemes of the Visotoniki, who work under the guise called Librarian Works after its real leader, Prayer Reverie, was at the receiving end of Conrad's smoking gun. Time for idle chatter was over though, as Cagalli quietly looked at the rolling camera in front of her, feeling the eyes of thousands burning deep into her soul.
"Fellow Orb citizens..." the fiery blonde, now meek and nervous against the eyes of the public paused, "...it is...with a heavy heart for me to inform you that our nation was under attack by a terrorist organization called the 'Librarian Works'. Reports by the Orb Civil Defense state major structural damage was sustained all over city centers and casualties are now over a hundred with-!"
"This is turning out to be a hopeless fight on our end, Miss Clyne. We're even getting reports of Clyne Faction's top secret files leaking into the world net," Karmen spoke out in the middle of the condition that was layed out by Librarian Works, "ZAFT is initiating the faction's purge as we speak."
Lacus Clyne bit her bottom lip as she read the report in her shivering hands. She was enraged by Conrad's underhanded play. The Clyne Faction...her faction, her family...is finally nearing its end. Sure it's riddled with corruption especially after Project VISOTONIKI, but they're still a part of her. They were still someone she could depend on when she needed to in the past. But before she could further delve herself in her own anger, the screen of the bridge flickered on.
"Lacus! There was an attack on Orb!" Kira came floating into the bridge in a panic from the elevator in his seasoned pilot suit, his face carrying a dangerous frown.
"Karmen, please turn the volume up," Lacus Clyne politely requested of the now Commander of the Nocturnal Delta after the ship picked up the signal for Orb's emergency broadcast. The atmosphere was tense and devoid of happy emotions, for they were the few who knew what was truly happening in the world.
"...called the 'Librarian Works'. Reports by the Orb Civil Defense state major structural damage was sustained all over city centers and casualties are now over a hundred with-!"
"...Bzzt!..." a sudden static took over the screen, before it displayed a logo consisting of a Ancient Greek structure with a banner spelled 'LIBRARIAN' towering over it and a gold ribbon of mathematical algorithms wrapping around the structure itself. Cagalli's broadcast was put to an immediate halt before the nation could listen to her finish her message.
"What's going on?" Kira's voice penetrated the silence of the bridge.
"It's Conrad," Karmen's calm voice replied.
"...Fellow PLANTs, Orb and EAF citizens, not forgetting the other unions. We are known as Librarian Works..."
The occupants of the ship's worst fears were already realized the moment a nuclear warhead was set off on PLANTs. Now, Lacus knows just as much as the next person what the Librarian Works, or rather, Conrad wants from them. The Freedom and Kira himself, and control over the whole world as usual. They listened on to Librarian Works going on about how the young leadership in both PLANTs and Orb was ineffective and immature, with the deaths of its people as proof of the incompetency. After much sermonizing, the masked voice finally got to the meat of the meal.
"...This is our ultimatum to all nations of Earth and PLANTs. Lacus Clyne, along with Kira Yamato and his Strike Freedom are alive out there somewhere, despite what lies the Orb Representative has been feeding you. Deliver them to us, or these attacks WILL intensify until nothing is left. You have 72 hours to comply."
The screen went blank, before resuming the broadcast over at Orb Union, showing an empty podium where Cagalli was no longer present. Lacus was almost speechless as she heard the last few sentences. The beginning of the end was already nearing for the former leaders of two great nations. A storm was coming, and not even Karmen and her superior augmented soldiers of Voskhod-3 within the Nocturnal Delta are enough to stop it from swallowing Lacus Clyne and her companions.
"I can't turn in Lacus to them. But...we can't do anything for now against them. Karmen, set a course for the Decemberius colony. ZAFT is starting a civilian evacuation there," Kira quietly commanded as he looked down on a navigational hologram, his eyes fixed on the fleet that was present there. If by any luck that Yzak Joule and his crew are untouched by the Visotoniki, they might have a small slim chance to turn things around.
"C-Commander, that's suicidal. The Librarians control ZAFT right now. If we make a wrong-!" Lacus immediately cut the noirette Commander's over-caution, giving a solemn look past her pink hair.
"We can't leave the civilians to fend for themselves, Karmen," the princess claimed with a soothing voice, "If anything were to go wrong, we have the Hierarch and the Freedom to protect us. Just like Commander Hayabusa, Voskhod-3 will not hide itself away while others suffer."
Lacus watched, feeling regretful for bringing up the name of the late soldier into the conversation. Karmen Valkyrie bowed her head in defeat as she squeezed the dog-tags in her hand tightly, before giving her orders, "Alright, Miss Clyne. Nocturnal Delta, this is Commander Valkyrie. We are Code-253 into Decemberius 12's sphere. All hands to defensive stations."
...70 hours till Ultimatum Deadline...
"This is Rescue Craft AH-33 to the Voltaire, we're currently loading the last batch of civilians from Decemberius 12, Area 3. Please dispatch escort to our location, over," Shiho Hahnenfuss released a tensioned sigh adjusted her red uniform, her co-pilot busy plotting their exit route at her side.
"Roger that, AH-33. We'll dispatch a squad to you. Maintain—Bzz!" came the reply before it went into static.
"Voltaire? Voltaire, do you read? What happened, Edward?" the young brunette looked at her co-pilot who was fidgety and clueless, before a ZAFT soldier entered the cockpit cabin.
"Alright, Lieutenant! We got the last of them, ready when you are!"
Shiho Hahnenfuss nodded and thanked him with a small smile on her face, tapping buttons on the shuttle controls as the engines of the transport fired up.
"Lieutenant...the escorts aren't here yet-!" Edward was cut off when a new voice came into the channel, not to mention the radar on the shuttle going off at an alarming rate as red hostile dots filled the majority of the navigational panel. Enemies were closing in on them from all sides.
"Shuttle AH-33. Power down your engines, Shiho," a deep male voice came into Shiho's earpiece, causing her to frown with mixed feelings, "Or I will use force."
Usually Shiho wouldn't have bowed against a threat from the enemy but as the voice of her brother called out to her, she couldn't resist. There was so many things to ask, and to say. After the encounter on Lunar Base ruins with her brother, all she could think about was what she could've said to him. Now that she has the chance to see him again, the powers of the shuttle's engines gradually powered down in the middle of the green grassland.
"Edward...take the controls and return to the Voltaire," she ordered her subordinate as she took off her earpiece, "I have something I need to do."
"Y-Yes, Ma'am..."
The wind was cooling while the rays of the sun were just the right temperature to put Shiho at ease. But only barely as she slowly exited the idle shuttle. She loved how the scenery looked within the colony, it had been a long, long time since she stepped foot in her home. And just like old times, there he was... Conrad. Standing quietly by a tree as the canopy of the plant sheltered his lightly tanned skin from the light of the sun.
Shiho was hesitant as she walked down the meadow, the lush green grass crunching beneath her boots as she tucked her hair back against the breeze. As she looked up, her eyes locked onto his. Those soft green eyes and that pale adorable face. Flashes of her childhood memories played within Shiho's head as her brother took a step closer to her. It was the same case when Reiatsuma approached her in the sewer's back on Earth. A traitor, a killer. But this time, she didn't dare to pull a gun at the person before her.
"Conrad..." she muttered out under her breath, as if afraid of saying his name out loud. She was already in a nightmare wondering if her brother was subjected to physical augmentation but was scared if she'd be plunged into a more horrid situation if she did or say something that she would regret. His brown hair swayed gently in the cool wind as he tilted his head at her.
"Shiho? You look like you've seen a ghost," her brother's voice penetrated deep into her soul as she looked at him with hesitant eyes. He stood there with a warm smile on his pale face, not even fazed by the things he had done the past few years. Nor the incident where he threatened his sister by sending a white-hot bullet past her hair.
"..."
"So...do I get a hug like the last time I came home?" Shiho's heart pounded hard as she heard his question. It's been so long. She always held great admiration and love for her brother. But he was not as he was long ago, or at least she thought so. The feeling of her wanting to be in his brotherly warmth is undeniable, but she held herself back as she stepped closer to her long-lost family, looking straight into his eyes as if searching.
"What happened? I...I've been looking for you for so long... Ever since-!"
Her brother didn't even wait for her to finish, but instead Conrad moved himself and wrapped his strong arms around her frail figure. Shiho resisted at first as she felt a warm trail of tears making its way down her face. But after a few seconds, she immediately caved in, burying her face into Conrad's chest. This feeling wasn't the same with Yzak. She knew it was taboo and wrong to feel that way towards a family member...but it felt much more better than when Yzak Joule held her close.
It held so much warmth, radiating through her body. A nostalgic feeling that she had longed for such a long time as he pressed himself against her, his tactical battle gear poking Shiho's body at different points, and even thought it felt uncomfortable, she hesitantly returned the hug gently.
"It's okay, Shiho. I'm here," Conrad softly assured her as he stroked her head gently.
"Why-..."
"You know I would never hurt you, dear sister," Shiho could feel his warm breath against her face as he lifted it towards his with a tender touch, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything-!"
Shiho did want to believe that her brother was the same one before he disappeared prior to the war. But everything was just too much for her. She needed to take it in slowly, and there was no time. So instead, she took the harder, but quicker way out by remaining strong and moving on. Her brother was dead...or so that was what she told herself as she tore away from Conrad.
"Y-...you're not my brother. Conrad...died a long time ago," her voice trembled as she said these words, and anyone around her would instantly know that she was trying extremely hard to lie to herself. Her brother was right in front of her.
"I understand how you feel, Shiho-!" Conrad wanted to explain himself, his voice desperate. That desperation...Shiho thought to herself as she finally lost it. That same desperation that time after time would try to explain his absence from home so she would live a good life. She didn't care anymore if this was her brother or not. He looks...and sounds the same. And that was more than what Shiho could ever wish for from God, or whatever power that was out there.
"Do you? After that day...you didn't even write...or returned my calls," Shiho got pissed and happy, "Do you really know how that feels when they told me you died out there?"
"Shiho, I-!"
"You were more busy with the war rather than taking care of me," her voice was shaky as she wiped the tear streaks off her face, putting up a strong front as if it was a mask, "You being in ZAFT...didn't make me happy at all. I was lonely."
"I'm not ZAFT anymore, Shiho...and...I regret what I did to you. I love you...very much..."
At this statement, Shiho felt the inside of her stomach take a tumble and her chest tightening, causing her to unconsciously clasped her hand and clenched them together. All her thoughts were on her brother while Yzak took a backseat. Somehow she felt happy at his suggestion to follow him. It was...tempting. The sole reason she enlisted into ZAFT was to find her brother after all. And now that he was here...there was not much more ZAFT could offer her. Shiho quietly bowed her head.
"..."
"Shiho...come with me."
"I-!..."
Before she could answer, a standard green ZAKU crash landed down the meadows of the Decemberius colony causing a tremor that knocked Shiho against her brother as she hung onto his shoulder. As the ZAKU laid lifelessly, a figure jumped out from the cockpit and landed near Shiho and Conrad. The said person pointed a handgun to Conrad, her face distorted with anger and hatred. Shiho was confused, even her brother's expression changed. It was like a duel between two different beings now.
"Conrad! You viper!"
"Huh..." Conrad quickly moved to shield Shiho from the end of the gun barrel, "Paying me a little visit, Karmen?"
"You killed Rei... How could you! To your own-!" Karmen was cut short as two gunshots tore into the atmosphere, a split second before the same number of bullets punctured deep into her chest and leg sending her on her back, Conrad's hand gripping a smoking gun. Shiho watched in amazement, as she didn't even catch when he drew the weapon. Karmen Valkyrie grunted as she tried hard to breath, clutching the painful wound on her chest with her hand while thick red blood oozed profusely through the slips of her fingers.
"If I remembered correctly, it was Rei who triggered the nuke himself on the Moon," Conrad's low voice stated as the gun slipped back into its holster around his chest, "He thought he stopped me there. But that place was a expendable just like everything else scums of the universe own. As a former member of Visotoniki, I expected more from him. Even more so when he's the Commander of sub-unit Voskhod 3."
"C-Conrad!" Karmen started dragging herself painfully towards the two over the tall sharp blades of the grass, but Conrad ignored her and turned to his sister.
"I'm sorry about that Shiho. Wait here."
"Brother..."
"Y-You bastard," Karmen coughed painfully as her blood began dribbling down her pale lips, "H-he died saving all those people-!"
Conrad didn't let her finish, planting his heavy boots on Karmen's head as he rubbed her face down against the dirt. Equipping his handgun, Conrad this time aimed at her head. Shiho watched horrendously as she grabbed hold of her brother's arm out of panic. Shiho was a soldier, but under it all she was still human. She didn't know what happened to turn her brother into such a cold person in battle, but she was going to stop it from further occurring, to stop killing needlessly.
"Conrad, no! She's...fatally wounded as it is. Lets just leave this place," Shiho sounded desperate as she looked at her brother, who returned her a relieved look and a gentle smile. Not only did Shiho felt bad about leaving ZAFT and PLANTs forever without telling everyone at home anything. But she kept telling herself that a comrades are always available, but a brother lost...is forever gone. So she made her decision, forsaking the relationship that she had built with everyone around her especially Yzak.
"This is Charlie-1. I need a lift," Conrad spoke into his radio as they walked towards a house in the distance, leaving the gravely wounded Karmen behind as she choked on her own blood and fight for her life before releasing a pained outcry that reminded Shiho of a wolf's howl in the night.
The platinum blonde was pissed off. He grabbed the collar of Shiho's co-pilot roughly while giving him a deathly glare. As expected, Edward just caved in to the pressure and started sweating profusely, swearing to tell anything and everything he knew even though he was just doing his job as told. As soon as Yzak heard that Shiho was left behind in the deserted Decemberius colony, Yzak flipped in rage.
"So let me get this straight, you left your officer behind just so you could save yourself huh?" the young Commander questioned the newbie with a harsh tone in front of the whole crew within the Voltaire's busy hangar.
"N-no! I would never-! She was the one who gave me the order to get the civilians to safety," Edward confessed as he looked fearfully at his Commander. Yzak was doubtful. What did Shiho mean by that if Edward was telling the truth? What could be more important than preventing the loss of lives?
"Damn it. We can't let this go," Yzak said as he released Edward, who scuttled off in fear.
"I already sent a message to the communications unit to look out for her just in case," Dearka came around in his pilot suit, his face stricken with worry and concern not only for the missing Shiho, but also at Yzak who was more jumpy than usual. Yzak quietly thought to himself as he thanked his best friend. Somehow...something didn't sit right with how Shiho disappeared so willingly. He wondered to himself if Conrad was involved, cause if he was, that would explain Shiho's disappearance...as well as the nuclear attack.
"Oh and one more thing, Yzak. There's an encrypted hail from the Nocturnal Delta."
"They're here? Are they crazy!?"
...65 hours till Ultimatum Deadline...
"It's as bad as you see, Yzak. We barely have enough space to accommodate these people," Lacus Clyne worriedly said as Yzak and herself, along with Dearka and Kira looked out the window of the corridor and into the hangar of the Nocturnal Delta. A large group of civilians were corralled in the hangar, all barely provided with supplies to live off on.
"These were the people we rescued from the Lunar Base a few weeks ago. Apparently, they were a part of a human trafficking ring under one of the Librarian's trade market," Kira said with a heavy voice. Even he couldn't believe things got this out of hand. At first when he entered the world of the battlefield, all he was worried about was his opponent. Now it was more than that.
Because the supplies were given out to the refugees of the smuggling ring, Kira and Lacus had yet to eat anything for the past few days, while the super-soldiers of Voskhod 3 didn't even touch anything edible ever since the rescue a few weeks ago. They were desperate and in need of rations as soon as they possibly can. Even the reserve fuel for the Nocturnal Delta was fast depleting.
"I don't really worry about ourselves and the Nocturnal Delta, Yzak. But please, I need you to find a place for these people," the songstress said weakly, her voice slightly parched as her shaky cerulean eyes begged for aid from the silver-haired Commander, who placed a hand on his chin as he thought things over. Even at a state where she could be killed at any time, Kira finds it extremely admirable Lacus is putting others before herself.
"Hmm...I can get them into the refugee camps in PLANTs."
"You mean like the one we were at last time, Yzak? It could work," Dearka reminded Yzak of the time they had to serve soup to the refugees run by Commander Alice's War Relief Division.
Yzak nodded as he turned back to the ground, a thought tugging at him, "Are these the same ones from the base that got wiped off the face of the Moon by a nuke?"
Feeling hesitant to reply, Kira gave Yzak a weak nod while Lacus just looked away with a dismayed expression. Kira didn't feel comfortable talking about it, especially when the rest of the Nocturnal's crew was still bothered by the loss. But they had no point in hiding the truth either. Dearka picked up on the heavy atmosphere, and was about to question what had happened but was interrupted.
"Miss Clyne, Commander Valkyrie is back...and gravely wounded, Ma'am," came a soldier before Dearka and Yzak could get an answer, trailing behind him a heavily bandaged Karmen on a wheelchair with her face in deep hatred, her shaky eyes hidden behind her bangs.
"Karmen...what happened?"
Voskhod-3's Commander looked away as she tried hiding the signs of anger on her face, "Conrad...he...got away, and abducted Shiho. She's in your unit Commander Joule."
"What!?" Yzak cried out as he learned the truth. Dearka held Yzak back, who was raising his voice unconsciously.
"He knows about Yzak too, Lacus. Damn it!" Kira cursed as his fist hit the reinforced glass of the window. Knowing Conrad, he'll probably use Shiho as a bargaining chip to haul in Yzak's support forcefully, and cutting Lacus' chances of getting back at him since Yzak is one of the few who'd willingly work alongside Lacus. Yzak was confused. What bargaining chip?
The look on his face says it all. He was unaware of Librarian Work's Ultimatum.
"Conrad wants me and Lacus along with the Freedom. In exchange, they won't continue hostilities."
Yzak was pissed off. He already knows what a true answer would be. For the sake of the lives at stake, Kira and Lacus MUST turn themselves in. This wasn't about Shiho alone any longer. This was bigger than the war itself.
"I cannot support you hiding like this, Lacus," Yzak said outloud as he turned away, "I will get these civilians inside...but...you will prevent more chaos if you make the decision I'm asking you to make right now."
"Yzak...you can't be-!"
"Innocent lives are at stake, damnit! Turn yourselves in, or I will drag you two there myself!"
It was like a sinking ship for both Lacus and Kira. Every where they go, all the hatches were closing and they can't seem to find a way out as the water got higher and higher. One day, both of them just might end up drowning. The specialists of Lacus' unit raised their guns at Yzak's, and before anyone knew it, both sides were at a standstill.
"Wait...we still have time..." Karmen softly said amid the argument as she stood up slowly, wincing as she felt pain sear through her chest..
...50 hours till Ultimatum Deadline...
Heavy rain plagued down on the abandoned bunker by the cliffs as strong winds blew over Orb Union's beach-side. The weather fitted Cagalli's feelings perfectly. Heavy, dark and unforgiving. After the international broadcast by the Librarian Works and its ultimatum, Cagalli was being hunted down like a prized fox by the military as soon as the ministry of the Orb Union found her unsuitable for leadership. She was neck-deep in trouble.
"I can't take it anymore, Athrun," the blonde confessed as she buried her head into her knees, sitting restlessly on the cold floor with her back against the wall. There was nothing else she could do. She could feel the same feeling of hopelessness take her again just like the time after her father died...only, this was worse. She had nowhere to turn to, with no quarter given by the soldiers and police that were hunting her down.
Athrun quietly sat beside her as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to himself, "Be strong, Cagalli. I'm sure Lacus and Kira are doing something about it. We have to get to the Archangel so we can meet up with them. Until then, hang on."
The female blonde was surprised at how convincing Athrun's words were. But to her, they were just words. They were both in a desperate situation and words alone cannot help them make things better, as fate was against them. Even the Archangel was away on a mission in space when Orb was attacked, and it would take a while before they reach Orb.
"You know...I'm glad you're with me...Athrun," Cagalli confessed as she laid her head on his shoulder, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Its the same for me too," the blue haired Coordinator nudged her, holding her hands tightly as the cold of the bunker slowly gnawed into their bones, "Remember back during the Second War? I was so stupid to believe the Chairman's lies. Only you were there to save me, Cagalli."
"Pssh...you were like lovestruck with that guy or something," she joked as she snuggled close to him, "I just didn't want you to be a homosexual and fall in love with him. I'd be devastated if I lost to someone like that."
Athrun chuckled heartily from Cagalli's joke, "Huh...coming from someone who was going to marry someone like-," the war hero was cut short as Cagalli raised her face in a frown. Athrun just gave a nervous smile as he looked away.
"No please! Finish what you were about to say!" she demanded as she squeezed his arms tightly amidst the snuggle, daring him to do so.
"W-well! I forgot who he was actually! You know what, I actually forgot it ever happened!"
Cagalli laughed with full force as she looked at Athrun's desperate face, his cheeks turning red as he laughed along with his beloved. There was no mistake that having Athrun by her side was the best thing that ever happened to her. Sure, initially she wanted him to be away so she could focus her work. But she quickly found that her work and Athrun had to go hand-in-hand or she'll never work at all.
Such feelings was what made her sufferings seem so worth it, even now. But before she could finish her thoughts as she snuggled up to him, a lonesome can grenade came rolling into the corner of the room.
They were discovered...
AN: Thanks again for reading this fanfic! Also, I apologize if this chapter is abit confusing(?), especially at the part where the PLANTs got nuked. Just to clear it up, here's the summary.
Anyways! Thanks to Voltage Axe(Voltage Axe is an angel among man LOL so go read his fics!) and Rouge-Impulstice1(and to you Rouge-Impulstice1, I dedicate the last scene of this chapter to you since you kinda like AsuCaga? LOL) for providing me the neverending support! Also thanks to alphariuslau, amwick, h0neyxx and Peach Diva for favouriting/following my story! Final gratitude goes to the rest who took their time to visit and read! Any suggestions on how to improve the fic, just give me a PM! Thanks!