Author's note: K, there's the next chapter. Sorry, things are getting a bit confusing here. I originally wrote this story as an independent work, not a fanfiction. So some of the stuff in here doesn't quite match or suit the gundam seed plot or characters. Especially the first part of this chapter, which may seem totally out of place. Bear with me, people, cos I couldn't think of a way to tweak it.
Askani16 – no worries, just glad you're reading! I know I've said it many times, but let me say it again: thanks for the support all this while! As for my style, I'm really not sure. Could be because the nature of this story is different, or it could be cos I've been reading too many thrillers and crime stories recently! Regardless, hope this style works too!
Moi – ok, originally, I didn't think of writing anything about baby Cagalli in this chappie, but your suggestion/ comment inspired me to add in something about her. So this chappie is for you! It was a little last-minute, so hope it's okay :D
Chapter 19:
The information churned out from the database had stated that she was thirty-seven years of age, unemployed. But when she opened the door, she could have been fifty.
"Who're you lookin' for?" She snorted haughtily, a hand on the doorknob and another resting on her hip, signifying her annoyance at the unexpected interruption. She was small and frail and theoretically, all bones and no flesh. Athrun thought he could circle both her wrists with just one hand. Her eyes were sunken and lifeless, and glared daggers at the strangers standing at her door.
"We're police officers, m'am," Athrun said, flashing his identity card at her. "We're here regarding your report about your lost son." She glared at him, eyes looking at him from under her eyelids. "Yeah," She drawled, raising her head to look at them face-on. "You found the little bastard?"
Athrun caught Shinn and Lunamaria exchanging glances in the corner of his eye. But he kept his attention on the squalid figure framed in the doorway. "No, m'am," He explained, "We're here to talk to you about him. We need some information. We'll like to come in and have a talk with you."
She snorted again and rolled those dull, lifeless eyes. "So you faggots ain't got him. So, there's nothin' to talk about." Her voice was raspy and her tone callous, like she didn't give a hoot about who was standing there, talking about her long lost son. Athrun placed a hand squarely on the door in case she tried to close it in their face. "Police business, m'am. I hope you understand."
She glared at him again, her bitter cold eyes raking over him, sizing him up, then she looked away and sauntered back into the living room. "Fine," She sneered, "but you ain't gettin' any drinks, 'cause I got none." Athrun glanced over at Luna who just shrugged and shook her head resignedly.
The apartment was an appalling apparition of its owner. It was so badly lit that Athrun and his team could barely see where they were going. There was a horrible stench hovering in the air, a stale, bitter sort of smell that made Athrun's nose twitch in protest and there was a faint ribbon of smoke that twirled slowly in the still, suffocating air. All the furniture was old and grimy and the floorboards creaked as they followed her into the living room.
She collapsed into a couch and swung her legs up to rest her ankles on a stack of cardboard boxes before picking up a cigarette that had been smothering in an ash tray. She settled back, smoking, her eyes watching her visitors sullenly.
There were no other chairs or couches available and evidently, she wasn't about to invite her guests to sit down somewhere. So Luna sidled onto a window ledge and Shinn propped himself against another stack of cardboard boxes while Athrun ended up leaning against the wall, all three facing their host.
"So," She waved the cigarette about in the air, "what d'you faggots want to know 'bout the boy?"
Luna shrugged. "How about you tell us the basics, like his particulars, his name, his height, his weight, his age, how he looks like?"
The woman dropped her head back onto the back of the couch and gazed at the ceiling. "The basics, huh? Well, he ain't got a name. I don't know 'bout his height and I ain't got a clue 'bout his weight. The last time I saw the boy, he was 'bout one year old. Can't remember how he looks like."
"What do you mean by 'he ain't got a name'?"
"Just that. He ain't got a name. I never gave him one and I don't know who his father is."
"When was the last time you saw your son?"
"Maybe twenty years ago."
"Twenty years? And you filed a missing person report what? Three years ago? What were you doing for the remaining seventeen years?"
"Nothin'. I didn't have the money anymore."
Shinn glanced at Athrun puzzled. He shrugged and turned back to the woman. "What money?"
She was tracing patterns in the air with a finger. "The money I got from selling the boy, of course." She snorted and took a pull at the cigarette in her left hand before exhaling slowly. The three agents exchanged a surprised glance. The fact that the woman had sold her son hadn't turned up in the database.
"You sold your son?"
She lolled against the back of the couch to look at them skeptically. "Why, of course," She said, irritation in her voice, as though this was a commonsensical notion that any normal person should comprehend, "I didn't want the boy. So why would I keep him if someone wanted to buy him?"
"Okay," Shinn frowned. He tapped his notebook on which he had been diligently copying all that had been said with his pen, trying to come to terms with the twist in information, "So you didn't want your son, and you sold him to someone else. Why then did you file a report and claimed him as a missing son?"
She blew out a puff of smoke. "Because I finished spendin' the money I got. Ain't got a cent left now. So I want to find the foolish bastard that bought the boy. He's a rich man. He can spare me some money. Or else I'll take the boy back." She waved her cigarette in the air again.
There was silence as the agents watched her take another puff of the cigarette. "Who did you sell him to?" Athrun questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Can't remember. Some rich guy. He just turned up at my doorstep and said he'll take the boy if I didn't want him. Paid me a million bucks. No reason for me to toss the deal into the thrash, right?"
Athrun thought that he could think of a hundred reasons for her to toss the deal into the thrash, but he kept his mouth shut.
The woman propped her elbow on the armrest of the couch and rested her chin on it, glaring at her visitors. "Any more questions, officer? 'Cause if you ain't got anythin' else, I got a client comin' for me in a while."
Athrun straightened up from his position and shook his head. "Nothing else, m'am. Thank you very much for your cooperation. We'll be in touch again." Shinn and Luna gathered their things and came to stand alongside their chief. The woman just waved her thin, bony hand at them. "Door's the other way. Close it when you leave." She sunk back into the couch and took a long drawl of the cigarette. Then she quirked an eye at them suspiciously. "Why're you here really? Is the boy in trouble?"
"There's an investigation going on at the moment, so I can't reveal too much information," Athrun shrugged, "What I can tell you is that, we've found some blood which traces back to your son."
That got the woman's attention. She sat up abruptly and stabbed the cigarette into the ash tray. "If that boy is about to be charged for murder or something, don't you dare come back to me. I've got no relations to him." She pointed a bony finger at them. "I've got nothin' to do with it. So get out of my house!"
It was her. Twinkling hazel eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair framing her sweet little face. An innocent smile, dimpled cheeks.
Again, she wrapped her chubby little arms around his thighs, gazing up at him, smiling. He crouched down till he was level with her and stared deep into her eyes. "Who are you?"
The little girl smiled, but said nothing and slipped her hand into his. She tugged at him and he had no choice but to stand up and follow her.
"Where are we going?"
There was no reply, only a sweet smile.
"Who are you?"
She began leading him down a flight of stairs, her little feet moving so fast that he had to skip the steps in order to catch up with her.
"Slow down."
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled, tugging eagerly at him. The flight of stairs was endless. They descended it rapidly, but still the steps stretched out before them. He watched the little girl's face, her blonde hair streaming out behind her. There was a beautiful innocence etched in that sweet smile. He was mesmerized by it and was surprised when she came to a sudden halt, her wide curious eyes gazing down at the ground searchingly.
"What's wrong?" He followed her gaze and found that they were standing at the edge of a pool. The water lapped at her toes and she wriggled them before bestowing that beautiful smile on him again. But before he could return it, she glanced down at her feet again and the smile dissipated quickly.
The water level was increasing, spilling over the edge and pooling around their bare feet. He took a step back and the little girl followed, letting go of his hand to hug his thigh. The curiosity in her hazel eyes had been replaced with fear and panic. The water surged towards them, clawing at their feet.
He felt frozen to the ground, unable to move with the water swirling around him, rising to his calves, then his knees. He stooped and carried the little girl, who clung to his shoulders. Tears ran down her cheeks as she cried soundlessly.
The water was freezing as it swallowed his legs, his torso and his shoulders and as if the ground had suddenly fallen away, he found himself struggling to stay afloat. The little girl was screaming her soundless screams now as the icy water churned around them. "It's alright," he whispered to her, "it's alright." She buried her face in the hollow of his neck as he treaded water, keeping both their heads above.
He felt it then – the rush of adrenalin and the sense of imminent danger – as fingers closed around his right ankle. With a hard jerk, a hand pulled him under. The freezing water swallowed him, its icy grip constricting his chest, squeezing the breath out of him until he couldn't breathe and he was gasping in mouthfuls of cold water. His fingers grasped blindly as they slipped away from the girl, and he felt her thrashing and snatching at his hands. Then he heard her scream for the first time, "Kira!"
He kicked out at the grip around his ankle, but it didn't loosen. The distance between him and the surface of the water lengthened as he sank further. He could see her hovering above, her head dunked underwater, blonde hair splayed out all around her little face, blindly stretching out towards him.
"Kira!"
For once in his life, he felt a primal fear as he watched her scream his name over and over again. And he felt then that he was going to die.
He opened his eyes, then hurriedly closed them as the harsh light overhead blinded him. He felt terrible - it was as if he might just fall into pieces. The splitting headache and the numbness in his limbs only served to make it worse.
"Kira!"
That voice again. Was it her?
"Kira!"
No… it didn't sound right.
He cracked open an eye. The light was still too bright, but at least it didn't hurt anymore. Then he opened his other eye and drew a shallow breath into his lungs. He was lying on his back, staring up at a ceiling of cement with fluorescent lights. Before he knew what was going on, voices started up everywhere.
"Kira! Are you alright?"
"Thank heavens you woke up. We thought those mad scientists gave you an overdose."
"We've been calling out to you for hours and you were unresponsive. We thought you'd gone over the deep end."
"Exactly. What the hell happened to you?"
"Why did they sedate you?"
"How'd you get on their bad side?"
"Kira, say something."
"Will you guys just shut up?" He snapped, or at least he tried to, but his voice came out from his parched lips as a croak. The influx of questions made his head ache and the fluorescent lights above him were starting to swim again.
He closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths and tried to pull himself together. His teammates had thankfully fallen silent. When he opened his eyes eventually, he was better able to get his bearings. He found himself lying on a leather bench, with an IV line in his right arm and a bag of who-knew-what hanging over his head. Carefully and slowly, he tilted his head to the right, trying not to stir up the nausea and dizziness again, and saw Auel Neider grinning at him. His pale blue-haired mate was lying on his side, his head propped up on his bent elbow. Over his shoulder, Sting was smiling across at him, sitting up on his leather bench with his legs dangling over the side.
"Are you feeling better now?"
Kira turned his head to the left, towards the source of the question and there she was, lying on the bench. Stellar smiled reassuringly at him and reached out a hand to hold his. He realized that she too had an IV line in her arm and when by glancing back at his other teammates, he confirmed that they were all hooked up to an IV line.
"Are you feeling better?" Stellar repeated, her amber eyes concerned. Kira took a deep breath and made sure that he wasn't going to throw up before he turned and returned the smile, "I'm fine."
"What happened just now?"
He frowned and tried to remember how he had ended up sedated. The throbbing in his head was distracting and didn't help one bit. But he eventually remembered the breakfast at Flay's and the streak of blonde hair that had notified him of Stellar's arrival. Rau wants to meet us, she had told him, as they walked towards the car side-by-side. They had driven to the Le Creuset Corporation and entered the underground facility, wherein the scientists had directed them to different labs. They had wired him with different gadgets and made him fight, just to test his reflexes. And of course, he had emerged victorious but the bastard had said something about improvement. And sedated him.
The son-of-a-bitch.
"I was in one of their experiments," Kira growled. He slammed his fist onto the leather upholstery.
"Is that why you look so terrible?" Auel winced.
Kira glanced over at his teammate. Aside from a bandage on his brow, there was no other visible evidence of their confrontation with Orga. Shit, those scientists were bastards, but those chemicals they had injected in them were working doubt, after tomorrow, Kira might not even look as terrible as he did now. I heal fast, that was what he had told Flay, and no shit, he really did heal fast.
"I'll live," he grinned and Auel returned it with a sly smirk. "So, how many did you take down this time?"
"Six in the infirmary. And one is on his way to the mortuary."
Auel let out a bark of laughter. "Oh man, and you're still standing. Which one?"
"The one with the buzz cut and the barrel chest. The bouncer guy."
"That guy's all brawl and no brains." Auel paused and a cheeky grin lit up his face, "you know, sometimes, I think our place is full of extremes. Those crazy guys in the lab coats – they're all brains and no brawl. And those security people we always use as punching bags – they're all brawl and no brains. Seriously, are we the only ones in-between – with both brains and brawl? What kind of fucked-up world are we living in?"
That earned him laughter from his teammates.
"So," Kira drawled when the laughter eventually died down. He lifted his hand and inspected the cannula thoughtfully before glancing up at the IV bag hanging above his head. "What're those assholes giving us now?"
"Don't know."
"It's a new drug. Performance-enhancing, or at least that's what the bastard said."
Improvement, that was what the scientist had told him before he had blacked out. Kira chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully, those mad scientists were pumping them full of chemicals that would improve their performance in the field. Then he frowned as he recalled what that buffoon had called him – a genetically-modified hybrid, a mutant freak.
"What's wrong, Kira?"
"Nothing," he turned and smiled at Stellar, whose worried expression immediately softened at his reassurance. "Nothing's wrong."
Author's note: That's all for this chapter. Don't forget to review review review. Appreciate all comments! Oh, and sorry, I realized that for the previous chapter, there was a typo: it should be Clyne Corporation, not Clyne Mansion. Sorry about that. Oh, and apologies, I'll be MIA for the next three days :( I've got a camp, so I'll be in the middle of the forest struggling to stay alive (help me!), so if you see an update over the weekend, it'll mean I survived! Otherwise…