Chapter 10
I'm trying to upload faster these days. Sorry for being a little late though.
Cagalli burged in through the doors of the military hospital. It was so large that she didin't know where to look for Athrun.
She ran to the reception.
"Excuse me?, may I please know where Admiral Zala has been admitted, he was brought here a few minutes ago?", Cagalli asked in between her heavy breaths.
The nurse at the reception just looked at her with wide shocked eyes.
She couldn't understand why someone would leave their home in a bath robe.
A lot of the other people in the hospital's main reception area were also staring at her in shock.
"Uh...let me check, may I have his full name please?", the nurse asked.
"Athrun Zala".
The nurse typed a few words on the keyboard of the reception computer.
"It says here that they took him to the ER, the emergency department, my assistant will escort you there".
"Okay, thank you".
"But first, I need to write down your name and your relation to the patient, ma'am".
"I'm Cagalli Yula Attha, he is my...friend".
She knew that was the only appropriate thing to say.
"Cagalli Yula...Attha?!!", the nurse was shocked.
Everyone in Orb was used to seeing the Representative in her uniform and of course it was bound for someone to not notice her when she was casual clothes...much less in a bathrobe.
"Cagalli Yula...Attha? as in Representative Attha?!", she gasped, "Oh my Haumea, I'm so sorry for questioning you Lady Cagalli, you may go, my assistant will escort you".
"Uh...thank you".
As they walked from hallway to hallway, she saw a lot of people staring at her but she couldn't care less anyway.
They finally got to the ER and Cagalli ran to Kira who was sitting in one of the chairs.
"Kira".
"Cagalli".
The twins hugged and then let go of each other.
"How's Athrun?, What happened to him?, Has the doctor said anything yet?", Cagalli asked hurriedly.
"The doctors are still examining him", Kira said, "why are you wearing a...bath robe?".
"I was just out of the shower when Myrna came to tell me about what happened, so I didn't find the time to change".
"I understand", Kira said with empathy.
He actually understood why his little sister didn't even care to change her clothes. He knew how much she loved Athrun.
He had the first hand experience when Athrun and Meyrin were brought to the Archangel infirmary during the second war.
Cagalli had been busy planning for the next battle but as soon as she heard that Athrun had been injured, she went to his side and cried the whole time.
So Kira understood why she was like that.
"What happened? How did this happen to him?", Cagalli asked desperately.
"I don't know how this happened but he collapsed after coming from the press conference and when I tried to help him stand up, he started vomiting blood...and his nose was bleeding too".
"Oh my...", Cagalli gasped weakly out of devastation.
The doctor came out half an hour later.
"Athrun Zala's family?", he announced.
"We're here", Kira said and they both moved closer to the doctor.
"It is clear that he has been poisoned, although we have not yet intentified the name of the poison...some of his internal organs have been affected by the poison, that's why he was vomiting blood, especially his liver has been torn to pieces-", the doctor said.
"Oh my gosh", Cagalli said in shock and pain.
"So we need to operate on him and fix the internal bleeding and damaged organs...right now, we need Representative Attha to sign a document to allow us to operate on him...because according to our records, she is the only one that he listed listed as his family and next of kin. So do you mind contacting her for us?", the doctor said.
"I'm right here", Cagalli said, wondering why he hadn't noticed her.
"Oh, Representative Attha, I'm sorry I hadn't noticed you in that...", the doctor didn't finish his statement because of the look Kira had given him.
It was a silent 'please don't bother her' because he knew that the last thing his sister needed right now was small talk while Athrun was on the verge of life and death.
"Anyway, please follow me", the doctor said.
Cagalli follwed him to his office and she signed all the documents to allow them to operate on Athrun.
"Doctor, please tell me the truth, is he going to be okay?", Cagalli desperatly asked.
"I'm not going to lie...his condition is very critical, what we have told you about his organs being damaged is probably only a small fraction to his injuries...we can't really see the full extent of his injuries until we operate on him", the doctor said, "I just urge you to pray...pray really hard Representative because this is the worst case of poisoning I've ever seen in my 43 years as a doctor...excuse me, we need to get your friend to the operating room now", the doctor ran off after that.
Cagalli felt weak in the knees.
She felt like she was in some kind of nightmare and desperately wished that she could wake up from it.
One moment she was minding her own business, concentrating on being the best leader she can and the next moment they fight and now she was about to lose him forever.
She sat on the floor hopelessly and started crying.
Kira entered the doctor's office a few minutes later and found Cagalli sitting on the floor, crying her eyes out.
"Cagalli", Kira said kneeling in front of him, "You'll get a cold if you stay on the floor, come on, let's go back to the waiting room".
"I shouldn't have left him", Cagalli said through her sobs, "Maybe this wouldn't have happened".
"No, no, Cagalli, don't blame yourself for something that isn't your fault", Kira said lifting her to stand on her feet.
"If he dies I don't know how I'm gonna live without him", She said while still crying her eyes out.
"Shh, hey, he is gonna be okay, we just need to have faith", Kira said.
He gave her a warm smile and tried to calm her down with his words although he himself was scared to death.
He had never been afraid for Athrun's life like in that moment.
"Come on, let's go sit in the waiting room", Kira said.
"No", Cagalli wiped off her tears, "I want to go wait outside the operating room, I need to see him".
"Alright, I'll ask for permission to go there but for now, you need to sit somewhere warm".
Kira led Cagalli to the chairs in the hallway and went to seek permission for them to be in the operating ward.
"Have you heard from Kira yet?", Caridad asked her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
"Yes, I spoke to him this afternoon, he called using Athrun's phone", Lacus said.
"I get so worried everytime he goes back into the city", Caridad said.
"Me too, but I have faith in him. He can protect himself".
"Me too, but being strong and capable of protecting yourself doesn't make you immune to getting hurt, dear".
"Don't worry, Kira will be fine, I pray for him everyday".
"How do you pray?", Caridad asked furrowing her eyebrows in curiosity.
"What do you mean?".
"I've never prayed before...how do you do it?".
"Oh...that's a really long story...I'll teach you one day".
"I'll be looking forward to that...I still can't believe that I'll be a grandmother in a few months".
"Me too", Lacus smiled rubbing her tiny baby bump.
"So you still don't have any morning sickness?", Caridad asked with a smile.
"Yes, I was actually surprised that it's a thing".
"It is a blessing that coordinator women rarely experience morning sickness and other symptoms during pregnancy".
"So some natural women experience morning sickness and all those other things?".
"It not just some, it the majority of natural women".
They continued talking about babies and a lot more things, laughing at a lot of Caridad's wild stories until they went to bed.
Kira and Cagalli had been sitting outside the Operating room for more than two hours and there was still no update from the doctor.
Nurses were rushing in and out of the operating room in order to get equipment according to the doctor's request.
Cagalli and Kira had the strong urge to ask about Athrun's condition but they knew better than to disturb them.
The most important thing was for the operation to be finished as soon as possible and they knew that. That's why they kept sitting quietly without bothering the nurses.
"Cagalli, you look tired, you need to get some rest, why don't you try to sleep on the bench over there?".
"No, I won't sleep until I hear more news about Athrun's condition", she stubbornly shook her head.
"But, the operation might take longer than expected".
"I know".
"Look, I understand how worried you are right now Cagalli, but don't forget that you'll be going to work tomorrow morning".
Cagalli dreaded the fact that she was supposed to go to work the following day, leaving Athrun at the hospital.
"I'll try to have my schedule cancelled, Toyah will fill in for me".
"Okay, if you say so", Kira said as he gave up persuading his stubborn sister.
Just that moment, the doctor came out and Kira and Cagalli immedietly ran to him.
"Doctor, how is he?", Kira asked.
"Doctor, is the operation over?, Is he okay now", Cagalli asked too.
"The operation is over but I don't have good news...this operation was mainly to stop the internal bleeding and save his organs from the poison's damage...but we have only succeeded in stopping the bleeding...most of his organs were damaged, some severely, some lightly...the most affected however are the liver and the kidneys...as you know, these are the organs that fight poisonous substances in the body, so they were damaged the most, almost 60% of his liver was burned and torn into pieces, so we had to cut it to prevent the poison from damaging the part left", the doctor said.
Both Kira and Cagalli gasped in horror.
"His kidneys are both damaged beyond repair, so we've put him on dialisis...so he'll need a kidney transplant. And he has lost more than 2 litres of blood, we've tried to transfuse the very little Type O Blood that we have, so that we could perform the operation but that isn't enough, he needs another blood transfusion...so we need to perform a blood transfusion and one more operation for the kidney transplant".
"Oh my", Cagalli cried.
Kira consoled her.
"We are trying our best...he is stable now but we are still waiting for the toxicology results from the lab, so that we can determine which substance was used to poison him...we cannot completely cure him unless we know the type of poison...right now, we have managed to stop the bleeding and treat his organs but, the poison is still affecting him and we need to give him an antidote to stop the poison from further damaging his organs...so right now, he will be transfered to the ICU...after that, you can see him...but only one person is allowed in the room at a time, excuse me, I need to go collect the results from the lab".
"Uh, doctor, what about the blood transfusion?", Kira asked.
"We are still looking for more blood from the other faculties in the city".
"I know somebody who also has Type O Coordinator blood", Kira added.
"That is fantastic, can you please contact them?", the doctor smiled.
"Alright, I'll try to contact him, thank you very much doctor for all your help".
The doctor left and Kira helped Cagalli sit down again. At this point, she was already depressed.
"How did this happen to him?, who did this to him and why?", Cagalli sobbed.
"Shh, Cagalli, he's stable now, he has survived the worst part...don't cry, you're gonna end up giving yourself a headache if you keep crying...I know you're in pain but too much crying is only gonna make things worse for you", Kira said hugging her, "You haven't eaten dinner, have you?".
"No", she said rubbing tears of her face.
"Come on, let's go to the hospital cantine, I'm sure they have something that you can eat".
"No, I need to see Athrun, I need to be with him".
"Alright but after that can you please eat something?".
"No, I'm not hungry".
Kira gave up on his stubborn sister. He now understood why Athrun would stop being gentle with her sometimes. He now knew that his friend was just trying to be do the best for her own good.
"So which one of you will go first to see the patient?", a nurse asked.
"Me, I'll go first", Cagalli immediately answered.
"Follow me please".
Cagalli was led to Athrun's room in the ICU ward while Kira stayed behind and made a phone call to Shinn.
"Shinn, dinner is ready", Lunamaria said.
Shinn had gone back to the PLANTS the day after visiting Athrun in Orb.
He had been standing on the balcony for a while, distracted in his own thoughts.
"Shinn?", Luna called him again but he didn't hear her.
"Shinn!!".
"Huh?", he finally heard her.
"I said dinner is ready, you didn't hear me?".
"Uh...no, I'm sorry, I guess I was distracted".
"Are you okay?".
"Yeah, I'm okay".
They sat on the table and ate their dinner. Luna was talking a lot about different things but Shinn was still distracted in his thoughts.
"So should we do it?", Luna asked cheerfully.
"Huh?", Shinn said looking at her, confused as to why she was asking that question.
"What do you mean by "huh", Shinn, do you think I should make every decision in our lives without your input?", Luna fumed.
"No, I don't mean that, I just wanted to know what you mean, what were you asking about?".
"So you weren't listening at all?".
"I'm sorry".
"Wow, maybe I should stop bothering you", she stood up and left.
Shinn followed her.
"Luna, I'm sorry, I was just distracted".
"By what? Agnes?".
"No why would I even think about her?".
"I don't know, maybe you might", she said angrily.
"No...I was thinking about what we will do now that the official announcement of COMPASS cancellation has been made".
"Shinn, you're still thinking about that?".
"Yes".
"There are a lot of things we can do, we could go back to ZAFT or even move on with our lives and start new careers instead of going to war".
Shinn's phone rang and he checked the collar ID, it was Athrun's phone number.
He rejected the call. He obviously didn't want to talk to Athrun after their last encounter.
"Why aren't you answering your phone, are you afraid to talk to Agnes while I'm here?".
"No, it's not Agnes, it's Athrun".
"Then why aren't you answering it?".
"I don't want to".
"Liar, it's Agnes' number that you saved with Athrun's name, isn't it?, that's why you're ignoring me a lot these days, right?".
"No, Luna...okay, call the number back and I assure you you'll hear that bastard's voice instead of Agnes".
Luna took the phone from him and dialed the number.
She was shocked by the voice. Of all the people she was expecting to answer the phone, that person wasn't one of them at all.
"Commander Yamato?, Is that you?".
"Yes", Kira answered, "is Shinn there?".
"Yes, he is here sir".
Shinn was buffled by what he heard, at one moment, he thought that Luna was joking but when he got the phone, indeed it was his favourite commander.
"Shinn, I'm sorry for disturbing you but I have an emergency situation here".
"Commander Yamato!, you didn't disturb me at all, I'm sorry for rejecting your first call...I-I, was in the shower", he lied, "How are you?".
"I'm doing well, I hope you are too...I have an emergency situation, it's a matter of life and death...can you please come to Orb and help me out?".
"Yes sir, I'll take the first shuttle tomorrow morning", Shinn grinned.
"Where are you going?, What's going on?".
"To Orb, that's where the Commander is, he says that he needs help with something and it's an emergency".
"Oh".
Cagalli sat beside Athrun's bed. He looked pale and a lot of machines and tubes were plugged on to him.
Tears were still streaming down her face and no matter how much she tried to stop them, they still poured out of her eyes.
She was always a strong person by nature but when it came to Athrun, her strength shattered whenever something happened to him.
He was her strength.
"How could I ever think that I would be able to live without you?", She said in a low voice, caressing Athrun's face.
At tha moment, seeing him lay there like that, she couldn't help but remember when he was brought to the Archangel after defecting from ZAFT during the second war.
At that time, she had been desperate and helpless and she dreaded that he would die but he survived.
However, somehow, this time, she was even more scared than before.
"I'm sorry, for all the horrible things I said to you last week", she said weeping.
"I'm so sorry for leaving you and insulting you, when you were just trying to protect me...I'm sorry for not validating your feelings when you complained about me accepting Mr. Sahaku's son's jacket", she weeped again, "I'm so sorry for not believing you when you said you were hurt by that".
The day she had let Yama put his jacket on her shoulders Athrun was visibly jealous and she had noticed it but she chose to ignore that and wanted him to just let it go.
"Sometimes I think that I don't deserve you...you've always been there for me...even on that deserted island...you always gave me more than I deserved", she said smiling at the memory, "I had tried to kill you twice, even after you fed me with the ration you were supposed to eat and you ended up sleeping on an empty stomach...even after that, you tried all means to keep me warm and dried my clothes by yourself...and that's how it has always been like in our relationship, you're the one always making sacrifices and compromising for me, while I just sit there and be an ungrateful brat".
She continued caressing his cheeks.
"You've no idea how much I've missed you these past few days...I have been having trouble falling asleep because you always came to my mind...your voice, your eyes...the way your heartbeat felt against my ear when we were cuddling...oh Athrun", she cried again.
She held his hand in hers.
"Sometimes I thought that maybe the implant I have had made my hormones go crazy and I overreacted that day, when I left...but now, I realise that it's my fault...I have just been selfish from the start of our relationship...please forgive me Athrun".
After that, the machines that were connected to his heart started making loud beeping noises.
"Athrun!", Cagalli said in panic.
The machines beeped even louder and Athrun's body started fitting, he was having a seizure.
"Oh my, ...doctor !!!", Cagalli called rushing out of the room to look for the doctor.
Fortunately, a nurse came into the room.
"What happened?".
"I-I...I was just talking to him and this started happening".
"Okay, calm down ma'am, please leave the room so that we can help him".
Athrun's seizure suddenly stopped and the machines started showing flat lines.
Cagalli's heart sank, she knew that the flat lines meant death.
"No, Athrun!", she lauched at the bed and started shaking him.
The nurse rang an alarm and removed Cagalli from beside Athrun.
"Code blue, I repeat code blue room 007", the nurse said through an intercom.
Suddenly more than fifteen medical personels filled the room, leaving everything else they were doing.
Cagalli was dragged out of the room kicking and screaming.
The nurses started resucitate him but it was all in vain. The lines were still flat, signaling that his heart had stopped beating.
"No, Athrun!!!", Cagalli said struggling against the grip of the two medics that were dragging her out of the room.
"Ma'am please, you need to give space to the nurses and doctors so that they can help him".
And their words fell onto deaf ears. Cagalli wasn't even listening to them at all, all she was thinking about was that Athrun was going to die.
"No, let me go!!!", Cagalli screamed.
Kira intervened and held Cagalli too.
"Cagalli, calm down!!", he said holding her.
They fought to keep her stable and calm until the medics managed to recusitate Athrun and his heart started beating again.
That's when she calmed down but she was now crying hysterically.
"Let her go, he is fine now...the poison had started affecting his nervous system and his heart, that's why his heart had stopped beating because it was overwhelmed by the poison...the doctor will be back in a few minutes with the lab toxicology results", a nurse said.
"Why is he taking so long?!!, Is he-".
"Cagalli, that's enough!!!", Kira yelled at her, "These people are doing everything they can to help Athrun, stop yelling at them...I'm sorry for my sister's behaviour, nurse, she's just really stressed out".
"No, problem, sir, we get this all the time and I understand how she is feeling right now, excuse me, I need to go see other patients", the nurse said with a genuine smile.
Kira took Cagalli into Athrun's room and they were alone there because all the medics had left.
"Cagalli, you need to get yourself together, I know you're in pain right now but if you keep doing this excessive crying and throwing tantrums in front of the medics, everyone will start noticing that there's something going on between you and Athrun".
"Don't you dare tell me how to feel, Kira!, you know nothing about losing someone you love!...both your parents are alive...I had to watch both my mother and my father die, my mother when I was 4 years old and my father during the first war...you've never experienced that type of pain, Kira!...so you don't have the right to tell me how to feel right now", she cried.
"Okay, if you say so", Kira said trying to hide his anger.
Even though he had come to love his twin sister the past 5 years, he still wondered how Athrun managed to deal with her stubborness on a daily basis.
Cagalli was the most stubborn person he had ever met in his life. She would lash out and throw a tantrum when someone was only trying to help her.
He hugged her and let her cry her feelings out.
It was 1.02 a.m when the doctor came into Athrun's room.
The twins were sitting on the chairs in the room. Cagalli had stopped crying but her face was still stained with dry tears.
Her nose and eyes were red from all the crying and her head was aching because of the crying too.
Kira had advised her to clean her face and go to sleep while waiting for the doctor but she had refused to do either of the suggestions.
She didn't want to leave Athrun's side for a moment.
"I'm sorry for the late response", the doctor said after entering the room.
Both Kira and Cagalli paid attention.
"The lab had done the toxicology test but the results had not matched any of the chemicals or snake venoms in the system...however they contacted some herbal traditionalists to find out if the substances used to poison him were from herbs...and indeed they were...the poison used was an ancient war poison and it is a mixture of ground leaf stems from a Derafiop tree and dried and ground roots from a Pine tree...these trees are very rare to find in Orb, so the person that poisoned him must have known that it will take time for us to detect it...so we're going to inject him with the antidote right now".
"Thank you doctor", Kira said politely.
The doctor injected the antidote into Athrun's IV sachets and one on his neck too.
"So, have you contacted the potential blood donor yet, Mr. Yamato?".
"Yes, he said he will be here by sunrise", Kira said.
"Alright, that's fantastic...so we will do the blood transfusion when he arrives, after testing him of course and as for the kidney transplant, we can keep him on dialisis until he can get a kidney transplant".
"And how long can he wait for the kidney transplant?", Cagalli asked with concern and worry.
"With the extent of the damage on his kidneys...only a few months...and kidney donors are hard to find...but fortunately, Kidney donations are different from blood donations, so even someone who is a Natural can donate a kidney to him and with the recent Biotechnological advance in medicine, Blood type O people can have a kidney donation from all other blood types-".
"I'll get tested", Cagalli interrupted, "I mean...I want to donate a kidney to him if I can".
"Cagalli", Kira looked at her with questioning eyes, "Are you sure about this?".
"Yes".
"Alright then...we'll get you tested but keep it in mind that it's not always a guarantee that you'll be a match because there's a lot more complex issues that need to be looked at during kidney donations", the doctor said.
"I understand", Cagalli said.
"I'll get tested too", Kira said.
"Alright, so we'll do the testing soon after the blood transfusion", the doctor said and left.
Kira was relieved that Athrun had finally gotten the treatment for the poison but only one problem was left.
How was he going to convince Shinn to donate blood for Athrun?.
He knew that Shinn and Athrun didn't have a good relationship at all. And he knew that Shinn hated Athrun.
"Cagalli, it's almost 2 a.m, you need to eat something, Athrun is fine now, the poison isn't going to affect him anymore, you can relax and get something to eat now".
"No, I need to stay here with him, you can go eat if you're hungry".
Kira could see that she had a depressed look on her face.
"Cagalli, Athrun is fine now, you need to relax and stop stressing yourself".
"Who would want to do this to him?", Cagalli said with a worried face.
"That's something we'll have to report to the police and wait for an investigation...worrying about this won't solve anything Cagalli".
"I know, but I can't leave him here, what if the person that tried to kill him comes and hurt him while he is vulnerable and alone like this?".
"Maybe you should have some of your security details guard him".
"Kira please, just let me do what I want to do without interfering".
Kira smiled. He was glad that his sister was finally getting back together with Athrun. He knew that this was obviously going to happen.
"You know, I'm happy that you decided to come back to him...but I can't help but wonder how Athrun manages to deal with your stubborness everyday", he chuckled.
"What?!, hey!, I'm not stubborn, you idiot!", she protested, balling her fists.
"There's the calm and rational sister of mine", Kira remarked sarcastically and laughed.
"Just go get your food and stop provoking me, you moron".
"Okay, okay...I'm leaving", Kira surrendered and laughed while he walked out of the room.
Athrun's stirred for a moment and then opened his eyes slowly, trying to adapt to the bright light in the room.
He looked around the unfamiliar room. The was a Tv on the wall facing him. The room was also huge.
It took him a while to realise that he was in a hospital.
He wondered why he was there.
He tried to remember what had happened and then he remembered the whole ordeal of him throwing up blood and everything going black.
He wondered why he had those symptoms.
'Did I eat something that had gone bad?', he thought.
He had been eating a lot of canned food and frozen left over meals since the day that Cagalli broke up with him.
Of course he was a great cook but he had lost the will power to cook or even take care of himself since he was too heart broken to care.
He looked around the room and paused at the sofa beside his bed.
The image before his eyes shocked him.
He saw Cagalli sleeping on that sofa and to make things even weirder, she was wearing a bath robe.
"Cagalli?", he said in astonishment.
Was she really there to see him?. How had she known about him being sick?. He wondered.
Seeing her innocent child-like face when she was sleeping brought back a wave of nostalgia.
He shook his head to drive the thoughts away.
'Just because she came to see you doesn't mean she wants to get back together you idiot, stop thinking irrationally', he thought to himself.
He looked around the room again. By the looks of the room and minimalistic decorations, he could tell that it was a military hospital.
He hated being bedbound and he had a reputation for leaving hospitals earlier than the doctors recomended.
He was feeling fine, so he wondered why he was in a hospital bed when his symptoms were already gone. He wanted to go home.
He sat up.
"Ahh!...damn it!", he cursed as a stabbing feeling that felt like a bullet hit his chest.
He didn't understand why he suddenly felt that pain after he tried to sit up.
He touched his abdomen to see if it was swollen or not. He was shocked to feel a scar that extented down to his belly.
'They operated on me?', he thought.
"Athrun, are you okay?", Cagalli rushed to his side.
She had been woken up by his groan.
"I'm...fine", he said.
"You need to stay in that bed, Athrun, your surgical scar won't heal of you're constantly moving around", Cagalli stated while she tried to help him get back into his sleeping position.
"I had surgery?".
"Yes, last night, they had to operate on you because some of your internal organs were damaged".
"Why?...why were they damaged?", Athrun was confused.
"You don't remember anything about last night, your vomiting I mean?".
"Yes, I remember feeling excessively tired since the afternoon. I also remember collapsing after arriving at my apartment building and then I started vomiting blood", Athrun recalled.
Cagalli felt immense guilt as he was narrating the ordeals of the previous day. She felt pain in her chest because when he was in all that pain, she wasn't there for him.
"Yes, Kira brought you to the hospital and the doctors had to implement surgical intervention because your organs had been damaged...you had been poisoned, that's why they were damaged and that's why you were bleeding from your nose and mouth too".
"Poisoned?", Athrun was astonished to say the least.
"Y-yes", she hesitated.
She felt like she had rushed to tell him what happened to him.
'I shouldn't have told him that, now he will be stressed out', she thought.
"H-how?, Who would do that to me?".
"Uh-, we don't know yet but the police are coming at sunrise...they'll take your statement and open an investigation".
Athrun was silent, trying to process everything he had just heard.
"What happened?, who would want to poison you?...this doesn't make any sense", she fought the tears in her eyes.
"I don't know how I got poisoned but when it comes to suspects, I only have one person in mind", he said with a determined and stern face.
"Who is it?", she was curious and somehow scared at the same time.
"I can't tell you now because you'll think that I am being biased".
"Why?".
"It's complicated".
Cagalli remained silent, not wanting to put more pressure on him.
"Why are you wearing a bathrobe?", Athrun asked trying to hide his smile.
"Uh", she blushed, "Um...Myrna told me that you were sick and had been taken to the hospital...just after I came out of the shower...so I didn't get the time to change into real clothes".
Athrun was smiling the whole time she was talking. He was too busy devouring her beauty again. He had missed her so much. The insecure blush would make him die from cuteness overload because she was already cute.
"Athrun?".
"Athrun?".
"Athrun?!!!".
"Huh?", Athrun snapped out of his thoughts about her, "Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?".
She huffed.
"Why were you staring at me and smiling like an idiot?", she frowned.
He laughed.
"Hey!, why are you laughing?", she made an angry face.
'If only you knew how cute you look when you're mad', Athrun thought.
"You still get so worked up over silly things, Cagalli".
"Excuse me?, you weren't listening to me when I was answering your question and you expect me to not get mad?".
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for not listening", he laughs soon turned into coughs.
Cagalli rushed to the sink and got him some water. Athrun only took two sips and his cough immediately died down.
"Thanks".
"Are you okay?", Cagalli asked him.
"Yes, I feel fine, much better than I did yesterday, the surgery scar is the only sore part of my body right now".
"That's bound to happen".
There was silence for a while. Athrun kept staring at her, wondering why she looked like she wanted to say something.
"I...actually didn't mean physically", she stated while shyly keeping her gaze fixed on the floor.
"Oh", he noted.
He hadn't expected her to ask him that kind of question.
"Uh...I'm holding up, I guess".
That's all he could say.
And it was not the truth. Since their separation, he had not slept or eaten well.
There were some nights where he would wake up and sit in his bed for hours, holding and staring at her picture frame. The picture frame always stayed on the side drawer of his bed.
Even after she ended things between them, Athrun religiously kept the picture frame on it's usual place.
"I'm sorry", Cagalli said while keeping her gaze away from Athrun.
Athrun was confused.
"Why?", he asked with a frown.
"I...hurt you".
"When?".
"On Thursday".
"Oh", Athrun acknowledged.
She had broken up with him on Thursday the previous week.
"You didn't do anything wrong", he stated.
"No...I...", she failed to find more words to say.
"I don't hold it against you at all...I understand why you want this over, sw- Cagalli...what you said about how I treated you is true-".
"No, it's not true", Cagalli interviened, "Everything I said about you that day is not accurate...I accused you of trying to micromanage my life and control me ...but in reality, you were just trying to protect me and help me...you were doing it for my own good...and...I was so ungrateful to you in return", she said sadly but Athrun interrupted again.
"No, no, Cagalli, you weren't ungrateful...I understand why that frustrated you...I have been doing a lot of self reflection these past few days and I realised that I was actually being too hard on you...of course your safety is important but I pressured you weigh too hard sometimes...and about the jacket incident...I'm sorry".
"No, no, you shouldn't apologise for that...I understand why you lashed out...you were hurt and jealous...I would have reacted the same way if I saw you accepting another girl's advances".
"But you wouldn't call me weak, right?".
"...No".
"That's why I still need to apologise...I crossed the line when I called you weak".
"To be honest... I was hurt by that".
"I know that I've really hurt you and it's too late to take back what I said, so I can't ask you to take me back again but...I sincerely ask for your forgiveness, Cagalli".
Cagalli nodded.
"I don't want to lie, it's gonna take some time for me to forgive you but I'm going to try".
Athrun smiled.
"It's okay, you can take your time, don't pressure yourself".
"I'm sorry for slapping and biting you".
He chuckled at the memory.
"I deserved it...I don't hold that against you at all...however the only thing that I would keep against you...if you do it...is if you take back the haumea stone you gave me".
Cagalli chuckled at the memory of when she gave him the haumea stone.
"Don't worry I won't...it must be precious to you, so I won't take it".
Silence fell between them for a while.
"I've actually lost something precious to me and it hurts...so I won't be cruel enough to take it away from you".
"What is it?, the thing you've lost, I mean", he was curious.
"My ring".
"What ring?".
"My engagement ring...the one you gave me a long time ago".
"B-but...uh...I...", Athrun stammered, not knowing what to say.
"I know that I returned it myself...but that was the worst decision I've ever made in my life", she said and tears started streaming down her face.
"Cagalli", Athrun said in shock.
He desperately tried to process what she had said.
"I know that...you might have already moved on but...".
"But what?", he asked curiously.
"Do you mind...if we...start over again?", She asked with the tears still flowing like streams down her cheeks.
Athrun was nothing short of astonished.
He couldn't say anything because of how shocked he was.
Cagalli was in front of him, she even slept in his room. Just a few days ago he had been grieving on their separation but now she was back to him and asking to start over again.
'Am I dreaming?', he thought.
This was so sudden for him. Cagalli had swore that she never wanted to see him again and had blocked him from contacting or seeing her and now she was suddenly asking for the to start over again?.
"Are you doing this out of pity?".
"Doing what?".
"Asking to start over again...why so sudden?, is it because of what happened to me?".
"No...I just...I can't stop loving you nomatter how hard I try to".
That's all she could say. He was quiet for a while, in deep thought.
Cagalli watched his serious face for a while. That is the face he always had when he was thinking of a strategy during war.
Her nerves were on fire as anxiety gripped her. Why was he thinking about this so hard?, she wondered. This wasn't something that would need almost 15 minutes of deep thinking.
She feared his answer because she had a feeling that he wasn't going to give her a good response.
After a long time, he responded to her suggestion.
"No, I don't want to start over again, Cagalli", Athrun said with no emotion on his face.
"Yes, she hasn't left", one nurse said.
"Oh my Haumea, I can't believe that Representative Attha actually visited our work place, is there some kind of inspection or something like that?...are we going to get fired?", the second nurse panicked.
"No, she came here a few hours ago, towards midnight, so it can't be an inspection...plus, I heard that she came to see Admiral Zala".
"Admiral Zala?, as in the ace pilot from the PLANTs?, Patrick Zala's son?", the second nurse asked.
"Yes, I heard that he was admitted in the evening for poisoning".
"Oh, so the Representative must be here because it's a political issue, a high ranking official getting poisoned is a big deal".
"I don't think she came only because of that though...I've heard from Nurse Naomi that she was crying hysterically for him and that when he got into cardiac arrest, she got worse".
"So then maybe they're good friends...you can't cry like that about a simple co-worker or employee".
"Or lovers".
"Lovers?!".
"Hey, shh, do you want someone to hear us?".
"No, I'm sorry...but what makes you think that they're lovers?, it's impossible, she is an Orb noble and isn't allowed to date outside of the Royal clans in Orb".
"Nurse Naomi also told me that when she went into his room for the 30 min check up after his surgery, she saw the Lady Cagalli holding the Admiral's hand and crying...she said that Lady Cagalli was even caressing his face and kissing his hand".
"Oh my Haumea!, that's outrageous, nothing like that has ever happened in our country, a Noble dating outside of the Royal families...this is a mess".
"If it gets out there, it'll be a huge scandal".
The nightshift nurses went back to their work after gossiping over their short tea break.
"I don't want to start over again".
Those words replayed in Cagalli's head.
Tears threatened to escape from her eyes again but she tried her best to keep them in.
Her heart physically hurt. This was the first time that she had ever allowed herself to think about Athrun since their break up and the emotions hit hard.
His words were painful to her but she couldn't blame him anyway, if he was fed up with her, she would understand it.
She had ended their relationship because of things that could simply be talked about, she had disregarded his feelings of jealousy both towards Yuna and Yama, hence she didn't want to blame him for not wanting to start their relationship again.
"I...understand", she uttered innocently.
Athrun let out a sigh.
"I don't want to start over again Cagalli", he repeated, "because starting over again is the reason why we keep hurting each other".
Cagalli could only nod. She couldn't believe that she had lost Athrun forever.
"I understand, I...uh, I need to go home and change into normal clothes, I have a lot of things to do today", she lied.
She couldn't care less about what she was wearing nor did she have anything to do that day but she just wanted to go home and cry in private.
She wanted to stay with Athrun and make sure that he would be okay but the pain that was welling up in her chest was becoming unbearable for her.
"I will assign two security details to your door...I wish you the best...I hope you find someone special...someone who is gonna love you unconditionally and treat you well", she stood up and walked to the door.
Her vision was blurry due to the tears in her eyes.
"Cagalli, hey, wait!", Athrun called after her before she could leave the room.
She turned around and was buffled when Athrun got up from his bed and followed her. He took off all the IVs connected to his arms and chest.
He groaned in pain as he walked to her.
"No, Athrun, stop, you'll fall!", she yelled in panic.
"Cagalli, why are you leaving?, we haven't finshed talking yet", he asked.
"What do you mean?".
"I wasn't done saying what I wanted to say and you interrupted me and then the next thing that happens is you trying to leave".
"I...uh".
"Cagalli, you've completely misunderstood me, I didn't say that I didn't want to get back together with you".
"Huh?", she was shocked.
"I meant that, we can't start over again because starting over again only leads to us hurting each other again...I don't want us to start over again, I want us to continue from where we left off...because only then, can we continue our relationship on a healthier path...that's because instead of starting over again and forgetting our problems, we will be working through our problems and trying our best to solve them while moving forward", he said with a gentle gaze.
"I...I...uh", Cagalli stammered in shock.
"I love you Cagalli, you'd be very wrong to assume that I don't want to be with you, my love", he said with tears in his eyes.
Athrun pulled her into a tight embrace and even though he was in pain due to the scar on his abdomen, the embrace was worth it.
She was back to him, that's all that mattered to him.
"Please forgive me for leaving you Athrun", Cagalli weeped.
"Shh, shh, there, there, my love, don't cry...there's nothing to forgive here...you did nothing wrong", he caressed her back, "You have no idea how much I've longed to hold you in my arms again".
Athrun was now crying too. They were both crying in their tight embrace. Their yearning for each other had caused too much pain in the past few days.
The sun rose and Shinn's shuttle arrived in Orb.
Kira stood at the port, contemplating on how he would tell Shinn the reason he called him.
"Commander", Shinn ran to Kira and gave him a hug.
"It's been a long time, how are you?".
"I'm fine".
"So what's going on?, what's the emergency that you were talking about?".
"Uh...I...uh", Kira stammered.
He suddenly got afraid of telling Shinn why he had called him.
"Uh...nothing, just wanted to chat", he nervously lied.
'Should I drug him and extract the blood from him while he is unconscious?', Kira thought.
Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.