Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ In The Arms Of A War Hero ❯ Hunger for Hope: The Rosary ( Chapter 7 )

-Author's Note-

Incase the Athrun acting differently has confused anyone at all, don't worry, it'll all be explained in this chapter update.

Thanks to my readers once again I hope you are enjoying the story so far, and I hope that you continue on as I update A.S.A.P

Enjoy this chapter you guys!

 

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In The Arms Of A War Hero

 

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Hunger for Hope: The Rosary

 

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Chapter 7

 

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“Did you encounter any problems?”

 

“No, sir.”

 

“Good. Very good.”

 

Athrun and Dearka stood before Chairman Zala as he ran his fingers anxious and eagerly over the surface of the disk he had been handed by Athrun. The small square disk lay on the tips of his fingers as he tucked his hands underneath the desk away from Athrun and Dearka's sight.

 

“May we leave now?” Dearka asked fervently. “We would like to return to Earth if we are finished here.”

 

Athrun turned to look at Dearka and mentally scolded Dearka for being so blunt about their situation. He didn't want his father to know that he and Dearka had met Kira and Cagalli on their trip to Alaska to retrieve the tracking mechanism. After all, to Patrick Zala, Head Chairman of ZAFT, Kira Yamato is the god forsaken coordinator who had taken the ZGMF-X10A Freedom with help by the renowned ZAFT traitor Lacus Clyne. And Cagalli Yula Attha, the new Representative of ORB, who accompanies Kira Yamato.

 

Patrick Zala swiveled in his chair subtly and placed the disk in a drawer and locked it, placing the small bronze key on the desk in front of him and folded his hands in front of him and let out a small sigh as he switched his focus from Athrun to Dearka, who both stood with their arms stiff at their sides and their posture unyielding. With a nod of his head he said,

 

“Yes, you may leave. But do not forget the agreement. This information on the weaponry is vital.”

 

He placed his arms on the surface of the table and leaned forward in his seat, “If you do not gather this information, you will come back to this PLANT, and you will return to the cells as punishment for refusing ZAFT duties. Understood?”

 

“Yes,” answered Dearka.

 

“Yes, sir,” replied Athrun.

 

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“Ms. Lacus, I can not allow this request, if you are recognized then we will once again have to leave the perimeter.”

 

Lacus Clyne stood before a miniature council of her guardsmen with her hooded cloak grasped firmly in her hands. Her slimming foggy-blue dress, with the white silk underneath draped upon her shoulders, swayed as she turned to make perfect eye contact with each man.

 

“I will not be recognized, I assure you all. I will remain as subtle and unnoticed as possible. But please, all of you must understand that I am in desperate need of the open air. I have not been able to roam the outside world with all this culpability from ZAFT.”

 

Each escort looked at Lacus with a small tint of sympathy in their eye as they watched her almost seemingly beg each and every one of them for their permission for her to be outside.

 

“At least let one of us go with you, Ms. Clyne. Just for safety,” one man pronounced speaking up.

 

“Every human being in this city do not have personal escorts follow them around day and night, and yet they all seem to manage their livelihood just fine. A couple hours, just to explore Tokyo.”

 

The men looked at each other with unknowing looks on their faces.

 

“If anything irregular happens, I will return promptly, you all have my word,” Lacus declared as she began to drape the cloak upon her bare cream-coloured shoulders.

 

The attendants nodded and grumbled her allowance with coyness as they watched Lacus tuck in her long pink pigtails into her hood and brushed her bangs from her face and smiled at each of the guides appreciatively.

 

“Thank you,” she said stepping into the early afternoon sun.

 

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“You know what I just happened to realize?” Kira said leaning against Cagalli's closed bedroom door crossing his arms across his chest and crossed his ankle over the other.

 

“What's that?” Cagalli called through the oak door as she began to get dressed for lunch on the other side of the door.

 

“I never mentioned a time to either Athrun or Dearka,” Kira said mentally rolling his eyes at himself for his act of idiocy.

 

Cagalli opened the door and Kira nearly fell over but grabbed the doorframe for stability and looked up at Cagalli. She was wearing a crimson shirt with slits in the shoulders that exposed her delicate peach-kissed skin. Her black pants were tight but loosened around the knee and draped over her bare feet. A golden chain held a glossy-cerulean amulet that rested between her breasts and her hair hung gracefully around her face and blanketed her shoulders.

 

Kira smiled at Cagalli's outfit and nodded his head as in complimenting her wardrobe.

 

“I guess we could just wait around the place then, I suppose,” Cagalli said as she walked out of her room and began to descend the stairs. “We can sit out front to see if we can see them coming.”

 

Kira followed Cagalli down the stairs and sat on the bottom stair pulling on his brown loafers that complimented his khakis and black vest atop a white dress shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore his black choker that seemed to add tribute to his already praised outfit.

 

“That's a good idea, Cagalli,” he said standing up, “it's not like The Rosary is an unnoticeable restaurant. It would be kinda hard to miss.”

 

Cagalli took a last look in the mirror then turned to look at Kira. She smiled at nodded, “Exactly, now let's go.”

 

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“Where are we exactly going to keep these mobile suits?” Dearka asked confusedly as he and Athrun passed through the Earth's atmosphere.

 

“There's a vacated warehouse down by a pier near Kyoto, we can leave them there. I doubt anyone will find them.”

 

Dearka nodded and flew beside Athrun as they made their way towards the Kyoto Pier.

 

“You think we're dressed ok? Not underdressed?” Dearka questioned. Athrun smiled at Dearka's question and let out a small chuckle. “We're ok, Dearka,” he said.

 

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“Hello Kira, Cagalli, long time no see, how you kids doing?”

 

“Jitsu, it's been a while,” Cagalli said with a smile as Kira shook the old waiter's hand who walked over to the podium to gather the appropriate number of menus.

 

Rinoko Jistu was a fifty-eight year old waiter that had been serving at The Rosary for thirty-six years and had first met Kira and Cagalli when they had first appeared at The Rosary unsure of where to eat in Kyoto. They had been directly friendly and they always enjoyed to be waited on by Jitsu whenever they went to eat at The Rosary.

 

“You two want your usual spot?” Jitsu asked pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

 

“Actually,” Kira said, “there will be two more joining us later.”

 

“Oh,” Jistu said gathering two more menus and then cleared his throat and said, “Outside or inside?”

 

“Outside please, just over here if that's ok?” Cagalli asked pointing over to a table with four chairs around it shaded by a pine coloured umbrella that was right near the white gate that surrounded the building.

 

“Not a problem,” Jitsu said leading Cagalli and Kira over to the table and sitting them down. His gray hair glinted in the open sunlight and his lanky figure easily wove around the chairs not pushed into the tables and placed the menus down on the table. Kira and Cagalli sat down and thanked Jitsu. Cagalli noticed that his suit uniform hung limp and loose upon his petit body.

 

“You kids want something to drink?”

 

“I'll just have water, please,” Kira said.

 

“Lemonade, thanks,” Cagalli said and watched the man walk away.

 

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“Goooood afternoon, Matsue! It's turning out to be a beautiful day and the sun is shining perfectly. Let's have a -”

 

Miriallia turned the radio off as she sat down in the office she shared with Kanadi and she opened up the lunchbox she had prepared for herself and took out the fish that she had bought last night that she fried that morning before heading for the building.

 

“Hey sweetums,” Kanadi said as she walked into the office, her hair flying behind her. She sat down in the desk that sat in the opposite corner of Miriallia's desk and took out a brown paper bag and took out a sandwich that Miriallia guess was tuna from the smell.

 

“Did you have a good time yesterday?” Miriallia asked as she finished chewing on a piece of fish.

 

“With Itsumo? Yeah, we did. We went to the movies then out to dinner then for a walk in the park.”

 

Miriallia nodded and tucked a straying piece of hair behind her ear, “Sounds like fun.” Kanadi nodded, “It was. What did you?”

 

Miriallia shrugged, “Nothing really. Watched some TV went grocery shopping, nothing fantastic.”

 

Kanadi put down her sandwich and walked over to Miriallia and squatted beside her and put her hand on her friend's shoulder. “Mir, something is wrong. No matter how many times you say there isn't. There is. I'm not stupid, deaf or blind, Mir. You look like you're gonna cry every second and you always mutter about some guy named Tolle. What is going on?”

 

Miriallia let out a flustered sigh and she dropped her chopsticks and looked down at her fingers that she fiddled with.

 

“Tolle was my boyfriend…”

 

Kanadi looked up at Miriallia, “Aw, Mir, everyone breaks up sooner or la -”

 

“No,” Miriallia interrupted, “we didn't break up. Tolle - Tolle…he - he died.”

 

Kanadi's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. She wanted to give Miriallia a hug to comfort her, say some words of reassurance, but there was nothing she could do. She felt frozen. She felt horrible as she squatted there, frozen. All the times she had gone on and on about her and Itsumo. Kept mentioning all these guys and everything about relationships. Kanadi felt awful, she hadn't realized that everything she was talking about was hurting Miriallia.

 

“Mir…I - I'm so sorry…”

 

“It's ok, Kana,” Miriallia said, picking up her water bottle and took a sip.

 

“No, I mean for always going on about Itsumo and me and all this love crap. Oh my God, I didn't know it hurt you, Miri, I am so sorry…”

 

Miriallia put her hand on Kanadi's shoulder and offered her a forced smile, “It's ok, Kana. Really, don't worry about it. You meant well. It just seems like I'll never be happy again.”

 

Kanadi stood up and sat on Miriallia's desk and looked her in the eye, “How long ago did this happen?” she asked.

 

“Almost a year.”

 

“And you're still hurting this much?” Kanadi asked surprised.

 

“What? Is that bad?” Miriallia asked with eyes semi-wide.

 

Kanadi played with the hem of her skirt with her fingers and answered Miriallia's question with a shrug, “I dunno. But a year? Miriallia, after so long, why are you still hurting so much?”

 

Miriallia looked insulted, “What? He was my boyfriend!”

 

“I know,” Kanadi said, “but it should have sort of simmered down I mean, it will always hurt, but it shouldn't completely overrun your entire life. Like shit, Mir, you're suffering for something that shouldn't always be suffered over.”

 

Miriallia stood up, “I can't believe you'd say that, Kana,” she said packing up her lunch, “I loved him. And then he died! It's like if Itsumo died! How would you feel?”

 

“I would be suffering too Mir, but after a year I would have stopped my major suffering. It's ok to miss Tolle, Miriallia, but to act like this after a year…I don't think it's - it's healthy.”

 

Miriallia had heard enough, she grabbed her lunchbox and walked out of the office, she didn't want to hear Kanadi go on about it anymore.

 

Unhealthy…it's not unhealthy. It's perfectly normal to miss someone this much, Miriallia thought as she walked down the stairs towards the lobby of the building.

 

“It will always hurt, but it shouldn't completely overrun your entire life” Kanadi's voice echoed around Miriallia's mind.

 

“It doesn't overrun my life,” she said.

 

She walked out of the building and heading for her apartment, mentally arguing with what Kanadi had said, but somehow, deep inside, knowing Kanadi was right.

 

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Athrun and Dearka had left their Gundams inside the abandoned warehouse along with their ZAFT uniforms and headed into the streets of Kyoto. They walked in silence staring around at the people around them. It had been so long since they had last…lived.

 

They found the large sign that introduced the two soldiers to Hakaku Centre and they walked through the large centre looking intently at all the stores and restaurants and all the people around them. Laughing, talking and just being human, not at all seeming to be truly affected by the war between the Naturals and Coordinators.

 

Athrun walked down the sidewalk, his black polished dress shoes clicking along the concrete as he walked. His khakis and his overcoat were beige and mixed wonderfully with his maroon button up shirt underneath.

 

“It was called The Rosary, wasn't it?” he asked Dearka.

 

Dearka nodded and ran a hand through his short blonde hair. His jeans hung loosely around his long legs and his white and black loafers matched his white dress shirt with the black trim along the neck and sleeves.

 

“Athrun, look,” Dearka said putting his hand on Athrun's arm. The Rosary had appeared around the corner and Kira was sitting there with Cagalli waving the two of them over. Athrun saw Kira and smiled a small smile and followed Dearka over.

 

“Hey you two,” Kira said when Dearka and Athrun came close enough to hear him. Dearka hopped over the gate that came up to his waist and took a seat between Cagalli and Kira.

 

“Hey Kira, Cagalli,” Dearka said leaning back in his chair, smiling at the two of them.

 

“Hey Dearka,” Cagalli said offering him a smile.

 

Athrun came up shortly and said hello to both Kira and Cagalli, and Cagalli noticed how handsome he looked out of his ZAFT uniform is regular clothes. He presented her with a small courteous smile.

 

“You two look good,” Kira said, “I'm not used to not seeing the uniforms though,” he said with a laugh, Athrun smiled,

 

“I'm not used to not having it on.”

 

Dearka nodded along and called Jitsu over. “Hey, can we get some drinks over here?” he asked. Jitsu came right over and took the drink orders and then left.

 

Cagalli took a sip of her lemonade and sat back in her chair, “How was the delivery?” she asked, eyeing Athrun in particular, who nodded his head in response, “It was fine.”

 

She gave Athrun a probing look and looked down at her hands when he looked back at her with a curious eyebrow raised. Cagalli stood up and said, “Excuse me, I'll be right back.”

 

She got up and disappeared inside the building and Kira took a sip of his water and then looked up to say something to Athrun when he saw Athrun looking in the direction Cagalli had just disappeared.

 

“Is she ok?” Athrun asked.

 

Kira shrugged, “Why don't you go ask her? I'm sure she'd like to talk anyway.”

 

Athrun gave Kira an inquiring look. He stood up and began to walk inside thinking of how oddly both Kira and Cagalli were both acting towards him.

 

He saw Cagalli standing in a small hallway with the sign “Restrooms” labeled above the doorway entrance. She was leaning against the wall beside the water fountain and the ladies restroom. Her arms were cross across her chest and she was staring intently on a spot in front of her. Athrun walked over to her and stood before her to her right.

 

“Is everything ok, Cagalli?” he asked cautiously.

 

“I should be asking you that,” she said not moving her eyes away from the area she was focused on.

 

“I don't understand,” Athrun said furrowing his brow.

 

“Why are you coming to stay on Earth, Athrun? Is it another one of your Father's orders? Or do you want to stay?” she finally turned her eyes towards Athrun, and Athrun could notice that her eyes were slowly beginning to water.

 

“I wanted to come here, and Dearka too. Cagalli, tell me, what's wrong?”

 

“I don't believe you,” she said, her voice small, “After all this time, you appear all of a sudden and then you tell me that you're staying on Earth because you want you?”

 

“It is true, Cagalli. Dearka and I were locked up on that god forsaken PLANT and we just wanted to get away. I dreamed of coming here to Earth. But my father gave us a job to do while we were here. If we want to stay it's not optional whether we want to do it or not.”

 

“Stop saying `we', Athrun. I'm not talking about Dearka,” Cagalli said brushing her hair out of her face and switching positions on the wall so she was facing Athrun a little clearer.

 

“Why don't you believe me? What have I done to have you distrust me?”

 

“What happened to you while you were in jail?”

Athrun crossed his arms and switched his weight on his other foot and furrowed his brow in confusion to what Cagalli was asking.

 

“Why?”

 

“Athrun!” Cagalli seethed as she looked at him. He could tell she was holding back tears. “What happened in that jail?” she asked again taking a breath between each word.

 

Athrun looked down at his feet and then up at Cagalli whose eyes had never left him. He took in a deep breath and then opened his mouth,

 

“I was placed in the ZAFT cells below Head Quarters for abandoning ZAFT regulations. And I was given extreme punishments for being among the crew of the Archangel, and helping Kira as well.”

 

Cagalli watched Athrun intently as he explained his past. She blinked away the tears that she felt coming and her eyes widened a little when she saw Athrun take in a deep breath as if he was having difficulty putting the next set of words together.

 

“I was starved. I was - I was beaten, along with Dearka. We were never…able to write letters or even get out of the cell. And…what's worst. Is that my father. Was in charge of the entire thing. It was him who told the soldiers what to do to us. He told them to beat us! He told them to starve us! I felt myself losing myself, if that makes sense. I felt like I was going to die.”

 

He lowered his eyes and his breathing became heavy, “My father,” he said under his breath. “That's how he treats his son, I'd rather be a bastard than having him my father.”

 

Cagalli felt a tear trickle down her cheek as she listened to Athrun's words. He had been suffering as she had been upset with him for how he was acting. It was his father who was distressing him.

 

“Athrun…” Cagalli said, then sniffled. She held up her hand as if to put it on his shoulder to comfort him, but she couldn't manage it. She curled her hand into a fist and held it to her chest.

 

He looked up at her and looked into her eyes and he could tell that she felt the utmost amount of sympathy and regret towards him.

 

“I apologize for acting how I have, Cagalli, if that's why you are upset with me…”

 

“No, Athrun,” Cagalli said suddenly, “It's not your fault, I was just being big-headed again, I didn't know what happened to you and I - I just thought about myself and Kira and ORB and Earth and everything.”

 

Athrun put his hands on Cagalli's shoulders and told her to forget it, that it was only sensible of her to wonder and be upset with his attitude.

 

She choked out a laugh at herself as she shook her head while Athrun smiled down on her and removed his hands from her shoulders.

 

“You ok now?” he asked. Cagalli nodded and smiled at him, “Sorry for being dumb,” she confessed, he smiled at her and turned around and stood in the entrance to the rest of the restaurant, “I'm going back to sit down.”

 

He smiled at her one more time before turning the corner and his image disappeared from Cagalli's sight.

 

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-Author's Note-

I hope that explained the entire Athrun thing going on and that you guys liked it The next update will happen A.S.A.P and I'd like all you guys to stick around a little while.

 

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Any comments, thoughts, questions, I'd love to hear them via e-mail or review

 

`Till next time you guys!