Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ In The Arms Of A War Hero ❯ "...like a beacon flashing in the dark..." ( Chapter 13 )

-Author's Note-

OVER 1000!!!!!! I am so thankful to all you readers giving my fic a go!! The readers rock my socks! lol. Well, then, I hope I left you all with a good ol' “AWWWW” at the end of my last chapter, lol. I know some people like some citrus so I offered some towards those people ~_^

 

Special thnx to meiatenjou for the review!!! Thnx so much ^^!

 

This fic is dedicated to all my readers and reviewers who helped me make it to #1000!

 

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In The Arms Of A War Hero

 

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“…like a beacon flashing in the dark…”

 

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Chapter 13

 

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November slowly gave way to the strong demands of December as the winter season took a drastic effect on Kyoto, Japan. The smoky skies cried snowflakes that tinted the naked trees, and coated the bark with flakes of snow. The flowers were asleep underneath the barrier of snow that blanketed their colours, and the grounds of Attha Manor were sprinkled with a glorious veneer of powder. The windows stiffened with the cold, and icicles hung from the high peaked roof of the stone and grey-brick mansion.

 

Kira sat at the dinner table with his sister and his two friends - and also the guests of Attha Manor. Miyu had just served them their meal of fried fish with beef stew, and vegetable rice. They gathered round the table, and kept themselves in polite, yet quiet conversation. Miyu was cleaning the table in the Living Room, which was dirtied with chip bags and magazines. She was accompanied by Toho, who was dusting the top of the entertainment centre, with her back facing Miyu.

 

“Almost the holidays…” Toho said nonchalantly to break the silence between the two maids.

 

“Yes it is,” Miyu responded, gathering the magazines and placing them in a pile in a corner of the table. “And I can see Ms. Attha has already received and gone through the Christmas catalogues from the department stores.”

 

“It was Mr. Yamato I saw looking at them earlier,” Toho replied, turning to face Miyu, holding the duster in both her hands. “He and Mr. Zala were browsing through them.”

 

Miyu let out a sigh with a laugh, “So it was them who left this mess!”

 

Toho laughed, “Actually, Mr. Elthman was in here as well.”

 

“He left all these chips lying about?”

 

Toho smiled and nodded, “Yes.”

 

Miyu chuckled and folded the rims of the chip bags and tied an elastic band around the bag. Grabbing another bag of chips, she pulled an elastic band from the pocket of her apron. She brushed her blue locks away from her face and over her shoulder and gathered the chip bags in her arms and - while passing the group in the Dining Room eating - made her way to the kitchen and put the bags away. When she turned around, she found Reyna staring at the four teenagers. Miyu gave her co-worker an incredulous look and then smiled at her.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

The fourteen year old jumped and spun around, her green hair whipping her in the face as she spun on her heel, a blush clearly visible on her cheeks. She looked down at her hands as she fiddled with the hem of the apron that wrapped around her waist.

 

“Are you spying on them, Reyna?” Miyu asked somewhat sternly, placing her hands on her hips.

 

“No…” Reyna said, “I'm not spying, I'm watching.”

 

Miyu laughed and placed her hands on the young girl's shoulders and looked down at her, “Why are you watching?”

 

When Reyna struggled for an answer, Miyu said, “Actually, instead of why, who are you watching?”

 

Reyna's face would shame a tomato. She twiddled her fingers and leaned and rocked on the balls of her feet. She muttered an answer and Miyu leaned in. “What did you say?” Reyna blushed and looked up at Miyu,

 

“I said, Mr. Zala…”

 

Miyu smiled and then hugged the other maid, “How sweet! You have a crush! Wait, Reyna…he's nineteen, you're only fourteen…” Miyu said, withdrawing from the girl and looking at her.

 

Reyna blushed at the comments and looked down at her hands, “I knew you might say he's too old, but it's only five years…”

 

“Reyna, you are simply attracted to him, you couldn't possibly be in love with him,” Miyu said with a smile, “But, if you are so devoted to him, none-the-less, why don't you confess to him?”

 

Reyna gasped, “I couldn't!”

 

“Why couldn't you?”

 

“It's too embarrassing…” she confessed.

 

Miyu smiled at her and began to roll up her sleeves and clean the pots in the sink. The suds popped around her elbows as she took a cloth, and began to scrape away at the food particles inside.

 

“If it's your feelings, Reyna, it's not embarrassing.”

 

Reyna slumped against the Lazy Susan in the crevice of two joining countertops, “It is when he finds out…” she muttered.

 

Miyu simply turned to smile at the girl, and then continued with what she was doing. “If you want it to be subtle, why not get him a gift for the holidays? I'm sure he would like that.”

 

Reyna gasped and hugged Miyu, wrapping her arms around her stomach, “That's an amazing idea, Mi!! I'm gonna do that!”

 

“Uh…I'm not interrupting anything, am I?”

 

Reyna turned around and found Dearka standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding his plate and cup. His eyes were partially wide and his eyebrows raised, and he had a stoic look upon his face. Reyna blushed and let go of her hug on Miyu, and stood with her head down and hands together. She gave a bow and apologized for Dearka having come across her being too personal. Dearka merely smiled,

 

“Don't worry about it,” he said handing his plate to Miyu who smiled and gave him a courteous nod of her head. “You guys have rights and personal stuff too, right?” with that he smiled and joined his friends at the table.

 

“What a nice guy,” Toho said coming in, opening a cabinet and putting the duster inside it. “Sorry, girls, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But I couldn't help but notice that Mr. Elthman is a very kind man.”

 

Miyu smiled at her, “Yes, he is. Much like Mr. Zala,” she said looking at Reyna.

 

Reyna crossed her arms across her chest and looked down stubbornly at the floor, a blush highlighting her features.

 

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Cagalli let out a huge sigh as she stretched outwards, her arms reaching up as she pulled at the muscles in her stomach, legs and arms.

 

“That was good,” she said, settling back in the seat.

 

“Mmhmm,” Athrun added, placing his glass and serviette on his plate. He moved his chair out a ways from the table, stood, and grabbed the plate and walked into the kitchen. When he walked in, he was greeted warmly by Miyu who took his plate and thanked him. When he turned to greet the other girl - Reyna, her name was - he found that she merely tucked her head down, curtsied and then darted out of the kitchen and into the hallway. He confusedly turned to Miyu who merely shook her head along with a shrug of her shoulders. Athrun just shrugged and walked back to the table and sat back down.

 

“So, how are things coming with ORB, Cagalli? You've been going there often, lately,” Kira said, making comment, once Athrun had arrived back at the table.

 

Cagalli sighed and then rested her elbows on the table and leaned forwards, “Yeah, I guess I have. But Christmas is coming up soon, so I guess they just want me to get a decent amount of work done before I go for my break.”

 

“Makes sense,” Dearka added.

 

“What have you been doing lately?” Athrun asked, after finding that the topic had become a group conversation.

 

Cagalli leaned her head from side to side, “All sorts of things. Lately it's been scenarios. If I was at the ORB Union on Onogoro Island, in the southern Pacific, how I would handle things if a commotion started and just things like that.”

 

“Oh,” Kira said, “that doesn't sound too bad…”

 

“Are you kidding?” Dearka said, standing up from the table, “that sounds as boring as hell!”

 

The group laughed. “It's true, though,” Cagalli said. “It is pretty boring.”

 

They moved into the Living Room, where, surprising, Kira sat in the Lay-Z Boy and Dearka and Cagalli sat on the couch and where Athrun sat on the arm of the Lay-Z Boy.

 

“But how are you doing with your work for ORB?” Athrun asked, sounding concerned.

 

Cagalli smiled at Athrun, “Pretty well, I'd like to think,” she said with a laugh. “I've been told by Asagi that I'm doing very well and Julie just says I'm improving, so I take it as a good thing.”

 

“Well, that's great, Cagalli,” Kira said with a wide smile.

 

“Getting onto a more interesting topic,” Dearka said with a small laugh, “Athrun and I are off work for holiday break in a couple days, and you, Cagalli, said you're off in two days. So, what are we gonna do for Christmas?”

 

“Why not just spend a quiet Christmas here?” Kira asked inquisitively.

 

“That's what I thought we were doing,” Athrun mentioned. “If we were going somewhere, we probably should have made plans and reservations already.”

 

Cagalli nodded.

 

“No,” Dearka said, “I mean like, what are we doing? Like are we gonna play any Christmas games or anything? Have any parties?”

 

“Games?” Cagalli said with a laugh.

 

“Yeah!” Dearka chirped, “like Secret Santa or something.”

 

“What's that?” Athrun and Kira asked in sync.

 

Dearka leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, “Ok, well, each person chooses someone to get a gift for, but they do it secretly. They leave that person a gift with a card. And the card has a message for the person, to hint to them, who their Secret Santa is. And then, they have to guess!”

 

“That doesn't sound too bad…” Kira said cautiously, resting his cheek in his hand.

 

“Well, wouldn't it be a little weird?” Cagalli asked.

 

“How so?” Dearka questioned.

 

Cagalli shifted so that she was facing Dearka and said, “Well, there's three guys, and then me, that makes four people, but isn't it weird that you guys will be giving gifts to each other, when this Secret Santa doesn't really seem like a `for a friend' type of game, if you know what I mean.”

 

Kira, Athrun and Dearka laughed, “You make it sound like that's a bad thing,” Athrun said, “They're just gifts among friends, Cagalli.”

 

Cagalli shrugged, “Ok, never mind then. You don't get what I mean.”

 

“Umm, guys? Do you think we should involve Lacus and Miriallia somehow?” Kira asked, shifting in seat and then crossing one leg over the other as he turned, resting one hand in his lap and then laid his chin in the other.

 

“That sounds like a great idea!” Dearka stated enthusiastically, “We could send them letters telling them about the idea, and then wait for them to respond back to see if they want to or not.”

 

“That sounds good,” Athrun affirmed with a nod of his head. “The gifts could be sent through mail. But it would probably have to be earlier, so they would get them in time for Christmas.”

 

“Yeah!” Dearka cried.

 

“But,” Kira interjected, “We don't have an address for Lacus. And after all, she hasn't written in almost six months, so she must have moved a couple times around Earth. If she's still even on Earth, that is.”

 

“That's true,” Cagalli added, “the last time she wrote, she mentioned that she had been told she would be moving across the Western Continents and then possibly even the Eastern Continents. The last thing she told us was that she was going to be roaming Asia for a while.”

 

Kira leaned back frustrated, and Cagalli took note of his behaviour to the situation. She knew that not having heard from Lacus for almost six months, was beginning to be unsettling with Kira, but he seemed to contain his feelings pretty well. Cagalli knew that Kira had a deep fondness for Lacus - a deep love even - but he has never spoken of his emotions towards her or his thoughts about her. The only place, Cagalli had thought that he would place those thoughts, would be in a diary he used to - and still might - keep.

 

“Oh well,” Kira said suddenly, “I guess we'll just include Miriallia then.”

 

Cagalli looked sadly at her brother and noticed Athrun looking at him with empathy in his eyes as well. So it wasn't just her, she thought, Athrun noticed Kira's change in behaviour as well towards the situation with the whereabouts of Lacus Clyne.

 

“Well,” Dearka said standing up and stretching, “I'm off to bed.”

 

“But it's only eight o'clock!” Cagalli opposed, standing up as well.

 

“Yeah, but Athrun and I have to work tonight, in case you forgot. So, I'm hoping to get at least a couple hours of sleep so I can stay awake and alert tonight.”

 

Athrun and Kira came up behind Cagalli, “It's true, what Dearka says,” Athrun said, as he walked beside Cagalli to the staircase that Dearka began to walk up slowly. “We do have to work tonight, I forgot, actually.”

 

Dearka turned around and stood on the steps, holding the railing, “So are you gonna come too, then?” he asked Athrun.

 

Athrun shuffled his feet and leaned against the beginning of the railing with his right arms, crossing his feet at the ankles, “Yeah, but maybe later. I don't think I'd be able to sleep if I tried right now.”

 

Dearka turned around and began walking, “Alright,” he said shooting up a hand and waved it towards Athrun, “Suit yourself.”

 

“I might as well go up too,” Kira said, stifling a yawn. “I was up pretty early this morning, since the smoke alarm went off around quarter after six.”

 

“Yeah…stupid Dearka and his dumb pancakes…” Cagalli grumbled heading into the Living Room and lying down on the couch and turning on the television.

 

“Before you go, Kira,” Athrun said, placing his hand on Kira's elbow, “I've been meaning to ask you something. It'll be a month since Dearka and I have been on Earth, at the end of the week, and him and I still haven't gotten around to gathering together the information my father requested that we had to get.”

 

“The information about the Earth Force's weaponry's system?”

 

Athrun nodded, “Yeah, and if we want to stay, we have to get that info. But I honestly have no main or subjective ideas on how to retain that information. So, I was hoping you could help out.”

 

“Me?” Kira inquired, sitting down on the second last wooden stair, “What would you like help with?”

 

“Well,” Athrun said, “I visited the Justice and the Buster to make sure no damage had happened to them while they've been in the empty port house. And while I was checking them out, I found that the Justice contained a recorded transmission.”

 

“Recorded?”

 

“Yeah, so that must mean that someone must have recorded it into the O.S System of the Justice, before Dearka and I left the PLANTS.”

 

“But what was it about?” Kira inquired.

 

“It was Yzak, actually,” Athrun said with a raise of his eye brows and a subtle smirk, “he said that my father had ordered for Dearka and I to travel to Kaohsiung, the ZAFT-controlled base, to obtain information on the headquarters in which the weaponry for the EA is stored.”

 

“In Kaohsiung? Wasn't that once a site of the Earth Forces?” Kira asked, leaning forward with interest.

 

“It was, but it was taken by ZAFT during Operation Uroboros, where ZAFT had wanted to set military bases on the Earth's surface and trap the EA by capturing their space ports. And so they took it over.”

 

“So, what is it that your father wants you to do at this ZAFT base in Kaohsiung?”

 

“Well, apparently the soldiers there have the exact location and coordinates of the weaponry system contained inside a Gundam Mobile Suit. So, Dearka and I have to go Kaohsiung to obtain that information so we can travel to the EA Base and retain that data on that system.”

 

“So, with all that,” Kira said, “what is it that you need my help for?”

 

“Well, since I'll be traveling to an Earth Forces' base, and being a part of ZAFT's military, I doubt there'll be peace while Dearka and I are there. But, if you came with us, having your sister being the Representative of the ORB Union, and proving that you are neutral, it might be enough to get us into their base without having a commotion.”

 

“So, in other words, you want me to travel with you and Dearka to the EA Base after you come back from Kaohsiung?”

 

Athrun smiled, “In so many words…”

 

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-Author's Notes-

I find myself loving the storyline more and more as it develops!! So, this is the beginning of the long and awaited journey of Athrun and Dearka and possibly Kira *shifty eyes* for the tracking of the weapons info.

 

I hope you guys liked this!!! And I hope to hear from you any of your concerns or just comments ~_^

 

Like always, forlorn_essence@hotmail.com or leave a review. Much love everyone!

 

Your devoted and transcendent writer,

Forlorn Essence*