'Happily forever' shall be our ending
Summary: Athrun wants to be with Cagalli again, buts she keeps avoiding him, for she feared that their relationship will never end like how fairytales do. Can Athrun show her that they can write their own ending for their own story instead of leaving everything to fate?
Author's Note: This is my first one-shot, which I dedicate to all AxC fans around the world. (As I said, this is my first, so please don't flame me if my story doesn't live up to your expectations.) If any readers find that I don't suck, please review and if possible, please ask others to read it. (I hope you do not find this troublesome. I just wanted to know how AxC fans react to this story.) This story is inspired by my favourite Chinese song, Tong Hua, which means 'fairytale'. This song is written, composed and sang by the famous Taiwan-based Malaysian singer, Michael Wong, better known to his fans as Guang Liang. I'll be adapting most of the song's meaning in this story. Anybody interested can ask me for the lyrics, its romanji version and its translation to English.
At the orphanage by the beach……
"……and they lived happily ever after," Lacus ended the story. The children clapped and asked for more. Lacus flipped to another page of the book and started reading again.
Outside, Kira and Cagalli were taking a walk by the beach. Kira, Lacus and Kisaka had managed to persuade the young leader to take a few days break away from her work.
"Fairytales are quite enjoyable aren't they? Not just to young children, but to adults as well," Kira started a conversation with his sister.
"You can say so because you and Lacus are like, literally living in one. As for me, I either get hard cold, intriguing facts or scandals or conspiracy theories," Cagalli said.
"Cagalli, your life's story doesn't have to be like that. There's always a chance to turn a dull non-fiction or mystery novel into a happy fantasy tale, with the help of a certain someone," Kira told her.
Cagalli sighed. She knew exactly who his brother is talking about. "Kira, if I had told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Your best buddy and your elder sister can never be like Prince Charming and Snow White, unlike you and Lacus," Cagalli said.
"No, you are not Snow White, but Cinderella," Kira said. Cagalli gave him a puzzled look.
"Cagalli, do you still remember that tale?" Lacus asked from behind as she approached the twins. The orphans had just gone to take their nap.
"Let's see, Cinderella is a girl who went to a ball, and left at twelve midnight before her fairy godmother's spell worn off and make her fine clothes change back into rags. After she left, the Prince desperately tried to search for her, hoping to be with her……" Cagalli recalled the story.
"Isn't Athrun now doing what the Prince did?" Kira interrupted, looking straight at her. Cagalli became silent.
"Cagalli, you should give him and yourself a chance. Who knows, you might actually be like the heroine of a fairytale, instead of a leading female character of a non-romantic, conspiracy theory-filled novel," Lacus said.
"Kira, Lacus, you both know that would never happen. Athrun……" a sound of a car stopping distracted her. She recognised the driver and rushed back to her room in the orphanage.
'Damn your car Athrun. I told you to come without letting Cagalli know so that you can catch her unaware and the two of you can meet face-to-face. Now that she knows you came, she's avoiding you again,' Kira said in his head.
Kira gave a sigh and shook his head as Athrun ran towards them. "Too late Athrun. Cagalli had probably gone to her room by now," Lacus said.
Athrun began to sigh too. "Cagalli, why are you avoiding me? Why don't you let me tell you my feelings?"
"Athrun, she never admits it, but deep down within her, she's afraid that you will tell her straight in her face that you no longer have feelings for her," Kira told Athrun.
"But that's not going to happen, and it never will!" Athrun half yelled.
"We know, Athrun, we know. But how are you going to let my sister know?" Kira questioned.
"We tried our best to convince her, but it seems that she had decided to let Fate be the author of her story," Lacus said.
"And you know how stupid and over-realistic Fate can be if you let it write your story. Fate is too dumb when it comes to fairy tales with happy endings. It must be the characters themselves who can write a happy ending for themselves and their loved ones," Kira said.
Athrun thought over what Kira and Lacus had said to him. Then his mind thought of Cagalli again. In his eyes, the blonde was not just a tough princess, but an angel as well. A guardian angel that cared for him more than she cared for herself. She stayed away from him, denying herself the happiness that she dreamt for, just to let him be with another happily. But she doesn't know that she was wrong. He had already told Meyrin about how he truly felt and Meyrin respected his decision. He cannot be truly happy unless he can be together with his princess, his goddess, his angel, with her……
"Athrun, had you thought of what you will be saying if you and my sister get to meet each other?" Kira asked.
That gave Athrun another thing to ponder about. He had been so desperate to meet Cagalli that he had never thought of what to say or how to tell her his heart's deepest desire.
"Sorry……no…… I have to say that I never gave it much thought. I was too anxious to meet her again," the blue-haired guy replied quietly.
"Athrun, we'll try again to get her to meet you, or make something up to let you two see each other. In the meantime, try to get ready on how to tell her what you wanted her to know. She will be returning to work after two more days, and we all know that she can be even busier than a bee when she starts working," Lacus told him.
"Thanks you two, for trying to help," Athrun thanked them.
After leaving the beach, Athrun drove off to somewhere quiet to clear his mind. His heart was filled with disappointment. About an hour ago, his best friend had called him and told him that Cagalli will be taking a break from her work at the orphanage. He immediately rushed to the place, hoping to meet the one that he missed the most. Alas, Fate, the over-realistic author who knows no fairytales, prevented that from happening. As he sat in his car, deep in his thoughts, the radio was broadcasting an old Chinese song from the 21st century. Athrun didn't pay attention to the song's beginning, but as the song reached the chorus part, it got his interest. He played it louder, and then a light bulb in his head turned on. (Author's Note: Let us just think that Athrun is an expert in languages and he can understand Chinese)
The next morning, Cagalli woke up and found a bouquet of roses outside her door. She picked it up curiously and a letter fell from it. She took the flowers and the letter back into her room and sat down by the window. She placed the flowers on her bed, and opened the envelope. Inside it was a piece of paper. The paper's background was a picture of a beautiful palace. Behind the palace, was a scenic view of a glorious sunset. Cagalli recognised the background picture as a picture of the front cover of a book on fairytales. She was even more surprised to see the handwriting on the paper. It read:
Forgotten how long it had been
Since the last time I listen to you
Telling me your favourite story
For a long time I have been thinking
And I started to panic
Did I do something wrong again?
You cried when you told me
That fairytales are all lies
And I cannot possibly be your Prince
Perhaps you do not know that
Ever since the time you said you love me
All the stars in my sky have all shine at their brightest
I am willing to change
Into the angel that you loved so dearly in your fairy tales
Let me spread my arms wide, and turn them into wings to protect you
You must believe
Believe that we will be like the fairy tales
Happiness is our ending
I want to be the angel
That you adore so deeply in the fairytales
Allow me to open my arms, and change them into wings that will give you protection
You must have faith
And believe that we will be like the fairy tales
That our ending will be a happy one
I will become
Your beloved angel from your favourite fairytale
I will spread my arms and protect you by turning them into the angel's protective wings
I want you to trust
That we will be just like the fairytales
Where 'happily ever after' will certainly be our ending
Let us write our happy ending together……
From,
Your Red Knight who will always love you, Athrun Zala
Cagalli cannot control herself any longer. Tears started flowing from her eyes, past her cheeks and chin. She quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve as she heard someone slowly turning the doorknob.
As the door opened, there stood Athrun Zala. Cagalli stood up, and the two of them looked into each other's eyes.
"Cagalli," Athrun moved slowly towards her. "Please, give us the chance to be our story's own authors and write a happy ending to our fairy tale, together," As he said that, he knelt in front of her with one knee and took out a small box. The pilot of Justice then opened the box and revealed a silver diamond ring.
Overwhelmed with emotions, Cagalli lost her words. She smiled through her tears, and nodded. Seeing this, Athrun stood up and they hugged each other tightly. Then they kissed, a deep passionate kiss.
"Click!" Startled, Cagalli and Athrun broke away from their kiss and looked at the door. Their eyes widened with surprise at the sight that greeted them. Miriallia was holding a video camera, videotaping them. Beside her, stood Kira with camera and a photograph in his hands. Behind them were Lacus, Murrue, Mu, Andrew, Yzak, Shiho, Dearka, Shinn, Lunamaria, Meyrin and Kisaka. They all had a huge grin on their faces.
"This is going to be one extremely memorable picture," Kira smirked as he waved the photo in front of his sister and brother-in-law.
"Kira, give it to me. And Milly, hand over that video cam," Cagalli and Athrun demanded in unison.
"Not until I've made several copies of them!" Kira grabbed Miriallia's video camera and rushed down the stairs. "Run kid run!" Mu shouted as Athrun and Cagalli sprinted after the brown-haired pilot.
"Kids! Whoever stops Kira Yamato will be rewarded with a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream!" Cagalli yelled as Kira past by the orphans. He was about to reach the backdoor when he accidentally stepped on a toy and tripped. "Ouch!" Kira fell on his back. The orphans seized the chance and charged at him and pinned down the Ultimate Coordinator. Since there were too many of them, Kira can't stand up.
"Nice order," Athrun said to Cagalli. Cagalli pried the video camera out of Kira's right hand. Then she noticed that his left hand, which was previously holding the photograph, was empty.
"Guys! Let us conduct a strip search on Yamato!" Athrun called out to Yzak, Dearka and Shinn.
"You don't have to do that. The photo is above you," Andrew pointed at the ceiling. All of them looked up and saw Tori. Kira's pet was having the picture in its beak.
"Come on Tori, let us take the photo to the photo shop and have it enlarged!" Kira called out at the door. How and when he got away from the kids, nobody knows.
"Oh no you don't! Tori, bring the photo to me instead!" Athrun said to the bird.
Tori fixed its pink eyes on its owner, then it turned its head to its creator. Instead of flying to either one of them, the green mechanical bird took off and landed beside Haro. The pink round robot opened its 'mouth' and 'swallowed' the photograph. Then it bounced into Lacus's hands.
"I think I will keep the picture," Lacus said with a smile.
Author's Note: This story is an incident that happened before 'MS Gundam Seed Apocalypse'. I hope that all of you readers, especially AxC fans will enjoy this. Please review and please R&R my other stories too if you haven't read them. Thank you very much.