Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Equal In Life ❯ Masked Duo ( Chapter 7 )

Ch. 7: Masked Duo

 

(2:30 P.M)

 

Yzak was bored. Really bored. So he proceeded to walk around aimlessly. Not that he would get lost of course. Only someone like Zala's girlfriend would do that. Yzak smiled at the thought. Athrun Zala, who always bested him in everything, at the mercy of a girl. Very amusing. But in a sense, it was unnerving. Not only did Zala show this symptom, but also just about everyone else he stayed with right now did. Kira and Lacus, although they might not admit it, were together. Even Dearka seemed to make some moves towards the brown-haired Natural girl. "Are you jealous?" The little voice inside his head asked.

 

Naw...

 

He tried to justify himself. Sure, he had a lot of opportunities to get a girlfriend if he wanted to. It's just that no one appealed to him. They had all been giggling idiots, who disgusted him. His thoughts cut short, when he heard a soft melody coming from the door next to him. "Flute?" Curiosity getting the better of him, although he would never admit it, he opened the door, the door, ironically enough, that led to the room that they stayed in when they got caught the other night. The first thing that caught his attention was the girl dressed in pure white, playing, as he had guessed previously, flute. "She...looks like an angel...wait, what did I just think right now!" Yzak mentally smacked himself. He must be REALLY out of it. He shook his head back and forth until he got the thought out of his head. Once composed, he let out a snide remark. "So what are you still doing here, I thought you went with everyone else."

 

"Oh, I didn't notice that you were here." She answered, a bit surprised. "You should have interrupted me earlier."

 

"I just came in." He took a sit by a nearby chair. "So, why are you still here?"

 

"Well, I had some unfinished paper work to do, so I came back and finished it." She explained matter-of-fact.

 

"And you didn't go back?"

 

Arabella smiled. "I thought it would be better to leave them alone."

 

Yzak smirked back. Then he proceeded to look at the objects on the mini-table in front of him. "You play chess?" He asked, while picking up a knight.

 

"Of course." She responded back while taking a seat across from him. "Do you?"

 

"I used to play a lot. But after I joined ZAFT I never had time. Besides, I lost my chess set somewhere along the way." He shrugged. "So how about a game?"

 

"Eager to show off I see." Arabella smiled. "But you have another thing coming if you think you could beat me easily."

 

"We'll see." Yzak smirked, as he moved his pawn two spaces.

 

"Likewise." Arabella replied back, countering him with the exact same move. They both stayed silent, until the game started to get heated.

 

"Looks like your knight is gone." He smirked, adding to his pile.

 

"True, but now you left your rook defenseless." She remarked back as she took the piece and added it to her pile.

 

"It's not over yet."

 

"Who said it was?"

 

"Why do you always act so sweet and composed?" Yzak asked, aiming for her queen.

 

"Why do you always act so distant and superior?" Arabella asked back. "Check."

 

"Why do you wear a mask?" He retorted. "Check."

 

"Why do you wear a mask?" She retorted back. They both stayed silent.

 

Yzak looked back and forth between Arabella and the chessboard. "It seems that we have a stalemate."

 

"It seems so."

 

"Perhaps we could have a rematch later on. Besides, I was going easy on you." Yzak remarked.

 

"Same here." Arabella replied back with a smirk.

 

They both stayed silent for a while, feeling a bit awkward. Yzak spoke first. "Um...you play well...flute, what is."

 

"Oh...thank you." Arabella replied, taken aback. She never expected him to compliment her.

 

"It reminds me of someone else...back in the war days. He played piano though." Yzak explained.

 

"I see..." She replied. "I had a cousin who played piano too." Then her eyes became wistful. "Unfortunately I never got to see him very often. His family was completely against it."

 

"Why?" Yzak asked with sudden interest.

 

"Well, none of my father's relations were happy with us ever since my father married my mother. It just wasn't done." She replied, a bit bitter. "So the only way I got to meet my cousin was to sneak around in a disguise. Which wasn't something I could do on a regular basis."

 

"I see...so what happened?"

 

"Well," Arabella continued on, "that was the way it was until he joined ZAFT. I never could get in contact with him after that." Her eyes saddened even more. "It turned out he got killed during the war. One of his missions no doubt." They stayed silent, neither knowing what to say next. Arabella unconsciously looked at the clock. "Well, I guess I should get ready to leave." She said cheerfully. Too cheerfully. "It would be nice if you could come this time. We're going to have dinner outside, after all."

 

Yzak contemplated his choices. He did feel a bit out of place, but seeing how bored he was before, he decided to join. "All right, since I don't seem to have anything else to do at the moment."

 

"Great. I'll meet you at the front door in about...let's say thirty minutes." She suggested.

 

"Fine by me." With that, Yzak walked out the door. "See you then." Arabella nodded her head as she watched Yzak disappear at the corner. Sighing, she turned around and went up the stairs to her own room.

 

* * *

 

(Arabella POV, 4: 30 P.M.)

 

Fifteen more minutes to go. I looked at the mirror and sighed. What possessed me to tell him all that? I usually guard myself well. What made me crack? Trying to ease my mind, I studied my reflection. Perfect composure, perfect innocence...perfect china doll. I hated it.

 

"Why did you have to leave me like this?" She questioned, trying to hold back tears. "Mother, why did you have to give me this position? And father, why did you have to leave too?" It was always so hard. So hard to keep up with the responsibilities. If the country hadn't retained its monarchal tendencies, or if there happened to be a suitable replacement, I would have escaped, the first chance I had. Especially because of what I am...to earn the trust and authority, had been more difficult than it should have been. Half and half, neither quite one or the other. It was a curse, it was a blessing. "And you too..." I dug through the desk drawers, and took out a letter:

 

Dear Bella,

 

How are you? It's really been awhile since we met. Well, I just wanted to tell you that...don't be in too much shock...I decided to join ZAFT. Yes, peace loving me joining the military caused quite a shock to everyone. But after the Bloody Valentine incident, I couldn't just stand and watch. I couldn't let something like that happen again. I'm not going into war for victory, but to protect people from getting hurt. Hopefully you will understand.

 

And I'm sorry to say that I don't think I could keep in contact with you until the war is over. I rarely have time to myself anymore, but more importantly, I don't want our letters to get into the wrong hands. You understand, don't you? I wish it were otherwise...maybe once the war is over we could meet, this time openly...

 

I couldn't read any more of it. Not today. I slowly put the letter back, and proceeded to wipe the tears off my eyes. He had to go too. Everyone had to go, leaving me here, alone. But I couldn't blame them. It wasn't their fault. I could blame everyone, and no one. That's the way it was.

 

Slowly, I got up. Five more minutes. Composing myself once again, I hurriedly ran to meet Yzak, leaving a part of myself behind.

 

* * *

 

(4:45 P.M.)

 

"Exactly on time." Yzak remarked as he saw Arabella approaching.

 

"You're on time too."

 

"Did you expect anything else?"

 

"Not really." She smiled.

 

Yzak looked at her once again. "It looks like you ditched the dress."

 

"Oh, yea. I wanted to be more comfortable." Arabella answered. She did indeed ditch the dress, and also had a jacket on with strings with cute fluffy balls at the end to tie it up. Not to mention, her complete blue outfit matched well with her eyes.

 

"So when are we suppose to meet them again?" Yzak asked.

 

"At 6:00 PM."

 

"Isn't it a bit early?"

 

"Well, I thought we should do a quick Christmas shopping before we go and meet them." She smiled mischievously. Before Yzak could protest, he was ushered into the car. "Come on, we're going to be late."

 

* * *

 

So that's it for this chapter! )

Maybe it's a bit too melodramatic near the end, but oh well...

This chapter was harder to write than the other two because it was hard to keep Yzak from going completely OOC. But hopefully I did a good enough job.

Oh, and I think I gave enough hints in this chapter...hopefully you figured out them all...lol.