I won't be updating my other fic for a while I have much to do and I'll be going abroad for vacation. (Its our vacation here…;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed, sad. Yes. Very, sad. Dx
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Forgive, or Forget?
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Her alarm clock rang with a loud buzz. She got out of her bed groggily and put the alarm on snooze. She ran a hand through her blonde hair as she let out a long yawn.
Today, was their graduation day. Cagalli wasn't the least bit excited, she just got into a fight with Athrun. She saw him with another girl, Meer Campbell. Sure, Athrun broke up with Meer. But, still! He doesn't know how much it hurt to see it, how much it hurt to wait for him to be by her side. She knew he'd come rushing to her during the graduation ceremony.
She sat down by her bedside and looked out the window. Kira and Lacus were dressed already. Kira and Lacus had been together ever since. How she envied them. For once, she would want one moment, one single minute to feel that way. Complete. Happy.
Cagalli lay down her school clothes on her bed. She didn't feel like going. But, she had no choice. Everyone was required to join, unless they had an excuse. For a moment, Cagalli's frown turned into a mischievous smile.
'That's it! An excuse. I'll make something up, then skip the whole process.'
She'd go to school, and happen to catch a fever. But how….
Not the hot water bag on your head trick, too obvious. Hang around a sick guy? No. Too disgusting. She shook her head.
"I'll think about it when I get to school." She decided.
Cagalli packed her things and wore a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
"Hey, Cagalli! Come down, the bus is here!" Kira called from outside.
Cagalli rushed over to her window and leaned over the ledge her head hanging out.
"I'll be down in a minute!" she smiled. 'My plan will work perfectly, I won't need to see Athrun, not anymore….'
She opened her door and took a deep breath before closing it behind her. Although, a thought still wavered in the back of her mind. 'Am I giving up on Athrun?'
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School 9:30 AM
She banged her head on her locker.
She groaned loudly as she took all the things out of her locker.
"Tsh. I can't think of any excuse…" she muttered under her breath.
"What should I do? I can't see…." She stuttered. "him."
Cagalli felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped in surprise.
"Hi, Cags!" Miriallia raised up her hand in greeting.
"Mir, don't sneak up on me like that. Ever." She sighed.
"Seems like you're troubled." Mir smiled and pat her best friend's back.
"To tell you the truth, I plan to miss the graduation ceremony, better yet the whole thing itself." She said hesitantly. 'Mir doesn't break the rules. She won't help me…'
"Athrun, right?" Mir frowned.
Cagalli shook her head rapidly. Trying to hide the obvious blush on her cheeks.
"No! I got over him. It's just that, its boring and all that. Blah, blah talk about how much we've done over the years and we should never forget…blah, blah." She tried to sound convincing.
"Whatever the reason, I'll help you out." She smiled thoughtfully.
"Y-you w-will?" Cagalli sounded surprised.
"Yup! Besides, if I try to tell you not to, we'll end up arguing again." She shrugged.
"Good point." Cagalli smirked.
'I knew this was about Athrun. I need to do something to make her and Athrun speak to each other again. But how?'
"We can use the old, 'fake fever' trick. You've never done that before, even though it's a common way of getting out of things." She pointed out. "Now, to get Athrun into the equation…." She muttered under her breath.
"Okay. If you say so."
"Let's get going, to er…the clinic. The graduation starts at 11:00!" Mir grabbed Cagalli's hand as she began to run.
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School 9:40 AM
Athrun shut his locker. He finished cleaning it up in time for the last day of school.
He pulled out a picture of him and Cagalli from his pocket. A frown appeared on his face as he stared at the photograph.
It was a day at the park. They had bought themselves ice cream. Cagalli got Double Chocolate, Athrun got Vanilla. Cagalli made a peace sign and had ice cream markings around her face. Athrun accidentally smacked his on Cagalli's face.
Athrun chuckled slightly at the memory. After the picture Cagalli chased him around the park. She said I owe her another ice cream scoop.
He shoved the picture back into his pocket. He missed her, everything. She always gave him a smile when they saw each other nothing more. But, he knew that smile wasn't genuine. He knew how much he hurt her. Athrun wanted to say sorry, but he couldn't because Cagalli wouldn't allow him to get near her.
Athrun sighed and walked over to greet Kira. Thankfully, Cagalli wasn't there to give him one of her famous glares.
"Hey, Athrun." Kira said happily.
Lacus stood next to Kira and greeted Athrun.
"Hi, Athrun!" she said clinging on to Kira's arm.
He felt a slight pain in his chest when he saw the two together. Athrun and Cagalli used to be exactly like that, until that incident. Athrun felt jealous because of the relationship Kira and Lacus had. Heck, Shinn and Stellar were also on their way.
Kira noticed Athrun's frown. He nudged his best friend.
"You should speak to Cagalli. It's the last day we'll be in high school together."
Athrun blinked at Kira's sudden suggestion.
"B-but, we can just patch up things next time." He said hesitantly. He was nervous about what would happen. Knowing Cagalli, something bad may occur.
Lacus nodded. Her expression became serious.
"You two were so close. A little problem couldn't destroy the whole relationship could it?" her voice firm.
Athrun hesitated. Should he try and apologize? He's been trying to do that since, but haven't gotten the chance to. When Cagalli would say it would be okay to talk, Meer would butt in and drag hi off. Whenever Meer wasn't there, Cagalli refused to speak with him.
"Maybe, maybe I should." He said more confidently. 'The problem is, how?'
"Thanks Lacus, Kira. See you guys later!" he began to run towards Cagalli's locker.
"Likewise." Lacus waved.
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Clinic 10:00 AM
Cagalli got herself a towel from the cabinet and soaked it in hot, boiling water. It was lucky for her that the nurse wasn't around. Her view shifted towards Miriallia.
"You think this will work?" she asked nervously.
"Of course!" Mir clasped her hands together.
Miriallia grabbed the wet towel from Cagalli and placed it on her forehead.
"Lie down on the bed. I'll call the nurse and say you have a temperature. She'll come and check, then you may be exempted from the ceremony." Mir explained.
"O-okay." Cagalli lay herself on the bed and sat down. She watched Mir was she sped off to find the nurse. 'Am I doing the right thing? Trying to escape from my problems? Maybe, I just don't want to see him…' she thought sadly.
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Meanwhile, Mir ran through the hallways, searching for the school nurse. "Where can the nurse be? Teacher's lounge?" she turned around as she passed a corner when she bumped into Athrun.
"A-Athrun! I'm so sorry. I can explain---" Mir paused. 'Wait a minute….'
"I needed to explain to you that, Cagalli has a very bad fever. I'm finding the nurse and she needs company. Can you stay with her for a few minutes?" she said trying to cover up the lie.
Athrun raised his eyebrow. He had his doubts.
"Er, okay. I guess that's fine."
Mir grabbed his hands into hers and jumped happily.
"Thanks!" she ran off to get her camera. Almost time for grad pictures!
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Clinic 10:05 AM
Athrun took a deep breath before he entered the clinic.
"Cagalli?" he opened the door slightly.
"A-Athrun!" her heart began to race rapidly. She felt her hands shaking, she felt her face burn a bright red. She noticed Athrun did too.
"W-what the heck are you doing here!" she regained her normal attitude.
Athrun walked over to her bedside and sat down beside her.
"Just checking on you. You're not sick, aren't you?" he smirked.
"Wha? Of course I am. I'm here lying in bed. What else would I be doing here!" she crossed her arms and glared at Athrun.
"Don't act that way Cagalli. You're lying. I know I've done something bad, I made a mistake. I tried to fix it. I've tried to talk to you. I've tried almost everything I could think of." He gulped.
Cagalli opened her mouth but nothing came out. She thought she'd just let him continue.
"Meer, she sort of claimed me on her own. I never really felt the same way I felt towards you. I know I've hurt you. But all I'm asking is, if you would give me a chance." His eyes were covered by his navy blue hair.
She looked up at Athrun. Her eyes were full of regret and sadness. Her eyes moved towards the book that was left by her bedside table. It was a yearbook, surely he wasn't expecting her to sign it?
Athrun stood up and began to head towards the door. He opened in slightly and held the doorknob. "Cagalli, will you forgive, or forget?" those were his last words before he left, and shut the door.
Cagalli's whole body shook. "Forgive, forget?" she muttered.
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School 10:20 AM
Athrun spotted Miriallia and walked over to her.
"Thanks." He smiled.
"What for?" she said jokingly.
He waved goodbye to Miriallia as he went to grab some paper from his locker. Athrun got a pen from his pocket, and began to write Cagalli a poem.
Though the sky may turn dark
Though the sun may set
Though the leaves may wither away
Though the hills may become barren
Though the wind may stop blowing
Though we may choose different paths
Though the melody may stop playing
I know that our love will last forever
For an eternity
I also know that…
The sky will have light
The sun will rise
The leaves will turn green
The hills will have life
The wind will blow again
Our path will meet somewhere
The melody shall play again
And we shall be seeing this together,
Laughing, holding hands.
You're close to my heart.
Let's stay like this forever.
He hurried over to Cagalli's locker and inserted the note into her yearbook. Athrun knew she wouldn't let him sign, this letter was good enough to say how he felt.
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School 10:40 AM
Cagalli saw almost everyone dressed in their graduation clothes. They seemed to be excited. Everyone except her. She thought she'd get this over with.
She went to her locker and grabbed her backpack and her yearbook. Cagalli had Kira, Lacus, Miriallia, Dearka, Yzak, Stellar, Meyrin, Lunamaria, even Shinn signed. But, Athrun didn't get to sign it. She wrote his name just above Kira's, unfortunately, it was left blank.
Just as she was about to close her locker, a photograph slipped and landed on the floor. Cagalli got curious and picked it up. She started at the picture, surprisingly, she let out a smile. It was the same picture Athrun had. The one at the park.
Cagalli browsed through the yearbook and found a note. "Athrun?" she unfolded it and read the poem. Even though it was just in paper she blushed madly. "Athrun…" she brought out Athrun's and scribbled a message in black ink.
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She closed his yearbook after writing her dedication.
She nodded and she made a choice. "I'm attending the graduation." Her friend, Mir was hiding around the corner. "Glad you came to your senses. Lets go!" she cheered Cagalli on.
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Graduation 11:00 AM
Everyone stood in line, waiting for their class representative's speech to finish.
"It has been a wonderful year together. We've accomplished many things over the years. I know it will be hard, but we'll hold on to these memories….." it went on and on.
Cagalli nudged Mir on the shoulder. "Told you! It would be just like I said." She teased her friend.
After the whole ceremony was over, people started to plan parties together or plan phone calls to keep in touch. Some were still signing yearbooks. Then, she spotted Athrun. She poked him and smiled slightly.
"Here." She handed him the yearbook.
"Tha—"
Cagalli pulled him into a hug. "Sorry." She simply said.
Athrun hugged her tightly. "I'm glad."
"If you would allow it….." he began to move closer to Cagalli.
"Allow wha---"
Athrun pulled her into a kiss.
For a moment, she held back. But, she felt at peace together with Athrun.
Cagalli pulled back. They were both blushing madly.
"See you tomorrow…." She whispered into his ear. She slipped a note into Athrun's pocket before she left.
She walked away, her face still red. (A/N: The post below is a part of the note.)
Athrun, you asked me if I'd forgive or forget.
It was hard for me, we were both hurting.
But in the end…
…I forgave.
P.S. – You owe me ice cream.
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I worked hard, 2000+ words. Phew. Reviews please!
AxC Love, is wonderful sniff
-Kagarii