The sea breeze whispered, waves rolled endlessly, and seagulls cried continuously—until the harmony of nature was shattered by a modern fighter jet.
Slumped in the cockpit, Cagalli slowly regained consciousness.
"I... I'm alive?"
After patting herself down and finding no injuries, she immediately tried contacting the Archangel. But between the intense interference and the Skygrasper's complete system failure—even the power refused to start—it was impossible.
"This is Cagalli, Archangel, please respond... Archangel..."
Realizing she couldn't rely on the Archangel for rescue, Cagalli refused to wallow in despair. Restless by nature, she decided that instead of waiting in the cockpit, hoping her allies would find her, she would explore the island herself. Maybe she'd even find help among any inhabitants.
But misfortune struck immediately. Though a girl, Cagalli lacked the meticulousness expected of one. The moment she left the cockpit, a wave surged and swept away her emergency pack.
"Ah—" Stunned, she watched the pack drift further away. By the time she snapped out of it, retrieving it was impossible. Cursing under her breath, she swam angrily to shore, now utterly alone on the deserted island.
"This island is tiny." In less than half an hour, Cagalli trekked through the woods and reached the opposite shore.
Staring at the coastline before her, her emotions were mixed. On one hand, she was relieved—the island was small enough to explore quickly, and its size likely meant no dangerous wildlife. On the other, she was frustrated. With such limited space, any inhabitants would have noticed her crash. Since she hadn't encountered anyone yet, help was unlikely.
Just as she scanned her surroundings, her gaze landed on the Aegis Gundam parked nearby—and Athrun, who was carrying a pack while scouting for a temporary campsite.
"ZAFT soldier!" Without hesitation, Cagalli drew her gun and fired.
Athrun, a top graduate of the military academy and a rare elite, had sharp instincts. The faint click of a gun's safety being disengaged didn't escape him.
Whirling around, he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun—too late to dodge.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed across the island, sending flocks of birds scattering.
Luckily, Cagalli had no formal training. Her aim was poor, and the panic of being spotted made her shot even wilder. The bullet only grazed Athrun's arm.
But Athrun didn't wait around. Dropping his pack, he dashed behind a nearby boulder in two quick strides.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Don't move!"
Her subsequent shots all missed. Step by cautious step, Cagalli closed in on Athrun's hiding spot, tension thick in the air.
"An Earth Forces soldier? The pilot from that fighter earlier?" Seeing his gun and pack lying together on the ground, Athrun suppressed his nerves. Drawing the knife strapped to his leg, he listened as faint footsteps crept closer.
Perhaps due to inexperience or excessive tension, when Cagalli reached the fallen pistol, she kicked it away. The moment her gaze shifted, Athrun moved.
Athrun calculated the distance between them—realizing he couldn't reach her before she looked back—so he flipped and darted toward the other side of the rocks instead.
Seeing this, Cagalli immediately fired, but predictably, all her shots missed. In the few flips it took for Athrun to disappear from sight, Cagalli made another foolish move—she averted her gaze again, picking up the fallen pistol and staring at it blankly.
Seizing the opportunity, Athrun, who had been hiding behind cover, suddenly pushed off the ground and lunged forward. Just as Cagalli turned, he kicked the pistol aimed at him out of her hand.
Cagalli stumbled back two steps, trying to aim her other pistol at Athrun, but he grabbed her wrist, twisted it sharply, and shoved her. She tumbled to the ground, and before she could get up, Athrun was already on top of her, pinning her hands under his knees while gripping her collar with one hand. A gleaming blade, cold with the promise of death, hovered before her.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Faced with imminent death, instead of freezing like most would, Cagalli let out a piercing, shrill scream that startled countless birds into flight. Even the dormant Aegis nearby seemed to react, its eyes flickering green in alarm.
After screaming, Cagalli shut her eyes, bracing for the pain of the dagger—but it never came. Trembling, she cracked her eyelids open and turned her head to look at Athrun.
Athrun had been startled by her scream, but the sound of her voice and the softness beneath his left hand made him reconsider killing her.
"A... girl?"
"Ugh... ugh... ugh..." Tears welled in Cagalli's eyes as she glared at Athrun. "You... you people are going too far!"
Somehow... this "blaming the victim" attitude was so very Cagalli.
"Huh?"
Athrun was momentarily dumbfounded by her accusation. What kind of logic was this? She could try to kill him, but he wasn't allowed to retaliate?
Though he thought this, Athrun still sheathed his knife. However, he wasn't naive enough to think Cagalli was no longer a threat. He twisted her arms behind her back and bound them, then tied her ankles together. For good measure, he disassembled her pistol and tossed the pieces into the ocean.
"Are you really a soldier of the Earth Forces? I didn't see any dog tags on you," Athrun asked while tending to his wounds. During the binding, he had quickly searched her but found no military identification.
Cagalli stayed silent, refusing to engage with the enemy. She was determined to play dead and give no opportunity for interrogation—but the next second, her resolve crumbled.
"I've never heard a scream like that on the battlefield before," Athrun teased.
Screams on the battlefield weren't uncommon, but most were born of fear and despair. Cagalli's scream, however... well, if anyone else had heard it, they'd have assumed Athrun was some pervert assaulting a young girl.
"Hmm... I'm really sorry about that." Cagalli also blushed at her own loss of composure. She prided herself as someone who had experienced combat, yet when faced with mortal danger, her true nature was exposed.
"You were the one who shot down our transport, weren't you? I saw the mobile suit on the opposite beach."
"You're the ones who shot me down first!"
"...Which unit do you belong to? Why were you flying solo over there?" Athrun realized reasoning with Cagalli was futile and wisely chose to get straight to the point.
"I'm not a soldier! What unit would I belong to? And who'd want to come to this godforsaken place... Ah!"
Everyone knows the universal truth—once someone makes up their mind, compromise and exceptions only have two outcomes: zero or infinite. And sure enough, Cagalli started spilling everything.
Perhaps it was her pride acting up after being seen in such an embarrassing state. Even with her limbs bound, she struggled to stand up, only to...
End up face-down, wriggling on the sand in an utterly humiliating pose.
"Hmm." Athrun pondered for a moment and decided Cagalli was no longer a threat. Since she was already tied up like this, he might as well leave her here for now, send a distress signal, and figure out what to do with her after setting up a temporary camp.
"Hey... were you part of the group that attacked Heliopolis earlier?" Cagalli called out just as Athrun was about to leave.
"Huh?" Athrun turned back, frowning slightly. The collapse of Heliopolis had already spread as news, but ordinary people wouldn't know the specifics, let alone the classified details of the G Project.
Even regular soldiers weren't privy to the full story. If Cagalli wasn't an Earth Forces soldier, how did she know?
"I was there too—inside Heliopolis when you destroyed it!"
For a moment, Athrun was at a loss for words. He felt guilty about the Heliopolis incident, but as a soldier, following orders was non-negotiable.
Without offering any excuses, Athrun turned and headed back to the Aegis, ignoring Cagalli's accusations and struggles. Right now, the priority was to establish contact with allied forces as soon as possible.
But to Athrun's frustration, no matter which channel he tried, he couldn't reach his allies. He didn't dare use public channels either—Cagalli was still here. Though she claimed not to be a soldier or part of any unit, her mobile suit was undeniably Earth Forces property. That meant Earth Forces troops might be searching for her nearby. If he accidentally drew them here, he'd be in real danger.
"Boom—"
A thunderclap roared overhead as dark clouds gathered, unleashing a torrential downpour. With no other choice, Athrun fired a distress beacon toward the sea.
Remembering the rain, Athrun couldn't just leave Cagalli unattended. The cockpit was too small for two, so he had no choice but to disembark and search for temporary shelter. But when he looked around, he was met with a sight that left him speechless.
Cagalli was quite tenacious, showing no signs of giving up despite her struggles. Like a caterpillar, she desperately wriggled toward the Aegis Gundam. Unfortunately, the terrain between her and the Aegis was uneven, with steep rises and drops. As she inched forward along the rocks, a sudden clap of thunder startled her, causing her to lose balance and tumble back down—right into the water.
She struggled to get up, but the ropes around her wrists got stuck in a crevice between rocks. Helpless, she lay in the shallow water, battered by the pouring rain, the cold seawater, and the crashing waves.
Staring blankly at the darkened sky, frustration and helplessness welled up inside her. She wondered… should she just give up? Or perhaps… had she been too stubborn all along?
Just then, the icy sensation of raindrops against her skin vanished. When she snapped back to reality, a shadow loomed over her—the Aegis' shield was hovering above, sheltering her from the rain.
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