Counting the Demons

Author: pratz

Disclaimer: Tomino-sensei, Sunrise, and Bandai

Last part. Comment, anyone? Oh, all praise and thanks shall go to my great beta, Fledgling.

Personal notes: In cases similar like this, I support science and thank God above for letting us human cope with our gifts to make world a better anew.

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Chapter 3/3: Of Athrun

Little Athrun never understands why his mother will go alone to the Athha Mansion near the beach on October 29th every year. She is the leader of their country, the right and legal representative of Orb; so why does she have to disappear like that? But since she has the authority, no one will question why she goes to have a day off. What is a mere day to all of her full working days, after all?

Little Athrun has just never understood why until today.

He is standing beside his mother, clad in her pristine uniform, looking as graceful and elegant as ever. She holds his hand gently, loving as always. But then, when has she ever been unloving towards him? Despite her high position in society and the big responsibility on her shoulders, she definitely is the best mother and little Athrun thinks he cannot ask for a better one ever.

Uncle Kira and Aunt Lacus are there with them, but they stand a bit farther behind him and his mother. His uncle wears a gentle expression on his face, but little Athrun cannot remember a time when Uncle Kira has never worn one. Aunt Lacus looks a bit sad, but her smile is still sincere and soft.

His mother's expression is a perfect mix of many different emotions blended altogether. She looks loving, distant, pained, torn, and strangely peaceful. Little Athrun is not stupid. He may still be a seven-year old child, but he is already able to recognize what expressions on his mother's face are.

"You must be wondering why we're here." His mother begins to speak in soft voice.

"Yes."

"We're seeing someone special."

He has never paid enough attention to this small garden in the backyard of the mansion. A huge flower tree grows there; he thinks it is sakura, the Japanese flower, shadowing everyone who stands under the tree.

A small gravestone is before them. It is covered by white, plain sandstone that feels too simple to belong to a special person's grave.

Little Athrun blinks as he carefully reads the name carved on the surface of the gravestone.

"Mother? I don't understand..."

His mother turns to him, her smile still soft yet tinted with a tender anguish beneath. "I named you after him."

Whoever the person buried there may have been, his name is Athrun Zala.

Little Athrun recalls his own full name: Athrun Nara Athha.

And, like he has said before, he is not stupid. Thus, he asks, "Who's this?"

"He is the greatest man I've ever known in my entire life." His mother sounds distant, but her words ring clearly in his ears. "Someone with gentle smiles and even gentler eyes. Someone who has a big heart and even bigger love. Someone so precious."

He imagines someone like Uncle Kira, but somehow it does not feel right. His mother never talks about his uncle with that kind of expression. Maybe this Athrun Zala person is more like Aunt Lacus. But still, it feels wrong and misplaced.

"Do I know him?"

"You look like him," her mother's soft voice quietens down into a whisper, "a lot."

At the two last words, little Athrun sees from the corner of his eye that Aunt Lacus turns to Uncle Kira as if she is trying to hide her face. Uncle Kira goes to pull her into a comforting hug.

"Why did you name me after him?"

This time, his mother embraces him in her warm arms. "So I could always call his name."

Her voice is trembling slightly, but little Athrun does not see his mother cry. She is a tough and brave woman. She is strong.

"He must be a good person, I guess," little Athrun mumbles onto his mother's uniform. "Did he make you happy back then?"

"He is a very good person, and yes, he makes me happy."

He notices that his mother talks about this Athrun Zala person in present tense as if the man is still alive, as if he does not sleep a lonely, eternal sleep there deep beneath the ground.

They leave the site before sunset. Uncle Kira and Aunt Lacus leaves earlier. This is the first time Little Athrun has paid a visit to this small, serene, and beautiful garden that—he thinks—belongs to this Athrun Zala person, but he has a feeling it will not be the last time. His mother says that Athrun Zala makes her happy, and he will love anyone who makes his mother happy.

Little Athrun tugs one sleeve of his mother's uniform a bit, asking for attention. He looks upward to see his mother has a very wonderful smile on her face. "Would you tell me everything about him?"

"It'd be a long, long story," she says, and she smiles even more. "But I'm sure he is happy to let you know about himself."

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