**Option A
Patrick Zala looked at his son. His son looked back.
...Again?
"It's all your fault, you know that?"
Yes, yet again, thank you. Was his son never going to get over that particular...rut?
"...How in the universe is it "my fault", Yuuna? ...Again?"
His son looked at him blearily, and snorted.
"Because at least 91.7 percent of anything bad that happens to me is your fault, when analyzed."
...The boy really had much, much, much too much free time on his hands...
"And b'cause of this cruddy war, I can't even go back to Uni in Orb! Damnit, da!"
What he really missed was the Seiran estate where he'd stayed when he was in Orb, Patrick was sure. ...Oh, well. Unato Ema Seiran had turned out to be a surprisingly good host, despite his...other connections, and seemed to have gotten along well with Yuuna, oddly enough. Unato's son Athrun, on the other hand...
"...It's too dangerous, Yuuna."
Yuuna gave him his best "sulky poodle" look, and hmphed.
"...And anyway, it is all your fault. ...She... she wouldn't have even been anyplace near Junius 7 if she wasn't married to you in the first place."
...And that was that, of course.
Patrick Zala spent that day visiting his wife's gravesite with his son, who insisted on leaving her favorite fruit cakes by the grave. Attempts to convince the boy that she certainly hadn't been Orbian - or from any other culture that left food at gravesites, for that matter - went nowhere.
Patrick sighed. He was the father of one of the stupidest sons in the universe, or his part of the universe anyway, and he couldn't afford to "lose it".
What would Yuuna do without him?
It was six months after Lenore Zala's death, almost to the day.
**Option B
Patrick Zala looked at his son. His son looked back.
"...Father?"
"...Yes?"
"...Father, I..."
"...I am listening."
"...Father..."
...What would it take to induce the boy to just. Spit. It. Out?
" - Father. I - I think I'll make redcoat..."
"I am capable of reading the reports the Academy sends me, boy."
Why was the boy so...so...
"...Father. Lacus says..."
"I hear enough of what Lacus Clyne says, or Siegel Clyne says for that matter at work, boy. I don't need to hear it from you."
...Great. Now he'd made the boy tear up.
"Father, Lacus's my betrothed."
Patrick was beginning to think that that had been one of the worst decisions he'd ever made in his life. Damn the bloody Clynes, lock, stick and barrow, anyway!
"...And I've been talking to her because I've been worried about you..."
Damnit, boy, don't you have any kind of sense at all!
"And she says sometimes drastic measures must be taken, and I...I think so too, now. So sorry, papa. - Hey, um, Mr Takahashi, I'm sorry but I have to borrow my father for the afternoon, OK?"
"What? ...Kira, damn you, what do you think you're doing - let go of me!"
Kira Zala, as often happened to be the case, was Not Listening.
"I know you're part of father's security detail, and you have to follow him all the time, but could you follow him at a distance today? Please? We're going to be with Lacus today, and she has her own Security, so..."
"...Very well, Mr - Ah, Kira."
Patrick gave his bodyguard a murderous look as he was dragged past. Traitor.
Patrick Zala spent the rest of the day with his son and her betrothed, visiting his wife's grave. He tried to tell them not to spread their picnic right next to the gravesite, and got nowhere. As usual. Did those two share Not Listening skills, or something?
It was six months after Lenore Zala's death, almost to the day.
**Option C
Patrick Zala looked at his daughter. His daughter looked back.
"Father..."
She looks at him sadly, and asks him to come visit her mother's gravesite with her, before she sets out on her "funeral tour", again.
He puts flowers on the grave and tells her she looks just like her mother, which is a lie as her betrothed Athrun Clyne actually looks more like Lenore then Lacus herself ever did, and that her mother would have been proud of her, which is nothing but the truth.
It was six months after Lenore Zala's death, almost to the day.
He watches the flowers, and the memorial garden, and shivers.
He does not want to heal, and feel the wind again. It feels like betraying his wife's memory.
Even though that probably was what Lenore herself would have wanted.
**Option D
Patrick Zala looked at his son. His son looked back.
"...Father. You are either going to get out of this damn pit you're in on your own or get some kind of counselling, or I'll tranq you and drag you to the docs myself, do you hear me! I don't let people on my Team turn into live grenades with the pin wobbly, and I sure as hell aren't letting my own father turn into an unstable nuke, damnit!"
" - YOU - Bloody stupid moron -"
"I'm a bloody stupid moron who happens to be your son, damn you. Just...Come back I can't even bash you properly when you're so pathetic."
"...Go away."
Patrick hissed.
"Like hell I will. Did that, got the T-shirt. No more."
"Mwu Zala, for the love of anything you hold dear, go away before I strangle you."
It was six months after Lenore Zala's death, almost to the day.
Mwu dragged Patrick to his mother's gravesite anyway.
**Option E
Patrick Zala looked at his son. His son looked back.
"...More toast, father?"
"...No, Athrun."
It was six months after Lenore Zala's death, almost to the day.
They had nothing to say to each other of importance. Nothing at all.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:43)
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