Secret Santa
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Originally, I was going to write this semi-AU, ignoring the events from the end of the series
when Meer is exploited since Yzak and Dearka had the "share a look and Dearka going what the hell"
moment. Then I realized other than a mildly concerned look at Dearka, Yzak didn't say anything
on the matter or act as surprised as him, so I could work around that! I hope. XD
Yzak Jule smoothed a hand over his white uniform, proceeding to fidget with his collar before
entering the room with a quick salute to the occupants. Passing through, he entered
the next with someone in tow.
"What's up?" Dearka asked, slowing his pace as he caught up to his silver-haired commander.
"Escort assignment," he replied, and Dearka noted a slight strain in his voice.
"What for?"
There was a brief pause, until, "Lacus Clyne. I'm to escort her to a meeting with
Chairman Dullindal, today."
"Lacus?" Dearka raised his eyebrows curiously, "she's gone to see him a few times
like this, recently. I wonder what she's up to."
"You said you've heard that she's been in Orb all this time, right? Perhaps she was waiting
for a right time to return home, now that things have somewhat settled. And given her position
and previous actions, I'd want to wait, too, before running in to just meet with the Chairman without
observing him first."
"Point." Dearka fell silent for a few moments, before quirking a smile. "So, what then, nervous?"
"
Nervous?"
"Meeting her. You never really
did get to meet her properly before, you know." Technically,
Dearka, despite fighting alongside her in the previous war, never actually got to know her very
well, either. Situations aside, she was busy in her own battleship and there was rarely time
for small talk.
"I'm not
nervous," he replied in that 'that-is-that-so-shut-up-about-it' tone and
turned his nose up. Dearka shook his head and laughed, dragging the subject on anyway.
"Excited, then. Almost makes me jealous."
"Shut up, you moron."
- - - - -
"Commander Yzak Jule, of the Nazca-class battleship, Voltaire," he said, saluting sharply as he
greeted the pink-haired pop idol as she walked-- more bounded out of her guestroom. Faltering,
he took a step back when she reached out to take his hand in greeting.
There was something peculiar about the way she talked, the way she walked and the way she spoke;
it wasn't what Yzak remembered of her at all, recalling a number of her speeches and public
appearances in the past. Seemingly proper and well-mannered, gentle-- not that this girl came
off as
ungentle, but being around her, Yzak got a significantly different vibe from her
than he expected.
It was when he stood a small distance away from her manager did he start to get suspicious; he heard
the man's gruff voice call for "Meer", and he turned to see Lacus' attention caught as she wandered
over to him. The man turned his head quickly, but Yzak looked away, pretending he hadn't heard a
thing.
"Excuse me if this comes off as rude," he spoke up when he was finally alone with her, "but who are you,
really?"
'Lacus' blinked at him with what looked to be a genuine look of confusion, but at his unwavering stare,
she faltered, glancing around to see if anybody else was in the room before taking hold of Yzak's arm
and pulling him into another room. Slowly, carefully, but above all,
nervously, she tried to
explain the best she could, who she was, how this came to be, and why she was there.
"The people adore Lacus," she said. "They need her voice, but she's not here right now." She felt
important, she said; that despite the imitation and deception, if she could make a difference, a
difference that
meant something, wouldn't that be a good thing?
It was certainly an odd situation, Yzak thought. But this girl -- Meer Campbell -- seemed sincere
with her words, he'd been around enough people to sense when somebody had ulterior motives. "Please
don't tell anybody, though!" she begged. "As you can probably guess, some people wouldn't be very
happy to learn about this... and it's not as if I want to
replace Miss Lacus!"
Yzak could have thought of a handful of repercussions that could come of this if something went
wrong, but he agreed. And when he was to head back once his job was finished, he turned to her one
last time. "Be careful," he simply warned her.
- - - - -
"So? How did it go?" Dearka asked barely ten minutes after Yzak had come back and settled.
He paused.
"Well?"
"It was fine," he stated, and took a drink of coffee from the mug on his desk.
"That's not really
details, you know," he pressed.
"It was an escorting assignment, Dearka, what else do you
expect?"
"Well, what did you talk about?"
"She blabbed on about how Athrun's doing, as if I cared at all," he lied.
When they were engulfed in silence, Yzak mulled over his meeting with this Lacus-imposter. In a
sense, he was doing something similar. Glancing down at his uniform, isn't that why he was sitting
where he was now? Because like this, he could make a difference, and though he wasn't pretending
to be somebody else or planning on having live concerts in front of the eyes of millions, the
concept, the reason was the same. He could
do something.
Dearka, too. Despite what he had to go through when he returned to PLANT after the first war,
there he stood, clad in a green ZAFT uniform and at Yzak's command.
"Therefore," Yzak spoke after a time with a barely noticable smirk, "your worry over becoming
jealous was wasted."
Dearka laughed, wandering over to lean on the back of Yzak's chair, "I wasn't even serious, anyway. As if, Yzak."
Putting his mug down, Yzak stood, turning around and hooking a hand behind Dearka's neck.
He pulled him in for a brief, but meaningful kiss before muttering a "shut up" and exiting the room.
Dearka's belief in him was strong enough to return to the military, and that in itself was Yzak's
reason and strength to strive to make his own difference in the war to come.
