"Yes!"
With a crisp reply, Felix took the items from the secretary. Holding them in one hand, he raised his other hand and saluted the department head.
After that, Felix turned and headed for the office door.
Stepping out of the office
Felix gazed up at the sky overhead, his eyes shining with emotions that were difficult to read. A moment later, he set off toward the elevators.
He took an elevator to the spaceport, then boarded a shuttle to Junius City's Seventh District.
Junius City, Seventh District Spaceport
After getting off the shuttle, Felix took the items with him and rode an elevator into the satellite.
He took a bus toward home.
Outside the front door
Standing before the door, Felix took a moment to compose himself. He drew a deep breath, entered the passcode, and opened the door.
"Darling, you're home?"
His mother's voice came from inside.
Hearing her voice, Felix smiled and called toward the kitchen.
"Mom, I'm home."
At his words, he heard a clattering crash from the kitchen. His mother hurried out, her eyes slightly red as she looked at him.
She came to the entryway and gazed at Felix cautiously. A moment later, she opened her arms and pulled him into a hug.
"You're home! You're home!"
Her voice, full of relief and deep concern, came in a steady stream from his mother Wendy. Felix hugged her back with one arm, a faint smile on his face as he answered,
"I'm home, Mom!"
A few seconds later,
Wendy let her son go and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. Her gaze brimmed with tenderness as she said to Felix,
"Felix, get some rest at home. I'll go buy some groceries."
"Mom, there's no need to go to all that trouble. I'm happy to eat whatever we have." Seeing how eager his mother was, Felix replied casually.
Wendy still insisted!
Seeing this, Felix said nothing more and let his mother go out to buy groceries.
That evening
At the dining table
"Eat more. You've gotten so thin."
Wendy, seated at the table, kept piling food onto Felix's plate. He found her enthusiasm a little overwhelming.
Chris watched his son struggle to keep up, the corners of his mouth lifting in a slight smile. He picked up food with his chopsticks and quietly ate. He didn't ask a thing about the war.
He was afraid that if he accidentally asked about something painful, he would reopen the wound in his son's heart.
After dinner,
Felix helped his mother clear the table. Then the family sat together on the living room sofa, watching television and enjoying a peaceful, reassuring moment of reunion.
In the middle of the night
Felix abruptly jolted awake from his dream, sitting bolt upright in bed. He clutched the blanket tightly, sweat beading on his forehead as he gasped for breath. His eyes were filled with regret and resentment.
After panting for several seconds, he calmed himself. He looked out the window, then turned his head toward the clock on the nightstand.
Once he saw the time, Felix climbed out of bed, opened the door, and left his bedroom for the dining room.
He poured himself a glass of water. When he came out, he saw his father standing at the dining room entrance.
"Dad, you're still awake?"
He asked in a calm voice.
Chris didn't answer. He walked up to his son and saw the resentment and regret Felix had tried to hide in his eyes. As Felix watched, Chris opened his arms and drew him into a hug.
His father's warm embrace enveloped Felix, making his body tremble. Then his father's calm, reassuring voice, filled with quiet strength, sounded in his ear.
"Son, tears are an outlet for your feelings, and a remedy for pain. If you want to cry, then cry. My shoulder will always be here for you. So don't bottle up all that pain. Let it out through your tears!"
His calm words reached Felix's ears. Felix had been holding everything in, but he could no longer keep it together. His eyes reddened at once.
The glass slipped from his hand and hit the floor. As the water spilled and the glass clattered, tears poured from Felix's eyes like a floodgate breaking open. He clung tightly to his father, buried his face against his shoulder, and burst into tears.
His sobs rang through the quiet house.
Hearing his son's grief-stricken sobs, Chris's eyes reddened too. He couldn't imagine how much pain, resentment, and regret his son had endured.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I did everything I could! I really did everything I could! Forgive me!"
Felix kept apologizing, his cries choked with sobs.
Hearing him, Chris's body trembled. He understood his son's grief, regret, and resentment. He held him tighter, gently patting his back as he comforted him in a soft voice.
"Felix, you did everything you could! You really did everything you could. They'll understand. You don't have to blame yourself like this."
At that moment
Outside the master bedroom
Wendy heard her son sobbing and apologizing over and over. Leaning against the wall, she slowly sank to the floor. Her eyes reddened, full of heartache for her son, and tears fell from them.
Her son was only sixteen, yet he had already endured such terrible pain. He was still so young. Why did he have to go through something so heartbreaking?
"Son, if you want to cry, then cry! It's all right to let it out!"
Wendy murmured softly from where she sat on the floor.
Felix's outpouring in the dining room continued. Tears of sorrow kept falling from his eyes. Chris held his son and lent him his shoulder, his eyes red as he quietly listened to him let it all out.
He comforted him softly.
"It's all right to cry. Let it out!"
The next day
The Griffiths' home had returned to its usual quiet. No one mentioned what had happened the night before, and everything was so peaceful it was as if it had never happened.
A few days later,
February 18, C.E. 70
After receiving an invitation, Felix said goodbye to his parents. Dressed in a black suit with a white flower pinned to his chest, he took a shuttle to Aprilia City.
At the state funeral for those who had died in the Bloody Valentine tragedy, Felix saw many familiar faces.
Patrick, Athrun, Siegel, Lacus, and others. But the person beside Patrick was the one who caught Felix's eye most.
"Looks like I saved Athrun's mother too, indirectly, while saving my own parents."
He murmured to himself.
Felix stopped paying attention to them and stood quietly among the crowd, waiting for the funeral to begin.
After a while, the funeral began with mournful music and the sound of cannon salutes. As Speaker Siegel delivered his speech, everyone present bowed their heads in silence.
When the moment of silence ended and the funeral was complete, Felix stood among the crowd, listening as Speaker Siegel delivered the Declaration of Independence from the stage and declared that they would fight Earth Alliance to the end.
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