Chapter Seven

By Raven

Email: SandDruid@aol.com

Disclaimer: The regular disownership of Gundam, Gundam Wing, or anything like it. On to part 7.

A the CWD base:

The leader of the CWD was addressing all his military personnel.

"When we are ready, I want to gather all our forces and strike the New Kingdom, I want to send units to all the colonies too, so the gundams will have to separate from each other. Each of you will have a specific duty in organizing the attack. You will be notified."

The leader stepped down of the platform. He thought about the Gundam pilots. "Soon, you will see a new order in space, my order."

In Africa, one day ago:

Valise walked to where the gundam pilots were finishing locking their gundams in the storage hold. "Welcome to my humble home, you are welcome anywhere in the grounds."

Quatre stepped up to Valise. "We thank you for letting us stay here, I can not tell you how much we appreciate this kindness."

Wufei looked off in another direction."Humph."

Valise stole a glance at Wufei and lifted one eyebrow. "Is something not to your liking, ah…what’s your name?"

"Everything is fine, my name is Wufei."

Valise smiled slightly. "I’ll make sure I remember it."

Quatre introduced all the other pilots to Valise. Duo stepped a little closer, and smiled at her. "You may have heard of me, I’m usually called the God of Death."

Valise smiled at Duo’s cheerfulness, she seemed to think about his comment. "Nope never heard of ya. Come with me I’ll give you the tour."

Duo looked like she insulted him beyond all means. The boys followed Valise, Duo spotted the other Gundams and after a few moments finally asked her. "Hey, I’ve never seen those Gundams before, who pilots them?"

They all looked at girls' Gundams. Valise hesitated. "Those…ah…are not… fully operational, I was just messing around with some ideas."

The boys looked convinced, Valise relaxed and thought. "I have to me more careful."

In the living hall:

"How long do you think we can pull this off, they're going to find out some way. I think it would be easier to confront them instead of sneaking around."

Hilde was talking to Relena as she was doing sit-ups. Relena finished her workout and turned to Hilde. "I know what you mean, I’m just not ready."

Hilde looked at the floor. "I hate not telling him that I’m here."

Relena thought for a moment. "Then you should be able to tell him, this is my problem not yours."

Hilde looked at her and smiled. "No, I can’t do that and leave you here thinking about what’s going to happen to you."

Misty and Morgan were watching the TV. Misty turned around on the couch to look at them. "You guys should leave it alone, if they find out, then they find out."

Relena gave her a tiresome look. "It’s more complicated than that."

Valise walked into the room, all the girls were silent and looked at her. "Those boys are……different."

Relena’s face softened. "You could say that."

Valise sat down on the couch. "Before I forget, some people from colony L1 are coming here, because of the little battle that took place there, some people are without homes. Since we have too many people in the main holding area, we’ll be keeping them around here."

Hilde looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "May I ask who these new inhabitants are?"

"Sure, they come from a finishing school it’s called Magose school for the talented, they are around your ages."

Relena closed her eyes, she spoke sarcastically. "Great, I assume that you’re not familiar with this school."

Valise leaned forward. "By all means, enlighten us."

Relena looked at everyone. "The Magose is a place where the rich send their kids when they finished college, usually the people that go there won’t be able to inherit their parents money until they go."

Morgan did not look amused. "We’re getting snobs? Wonderful. Hey Sage, how do you know about this school anyway?"

Relena gave Morgan a half smile. "You could say I did a lot of traveling."

Relena turned to Valise. "There is one part I don’t understand, why don’t they go to their homes, I mean they were at a boarding school right ?"

Valise leaned back. "Their homes were also destroyed and these people are a certain threat to the CWD’s and the New Kingdom. These people believe that there should be a definite separation between people with money and those who are poor, like since they have the money they should decide how wars are fought. They stand very defiantly on their views, but they go about it with rallies and riots, which end up with people getting hurt."

Misty rolled her eyes. "Great, now they're rich and stupid, a very bad combination."

Relena looked away. "Yeah, a very bad combination."

Valise got up. "Since the other pilots are here, I’ll have the newcomers be introduced to them since you girls are technically not here."

Relena didn’t look up. "I think that would be for the best."

Hilde asked Valise a question. "When are they coming?"

"In a couple of hours."

Hilde watched Valise go out of the room, then turned to Relena. "I hope their not girls."

A couple of hours later:

Hilde was angry. "DUMB LUCK!!! Pure, stupid, dumb luck."

Relena gave Hilde a stern gaze. "Relax, it might not be like you think, there is one guy you know."

The four girls were looking at six pretty girls and one guy, being introduced to the pilots. The four girls were spying on the newcomers from where they could not see them.

In the Living hall:

Quatre was the first to say something to the girls after Valise left. "I hope we get to know each other well."

While a blond (Sandy) was looking at Quatre, a pretty raven haired girl (Mary), and a brunette (Sam) stared at Heero, Mary spoke while still gazing at Heero.

"I hope so too."

Heero was aware of the girls, but didn’t pay any attention. Another red haired girl (Erica) was giving Duo glances. Duo tried to put his attention else where, he thought to himself. "Man, it’s getting hot in here."

A blond (Sherry) was looking Trowa up and down, Trowa simply stared at the ground. Wufei had caught the eye of a another red haired girl (Aaron), Wufei rolled his eyes and thought, "I wish Sally was here, this would be so much easier."

The only guy (Derrick) stepped forward and spoke to Quatre. "So, why are you guys here?"

Heero gave him a stone gaze. "Why are you so interested?"

Duo stepped in front of Heero quickly enough to cover Heero’s coldness. "He’s just kidding. We help with the mechanics around here."

Derrick gave him a funny look, then turned to his group. "Okay. Well, we better settle into our rooms."

All the girls said bye to the pilots, Derrick walked off after the girls and didn’t say a thing. Trowa broke the silence. "That was odd. They will get in the way of us."

Heero stood up from leaning against the wall. "They will be annoyances, they will complicate our directive."

The pilots walked in the opposite direction of the other group. Hilde was very upset. "I can’t believe this is happening."

Morgan talked to her in a calm voice. "Settle down, you can’t do anything."

Hilde turned to Morgan. She gave her a slight smile. "I saw you looking at Quatre, you like him don’t you?"

Morgan gave her a sad glance. "Even if I did, How can a former prisoner go up against a rich girl with probably more class than I will ever learn in a hundred years?"

Relena got angry at Morgan’s statement. "Do you think of yourself as so little? Stop it! You are ten times better than any of those girls, but you won’t be better if you think of yourself as a poor prisoner."

Morgan gave a little smile. "Really, you think of me better than them?"

Relena calmed down. "Of course I do, anybody in this room has more compassion, and smarts than any of them. You can’t let people get to you."

Hilde looked out to the living hall. "You're right, I should have more faith in myself……and in Duo."

Relena got up and walked to the door. "I would love to stay and chat, but I have a date with someone and I can’t be late."

Misty looked after Relena then turned to the other girls. "God, I don’t know how she does it. After all she’s been through, in prison and in coming here only to see someone from your past, and from the looks of it, a confusing past, and still be so strong."

Hilde ran her hand along the cold lab table. "You don’t know the half of it."

In the main compound:

"SAGE!!" Damon ran and jumped into Relena’s arms.

"Oh! Your getting taller Damon and ……… yup, your definitely getting stronger."

Damon smiled at her. "Really?"

"I’m sure of it."

Relena looked around the compound and spotted an old man that she got to know very well. She looked at Damon in her arms.

"Let’s go say hi to Bradley."

"Okay."

They walked over to the blind man. Relena put her hand on his shoulder.

"Bradley it’s me."

Bradley smiled.

"Sage, it’s so nice to get visitors."

Relena took some food out of a little bag she was carrying.

"I brought you some bread and fruit."

"Thank you, you are the only one who talks to me and cares for me…I’m such a burden."

Relena gave a little laugh. "You're not a burden I enjoy talking to you, and besides Damon likes to hear your stories."

Damon nodded his head. "I do like to hear them."

Bradley smiled. "My, you’re a nice boy."

Bradley turned back to Relena who’s face lost the smile, he could feel something was wrong. "What’s troubling you my dear?"

Relena sighed heavily. "Something from the past has crossed my path and I don’t know how to fix it"

"What makes you think you have to fix it? It’s a man isn’t it?"

Relena smiled sadly. "You may be blind but there are still things you can see."

Bradley laughed at her. "You're right. Now what is the problem? "

Damon sat on Relena’s lap as she talked to Bradley. "When I was a lot younger, I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders and I thought I knew what I was doing but I didn’t. What happened long ago lead to many innocent lives being lost, and it was all my fault, if I had only sooner realized that my way was not necessarily the correct way to do things. During this I fell in love with a ……pilot, he and his friends believed in peace, like I did. But, they did it the correct way, they fought for it, I did not."

Bradley waited. "So what happened to him?"

Relena tries to hold back tears. "He didn’t love me back, he disappeared after the war and I haven’t seen him since until recently."

Damon started to tear up. "Don’t cry."

Relena smiled at him, and wiped the tears from her eyes, Damon slid of her lap and sat on the ground. "Okay, I won’t cry."

Bradley thought for a moment. "My dear, some things have to be left in the past, it seems you are a different person than before. This is your chance to do what you think is right, and you have people that love you here. All you need is confidence, if you're still in love with this man, just remember it’s never to late."

"It’s so hard but you're right, as always Bradley. Thank you for your wisdom, I have to get going."

Damon looked at Relena as she stood up. "I love you."

Relena started to cry and covered her face with her hands, then held them out to Damon. He jumped into her arms. "And I love you, more than anything. You want to see Morgan, and Misty?"

"Yeah! Can I see Hilde too?"

"Of course."

Relena turned to Bradley. "Thank you Bradley…… for everything."

Bradley smiled. "You're welcome."

As Relena was walking out with Damon, she accidentally bumped into someone. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean……"

Relena looked at the person. She thought, "Uh oh."

She was face to face with one of the new visitors, Derrick. "No I’m sorry I wasn’t watching were I was going."

Relena quickly tried to make an exit. "I better get going."

"Wait, I’m Derrick, what’s your name?"

Relena hesitated and looked around for a moment, to see if anyone else was around. "My name is Sage Mason. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really have to go."

Relena practically ran away from him, she waited till he was out of site before going through security and into the living compound of the Gundams and their pilots. She looked at Damon. "That was close."

Later that day:

The boys and the newcomers were all in the mess hall. They were at sitting at the same table, since the boys came in first, then the girls, they automatically sat with the boys. Derrick came in and sat down at the table. He talked to the whole table.

"I just met the most beautiful and enchanting girl, just a little while ago. I don’t suppose any of you mechanics know Sage Mason?"

Meanwhile at the lab:

Relena and Damon came in while Valise teaching on controlling your emotions in battle. Relena came over and leaned against a lab table, everyone looked at her. Relena gave them a worried look.

"I ran into a little trouble a moment ago."

Back at the mess hall:

Trowa answered Derrick.

"We don’t know anyone that goes by that name."

Derrick thought for a moment. "A shame."

Mary gave him a sly look, and stole a glance at Heero. "Still, what kind of girl would be in a grubby, and disgusting place with all of those people. She probably has all sorts of diseases."

All of the girls laughed at her remark, Heero got tired of them and he got up and walked out of the mess hall, soon the other pilots followed. They were grateful to get out of the situation. Erica looked after Duo. "They are amazing aren’t they?"

Sam was thinking about Heero. "Especially that Heero."

Mary turned to them. "I’m going to have that Heero, if it’s the last thing I do."

Sam turned to Mary with an angry expression. "Hey! What about me?"

Mary gave her an annoyed glance which quickly turned into a smile. "We’ll let the best girl win, or the prettiest."

"Fine."

Derrick shook his head. "This is a wild guess but I don’t think they are interested."

He was meet by six angry glares. Mary relaxed and looked at the seat were Trowa was. "Nonsense, they’re just playing hard to get."

Back at the lab:

Misty had a wide eyed look. "What?! You met one of the guys?"

Relena put Damon on a table. "Yes, I accidentally bumped into him."

Morgan put a hand to her head. "God! This gets more confusing every time."

Misty came a little closer. "Hold on! Wait, all you have to do is not go to the compound anymore. Damon can stay here."

Relena shook her head. "No, that won’t work."

"Why not?"

Hilde spoke up. "Because Misty, Derrick saw her at the compound, so he’ll expect her to be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that."

Misty nodded her head in understanding. "I see the problem."

Valise stepped forward. "I can keep a watch when he goes to the compound and meet him there. I’ll explain that you went back home to live with some distant relatives."

Relena nodded her head. "That’ll do."

Valise gave her a no nonsense look. "Be more careful we have no room for mistakes."

"I understand, I got sloppy."

Valise walked out of the lab, and Relena turned to Damon. "How would you sir, like to stay with me from now on?"

Damon’s face broke out into huge smile, everyone in the room couldn’t help but smile too. "Yes! I want to very much."

"Well then, it’s settled."

In Africa, the next day:

The boys were checking their Gundams and fixing some minor damage. Heero was on the shoulder of Zero, fixing the circuit from the cockpit to the machine guns. He finished the job and came down to ground level, Mary had walked into the storage and approached Heero.

"You pilot one of these? You know I’m also a pilot."

Heero kept his attention on his Gundam, he turned to give her a glance then walked away from her, and out of the storage. Mary got pissed and thought to herself, "It’s useless to walk away, I always get what I want."

The next day, in the living room:

All the gundam girls and Damon were on the floor lying down and wearing less clothes as possible. "Even with the air conditioning it’s so HOT! Isn’t it Misty?" Morgan looked at Misty.

"Can’t talk, too much effort, too hot."

Valise walked in to see them looking like they all died. "You guys better go, the boys are coming this way, and so are some of the other girls."

Relena and Hilde jumped up. Misty and Morgan were more reluctant to move.

"I’m stuck to the floor."

Relena grabbed Misty’s arm and yanked her up.

"Ouch! My skin."

"It’ll heal."

Morgan saw what happened to Misty and immediately got up.

"That looked like it hurt."

Misty turned to Morgan. "What gave you that impression? The part where I yelled or half of my skin looking like a lobster"

Morgan gave her a bored look. "We should go."

One week later, in Mary’s quarters:

Mary was talking to the other girls of the group.

"You know if one of us, let’s say me were to fly one of those Gundams, let’s say on a test run, and did good. I think we would impress those pilots enough to have them interested in us, they seem the type that only think woman are worthy if they are good and strong as them."

Sandy looked doubtful. "That’s not a good idea. You’ve only piloted a plane a few times, you could get killed. Or if even you damaged one of them, they would hate you."

Mary gave Sandy an angry look. "I’m not that stupid, I would not use one of the pilots Gundams, I’ll use one of the others in the corner. Now are you guys going to help me?"

They all nodded their agreement.

A couple minutes later, in the Gundam Storage:

Aaron asked Mary a question in the Storage. "Which one are you going to fly?"

Mary scanned the Gundam’s of the girl pilots, she stopped on Polartic. "I like that one."

Meanwhile in space:

The CWD’s were uniting all their forces. The first group had stationed two battle cruisers by colony L2. They built it far enough away from the colony, so they were out of radar. The captain checked into the command center.

"Sir, we are in position. We will station here until the rest of our forces are ready."

The leader of the CWD’s smiled. "Excellent."

END OF PART 7