W Tym Kierunku

by: Niebezpicnzy Ksiezyc

 

Disclaimer: Okay standard disclaimer, blah, blah, blah... For those of you who are wondering, Susan is not a GW character (that I know of). I just needed to create a character for a small part of the story.  Can we get on with the story now, or perhaps I should continue to incoherently babble for you? Nie? Dobry!

 

 

Zechs and Noin walked from the field side by side. Zechs walked with an air of pure irritation, but Noin was too excited to notice how her friend’s hand began to bleed from being clenched so hard in a fist. She wanted to hop up and down and pump her fists in the air, but such behavior was not becoming of a young soldier. She would have to save her celebration for later. They walked in complete silence as they passed through the verdant field. Noin stole a glance at her friend, but the mask concealed his facial features. She began to wonder just what exactly he looked like under that mask. Zechs felt his cheeks growing warm as he noticed Noin was staring at him. This added to his ever-rising irritation. Noin finally snapped out of her daydream and noticed how tense her friend was. She opened her mouth to say something, but was abruptly interrupted by her teacher. He saw the two walk out of the field, and was curious to see who had won the game.

 

“Zechs, Noin, I suspected that you would be the last two remaining. But in this institution only one can remain on the top, someone had to lose. Was it you Noin? Did you lose?” the instructor asked.

 

Zechs felt the rage boil inside of his body. <<How dare he speak to her in that condescending tone of voice!>> “No sir, I am afraid that you are wrong. Noin was the victor,” he said through clenched teeth. Noin flashed a smile at her friend, and then nodded to her teacher.

 

“Well, well, well Noin. You finally beat your rival. Congratulations. Clean up and report to the docking bay in two hours. You two have some mobile suits to fix,” the instructor glared at Zechs with that last statement. Zechs’s rage threatened to erupt like a volcano. He was sure that Noin could sense his doubt in her victory. He turned to look at his friend, and sure enough her hands were balled into tightly clenched fists. << That bastard! I should rip out his small intestine and hang him with it!>> Zechs thought. Noin sighed, <<One day I am going to get that man, I do not know when or how, but I will.>> There was no use in dwelling on the past, besides her day was going so well before this. She rewarded Zechs with a smile for his excellent self-control. No quite sure how to comfort her friend, Noin reached over and held his hand in hers. For the first time, she noticed the blood in his palms. The blood had dried in places, making the marks from his fingernails undetectable. She peered into Zechs’s face with a puzzled look.

 

“Barbed wire, “ was the only response she got from Zechs. She gently let go of his hand and turned to leave. Zechs watched as she walked to her room, and then turned to walk to his own.

 

 

Two hours later, Zechs and Noin met in the docking bay. The bay was covered, wall to wall, with various massive mobile suits and their parts. Their teacher walked over to his two students, and without a word handed them their assignment. Then he curtly turned and left the two in the bay. “Clean the mobile suits and repair the one damaged in today’s games!” Zechs exclaimed after reading the slip of paper. “What bull,”

 

Noin’s hand touched her friend’s shoulder, and he stopped his sentence. “We will be finished in no time. Besides, no one is going to stay here and watch us,” she told Zechs.

 

Zechs felt his cheeks grow hot, just what exactly was Noin talking about?! Noin glanced around the room, and walked closer to Zechs. Each step she took made his heart thump louder, and louder in his chest. He was beginning to fear that she could hear it trying to escape from his rib cage. She stopped walking when she was inches from his face. Zechs held his breath and closed his eyes as he saw her lean towards his face. He gulped as she slowly parted her mouth that was ever so close to his. He closed his eyes, and waited for contact, put instead her felt Noin’s breath on his ears. “Let’s get back at him” she whispered devilishly. Zechs was too shocked to even respond. He looked at the evil smirk plastered on his friend’s face. He smiled too, knowing just exactly what Noin had in mind. However, at that moment, he was glad that he was wearing his mask, so that he could hide the disappointment in his eyes.

 

 

The master plan to anger the teacher was brilliant. Oh yes, the young pilots would fulfill their duties, but would also have a little fun. Zechs knew about many of Noin’s evil plots, but also knew that she would never complete them. Hence, his initial shock. They waited as the last soldier left the bay for weapons training on the other side of the grounds, and then they began their work. The two worked quickly and silently as they swiftly cleaned the docking bay. Never had the two worked so fast in their entire lives, and their speed and efficiency would be rewarded with revenge. Every soldier and teacher at the base knew that Zechs and Noin were the best pilots, there was no doubting that, but they were not informed about the absolute mechanical wiz that Noin could be. Sure she had always passed shop and engineer class with flying colors, but no one except Zechs knew the true extent of her talents. Sabotage à la Noin, revenge was going to be sweet! The two worked closely side by side at each mobile suit. Being their pilots made Zechs and Noin privy to certain mechanical information and certain malfunctions that would disable the suit. Noin decided to use this knowledge as her weapon. The two expertly removed the outer metal layer of the first victim and began to work on the intricate circuits inside.

 

 

“Each mobile suit was going to malfunction a certain way,” Noin whispered to her male counterpart. “Suit number one will have a ‘broken’ radar, suit 2 will have no interior light and so on.” Zechs watched in pure awe and admiration as Noin’s eyes lit up with excitement. Never had he felt such a great urge to kiss her then than he had ever felt before. But just as he was going to grab his beautiful friend, he had a revelation.

 

“Noin, we cannot disable every suit. We will be caught and punished quite harshly if we are found, which is inevitable. We need a strategy...a stratagem...a brilliant one at that. Perhaps we should randomly chose a few mobile suits and then after each training class ends, add a few more problems for those bastards to fix.” Zechs wanted to make those men pay for what they said to Noin and how ignorantly they treated her, but they would be easily caught considering that they were the only ones in the docking bay. Although, living through a few more punishments did not seem so bad as long as Noin was there.

 

“Ahhh Zechs, that’s what I love about you,” <<did I just say “love”? Oh God I did not mean to say that out loud!!!>> You, umm you are always thinking ahead! Good idea! Let’s finish two more and then we can leave.” Noin whirled around and turned towards her work. After all, she couldn’t let Zechs see how red her cheeks were turning. Noin continued working on the mobile suit as she said, “I guess that means we will be seeing each other at the end of every day, huh?” Zechs felt his eyes grow wide, and he found that he could no longer verbally communicate, so he merely nodded his head.<<Wow, I guess he isn’t that happy about the plan after all. I do not know why I even thought that Zechs would want to spend more time with me. Don’t say something stupid, don’t say something stupid, just try to sound cool.>> “But you know, if you don’t want to do this you don’t have to,” Noin added.

 

<<Oh, maybe she doesn’t want me to come here and help her. Oh God, does she know?>> “Well, that is all right, I would be glad to help, unless...unless you do not want my help.”

 

“Well, I mean I can do this on my own, so I do not want you to feel obligated to help me. But you can if you want to.”

 

“I know you could do this yourself, but we are partners right?” Noin nodded her head. “So therefore I cannot leave you to complete our mission by yourself, unless that is what you want?”

 

<<Okay, how the hell can I say that I want him to stay without him knowing that I like him? Gotta think, gotta think....>> “Sure, we will take those bastards down as a team, I mean as partners-”

 

“You mean, together.” The two sat silently on top of the mobile suit, staring at each other. They sat for what seemed like hours before becoming aware of how flustered they were getting.

 

“We should probably get back to work,” Noin said, breaking the silence.

 

“Yes, work... getting back to it now.”

 

 

The rest of the night, the two continued their work silently. But every so often they would steal glances at the other. Whenever their eyes meet, or what Noin thought were his eyes, they would quickly glance the other way, or stammer out some made up question pertaining to their work. At last Zechs’s watch beeped, telling the two that their time was up. Noin couldn’t help but feel sad as she said good-bye and turned to leave the bay. Zechs felt the all to familiar pang of loneliness hit his heart as he bid his friend good-bye. But they had tomorrow night, right? The next day, the two friends went about their normal business in order not to arouse any suspicion. At night, Noin was lying awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She heard a soft knock at her door, and her face immediately brightened into a glowing smile. Zechs stood nervously outside of her door. He wasn’t afraid of being caught, he was afraid of her. All during the day he could not get her out of his mind. He felt his lips start to twitch when he saw her smile. <<How can one woman’s smile be so contagious?>> He suppressed the urge to smile and the two continued silently down the hall.

               

Once outside, Noin let out a loud sigh. Zechs turned to look at her, and she giggled at his confusion. “I was holding my breath the entire time we were in there,”  she explained. Zechs nodded his head and followed Noin into the bay. Their night continued almost exactly as the last one did save for a few exceptions. Noin had asked Zechs for a tool, and when he handed it to her, their fingers meet. They both began to blush and quickly turned away from each other. While “working” on one of the mobile suits, Zechs needed Noin’s help in its cockpit. He called her over and explained his plan. The two squeezed into the small space and began to work. However, they both became increasingly aware of just how close they were to each other. For one brief moment, the entire world seemed to disappear as the two stared at one another. <<Well, now is a good a time as any Zechs. Make your move.>> Zechs slowly leaned towards Noin. <<Oh my God, is he going to kiss me? Oh God, he’s going to kiss me!>> Noin began to lean towards Zechs. Their faces were inches apart from each other and Noin began to close her eyes. Suddenly, a loud “crash” echoed throughout the bay. Zechs and Noin quickly snapped out of their stupor and looked around to see the culprit. Zechs felt his muscles tense irritation. <<I am going to kill whoever did this,>> he thought angrily. <<Of all the times to distract Zechs, it had to be now. Why God, why?>> Noin shook her head and strained to see in the dark bay. A small cat jumped from the table set alongside the wall of the bay. Wrenches and screws were strewn across the ground were the cat had once been. Normally, Noin would have laughed, but normally Zechs did not try to kiss her. “I guess we should go before anyone else disturbs us,” Noin said trying to keep the sadness out of her voice.

 

“You are right. Tomorrow then?” Zechs asked.

 

“Yes, tomorrow,” Noin replied. The two gave each other one last look as they departed and went their separate ways.

 

The rest of the week continued this way. Work during the day and trouble making during the night. Their revenge had not gone unnoticed. One day during a training session, a pilot pressed the button for the gun, but instead, he fired a missile. No one was hurt, except Zechs and Noin. Trying to hold back laughter was really beginning to hurt their stomachs. Another pilot climbed into his mobile suit only to be greeted by the screeching sound of an alarm. Noin was trying so hard not to laugh, that she had to grab onto Zechs’s arm for support. This action did not go unnoticed either. That night, Noin sat in her room waiting for the knock on her door; the knock that beckoned her towards Zechs and her happiness. The soft rapt on the door made Noin spring to her feet. She sprinted over to the door and flung it open only to be greeted by a female cadet. “H-Hi, Susan how are you?” Noin said.

 

“Umm...okay. Do you mind if I  come in for a sec? I want to talk to you,” the brunette replied.

 

“Sure, come on in. It isn’t like I am expecting someone, right?” Noin looked at her friend, “right?”  Noin and Susan walked over to Noin’s bed. Noin motioned for her to sit in her desk chair that sat beside the bed. After they sat down, Noin’s nervousness was clearly shown.

 

“Noin we are friends, right?” Noin nodded in agreement. “So let’s cut the bull and get right to it, okay? I know what has been going on.”

 

Noin gulped, “You, you do?”

 

“Well, of course! It is so obvious!” Susan declared. Noin felt her heart sink, she was in for it now. “You sly little devil you”

 

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” Noin nervously asked.

 

“How can I keep this to myself?”

 

“But I thought that we were friends.”

 

“Yea, but friends wouldn’t keep this from each other!” Noin bowed her head in shame at Susan’s words. “How long have you and Zechs been going out?”

 

“What?”

 

“Oh come one, it is so obvious! The way you two are always together. How tense he gets when you aren’t around. They way you watch him leave the room and look like a part of you is missing. Ohhhh this is soo exciting! You two make the cutest couple.”

 

“Heh, well Susan, Zechs and I aren’t really-” Noin began. Susan gave her a confused look.

 

“What she means is that we do not want anyone to know about it,” a deep voice explained.

 

Noin whirled around to see Zechs leaning in the doorway. He walked towards a very shocked Noin and Susan,  and slowly encircled his arms around Noin’s slim waist. He then nonchalantly rested his chin on the top of her head. “We would prefer to keep our little secret hidden from the rest of the academy. We know that we can trust you Susan. We can trust you?” Susan could only nod her head at Zechs. She looked at Noin and smirked.

 

“Well, I guess I should leave the two of you alone for now,” Susan told the two as she got up and turned to leave the room. Right before she reached the door, she turned around and mouthed ‘I want details’ to Noin. Noin could only blush and nod her head. After Susan left, the two “friends” could not pull away from each other. They stayed in that position for what seemed like eternity before Father Time rudely interrupted them with the beep from Noin’s clock. It was past 12 and the two had yet to make their way to the bay. Noin slowly pulled herself from the warmth of Zechs’s arms and stood in the cool breeze of loneliness. They started at each other, a common action for them nowadays.

 

“I am sorry Noin. We needed Susan to believe that we were, that we were you know...”

 

“A couple, Zechs?”

 

“Yes, Noin, a couple.”

 

“Well, at least it was nice to pretend, even if it was only for a few minutes,” Noin whispered when she thought that Zechs wasn’t paying attention. However, this was a slight miscalculation on her part as Zechs quickly turned to look at her. Noin’s hand flew over her mouth in a vain attempt to stop the words from reaching his ears. Zechs could only look at her, words were stuck in his throat. <<Why is it that only she can make me speechless? Does she have any idea how much she means to me too? I must have heard wrong! She couldn’t possibly like me! Could she?>> Noin took his silence as embarrassment. <<Oh great Noin! You yet again managed to open your big mouth, and now you are going to lose the one friend you truly loved.>> Tears welled in her violet eyes and threatened to spill onto her pale face. She quickly turned away from Zechs and made her way to the door. Before she could reach the doorknob, she felt  strong arms grab her by the waist. The tears fell silently down her face, and Noin prayed to God that Zechs would let go. <<Please, do not let him see me cry.>> Zechs pulled Noin closer to his body, and slowly turned her around to face him. Her unruly black hair was hiding her eyes. Zechs reached out to her face, and gently brushed away her long bangs. Her eyes were tightly shut and her jaw was clenched. He softly brushed her cheek and then slide his hand down past her lips to her chin. Noin felt him gently, yet firmly raise her chin; forcing her to face him. <<Okay Noin, you can do this, just look up into his mask. That’s not exactly eye contact, right?>> Noin felt his hand on her waist leave, but the one on her chin remained. She slowly raised her eyes and gasped in surprise. His ice blue eyes were staring straight into her violet ones. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words could escape her spellbound lips. <<What? Why? Where is his mask?>> Noin wanted to look for the familiar piece of metal, but could not tear her eyes away from his deep gaze. <<I guess I have no need for this, >> Zechs thought as he flung the mask onto Noin’s bed. He continued to stare into her eyes. She was gazed back into his face, trying to remember every inch of it. Both were looking at each other through new eyes during that moment, as if they had truly observed the other for the first time. Noin reached up to touch his angelic face, but pulled back.

 

Zechs took a deep breath and said, “I never pretend.” Noin’s face broke into her infamous radiant smile and before she could reply with her usual sarcastic comment, Zechs wrapped both arms around her once more and pulled her close. <<Well, this is it Zechs. No cat this time.>> Noin reached up and wrapped her arms around Zechs’s neck and for the first time their staring contest was broken. Both pairs of eyes were shut as their lips meet for the first time.

 

So it seems that a person’s luck can change. One day of hell, produced a week of bliss. One day of happiness faded, but then revived to consume a life, and cover another. So happy endings do seem possible, no?