It was a warm afternoon at the Plants and having better nothing to do; I was lying in the grass near the military base where my team was stationed. I easily spotted some soldiers near the fence and even if they tried to be subtle, I still noticed how they were eyeing me in fear I would run away or make trouble. It was unnecessary since they should know by now, if I felt like it, two guards wouldn't stop me. I looked up at the made-believe sky, thinking how much I had missed it. It had only been a week ago I was on Earth with the rest of my team carrying out our mission. It maybe wasn't the hardest one we've had but still entertaining. Our spies from Morgenrate reported hearing rumours that the Earth Forces were secretly building mobile suits. The country of Orb declared itself neutral and such actions had to be investigated. I wasn't sure if operating a MS was in a Natural's capacities but I sure didn't want to wait and find out the answer on a battlefield. My team went undercover and convinced a young Earth Forces officer that we are on the project as well. To give our characters some personality, Rusty and I pretended we were engaged. We both had the craziest time inventing pet names for each other and acting excessively lovey-dovey. Everyone fell for all of our lies and we were able to scram with maybe not numerous but vital information. Since we were only there for the writing of the programs, we weren't allowed to access to much intelligence but my hacking abilities gave us a bit more. We reported back to our Commander with this much to say: the Earth Alliance is secretly developing a new state of the art warship and five prototypes mobile suits in the presuming neutral space colony, Heliopolis which belongs to Orb. Five mobile suits in the Earth Forces wasn't a big threat but what scared the officers was their next step: mass production. What revolted me the most was the fact that Heliopolis was helping the Forces to manufacture them.
Guess we will be invading it soon. At least that's what I hoped. We needed to steal those prototypes before they could make more. I closed my eyes, reliving moments I had with Rusty on the last mission. It wasn't the first time we tricked some people in believing we were together. Rusty and I had been friends since the moment I joined the Le Creuset team. Quick enough, we realized we were each other's missing half and became best friends. We knew each other inside out, mostly because we were so alike.
"Watcha doing?" When I heard that familiar voice I opened my eyes and saw an orange hair boy sit besides me. He took me by surprise but I tried not to look so shaken up, soldiers weren't supposed to, and vaguely smiled. "Having fun watching the clouds you must be very bored"
"I was thinking." I said
"That must be a first." The boy responded, getting ready to evade my hit
"Shut up Rusty." I said instead of getting violent quickly
"What you thinking about?" He asked me, ignoring my comment
"The story you told the Earth officer on how we met each other. I will never forget the reaction on that Natural's face!"
"You know it took some really hard creative effort to come up with that on the spot! Good thing you're still appreciating it." I laughed but suddenly stopped when something else came to mind.
"But Rusty… how long do we still have of this fun?" He kept quiet so I continued my thought "Haven't you noticed that Commander Le Creuset keeps giving us missions that get closer to the front lines? I'm so scared something's going to happen to you…"
I feared the day we'd be called up to the front lines. When my parents first send me to the military, I was terrified at the idea of risking my life and fighting. Eventually, I got better at everything, so it wasn't a scary idea going in the mêlée and avenge the people who died before enrolling to ZAFT. I didn't mind being exposed on the front lines but the thought of my friends out there… now that I didn't want to see. And the commander kept telling us that any day, the team can be called up in space or on earth.
"I didn't expect you to worry so much. Relax, would you? We are Elite soldiers for a reason." I smiled. Few soldiers were promoted to the status of Red Elite and wore the red uniform. I was told I deserved mine after officers witnessed my stellar MS combat simulation scores and my hacking abilities. "I promise you when this war will end, we'll be lying in the Plants and looking at a peaceful sky."
Rusty never lied to me before so I had hope in what he said. He never broke a promise, even on things he had no control on. When I got the news that my home town Junius Seven had been destroyed, I was devastated. I didn't shed one tear so people assumed I got over it. Rusty was the only one who kept asking me if I was alright. One day I decided there was no point of lying and responded that I didn't know if I'd ever be feeling good. You will be fine again, I promise. He made sure I would be.
"Thanks Rusty"
He always knew how to make me feel better. He had been the first person to make me smile after my parents died. He stood up and offered me his hand.
"The guys at the base are actually worried about you. Everyone has been searching like crazy for you all afternoon." I smiled while he was pulling me up
"I have a little problem trying to imagine Yzak worrying for me"
Yzak Joule and I hated each other since the moment we first spoke to one another. Rusty laughed at the thought of it since it was true. There was a bigger chance of catching Joule wearing a dress than him asking how I'm doing. Rusty escorted me to my room and left to inform the others that I'm alive and well. I didn't understand all this panicking by my teammate until I took a look at the clock. I was gone for almost six hours! Before leaving to find my friends, I changed from my summer dress to my uniform, question of not standing out more then I already was. The only other women and girls I spotted around were the nurses or in HQ, in charge with communication. I was very conscious that I was the only female elite soldier, if not the only pilot. Before I could get out of the room, someone knocked on my door. Being used to ships and high tech bases, I completely forgot that I was in an apartment beside the base and searched for the button. Feeling slightly stupid when I found the knob, I opened it and smiled to my friend.
"Hi Nicky." I greeted my teammate. Nicole was only a couple of months older than me so we were the youngest ones on the team. He had green curly hair with gorgeous brown eyes and an innocent look on his face all the time.
"How's it going Gina?" The only people I allowed to call me Gina were close friends. Unless I gave 'permission', everyone else knew me by the name of Mizuki, my middle name. "Do you even realize that everyone has been looking for you?" We exchanged a smile as I said a cute sorry. "They announced at the intercom that the commander wanted to meet with us. Apparently it was urgent."
"Do you know what he wants" I asked him, locking the door and heading out to the briefing room.
"Maybe a new mission, I don't know. We have been on this base for almost a week. The longer we are at war the more missions we seem to get."
"I noticed that too…" I sighed
When we crossed the hall leading from the apartments to the base, we immediately found Dearka. He was walking, hands in his pockets, with a rather slow step. He was looking around, delaying any eye contact. I sometimes couldn't believe he looked so good. He had tan skin and purple eyes. Worst thing was that I had always been a sucker for a blond, and his curly hair was no exception. He looked calm but it changed as soon as he laid his eyes on me. His neutral looking face quickly changed for an evil smirk.
"Babe where were you? I was looking for you."
"Somewhere far away hiding from you" I smiled back to him
"Don't break my heart. I know you missed me too" he said pretending to be very hurt
"Sure..." I rolled my eyes making him laugh
It had never bothered me that Dearka flirted so much with me. I knew it was only for the fun of it and he only saw me as a friend he can goof off anytime he wants. I walked into the room with Dearka and Nicole by my sides. The rest of the team, Rusty, Athrun and Yzak were already present. We stood in a line to salute our commander before sitting down.
"So happy you decided to join, Miss Mizuki. I was sure we'd have to start without you." The commander started before giving us the okay to take our places
"I apologize, sir."
Commander Le Creuset was a mysterious man. He wore a mask all the time, which I never understood, and his eyes were behind tainted glass so it was impossible to know what he was feeling. Nevertheless, he was respected by all of us since he took concern to how we were feeling but demanded responsibility and seriousness from all of us. He nodded with his head to indicate I was forgiven. I sat between Athrun and Rusty, thinking what a relief it must have been to everyone that my best friend was still on the base or else people would have suspected that we were again out to cause some trouble. Yet we managed to behave in the last couple of months. I noticed Dearka smiling to me a couple of seats away. If it wasn't for his player personality I might have been sucked by his charming act. I sighted, thinking we would have been cute together, alarming my friends besides me.
"What's wrong?" Rusty whispered as we all awaited the Commander to start
"It's nothing" I assured him, feeling stupid. I could have been more subtle
I turned to look away but noticed Athrun giving me a curious look. I blushed from this unexpected attention as Nicole chuckled, clearly amused. I looked somewhere completely different and my stare fell on Yzak who luckily wasn't paying attention to me and had his stare fixated elsewhere. Since returning from Earth, we hadn't had one single fight. More precisely, we ignored each other's existence.
"With the intelligence you were able to bring from space, we send out some spies to enrol in the factory. For now they are yet to find the machines but we have enough prove to know they are there. As soon as they find them, we have orders to invade and capture them. This goes without saying; we are leaving the Plants and heading out on a military campaign on the Vesalius which can last weeks. We're leaving tomorrow at nine hundred hours so you're all expected to be up by six hundred thirty hours. Bring personals items only. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir!" We all responded at the same time, like we were taught to.
"I'm reminding you all it can be weeks before you touch solid ground again. So if you want to enjoy some fresh air like Mizuki did, you are permitted." I smiled to him "You may leave now."
We stood up and saluted our superior before heading towards the door. I was thinking about the latest assignment and didn't watch where I was walking. Unfortunately I bumped into the worst person I could.
"Watch it Mizuki." I heard Yzak's annoyed voice
"Cheer up for once? We might have to fight and killing is the only thing you're good at so be happy."
I didn't give him any time to talk back and headed to my room so I could pack in peace. Almost an hour had passed when I heard knocking. I let Dearka and Nicole in as they looked at my bags.
"You guys are already packed?"
"Yes, more than half an hour ago. What's taking you so long?" Dearka asked me
"Well I've got a lot of things to pack. Make-up, jewellery, shampoo, some civilian clothing…" I listed like if it was the most natural thing in the world
"You are such a princess." Dearka laughed
"No I'm not!" I've been called that ever since I came here and couldn't stand to be called that
"Yes you are! Look at all this! We're going to war not a beauty pageant"
"I know that! And if you came to make fun of me you can both go to hell."
"Don't get mad Gina." Nicole asked me yet we was still grinning "We came to get you for supper."
I tagged along and found the rest of my team in the cafeteria, already eating. We went to take a tray and joined them. I exchanged a smile with Athrun as I sat down and a glare with Yzak. We discussed the invasion and pitched our suggestions how it should be done. We finished talking about the latest news on the Plants before I called it a night. We had to wake up extremely early the next day and I was not a morning person at all. I looked at a picture of Miguel and me before going to bed, hoping, I might meet in space.