Author's note: Seeing as how i absolutely SUCK at writing details (for
lack of a better word) I started the 3rd chapter 3 years after
the second one leaves off...becuase i'm the omniscent author and
I can. Enjoy!

...:begin part 3:...



Zechs, Noin, Treize, and Lady Une were gathered around the same
table in the mess hall they'd always sat at. It was unwritten Lake Victoria
law: that was THEIR table, and the four of them were the most respected group
among their peers, not only for their tendency to raise all holy hell in
the middle of any given class, but for their astronomically high test scores.
"I can't believe we have the final written exam tomorrow." Noin whined as
she speared a fork into the slab of mystery meat.
"Please don't remind me. I'm probrably going to be up all night studying."
Une mumbled, already sounding somewhat sleepy.
" I'm so grateful we got it over with last year. I wouldn't worry about it
too much."
"Easy for you to say, need i remind you, Zechs, you got the best scores in
the school's entire HISTORY." Noin whined angrily.
"I only got third." Treize said.
" Would both of you please shut UP!"
" If i didn't know you better i'd say you were jealous, Noin." Zechs said,
obviously being sarcastic. She kicked him sharply in the leg from under the
table. "OW!"
"You're unusually quiet this evening, Lady." Treize observed as he looked over
at her.
"huh?" She said as she snapped her head up from her history book.
" I rest my case. You are fully aware that you work too much, right?" He said
with a smile.
"Yes, Treize, I know. But when I outscore you, do remind me to laugh my little
ass off." She said.
"Ouch. that was quite harsh." he commented, and turned to watch Zechs and Noin
play footsie on the other side of the table. Zechs had been his best friend for
as long as he could remember. He knew that, as of yet, he was the only person
to whom Zechs had admitted that he was attracted to Noin, and had been for quite
some time. He thought it was sweet that they were finally acting on it. Treize
glanced back at lady Une, who was buried in her history book studying for the
upcoming exam. (or 'impending doom' as Noin preferred to call it.) He'd told Zechs
that he'd admired her, and had since the first day. He'd always tried to watch
her intently in class, especially fencing and target practice. She wasn't a terrific
fencer, but as much as he disliked guns, he had to admire her on the shooting range.
Not only was she a good shot, he found the image of her with a gun rather sexy. And
as much as they goofed off in all their other classes, she'd still always managed
straight a's.
"i think we're gonna go hang out somewhere." Noin said as she and Zechs got up to
leave.
"alright, then, I'll see you later." Treize said.
"Hn. I'd better go shower before the bathroom gets mobbed. I also have to go over
the trig. " Une said as she snapped her history book shut and followed Zechs and
Noin out of the mess hall, leaving Treize alone with his mystery meat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After showering, Lady Une headed back down the hall to the room she shared
with Noin. She stuck her key in the lock and went in, and was surprised to hear
her room mate and Zechs doing something rather nasty. (i'll spare you the details)
"did you just hear something?"
"i hope that's not your roomate"
"I'm not even going to ask. I'm not looking. I'm just getting my trig book and
leaving." she replied quickly as she grabbed her book and, as promised, was out the
door as quickly as she'd come in. She was now faced with the problem of finding
somewhere to study, since that was obviously impossible in her own room.
She left the building and headed to the one nextdoor, where Treize and Zech's
room was. They were on the first floor, so she didn't have to take the stairs, at
least. She knocked on the door of their room.
"It's open." She heard Treize say from inside. She walked in and shut the door behind
her. He looked up from the book he was reading.
"Can I study here? Zechs and Noin were uh...yeah. I didn't want to disturb them." She
said.
"Of course, Lady. You know you're welcome here." He said. She smiled and sat down on
the bed and started reviewing her Trig notes. After what seemed like awhile, Treize
came over and sat down next to her on the bed. She didn't really know how long she'd
been sitting there, she'd always had a notorious habit of getting so into work that
she'd loose all track of time. She finally broke the scilence. "What's the tangent of
13?" she asked without even looking up.
"I have absolutely no idea." Treize said softly and moved closer to her.
"fine help you are." She said with a smile. For no apparent reason he started undoing
her hair, which she'd pinned neatly in her usual way; one braided bun on each side of
her head. She continued with the math and pretended not to notice. He was running his
fingers through her hair now, gently stroking her neck as he did.
"You know you work too much." he commented randomly.
"I know." She replied, more intently now, obviously loosing interest in the trig.
"I won't be able to concentrate on this agin for the rest of the night, Mr. Treize."
she added, and let her textbook slip off her lap and onto the floor. He brushed back
her hair and kissed her near the collarbone. A few more kisses, proceeding up the side
of her neck until he'd gotten to her face. Lady Une had been waiting for this since her
first day at Lake Victoria. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the two of them
passionately french kissed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was the moment of truth; final written exams, which would take the whole
day. Noin, Zechs, Treize, and Lady Une were at their usual table in the back of the mess
hall eating breakfast, and they all seemed unusually, unnaturally happy, considering that
the two women would be doing final exams for the rest of the day.
"Mmmm, pancakes with a side of mystery mush. brain food." Noin commented while pushing
the food around on her plate.
"I know you'll both do well on the test toady." Treize said confidently as he squeezed
Une's hand under the table. She smiled.
" I expect to do well, although i could have gotten more studying done, had a certain
couple not been getting it on." She commented. Noin turned a deep shade of scarlet.
" From what i hear, you were doing more than 'studying', yourself." Zechs replied cooly.
Lady Une gave him a sharp kick in the shin under the table.
"making out and doing it are two totally different things."
"ow."
Noin glanced at her watch.
"finish it later, we gotta go or we'll be late." She said as she pushed her chair out from
under the table. Une followed and they headed out of the mess hall to a room in one of the
other buildings where the test was being given. The two of them took seats towards the back
of the room and prepared to waste the next 8 hours of their lives filling in little answer
sheet bubbles with number two pencils.

~*~

Lady Une sat back in her chair and cracked her knuckles. It was over. 5000 little dots
on an answer sheet made by a sharpened number 2 pencil; the product of three years of schooling.
There were still 15 minutes left until they officially called time on the test, so she raised
her hand and asked to go to the bathroom. She came back into the room with 5 minutes still on the
clock until they collected the papers. Perhaps more nerve wracking than the test itself, was the
fact that results would be announced the next day. She passed in her answer sheet and got up to
stretch, and heard every vertibrae in her back pop.
" That feels better. Are you ready for mystery meat?" She asked Noin, who was now standing next to
her cracking her knuckles.
"of course. bring it on. Are you going to that party tonight?" She asked as they headed back toward
the mess hall. She was referring to the underground party the academy's alumini, now Oz soldiers
always threw for students after the finals. A keg was an inevitable part of this rite.
" Wouldn't miss it for the wold. I heard there's going to be a keg." Lady Une replied as they walked
into the mess hall and spotted Treize and Zechs occupying the same seats at the same table as they
had when they'd left them after breakfast.
"Good evening. We've taken the liberty of getting you both some dinner." Treize said as he pulled out
a chair for Lady Une.
"nothing says lovin' like...mystery meat. uh...yeah." Noin commented as she sat down.
"Will you two be attending the festivities this evening?" Zechs asked.
" yes, we plan on being at the kegger at the first available opportunity." Une replied as she ate a
heaping forkful of the infamous Lake Victoria mystery meat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Noin and Lady Une walked into the room Zechs and Treize shared, according to the tradition,
it was their turn to host the keg party this year, and the place was already packed with both Oz
soldiers and seniors at the academy, all the usual ambient party noise drowned out by the loud thumping
bass coming from the stereo. As big as the room was, people were packed in like sardines, and one of
their classmates was crowdsurfing on the other side of the room.
"any idea where Zechs and Treize are?" someone asked them.
"We were just about to ask." Noin yelled back over the noise. Just as she finished, the door swung open,
and there the two of them stood, carrying an enormous keg. Somebody cut off the stereo just long enough
for one of the other guys to yell "let's welcome our hosts for the A.C 188 Lake Victoria Kegger...
Treize Khushrenada and Zechs Marquise! and BEER!!!!!" A collective roar of approval erupted from the
crowd as they put the keg down on the counter and shoved in the tap. Everyone tried to move in to get a
glass of beer. It was officially a party, and within hours, they were all drunk to some extent.
" ZECHS!!! HOw many BEERS have you had?" Noin yelled at him as he jumped off a bed and started crowdsurfing
over a mass of people.
" NOT I DRUNK AM!!!" he yelled back angrily. Lady Une and Treize were sitting on the couch drinking beer
and watching Zechs make an ass of himself while another couple made out next to them. Another soldier ran
up to them.
"Treize, dude, i know you said not to bother you, but it's an EMERGENCY. Nichol brought brownies." He said
loudly over the stereo. Treize continued running his fingers through Une's hair.
"Well, don't just stand there, Otto, bring us some." He replied sounding somewhat bored.
"No, Treize, you're not getting this, NICHOL brought SPECIAL brownies. Do you have any idea what's gonna
happen if the OFFICERS find out about this." He yelled.
" YOu're right, they might want some too. " Treize replied and sipped his beer.
" But they're SPECIAL brownies!" He persisted. "as in, the kind that have HASH in them!"
Treize put down his beer and sighed. " fine. I'll go kick him out. " he said and got up to head back into
the crowd. "I don't feel so good." Lady Une said to nobody in particular. "i think i'm going to throw up."
"huuhh? Ok." Said one of the people next to her mid-makeout. She left the party and headed back to her room
in the next building. On the way she passed the window of the room where the party was, and saw Zechs and Noin
standing there leaning out the window yelling random things at the top of their lungs.
"Noin, I'm Flying!!"
"BROWNIES ARE YUMMY!!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady Une woke up the next morning facedown on her bed with a pounding headache. She dragged herself
out of bed and staggered toward the bathroom. Noin was asleep on the floor beside the toilet. It didn't take
a rocket scientist to figure out that they both had hangovers. Noin stirred on the floor, and the first thing
she said was "me want food."
"yeah. ok. whatever." Une replied as she studied her bloodshot eyes in the mirror over the sink.
"what happened last night?" Noin asked, sounding woozy.
" I got drunk, you were drunk, and then i remember something about brownies, and me thowing up in the bushes."
"Want food."
"ok."
They went down to the mess hall; they didn't have to get dressed, they were still in their clothes from the
night before. Zechs and Treize were in their usual spots at their usual table, and they didn't look to great
either.
"What are you guys doing?" Lady Une asked as she sat down. Noin bolted for the food counter.
"Discovering the after effects of a kegger, trying to remember what we did last night, and discovering that
Zechs with a hangover is a pain in the ass." Treize replied groggily.
"Treize, put a sock in it or i'm going to kill you." Zechs said in his usual, gravely, angry-sounding tone that
was even creepier with the hangover.
"I rest my case. I remember beating the crap out of Nichol, but I can't remember why or when, or anything else."
" He brought pot brownies. I left beforehand. I was sick." She replied.
" That just raises further questions. don't you guys get test results back today? "
"ugggghh." She said and banged her head on the table.


...:end part 3:...

See what happens when i can't sleep?