Title: "Scars"
Author: Demeter
Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. All the characters belong to them, and all stories, relationships, ideas are fiction. They are not related to the original plot. The story, the relationships and original characters within the fic are copyright of the author Demeter.
Part Eleven: Piloting
Two new pilots make it on stage. The macabre play has grown into a strange comedy, laced with mystery. Who are these new pilots, and what connection do they have with Shade? A real threat has now awakened, and the world must face it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sight pushed her hair from her face impatiently. The chocolate hair gleamed in the light, carelessly tossed into a ponytail. She bent her mind on the mechanical components of a glitch. Sliding underneath the mobile suit again, she checked her figures against the temporary computer set up to the mainframe.
"Sight."
Jerking, she banged her head against the steel ceiling of the suit. Cursing rampantly, she slid out on her back, screaming obscenities at the erstwhile human who had dared to wander into her domain.
"Shade! What in fucking hell are you doing?!"
"I just wanted to surprise you, that's all."
"Yeah, well, surprise. Now leave me alone." She turned her mind back to the mobile suit.
"Not yet. Take a look at this."
Sight glanced at Shade's neutral face warily. Looking back and forth between the document and the smooth features, she sighed and took the papers. Flipping through the pile, her deep-blue eyes glinted as she gaped at the sheer responsibility that they had been handed.
"FUCK! This is the plans for the new Gundams!"
"That's right."
"That means…"
"That's right also."
Sight stood still, looking at her as if she was completely insane. Then slowly, her face brightened and she gave an unholy shriek of joy. Bouncing up and down, she first hugged herself, then Shade, then the suit, then herself again. Running around the room, she finally collapsed onto the table. Her eyes sparkling with just a hint of diamond-hardness, she said, "And this came from the general herself?"
"Directly."
She whooped again, screaming at this and that, basically bringing half the contingency down to the hanger, all with frowns on their faces.
Finally, the two managed to procure themselves from the rabble and move to Snow's room. Sight was still speaking of the mission; only in coded terms that no one but Shade or Snow would have understood. But the wide and genial smile on her face provoked more than one suspicious glance from the crowd.
"Well? What else?"
"Nothing much."
"Where IS Snow?"
"Probably somewhere in the training center."
"That girl never rests, eh?"
Shade didn't respond to that. Snow was someone who rarely, if ever, made friends among the others. She was known for her icy exterior and schedule that she adhered to rigidly. A typical day for her would follow this regiment:
Wake at 4:30
Train until 7:30
Breakfast from 7:30 to 8:00
Train from 8:00 to 11:00
Break from 11:00 to 12:00
Lunch from 12:00 to 12:30
Study from 12:30 to 5:30
Dinner from 5:30 to 6:00
Train from 6:00 to 9:30
Break from 9:30 to 10:00
Sleep at 10:00
More than one person had tried to test out if the regiment could be broken.
Of course, almost all failed. The only one to succeed was Shade and Sight. Shade by distracting her with a debate on the merits of the AC 195 war and the AC 196 war. Sight succeeded by annoying her to the point of challenging the former to a fight in simulation. After that, the three were basically as close as friends in DREAMERS could get.
Which meant, not that close. But none of them were complaining. They all needed partners in the future battle and who else to befriend then those who were the best?
"Whatever it is, Sight, wish to accompany me to the Simulation Room?"
"Sure. Love to see Miss Prissy-pants start ranting."
Shade frowned.
"Geez! Can't anyone in this place take a joke?"
"Where it concerns you, probably not." The voice was almost merry, with a hint of sly mocking.
The two of them turned around and clicked their heels sharply. "General Silk!"
"As I was saying. As long as you're within a mile of anyone, the joke is more of a cosmic death threat."
Sight pouted. "My sort of humor's just completely lost here, isn't it?"
A queer smile curved on Silk's face. "Shinigami's humor is abnormal for most people's standards."
She then swept down another corridor, leaving two more than a little puzzled soldiers in her wake.
"Shinigami?"
Shade cocked her head. "I think it means "God of Death" in Japanese."
Sight blinked. "Oookkkkkaaaaayyyyyy. Either Silk just went officially insane, or she was complimenting me."
"Neither. I would think she was making fun of your recent enthusiasm in taking on the name, "Goddess of the Battlefield who's smart and damn beautiful to boot", that's been circling not-so-inconspicuously through the ranks."
"Damn. I always knew there was some catch."
There was a snort as Shade cast her a derisive look. "Serves you right for adopting a persona that's plenty idiotic."
And damn cute to boot! The God of Death has entered the building!
Shade halted in the middle of the corridor, sweeping her eyes over and up around the space. She tensed, one hand over her gun. Sight had paused in front of her and cast her a puzzled glance. "Shade?"
"Didn't you hear that?"
"Er… Hear what?"
There was a momentary pause before Shade relaxed and looked around, her face slightly wrinkled in complete and utter mystification. "But I could have sworn I heard a voice."
Sight arched one eyebrow high, listened carefully, then sighed, her voice adopting a mock mournful tone. "You poor soul. These missions must be destroying your fragile psyche." Patting Shade on the shoulder, she sighed theatrically.
"Sight!"
"C'mon! What do I say to 'I can hear voices…', coming from you? It's basically saying, 'Hey! Look at me! I'm a nutcase!'" Sight twirled her finger around her temple, doing a poor imitation of a loony toon. She smirked at the disconcerted look on her friend's face. There wasn't much that could rattle Shade. And when there was… yee ha!
"Never mind. Let's go find Snow and give her the news."
"Of course darling."
Now briskly walked toward the training room, they responded to a few icy greetings and entered the simulation portion of the room. They could see the shadowy figure of someone in the corner, wiping her face with a towel. Smiling, Sight put a finger to her lips, effectively silencing those around them. Sneaking behind the figure, she screamed, "HEEELLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
There was a startled hiss before the one named Snow slung around, her towel arcing in the nasty form of a whip. Sight flipped backwards, her grin almost feral. Without a second thought, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she launched herself at Snow, her arm now revealing the flash of a knife. Snow danced well out of the reach of that deadly weapon and she herself smirked. Taking out her own weapon, she leapt forward.
Within the room, a loud plink echoed.
When the dust cleared, figuratively, they found the two breathing hard, in a position that constituted the mini-duel to a draw. Snow had her gun to Sight's temple and Sight had her knife against Snow's jugular. Any rash movements would have resulted in instant death for either.
"Draw?"
"Draw."
They moved backwards slowly and the rest of the room resumed their own activities. Snow tossed her white-blonde hair back to reveal startling green eyes, looking out of place within the delicate, almost fragile-looking face. They were cold, expressionless, lacking any hints of warmth. However, there was a bit of mirth contained in the emerald-green depths, as she sheathed her gun.
And as she was doing that, Shade cocked her head and looked at her friend thoughtfully.
There was something about those eyes and hair that suddenly seemed to make sense.
"Hm."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing Snow. Something on the tip of my mind… probably just remnants of the mission." Shade ran over the memories of what had happened at the castle. A nagging thread was caught on her mind, but she couldn't form a definite picture of it, nor could she shake it off.
Odd.
"What's the particular reason you so abruptly called me from training?"
"Guess."
"You're going to jump into the nearest shuttle and fly into the sun." Was the dry reply.
Shade burst into laughter as Sight huffed. Snow may have been cold-hearted bitch at times, but her humor would have beat anyone.
"Sorry to disappoint you darling, but no. It's something MUCH funner."
"Funner? That's not a word." Shade cut in, her own eyes sparkling with mirth.
Sight rolled her eyes. "Gimme a break. It's not as if we're in grammer school anymore, ladies. Lighten up. Snow, c'mon. What do you want more than anything in the world?"
Snow stopped, her form freezing. "You're kidding." The quiet amusement that had been present before now accounted to this flat voice. She turned slowly to stare right at Sight. The icy stillness was an odd antithesis to Sight's own malicious grin.
"I kid you not."
"Shade?"
"It's right. We three are going out for a long lunch."
Snow brought her hand up to her face, the closest expression of outright joy to ever shadow her features now distinctively present. She grinned a feral grin, her eyes snapping in the knowledge. The three of them walked toward the hanger together, all eager to see their new gundams.
~*~*~*~*~
The three towered above the normal height where usual mobile suits would have been. Their fresh coats of metallic pain gleamed in the dim light. The names, in curlicue script, were stamped across the side of one foot, ostentatiously stating their beauty. Sight was the first to move forward, her face shining in barely concealed glee. Shade and Snow held back, wanting to savor the moment, glorying in the knowledge that they were about to commandeer a machine that no one else had since… well, since the AC 196 war.
More than a few jealous glances were cast their way. No one else could begrudge the three, since everyone KNEW they were the best, but as usual to petty human emotions, envy flared.
But for two, it brought hunger.
~*~ Part Eleven ~*~
~*~ FINIS ~*~
