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Gundam Wing is property of Sotsu Agency, Bandai Studios, and TV Asahi. Sainan no Kekka and all original characters and plot copyright 2000 by Quicksilver and Gerald Tarrant. Please ask permission before reposting. SAINAN NO KEKKA
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
She never thought the day would come, but that morning as Noin laid out her formal military dress, ironing out the creases in her dress shirt and straightening the skirt, the weight of the afternoon's events hit her. Graduation. Hanging up the finished uniform in her closet, she sat down on the bed, pulling on her socks and boots, looking out the window at the sunny landscape of the campus. She'd stay here for another month or so before they sent her off on her first assignment, but even now the school that had been her home for four years was looking foreign, the territory of aliens. Not her. She was no longer part of what happened here. Sighing, she flopped down on the bed, staring at the speckled ceiling. Wishing Zechs would call. She hadn't really seen him since their night meeting a month ago, both of them busy with final examinations and last minute change of command plans, graduation supervising and just general busy work. The times she did see him were in staff meetings, formal things in which he was her executive officer and she was the wing commander, with no time to just be friends. Or whatever they were to each other now. She wasn't sure. She missed him. The comm screen beeped. She heaved another sigh, scooted out of the nest of warm covers and scrambled across the room to the desk where the comm was located. MERQUISE, ZECHS, the identification tag read. For some reason, her heart leaped as she keyed in the entry code to answer. "Noin?" The screen blinked on, a little fuzzily. He was dressed in plain civilian clothes, a t-shirt with the Academy logo on it and athletic shorts. The mask was back on. "Hi Zechs," she said, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her mussed hair and sleep-ringed eyes. "Did you need something?" "Not really," he said. For a second he looked impish, if that was what it could be called under the mask, then he leaned forward. "Do you want to go for a flyby?" She blinked. Looked at the clock. "It's eight in the morning, Zechs. Are you nuts?" "Maybe. Come on. The techs will let us in. We'll return the mobile suits when we're done with them." She sighed, but couldn't help smiling. "You're such a rebel, Zechs. We're not supposed to be taking the mobile suits out before 1000 hours." "But you're the wing commander." "Doesn't mean I can bend the rules!" "Geez, Noin, that's not a concrete rule. And besides, you can do it for me, can't you?" His voice took on a pleading note. Seeing any Zechs besides the serious, focused one she was so used to from the endless round of cadet activities always took her by surprise, and he knew it. "Come on," he urged. "You know you want to. It will be fun." "I don't know…"she hedged. "I'll meet you out on the flightline in half an hour," Zechs said in a deciding tone, smiling at her. "See you soon." Before she had a chance to say anything else, he closed the connection. "Idiot," she said to the blank screen. Half an hour later saw her outside one of the mobile suit hangars, tapping her foot impatiently waiting for him to show up. It was another ten minutes before he finally rounded the corner, zipping up the top layer of his flight suit. "You're late," she said accusingly. "I was going to leave." He simply smiled at her. "Shall we go?" She buckled herself into the seat of one of the Aries', watching him as his hatch closed and the mobile suit roared to life. She adjusted the frequency on the monitor to his, doing her pre-flight checklist. Wondering what was up with him today. He was bound to be spontaneous at times, but never this spontaneous. "Alpha ten to control, request take-off clearance," he said over the comm. "Clearance granted." "Alpha eight to control," she reiterated, "request take-off clearance." "Clearance granted," the comm crackled again, and she roared across the lot after Zechs' suit, crossing the flight paths, heading out into the grassy fields where the upper-class students practiced Tactics and Evasion. "Zechs, where are we going?" "Nowhere," he said, his face appearing on her comm. He was still smiling. "I just thought…it's our last day as students. We should do something unprecedented." She tried scowling at him, but his smile was so infectious it made her laugh. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much," she said. "Let's land here," he said suddenly, and with a shock she realized they were over her hill, above the tall tree. He fired his landing thrusters and she followed him, setting the suit down into the grass. The wind was high but the sun was bright, and it was still early enough in the morning that graduation preparations were only beginning. They stood together at the top of the hill, watching as the colored banners were erected over the parade ground. The wind blew the sounds of drumming towards them. "The band's practicing," Noin said. "We're going to have a real live band. We've only had recorded music before." "I like the recorded music better," Zechs said. She punched him lightly in the arm, and suddenly he reached up, took off his mask. His golden hair fluttered in the breeze. She caught a few strands between her fingers, brushed them against her cheek. He closed his eyes. "I'm going to miss you, Noin." "You already got your assignment?" "Treize wants me back at headquarters with him…he'll give me my assignment later, he said. I'll be leaving in a few days to head back." "Oh." She didn't know what else to say. "Good luck, I guess." "I don't want to leave." "I wish I had connections like you." He snorted. "Like the unclaimed prince of a kingdom that doesn't exist anymore? Be glad you don't, Noin. It's not worth it, in the long run." "You never know," she said softly, releasing his hair from her fingers. "But…I'll miss you too." For a moment he looked at her, and then he smiled again. "I'm glad I met you." "You're talking like we're never going to see each other again!" Zechs shrugged. "Who knows? I don't plan to be stationed anywhere normal in the near future. Perhaps in a few months…" "Zechs, don't talk that way. You-" "Here," he interrupted her, digging in his pocket and pulling out a package. Thrusting it at her with an awkward gesture so unlike himself. "I want you to have this." She took it, unwrapping the plain brown string and white paper that held it, pulled out a framed picture. His mask was on, but it was very Zechs, him staring proudly and fiercely out from the confining frame. "Zechs…" she managed, before he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't think of anything…for a graduation present…so I thought this would be nice." "It's…I don't know what to say," she said, looking up at him. "I didn't get you anything." He smiled. "That's ok. Just being here…with you…that's enough." She didn't say anything in return, watching the clouds move across the sky. The band practice grew louder until she could hear the actual parade music wafting across the grounds towards the hill, sifting between the branches of the tree. "We should get back," Noin finally said. "Yeah." He didn't move. "We should." She tugged at his sleeve and started towards her mobile suit, but he caught her arm. "Noin?" "Yes?" she said softly, staring down at the ground, towards the picture in the picture frame. "Promise me…you won't forget me." She turned to him, and suddenly it didn't matter anymore as she grabbed his hands. "I could never forget you, Zechs. No matter where we both go…I want to come back here. With you." He matched her shadow of a smile. "And go flying again?" She nodded, squeezing his hands. "And go flying. Just like we did today, just the two of us up in the sky. Except in real mobile suits…ours." "That sounds nice," he said wistfully. "We will," she said. "Don't forget that." Zechs' eyes were as blue as the sky as he smiled again, and for the first time she had known him, she saw that spark of life behind the smile, the first hint of true happiness. "Thank you, Noin."
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