"When I Close My Eyes"

By: Sara Angeldust

**********************

Chapter 2:

"Full Of Grace"

***********************

*Disclaimer: Regular disclaimer applies. Original character of Gundam Wing are not mine, but all others are. I am not stealing just using them for entertainment purposes only. Also the lyrics to the song "Hiru No Tsuki" which you will see later are not mine. They belong to the creators of the music from Outlaw Star. And I am merely using them for atmosphere. Thanks.

*************

Authors Note: The song lyrics for the song "Full Of Grace" are property of Sarah McLachlan and company not me.

*************

"Full Of Grace"

The winter here's cold,

And bitter,

It's chilled us to the bone,

We haven't seen the sun for weeks,

Too long too far from home,

I feel just like I'm sinking,

And I claw for slid ground,

I'm pulled down by the undertow,

I never thought I could feel so low,

And all in darkness I fell like letting go,

If all of the strength and all of the courage,

Come and lift me from this place,

I know I could love you much better then this,

Full of grace, (full of grace)

My love,

It's better this way,

I said,

Haven't seen this place before,

Where everything we say and do,

Hurts us all the more,

It's just that we've stayed, too long,

In the same old sickly skin,

I'm pulled down by the undertow,

I never thought I could feel so low,

And all in darkness I feel like letting go,

If all of the strength and all of the courage,

Come and lift me form this place,

I know I could love you much better then this,

Full of grace,

My love,

(Interlude)

I know I could love you much better then this,

It's better this way.

************

The morning of Rain's departure was more then a hectic one. Of course their were the expected sounds and movements of last minute preparations and adjustments to Phantom and the small ship she would use, but more that were the images and questions that were now constantly flouting through her head. She had never been off of the ghost Moon colony but had been educated on the places of the space colonies and Earth. But how could a person imagine a world that they had never seen in person but only on vids and on the words of those who spoke them? Rain couldn't imagine the things she would come to face out in space so she didn't even try too.

Rain tried to bring her mind out the curious gutter she had pulled herself into as she looked out her window. The room around her was totally empty. All of her things had been either taken out or packed in the small amount of space she was given for her trip. Space looked so innocent. It was so hard to imagine the horrible wars that had ensued because of it. As her mind again feel into her gutter Rain didn't notice the footsteps behind her until someone interrupted her through her mind.

'Rain. I hope I didn't startle you. I thought using telepathy would be better."

'Thank you Dr. M. I'm glad you did. I probably would have jumped 10 feet other wise"

Rain then turned to face the man she had always known as her teacher. As she looked into the man's eyes she noticed tears.

"This is going to be hard on all of us. Not just you. But of course your job is hardest of all."

Dr. M paused in his speech and took a small disk from his pocket. Walking up to Rain he placed it in her hand.

"I do not have time to give you your intire mission, and yes this is a mission, so all of us have enclosed everything you will need to know and what you are to do in this disk. You will have time to go over it on your trip."

Rain looked at the Dr. intently. Yes those had been tears because she could see one slowly making it's way down the man's cheek. Rain smiled and walked up to Dr. M giving him a long hug. To her surprise the doctor hugged her back with a fierceness only a father would give to his child.

"I will miss you too Dr. I'll never forget I promise."

With those last words Rain let go of her embrace and headed towards the door way of the only home she had ever known and into a world where anything was possible. Leaving all of those she ever loved left in the undertow.

*****************

'Oto no nai mahiru,

Kaze ha tada, akarui,

Sukoshi, nemutasou ni, hanabira ga, yureta,

Nani, ge, nai, kono omoi,

Nee, Hito, ha, donna kotoba de, yondeiru no,

Shiroi, suna no tsuki, toji kometa, hanashi o,

Hikari, furasu you ni, kikasete ne, sotto."

Rain sat still in the silent cockpit of the traveling ship. She dared not move for fear of waking up from her dream. Or was it a dream? All the things seemed so real. Her voice was the same as she had always known it to be. The control panel. It felt the same as always. Then why was it that she felt something was not right. Like this dream, this magnificent dream, would swallow her up and never let her go.

As Rain stared out at the stars and the earth the words to that familiar song rolled off her tongue. Her light alto voice carried it's way through the corridors of the small vessel lighting the once dead halls with a more livable tone. That song. Where did it come from? She had heard herself sing it in her dreams but never attempted to sing it out loud before. Why now?

"You are always asking so many questions Rain. And it seems to me that you never find the answers your looking for."

Rain smiled as she felt Phantom's presence in her head.

"Your right Phantom. I do ask many questions. And it seems silly really because I always have the answers. They're in my head and I know they're right. I guess it's just not enough to know them but I have to speak them too. (light laugh) That didn't make any sense did it?" "Actually, that made perfect sense."

"Thanks Phantom"

Rain sighed as she finished the last verse of her song. It was a wonder how much a good song a friendly talk with a friend could brighten ones spirit, even if that friend was a mobile suit with a brain. She wondered how Phantom was, all cooped up in that small storage area in the ship.

Gazing again out at the stars Rain wondered how many of her unanswerable questions would be finally answered out there. It seemed like an internity before she would learn any answers.

"Rain. It seems we are arriving at our destination. I am preparing systems for security and authorization checks."

"Right. I'll start preparing the ship for docking procedures and authorization. Well her we go Phantom. It's sink or swim time."

"Preferably swim."
*********************

Space was such an amazing place. It housed so many forms of everything you could ever imagine. Including humans.

"Space has always been my home, and yet I am just now seeing it for what it is. Wow. I sure have been out here too long."

Arrow said scratching his head and then leaning against the bay wall, folding his arms over his chest. He never thought the day would come when he would have to be backed up by a new solider. Of course these were war times, and it was stupid to let pride come before duty. He just hoped that this new pilot would be up to the standards that Lt. Noin said he was.

Gazing up from his position Arrow was just in time to see a ship come into view of the docking bay.

'Well looks like it's time to see who this new guy is.'

********************

"Docking procedures complete. Authorization to attach complete."

"All security checks have been scanned and show green."

"Great. Hey Phantom do you mind docking this thing for me. I wanna go change real quick ok?"

"Sure, no problem"

Wiping a drop of sweat from her brow Rain quickly walked out of the control room and into the long hallway of the ship. Her heart raced in her chest. She had never been so nervous about anything before and this was scaring her that she would be so excited. Of course it was the first time she had ever been anywhere with out the Drs', so excitement was to be expected.

Rain quickly arrived at the small room she had been using for sleeping and opened the door. Scanning the room quickly Rain found what she was looking for. Taking off her space suit Rain changed into what she was going to wear for the days events. Of course nothing to flashy just a black sleeveless top with jeans and boots. As soon as she had changed excitement again grabbed her and forced her out of the room and down the hallway to the exiting hull door.

"Rain we have connected with the docking bay. You should be able to go out now. Good luck."

"Thanks Phantom, you've been a major help. I'll send maintenance people as quick as I can to get you ok?"

"Of course."

Smiling Rain reached the hull. The shiny metallic door seemed to invite her to open it. As if it knew her excitement and terror all at once. Reaching forward she placed her hand on the door lock and with a low hiss the door opened.

Rain stared down the hallway of the docking tunnel. The tunnel had to only be less then 20 feet but to Rain it seemed miles. Rain stepped through the door with a clank from her boots and began to walk down the hallway. Her usually brisk pace had left her and she revealed in watching the walls of the tunnel go by inch by inch. She had never known that she could be so enthusiastic about something like she was at that moment. But as soon as she had ended her thought a figure became visible at the end of the bay tunnel. The first thing noticed about this person was the strange hair cut given to the boy like figure. His hair was a dark brown but Rain could detect a lineage of red headed people in his family by the light hue of red in his hair. But it wasn't the color that fascinated her but the cut. His bangs were cut to a medium length and covered the upper half of his left eye. This hair cut struck a memory in Rains mind but she didn't know what. Putting a mental note of it in her head Rain continued her long walk to this stranger. As she got a good look at his face Rain decided that he was handsome. But that wasn't current business was it. She also noticed the bars on his space uniform. This guy must be the Commander of the corp. she was entering. Rain swore he couldn't be older then 15, her own age. It seemed odd that a person her own age would be her better.

Finally reaching the end of the dock Rain stopped in front of the commander. Saluting to him Rain spoke.

"My name is Rain Sakamoto. I was assigned to the 1st Gundam Corp. and I am here to meet with my commander." Rain dropped her salute and put her hand out to shake the guys hand. He looked a little shocked to Rain but gave her a return salute and shook her hand.

"Yes, I am the commander. My name is Arro Barton. Welcome to the fortress Aries, Rain. We've been expecting you."

Rain smiled and Arro smiled back as he lead her into the depths of the large ship.

*************

"Over here is the eating lounge where….."

Rain tried to listen to Arro as they walked through the massive fortress. Rain was stunned at the level of technology and detail the designers had put into the ship.

Although the ship was amazing it wasn't the ship that totally entranced Rain. Arro was extremely handsome. His face was boyish in looks and his eyes made Rain want to stare at them all day. Of course, all Rain could feel was puppy love for her commander. She didn't even know him that well. For all she knew he could be really mean and selfish.

"Rain….Rain."

Rain snapped out of her trance.

"I'm sorry what did you say?" Rain asked seeing that Arro was trying to tell her something.

"I asked you if you saw your mobile suit here. We're at the docking bay." Arro said with some concern in his eyes.

Rain looked around the massive hanger for Phantom. Here she noticed at least 25 mobile suits. Mostly updated models of the older Aries and Taurus suits. But as she looked down the line she noticed a different one. This mobile suit was massive. Not that it was bulky but she could tell it was made to hold a huge arsenal power. The model suit reminded her of the older Heavy Arms Gundam she had seen in vids. But this one was a bit different. Instead of the orange or green of either Heavy Arms models this one was different shades of blue and white. But other then the colors the main design was the same. Although Rain did noticed that the edges of the mobile suit were more curved then strait edged. She thought that this must have been because the Gundam was to need to be more aerodynamic then before.

"Not yet. I can't see around all these other suits." Rain said turning to Arro.

"That's ok, here. We can go down the rows until you find it." As Arro spoke he walked towards the railing of the elevated decks that they were standing on. Rain watched as Arro grabbed onto a handle on the rail. He slowly depressed a button on the end of the handle and slowly began to travel down the railing.

Rain had seen this before, and of course it was necessary. This ship was in space and a lot of the rooms were in zero gravity including the hanger. If there had been no guiding they would probably have a lot of problems getting down to their suits.

Rain followed suit and grabbed the next available handle and depressed the button.

************

Rain had found Phantom rather easily. She could notice her black shining paint anywhere and as she had pointed it out to Arro she had noticed his surprised look. He told her that he had no idea that she had a Gundam, and that the only ones who had gundams in the corps were the commanders. This caught Rain a little off guard. She hadn't figured that Gundam were that rare.

Arro confirmed her suspicions when he told her that only a certain number of gundaniam had been found and only 10 were said to have been produced. Hers would make 11. Rain had noticed Arro's suspicious look and guessed that something about the whole situation didn't seem right. But Rain smiled and told him truthfully that she had no idea why she had a Gundam either, but that she had received it early in her life.

Although she did withhold her own information from Arro. She did know why she had a Gundam, But she had no idea they were rare. If she had known that she would be creating questions by having this unknown Gundam she would have made a background for it. Now she was afraid that she had put questions in his head that would make him re-think her being there all together. This was war times, and anyone being suspected as a traitor or spy was dealt with harshly. She would just have to remember not to bring up the question of her Gundam again and just fake what she could. She knew she wasn't what she said but she was definitely not a spy.

Arro had almost totally finished the tour of the hanger when Rain noticed another person coming up the decks. The footfalls were very soft. The person arriving was very trained in military tactics. As the figure rounded the corner Rain saw Arro smile and walk towards the person.

Michelle was very pretty from what Rain could tell. Her golden hair nicely framed her young looking face and was cut so that it slightly bobbed were it stopped at her shoulders. Sara also noticed that her eyes were a very nice shade of pale blue. The perfect specimen of snobbery and aristicrativness if Rain ever saw it. Rain watched as Arro greeted her with a hug and a small kiss on the mouth. A girl friend. Great.

Rain knew the girls name before Arro introduced her to Michelle but that was only because she had looked in her mind for the answer. As Rain shook her hand an icy chill went up her spine. She didn't like this. Something wasn't right here. As if noticing Rain's discomfort Michelle smirked, which could have been a smile but Rain knew better. This girl was very suspicious. But where was it Rain's place to judge people, and the only way to really see what kind of person Michelle was, was to look into her mind. To bad she had vowed not to do any mind hunting while she was here. Damn.

"It's very nice to meet you Rain." Michelle said. Her voice light but full of honey just to make it sound like she meant it.

"The pleasure's all mine." 'You snake in the space grass.' Rain thought as she plastered on a fake smile. At that moment she knew it. Michelle and her were not going to be seeing each other much if she had anything to do with it.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you Rain, but I think you know your way around here by now. If you'll excuse me." Arro said taking hold of the slightly shorter Michelle's hand as he grabbed a handle and depressed.

"Of course." Rain managed to get in before the couple got out of sight.

'So what now Phantom?' Rain asked folding her arms over her chest and turning to the Gundam.

'Well for one, you've got an in coming communication from Alec at the moon base. You might want to enter the cockpit and see it.'

'Great!' Rain turned just as Phantom's cockpit hissed open. With a small step over the gap between the Gundam and a near 50 foot drop to the ground, Rain entered the cockpit of Phantom.

******************

SOOOOOOOOo. What did you think? Good ? Bad? E-mail me and TELL MEEEEEE I need input here people. I have all intentions of finishing this damn story but I just wanna know if I have any fans or avid readers, or even ppl who wanna she how bad I sucked at this chapter. All comment are accepted (except outright hate notes and boos) thanks

Get ready for the next chapter of "When I Close My Eyes"

"A Visit From Two Fates"