A Different Side

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: You all remember the interruptions, right? I've decided to kind of continue them. Not really to call them interruptions…more like a history. A history on the Gemini pilots, who Shiori is (I have the feeling your heads are scratching) and a bit about NOZ and the NEAC. Each chapter is something different, so if you don't want to read the histories, or not a specific one (like, say you don't want to read what happened to Sato), then just skip over to another one or wait for the next chapter update. I'm writing this all as fast as I can. I hope this clears some things up, AND of course, entertains you. I need those reviews!

(Um….Mr. Winner KINDA doesn't have a name in the anime….so I'm naming him Yuri. I KNOW Yuri's Russian, but Quatre's a French name, so…? And anyways, Quatre's a really white, whiter than most people, platinum blonde Arabic! I don't wanna hear nothing that his father's name ain't Arabic!)

Another thing. I just got a review that asked what happened to Alex. The San Francisco tragedy, caused by Naomi, is really a key thing that happens to Alex. Alex's disappearance DOES have an effect, it's just not entirely visible yet. I have a feeling, however, it may or may not appear in this chapter. It depends. Don't worry. All enigmatic parts will be unveiled. Thank you, however, for the review. Any comments, questions, and yes, unfortunately, flames, will be appreciated and answered.

Of Pasts Long Forgotten and Unforgiven: Naomi Alexandra Atsui

Part I

            Before Naomi was born, many, many years before, when the first colony was completed, regular birth was almost never permitted. The birth defects of the child were severe, and giving birth itself was nearly impossible, especially since the child would never survive. The Winner family, then, started creating artificial humans, born in test tubes. They created twenty nine females, but Catherine Winner wanted to bear her husband's child badly, and so, she gave birth to Quatre Rebarba Winner, and died.

            Even before Catherine's death, Yuri Winner and Yossonan Atsui were best friends. Both of their families had been in space since day one. Although, like the persistent Catherine Rebarba Winner (A/N: I usually don't interrupt in chapters, but let me make clear that Quatre's father is just "Mr. Winner" and that usually when a child has two last names, like Quatre, the first one is usually the mother's maiden name, THEN the father's last name), Cecilia Atsui wanted to bear her husband's child. For a long time, while the 29 Winner daughters were born, Yossonan and Cecilia waited.

            When Cecilia DID bear the child, it had been a year after Catherine had died. Yossonan was worried that his wife would have the same fate, but Cecilia knew in was inevitable. She held the baby girl in her arms with a hopeful smile and handed it to Yossonan, Yuri standing in the doorway, holding Quatre.

            "Only a year apart, these two," Yuri murmured gruffly, "I think they would be good friends one day, eh, Yuri?"

            Cecilia smiled warmly. "That would be wonderful to have them be great friends. Your Quatre seems like a peaceful one."

            Yossonan laughed as baby Naomi kicked her little legs. "But this one is a feisty one. Look, she already wants to fight!"           

            Cecilia didn't die right away. The name Atsui has a distinct meaning in Japanese; warmth. It was said that many years ago, if someone in the family was headstrong and used their name to keep them warm during the winter while others froze, a descendant of theirs would die by the meaning of that same name as well.

            But what does this mean? Cecilia, who was not a descendant of that headstrong samurai, but still bore the name, contracted some kind of disease. There was no name for it, and especially no cure. She started to feel the heat leave her and her skin was cold to the touch. She could no longer hold the baby because it would freeze as well from the lack of body heat. There was one Chinese doctor on Earth who had called up the Atsuis and told them that he could treat her, but she would need to come to Earth, because he was old and had a walking disability. Yossonan quickly agreed; he wouldn't let his wife die. Yuri cheered them on, hopeful for his best friend. They both stood at the dock with their children crawling on each other behind them as they watched Cecilia's plane leave.

            She made it to Earth fine and was treated immediately to the virus-with-no-name. After about a year, Cecilia's condition had recovered so well, that she could return to space. And so, a bright May day, the shuttle holding Mrs. Atsui lifted off into space.

            And exploded right after it left Earth's atmosphere.

            No one knew at all just exactly WHY it had exploded. The only thing left to see what Yossonan's grief. Yuri comforted his "brother" the best he could; I mean, his wife died as well, but no one would want someone to die in a shuttle explosion. Especially when Cecilia was going to make it out just fine through her disease.

            Quatre was two and Naomi was one, and already her hair was shoulder-length and navy as ever. The two children continued to play with each other, though Quatre would sometimes pull on Naomi's hair and make her cry, but she would give him a bop on the nose right back at him. At first, the two men thought it was cute, but lives called, and they had to take a break

            A bit about Yossonan's business and its association with the Winner family: all of space, AND Earth, knew that the Winner family developed the resource satellites and a lot of other things for space. But there was another company who made those satellites with their bare hands.

            It was Atsui Enterprises, the most successful, and just about only, mechanic empire in space. It was an army of mechanics, trained under the great Mr. Atsui himself, and other students he handpicked to train the others. The Atsui company also owned and controlled all the space docks in the colonies. But when OZ moved to outer space, Atsui Enterprises received problems; some of the rebels wanted the company to shut down the ports, others wanted Atsui Enterprises to build Mobile Suits for the war. Yossonan was hesitant at first; his daughter was going to turn fourteen soon and he did not want her to experience war. She was already in a war with her dead mother. That was because the grief stricken Yossonan had lied to her; he told her that Cecilia (well, he never even told her mother's true name) and he were engaged in a fierce divorce and that she lived on the L5 cluster, probably with another man. He prayed to his dear wife up there that she'd forgive him, but understand that he didn't want Naomi to grieve over a mother she never had, especially since she never knew how wonderful her mother was.

            Naomi wanted to be hired into her father's business, even though she was already inheriting it.  She received special training since she was a young one, and a child, of course. And again, Yossonan handpicked a perfect mechanic who would teach his daughter.

            The boy's name was Julius Evakenzie. He was about seventeen, eighteen, with red spiky hair (kind of like that guy from Yami no Matsuei? I'll get his name later….). He was very handsome, but somehow Naomi bypassed that feature, like she didn't even notice it. All the older men chided Julius and told him that he had a little girlfriend. It wasn't that Naomi thought that it wasn't a good idea to become infatuated with her instructor, but that she just never thought about it. Julius was an older brother to her. She never had any siblings…

            When Naomi was young, she never hung out with any of the kids running freely in the streets nor did she smile much. She never found much to smile about anyways, and when she heard the adults say to her "Enjoy your childhood while you can," she would figure it would be a shame that she just couldn't.

            Naomi frowned and scowled so much that when she really did smile, she looked much more beautiful if she didn't. She usually found herself wandering around the hangars of her father's warehouses or did errands like deliver packages for her father and get seven dollars each time she did.

            But most of her time was standing against the wall of her father's building, which was facing a park in the colony, holding her arm, which seemed to lose feeling every now and then, and stare at the street. She never knew why her arm was like that, but Yossonan kept it hidden from her that that was a birth defect from her mother's illness. The mother that she thought was having a blast only a cluster of these colonies away.

            She looked up to the lights of the colony. "Are these supposed to represent the sun?" she whispered loud enough that it came out as a dead girl talking, moaning as she wandered the empty streets. The street WAS empty, and the lights were starting to darken. "And I suppose this is meant to be the sunset?" She shook her head, her jagged blue hair moving with the movements of her pale-faced head. "Earth isn't made of metal. Not all of it's wonders are electronic. How could man try to imitate them all?" It made her think of the test tube children. She frowned darkly. "That deranged Winner family is wrong. If you want to enjoy the beauty of childbirth and have a real child, do it someplace that's real."

            Naomi never really thought well of the world and had a sort of cynical outlook of it as well. Just like she didn't remember her mother, she never remembered that she had met Quatre as a baby.

            Julius was her only friend. The only one who made her smile.

            She often feared space, but that was because it was cold. Not only had Naomi suffered with the random shots of limpness in her arm, but she hated the cold.      

            Julius ruffled the young teenager's hair, which was kind of already messed up under her "AE" hat. "The space suit is supposed to keep you warm, silly. You'll be fine as long as you have your cord on, and besides," he put his hands on his hips and pushed his chest out like Superman, "you have the Mighty Julius here!"

            Being thirteen, she laughed but took the joke more, well let's say, "maturely" than a girlish giggle she might have given when she was nine. "But what am I, oh mighty one?"

            Julius pouted and looked at his young apprentice. "I'd say Mighty Julius' sidekick who brought him doughnuts."

            She let herself laugh and slipped her helmet on. "So what do we have to do?"

            "Well," Julius sighed, "after that battle with Gundam 05 and OZ, we have to repair the colony's shield, or it might never be able to defend itself against a blast like that again."

            "Uh-huh. I guess we're lucky that dad's company makes these shields."

            "Yeah," he slipped on his helmet as well and walked over to the moonwalk dock, "but we need to build more. There are five clusters, and lots of colonies. We need to protect them all, not just L4."

            She nodded. "'Kay."

            The rest of the day (or night…you couldn't really tell in space) didn't go well at all.

            That was because when Naomi returned to the dock, she was the only one of the two of them who was alive. Someone had knocked her unconscious and killed him. She buried him herself without anyone else knowing she had done it, even though his family had already planned a funeral. Over her grave, the last tear she shed for him she made a tombstone oath on it.

            "Julius. When I die, I will go to Heaven and see you, because I'll probably end up in Hell. Maybe the Devil will let me visit you. I won't love anyone else anymore. I pledge all my love right now on this grave." She knelt down and slit her hand and let the dripping blood fall on the grass. "You hear me?!" she shouted at the grave, "I'll be your bride in death! I won't give myself to anyone! I'll be stronger than you would ever be, you asshole!" But she ended up crying, shouting in frustration.  

            Deaths in Naomi's life: 2

            Real happiness: Zip

            After Julius died, Naomi became more and more upset with her life in space. Everything reminded her of Julius. She couldn't stand looking at her father's company, because Julius had worked for them. She could stand looking out at space, that was because it reminded her of the fateful night when she brought in the un-helmeted Julius Evakenzie from space. She knew, deep down, there was no way in Hell that someone could survive in space without their helmet.

            The memory screamed at her every night, never letting her sleep……

            "Uhhhh..my head." Naomi tried to reach her head to rub the back of her head, but was blocked by her helmet. She remembered where she was. In space. With Julius. Where was Julius?

            "Julius!" she hollered. Where was he? She searched the void frantically. And she finally found him. With no helmet. And his eyes were opened.

            She sobbed as she floated over to her brotherly-like friend. He had been the brother she never had. "J-juliusss....." The tears floated in her helmet. She gazed into his face. His eyes were wide open with terror. "You must have been scared, Julius," she wept. "How did this happen?!" she screamed at the floating figure. "HOW!!!" She closed her eyes; she couldn't bear the horror. "Why? Who did this?" No answer came except the vague memory of that figure in the navy-blue/black spacesuit that she swore she saw.

            Her thoughts became those of rage. She shook as she fumed. "I...swear...I

will..." she grit her teeth, "...kill....him..." She looked into space……

            "I'LL KILL HIM!!!!!!!"

            Ever since then, she found it hard to sleep, eat, even look outside.

            A few days later, though, she packed her bags and left for the spaceport her father owned. Yossonan really didn't want her to go. He was getting old, and there was the risk of him getting assassinated, like his other friend Heero Yuy had.

            Yossonan, though, saw the extreme despair in Naomi's eyes. He could never force her to stay. Slowly, he saw, she would die in space. Reluctantly, he let her go.

            But right before she left the colony in the L4, it's name was T3-5692, Naomi had wandered down an ally after hearing a discussion about the assassination of the Atsui mechanic. Seemingly, Julius' death had made news. The men talked about it, but they had said that OZ, which they were soldiers of, it seems, had been blamed for it, just as they were blamed long ago for Heero Yuy's assassination.

            But something else had been mentioned the in conversation. As Naomi listened carefully, she heard that that same Atsui Enterprises mechanic that was murdered a few nights back would have been asked to take a job for OZ on Earth. She knew that she would have come along as well because she was Julius' apprentice. As she left, she made plans to take on the mission herself and try to destroy OZ from there. Naomi had never liked OZ, but she didn't blame them for Julius' assassination. A dark chord struck deep within her that told her that the destruction would ease her pain.

            I guess I just need to destroy, she thought.

            And thus, Naomi's thirst for destruction and bloodshed was born on that very shuttle ride.

            When she arrived on Earth, Naomi contacted her father and received his permission to take on the job. Yossonan, again reluctantly, agreed to keep Naomi in check. The destructive flower had used the wind to spread its seeds, and one of them landed at Yossonan's door. He knew there was something going disastrously wrong in Naomi's damaged mind.

            Naomi and a team of mechanics grounded on Earth arrived at the OZ base outside the woods bordering a small county called Narshimden in southern Canada. She clutched her tools hard as she looked at the faces of the OZ soldiers and their Mobile Suits.

            The Mobile Suit was the reason she was here. The OZ organization had made plans for a fierce Mobile Suit. It was originally developed to assist the Gundams in the original Operation Meteor, but when that had changed its course, the plans were put away. Until OZ realized the threat of the Gundams and their pilots.

            Naomi was called into the OZ colonel's office.

            "Naomi Atsui, the daughter of the famous Yossonan Atsui, who helped build the Winner Resource satellite, eh?" the colonel who seemed in his thirties looked Naomi over.
            She stood frigid. "Yes, sir."
            Naomi didn't know if the expression on his face was a smirk or not, but she wanted to rub it off with a knife, she automatically hated him.
            "The team you are leading is supposed to design one of the most ultimate Mobile Suits. A Mobile Suit that is stronger than the Gundams by far. OZ is planning to unleash this ultimate weapon on the Gundams and destroy them once and for all. We cannot let our grasp over the colonies weaken. Do you understand me, Naomi Atsui?"
            She nodded. "Yes, sir."
            "Good. I understand you're the cream of the crop in this enterprise, the assistant of the," he slowed down, "famous Julius Evakenzie?"
            "Yes, sir." She wished she had a knife.
            "Well, then I put my trust in your skills. I'll get you the blueprints." He disappeared behind a divider and Naomi heard the sound of some clicks. Must be opening a safe, she thought. He came back from behind the divider and handed the roll of blueprints to her.
            "Here you are. Take extreme care of them. I would ask the scientists we have caught in outer space who built the Gundams to do this, but I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?"
            "Yes, sir."
He smirked for sure this time, leaving Naomi having to check her reflex to stab him. She hated his perverted smirking. "I'm glad you understand. Well, I suggest you go out to the field. Get the job done as quickly as possible, we don't want anyone to find out about our little project." His grin grew. "We want to surprise our little Gundam pilots."
          "Yes, sir." She left the room clutching the plans.

            Later that night, Naomi just KNEW she had to dispose of the Gemini. If the power of the Gemini Mobile Suits rivaled with the Gundams practically as much as the Tallgeese if not more, then the Gundams would never win this war.

            A few hours passed as the men from her team finally started getting to work after getting the required parts and metals together. As they were finishing up for the day, Naomi lingered. In the back of the working field, there was another hangar with a carrier. Making sure no one was in the building, she quickly shot the security cameras. This was her chance!
            Naomi loaded a transporter truck with the whatever parts were created and drove it over to the hangar. In the hangar, she quickly loaded the contents on to the carrier plane. She heard vehicles coming her way, so she knew she had to hurry. Just as flashlights appeared in the hallway, she jumped into the cockpit, the Gemini plans held tightly in her sweaty palms.

            "…but I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?"

            If only he knew.

            "Hey! What are you doing!" She ignored them, and the plane started to move.

            Naomi set the plane on automatic pilot for about three miles, in the direction of the neighboring woods. She knew after the three miles, it would need a pilot to land it, or it would crash, destroying everything inside. Naomi jumped out of the cockpit as the plane took flight.
            "There she is!" She landed on her arm, knowing she broke it, but she didn't care. She still had the plans. She ran out of the hangar and into another one, her pursuers following her closely.
            She was running out of breath. As strong as she was, she was still only a thirteen-year-old girl. These were grown men who were chasing her.
            She found an opening in the next hangar and dashed towards it.
           

            "Well, then I put my trust in your skills."
           

            You never should have, colonel. OZ will never see the Gemini.
            Naomi just exited the hangar and wanted to stop for a breath. Just for a second, she thought.

            It had all ended, or maybe I should say began, there.

            The guards there knew that she was a traitor, just as the colonel had expected. He had ordered to shoot her down if she ever rebelled. The soldiers thought about the madness of killing a thirteen-year-old, but and enemy was an enemy. With great hesitation, as Naomi was on the outskirts  of the forest, they pulled their triggers, the loud blast ringing out through the night, and right afterwards, the small thump of the metal ripping through human flesh.

            The colonel in his room had removed his hand from between his legs and sat up and grinned. "Poor little girly."

            To Naomi, however, it wasn't such a simple explanation. At the time, at least, it wasn't.

            She had the feeling they were going to shoot even before they did it, but they were simple OZ soldiers, how was she expect them to hit her so well when they couldn't even hit a big fat target like a Gundam?

            But they hit her, alright. The first bullet hit her leg, but the other (maybe ten?) bullets hit her hard; a ripping sound on the side of her stomach, the side of her neck, her two shoulders, her lower back. She screamed out loud as they hit her, blood exploding from her mouth. With her failing strength, she limped to the forest and collapsed, the plane still flying its course over the woods. She collapsed on the ground and rolled over on her back, the blood leaving a trail on the grass. The bullets went further into her back, and she arched, then started heaving uncontrollably, the fight to stay alive thrusting her upright. More dark blood flowed in a river out of her mouth, her hand immediately grasping it, and getting soaked in the process. The sour smell and taste of her blood added nothing to it. Naomi felt like she threw up her insides and she vomited, and then collapsed on her stomach, throwing what was ever left inside around in a jumble.

            Two silent tears ran down her cheeks before she closed her eyes. One for her father, one for her friend.

            "I'll be your bride in death!"

            It seems it won't be long until we're reunited, huh Julius?

            As her eyes closed, the scream of the plane shot her ears as it crashed not too far from her in the forest.

            //::// I promised I would find a piece of mind

            if I didn't feel so desperate to hold on

            and have you fall in my place //:://

            The story on the outside ends there. The OZ soldiers reported that Naomi Alexandra Atsui had died in the fire caused by the plane she had launched. No body was found, however. That's because her story still goes on.

            Naomi's eyes barely forced themselves open. She looked up at the wooden ceiling and groaned.

            "Am I dead?"

            "No, you're not. At least, not here."

            She tried to turn her head, but winced as the mark where the bullet had grazed her neck burned. Some person, it had to be a woman or girl by voice, was running a sink and seemed to be washing her hands.

            "Stop being so enigmatic. Why am I alive?" she growled, "I swore I died."

            The girl turned away from the sink, wiping her hands on a hand cloth. Naomi could see now that this girl was a little shorter than her, and definitely not Japanese. She was tan and had short, rugged almost-black hair. Her glasses were a little big for her eyes, and she dressed very plainly. She didn't look Canadian either.

            "And who the hell are you?" she spat.

            The girl shook her head. "For someone who saved your life, you are really ungrateful." Naomi frowned at her. "Or will you tell me that you were committing self-righteous suicide?"

            "It's not of your business."

            "Well, I did save you. You might as well tell me your name, though I already have a feeling who you are."

            "Then what is it?" she said dangerously low.

            The girl looked at the television that she had shut off moments ago. "You are Naomi Atsui. You are thirteen years old and was reported dead at 3:00 AM in a forest fire. The body was not found and is thought to have been scorched, though no remains of DNA has been found among the cinders. But, seeing how shot you are, the fire killing you wasn't possible. And I saw you launch the plane, which crashed and caused the fire."

            Naomi's eyes widened. "I was pronounced dead already. Oh my God!" her hands flew to her face as she shrieked, "Father!"

            The girl winced and took a step closer, so cautiously as if she were approaching a lion. "For now, Naomi, you'll have to deal with it." She edged closer. "You're not healed yet, so you can't go back now. I'm sure your father will understand. Now please, get some rest."    

            Naomi nodded numbly as the girl gently placed her hands on Naomi's shoulders, as not to hurt her, and laid her back down on the bed. Even with all the chaos going on in those five minutes, Naomi quickly found sleep.

            This time when her eyes forced themselves open, it didn't hurt. The area where the intense amount of bandages were was still sore, but there was no blood-curdling-screaming pain. That girl from before wasn't there, but the television was on. The bed creaking loudly as she slowly hoisted herself out of it, she tiptoed over to the small loveseat in front of it.

            The news reporter was in the middle of her sentence. "And on further news, the owner  and CEO of Atsui Enterprises, Yossonan Atsui, is still suffering the loss of his daughter Naomi, who was pronounced dead five days ago. No remains were found of her from the father, none of the ashes showing any trace of her DNA. There will be a memorial service in her memory tonight at 7. Back to you, John." She wanted to gasp, but she figured it would hurt her wounds too much.

            It had already been five days since the OZ incident.

            So that meant she had slept for four….or was it three? It hurt to think.

            The girl entered the room again, her red hooded sweater falling loosely on her, like it was really Naomi's size and didn't fit her small figure.

            "You seem to know everything about me, but I still have no fucking idea who you are. Care to tell me your name, damnit?"

            She shook her dark brown head. "My name is Marissa Natchios. Really, you and I are one in the same."

            "What the fu—" but she stopped herself. That name.

            Natchios.

*Flashback*

            "Here, honey. Take a look at this paper." Naomi frowned and skimmed over page seven of the Colonial Page. "Now do you understand why I want you to be careful in the warehouse?"

            She grunted, leaned back in the chair, and crossed her arms over her chest. "A girl was exploded by explosives. She looks seven. Maybe she played with matches. In the end, she was stupid and blew up."

            Yossonan's frown deepened. "She was thirteen like you, Naomi." He took a sip of his coffee and resumed making his daughter breakfast. Her eyes scanned him. This was CEO Yossonan Atsui. In a pinstriped robe making his teenage daughter eggs while he sipped coffee.

He continued, "She was actually college level in physics and medical science."

            "And?"

            "You should sound more interested. Those stats compete with yours."

            "So I can write. Who care? I'm not smart anywhere else."

            He shook his head. "It seems she was with a team of scientists but got lost. Really, many people had thought she had died a few years ago."

            She strained herself to look interested. "Go on."

            "It seems she belonged to one of those tribes in the tunnels of Greece somewhere…the Zasziche-Watokali I think it was called."

            "An Indian freak, really."

            "Naomi! Anyways, she had been in an accident when she was young, causing the death of her father, who was like the tribe's leader. She never said anything against her sentence, which was exile. She then, they said on the news,"—sip—"tried to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. She never did, and to take the thought off her mind, the hospitals made her study. She became excellent, really gifted they say, and took this trip to a medical facility. Well, being a thirteen year old, she got lost, and unfortunately, found the unstable explosives room. But it said that she never caused the explosion; UNSTABLE explosives."

            Naomi grunted. So what? Whoop-dee-freaking-doo. But her eyes found their way to the article.

            The name was long, and it was stupid, but it said:

            "Marissa Anshi Shuukaku Natchios."

*End Flashback*

            She regained herself. "O-one in the same?" she stuttered, the words getting caught in her throat.

            Marissa nodded. "The whole world thinks I'm dead, too. But, you see," she turned her back on Naomi and paced the room slowly, "you can go back. I can't. I read that newspaper article about me when I supposedly 'died.'"

            "So it's true, you really did try to commit suicide?"

            She nodded sadly. "Yeah. You have no idea what it's like to have a mother who hates you. She gladly told the media everything about me with cold eyes and hot hatred." She shook her head. "You need to get well soon, Naomi. Your father is devastated. You need to save him from his loneliness."

            Numbly, she nodded her head, but her mind wasn't on her father. It was on what had "killed" her.

            Her purpose to go to the OZ base was so she could steal the plans for the Gemini, this elite Mobile Suit that OZ had  developed to fight against the Gundams. But since Naomi had supported the Gundams, she came to steal the plans so that the suit would never be developed under OZ's control. There was also the plane she had set off. She was supposed to have stolen one of their Jeeps and drive into the opposite direction of the base and the plane should have crashed and burned down the base or at least caused a diversion.

            So was my plan really successful? she thought. In a way it had been. The base had burned down and OZ no longer had the Gemini plans. But, where were they?!

            Frantically, Naomi remembered putting them in her shirt so that no one could take them from her. She patted her chest, but she didn't find the papers. Marissa raised an eyebrow and laughed softly.

            "If you are looking for the Gemini plans, I have them. I retyped them as well, since they were all bloody and shot up."

            "Give them to me."

            She smiled and nodded her head. Marissa stood up and walked over to a table against the wall, which stood right next to the television. Sure enough, the paper was there.

            Naomi looked over them. They seemed exactly the same as the original copy. She looked up. "I hoped you burned it."

            "Of course. They would find them with me and I would be blamed for keeping them, and seeing the blood, of murdering you."          

            She nodded and continued to look over the plans. "It's amazing how you've copied them so well. It just seems one part of this has been changed."

            "I see you've noticed."

            "Yes. It says that the pilot requires a high…life force? to pilot the Gemini."

            Marissa shrugged. "I'm a doctor. It basically means," she traced her finger to the formula, "that the pilot must be in perfect health statistics so that the Mobile Suit can excel at full performance."

            "You've seemed to coordinate it with the other figures."

            "I did. It isn't exactly easy for me, but I'm sure a mechanic like you knows this stuff."

            Naomi leaned back on the bed and sighed, her eyes catching a solemn glow. Marissa noticed it. "What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

            "It's just…" she trailed off, "I expected that after I stole the Gemini and made my get away, destroying the base, that I would return to my father and have him build it, so that way the people at the OZ base would be dead and not object to theft, or…I would have….lived alone and built it myself."

            Marissa's eyes widened. "You support the Gundams, don't you?"

            "Don't you?"

            "Since I've never lived on the colonies before, I used to always support the UESA. But since this whole thing…I don't know. But Naomi, what would you do with the Gemini?"

            "Probably help the Gundams and try to destroy OZ. That's who I hate the most."

            "I see. I do oppose OZ. I would help your cause if I could. But you would never be able to have your identity revealed. That would cause corruption to your father's business, for those who support OZ, AND what will the world think when your father finds out you deliberately kept yourself known as a casualty?"

            She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'll never be able to reveal my face to society again. The fact of the matter is, the world thinks I'm dead. But, I want to get rid of OZ so badly!" She slammed her fist backwards into the wall, causing it to tremble. "I hate them! And I know they killed Julius!" Her anger gave her heavy breaths, and it was hard to calm down. Like not so long ago, she rose her head hypnotically with bloodthirsty eyes.

            "The Gemini will be completed, and OZ will be dust."

            Naomi fell asleep for three days again. When she woke up, she heard some voices in the room next to the one she slept in.

            "Yes, Mother. She seems perfect for it. I had a feeling you'd come after you heard about the Gemini plans."

            Marissa…? she thought faintly. No, she couldn't be talking about her mother. Her mother thought she was dead and hated her, right? Or was that a dream and she was really waking up NOW. No, that wasn't right. How would she know the girl's name? Naomi shook her head. Nothing made sense at the moment.

            An old woman's voice spoke. "Those old men think that I should have taken a student under wing, but my sister is so restless, she wants one too. Oh, this is perfect. We just need two more pilots."

            "What do you mean, and who the hell are you?" Both Marissa and the old woman looked up from the table in the kitchen as Naomi appeared in the doorway.  

            But the old squaw smiled. "Nice to meet you, Naomi Atsui. My name is Phoenix."

            Naomi's eyebrow rose. "Excuse me?"

            "My name is Phoenix, but by many names. Some call me Lady Phoenix, some may call me Mother Phoenix, like Marissa, or some  even call me Madame Phoenix. Whichever you choose."

            "I'm just going to call you old woman, got it?" Naomi folded her arms and slumped into the chair.

            But Lady Phoenix waved it by as if it were nothing with a smile. "Fine, fine dear. Now, I should explain things to you."

            "It is true that when they found Marissa's body, she was pronounced dead. But ever since she was abandoned by her family, I have taken care of her. I disguised myself as an old grandmother who wanted to bury her grandchild. But Marissa was far from dead.

            "You may wonder where I stand in society, you may not, but I am going to tell you anyways. You obviously know about the Gundams. There are five of them. Five pilots, five Gundams. But the Gundams didn't come out of nowhere, though some believe so. Five scientists created the Gundams and trained the Gundam pilots. The creator of the Wing Gundam is Dr. J; the creator of the Gundam Deathscythe is Professor G; the creator of Gundam Heavyarms is Doktor S; the creator of the Gundam Sandrock is Instructor H; and the creator of the Shenlong Gundam. I am actually the wife of Doktor s."

            Naomi blinked. "You are? Is your child a Gundam pilot?"

            She shook her head. "No, we were married in our fifties. I am a bit of a scientist as well, but I let my husband do his own work. We actually met on a research project concerning Operation Meteor. But back to my point. When OZ was created, it became apparent it had to be destroyed, along with the injustice of the USEA. My husband chose a young man named Trowa Barton to pilot his suit, and the others went on so forth. He's about a year older than you girls, the same with the other pilots. Now that it's deeper into A.C 195, months are passing like days. We fear the war will be over soon, but OZ is strong, nonetheless. Even the war DOES end, rebels that still support the war will live on and start war again. By that time, who knows what will have happened to the Gundams and their pilots? That's what I am calling on you for, Naomi. You are an excellent mechanic, I know that much. I'm asking you to build the Gemini and find two other pilots to help you and have models of their own. Just like the Gundams can't do this alone, neither can you, no matter how much you want to believe it. Marissa here, I believe, can help you as well."

            Naomi's dark blue eyes went back and forth between Marissa and the old woman. She really wasn't sure about Marissa. She really did just meet her. And was this woman crazy or what? But still, she had a point. The Gundams would probably be finished by the time a new enemy sprang up. As long as man existed, she believed, there would always be conflict. That's what started this war, and it would start another.

            Besides, she hated to owe Marissa a favor.

            Her eyes focused on the small girl. "You did make smart alterations to the plan. How well can you pilot?"

            "Well enough."

            "That's not good enough by word. I'll have to see you."

            "How's this?" she smirked, holding her hand up, "by tomorrow morning I'll have you two Taurus suits so that you can start building anywhere you like. AND I'll draw up plans for a base if you want to build one."

            Naomi cocked her eyebrow. "So you're more like the brains of the outfit."

            She nodded with confidence. "And you have to admit: no one suspects a cute girl like me."

            Naomi lay in a different bed that night. The room was her own, and it was dark, the only light the milky shine the moon and stars fell into the room from the one window on the wall. She watched the moon's reflected in her window slowly move as the night moved on, almost refusing to sleep. Many thoughts had come to her head that she just couldn't sleep.

            I guess my life as Naomi Atsui is over for now. I'll have to become someone else. A girl who found Naomi's body and then stole the plans and went off to build the Gemini. I'll take Marissa and we should build the base in somewhere desolate, and definitely not in this country. Maybe somewhere like Saudi Arabia and we could build it in the desert. That would be a good idea. I think I could build a small one-person flight transport to fly somewhere and get resources, and then fly home and we'll continue to build. But there's this thing with the other two pilots…who will they be? I'm not completely sure about this…

            The morning came after long hours of restless sleep (when it finally came). Marissa wasn't back yet, but Lady Phoenix was in the kitchen making tea. She offered some to Naomi as she walked in, but she wrinkled her nose. She hated tea.

            Naomi listened to the metronome of the clock, counting its well-timed beats. Only, one time, she was sure one beat was too short. But when Naomi picked her head up to look at the clock, the ticking had resumed.

            Life is kind of like that, she thought. It's supposed to seem so normal, but when something goes too short or too fast, the whole beat of it gets messed up.

            Her eyes became dark. Like my plans for the Gemini. They were completely altered. OZ made everything go wrong. Damn them all to hell, those bastards. She clenched her fist that was on the table, causing it to vibrate, Lady Phoenix's teacup shaking as well. The old woman frowned at the whole scene. She leaned over and touched Naomi's hand.

            The young girl whipped her head up and the sudden warm touch against her ice hand. It was so sudden, it had caught her off guard. But this warmth…it was like kindness was behind it.

            Phoenix smiled. "Naomi, you are so young and beautiful. You should see it; very few girls are graced with that. But you scowl so much soon your FROWN is going to be your main quality. Why, I can see in a few years now, people will look at your smile, and say that you look more beautiful when you put that revengeful mask on."

            "Mask, old woman?" she looked at her strangely, "this ain't no mask. You have no idea what I've gone through. Leave your kindness on someone else's doorstep. I'm going to get my revenge, and then—"

            "Then what, Naomi?"

            Naomi looked down at the table. "I'll either kill myself or have someone do that for me."

            But the old squaw didn't gasp like someone of her age normally would. She just shook her head and chuckled. "Well, you have an interesting look on life. Now, Marissa will be coming with the carrier plane soon, so I suggest you pack your things and get some fresh air. We're on the opposite edge of the woods, so no one should see you."

            Naomi took the woman's advice. It had seemed like forever since she had last been outside. When she opened the door, the strange maze of trees and grass confused her. It was obviously different from it's opposite side. But just standing at the stoop bored her. The real fresh air, she thought, is in the woods.

            Strangely enough, Naomi felt more at ease when she was in a place like this. First of all, she was ALONE, and just noticing the trees and plants and woodland animals just took her thoughts off OZ. Soon, an old Linkin Park song she liked started playing in her head. Soon enough, she had started to hum it.

            But another hum had risen up. Immediately, Naomi stopped, but the other one continued. She whipped her head in all directions, her hair flying with her head's violent jerks. A stick broke. Naomi jerked her head in the sound's direction and saw a girl her age with chestnut brown hair and green eyes. Nearly a mirror image of her with different colors…

            "Who the hell are you?!"

SariaSubi: FWAP! End of part one. I need a chapter or two until part two comes up. Now to continue with the histories. These take a while, so try to stay content with this for now. I also gotta update my YGO fic….

Now, who do YOU think was the girl? Eh? Eh?