A New Ally(1) Chapter 7: Let the Fighting Begin!
Aly awoke to the sounds of voices. She blinked her eyes open and looked forward. Skye and Noin were standing in front of her bed debating whether or not to wake her up. They had their backs to her, so they could not tell that she had already awoken.
"She's been sleeping for a long time. She slept through breakfast. I think we should wake her up now." Noin said.
"I don't know. Maybe she had trouble sleeping last night. It looked like she had kicked all her covers off in her sleep." Skye said pointedly.
"Don't worry. I'm awake." Aly said groggily. She sat up slowly while Skye and Noin turned around to face her.
"Are you ok?" Skye asked. She and Noin sat on the edge of Aly's bed.
"Yah. I just didn't sleep too well. Got hot flashes or something." Aly said.
"Hot flashes? Are you sick?" Noin asked. Aly smiled slightly.
"No, I'm alright. I just had on too many blankets when I went to bed last night." Aly explained. It was the truth. Not the entire truth, but still the truth.
"What time is it?" Aly asked. She slid out of her bed and stood up to stretch.
"It's noon. You slept through breakfast. And, lunch is in a few minutes." Skye said.
"Do you feel up to eating?" Skye asked. Aly yawned.
"Yes. I feel drained. Need some food energy." She answered. "I'll meet you guys down there. I need to go shower and get dressed."
"Ok." Noin said.
"You sure you don't want us to wait for you?" Skye offered.
"No, go ahead. I'll be fine." Aly said with a shake of her head. Skye and Noin shared a look. They both shrugged. The two drifted out the door, leaving Aly to herself.
Aly sighed. She could not believe she had overslept. That dream she had had took a lot out of her. She frowned, remembering it.
'I still don't understand why I had the dream last night. I haven't had that dream in several months...' Aly thought as she went through her duffel bag in search of an outfit. She pulled out a pair of denim shorts and a charcoal gray t-shirt. She also pulled out her small toiletries bag and a towel.
Aly held the change of clothes, toiletries bag, and folded towel to her chest with one arm while she used her free hand to zip the duffel bag shut. She stood up and drifted to the door. After pulling the door open, she drifted out, switching off the light on the way.
She pulled the door shut and grasped the tow bar with her free hand.
'The showers will be warm since everyone else is in the cafeteria right now.' Aly thought. She hoped a hot shower would wake her up and clear her clouded mind.
Fifteen minutes later, Aly drifted into the cafeteria. Her hair was up in a ponytail, still wet from her shower. She had not bothered to dry it in her hurry to make it to lunch on time.
When Aly entered the cafeteria, she looked around for Skye, Noin, Howard, and her fellow pilots. She spotted them all sitting at the same table as the evening before. Aly drifted over to the line to get her lunch before she bothered making her presence known.
For lunch that day, the meal choices were fruit salad, and various sub sandwiches. Aly picked up a tray and set it onto the rail. She looked over the various sandwich choices in the cooler and picked out a "veggie-lovers" one. She paused for a long time in front of the fruit salads. She could not decide if she wanted the tropical mix, the regular one, or the combination.
"Tough choices, huh?" A female voice to Aly's right asked. Aly turned to look at the person who had spoken to her. It was the person next in line. Aly studied her briefly. She had raven colored hair that came down to her mid-back and dark, expressive blue eyes.
After a split-second, Aly figured she was a fun loving person, who was usually very outgoing and optimistic. She was the kind of person Aly would adore spending time with on a bad day. She appeared to be almost the female version of Duo at a serious time with a bit of Quatre's polite mannerisms.
"Yes, very tough decision." Aly said with a slight smile.
"I recommend the tropical. It always seems fresher tasting than the mixed or the regular." Raven suggested. Aly nodded and picked up a bowl, setting it on her tray.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Have you been on the Peacemillion long?" She said as she got her own bowl.
"Not really. Only a couple days." Aly replied sincerely. She slid her tray down the rail, drifting after it. She stopped at the drinks section and looked over the various bottles.
"Oh. I've been here for about a month. I do MS tech work." Aly nodded to show she was listening.
"My name's Raven by the way." The girl stated. Aly could tell she had gotten the name for her shiny, raven-colored hair.
"I'm Natalya." Aly looked up to meet Raven's gaze.
"Natalya... What do you do here on the Peacemillion?" Raven asked as she reached past Aly to grab a bottle of water, a glass, and a tea bag.
"I do computer tech." Aly lied easily. She grabbed a bottle of water for herself and set it on her tray.
"That explains why I have not seen you before. You must work at the other end." Raven said thoughtfully. Aly simply nodded. The two girls stepped out of the line and Aly glanced back towards her new comrades. She felt bad ditching Raven. The girl seemed very nice, but Aly did not want Heero and Wufei giving Raven the stare-down like they had with Skye.
"Would you like to sit with me and a few of my fellow MS techies?" Raven asked. Aly frowned. She really did not know this Raven girl. She was not sure how good it would be to go off making a bunch of new friends there. She really did not desire to become noticed. That, and she wanted to sit with her close friends whom she knew and trusted.
"I'd like to, but I already promised some old friends of mine I would sit with them. Sorry." Aly finally said. Raven nodded. She seemed to accept Aly's answer and to not mind in the slightest.
"That's quite all right. Perhaps I will see you around the ship."
"Maybe. It was nice meeting you Raven." Aly said before Raven turned and drifted away. Aly drifted over to the table her friends and comrades were sitting at. Duo was the first one to notice her. He gasped overdramatically.
"She's alive!" Duo said with mock shock. Aly rolled her eyes at him.
"Of course I'm alive." Aly said plainly as she sat down in the empty seat beside him.
"We were getting worried. We thought you might have been sick or something." Quatre said from his spot across the table from her.
"I'm fine. Really. I just got too hot last night and did not sleep well. It's not a big deal." Aly said. She smiled slightly to reassure him. Aly noticed then that Skye was not seated there with them. She turned to Noin on Duo's right to inquire about Skye's absence.
"Hey Noin, where's Skye? I thought you two came down here together." Aly said. Noin looked up at her.
"Oh, she got invited to sit with some of the other MS techs." Noin answered.
"Yah, some guy in particular seemed to be the one inviting her." Duo said with a mischievous grin. Aly found that surprising. Skye had not mentioned any MS tech friends, especially not a guy.
"Jealous?" Aly asked Duo.
"Nah. She and I just didn't click ya know?" Duo said with a shrug. Aly nodded. She decided to ask Skye about the other MS techs and that alleged guy when she saw Skye that evening. Aly did not speak again for the rest of the meal.
Aly was the third one to finish eating. Wufei and Heero had already left the cafeteria. Aly decided to do the same. She wanted to go think. She still could not get her dream off her mind. It was not just a dream. It was a memory, which made it even harder to forget.
"I'm gonna go. I want to read for a while." Aly said while standing. Quatre who had just finished eating stood up too.
"May I walk you back? I'm headed in the same direction." Quatre said. Aly debated for a minute in her mind. She wasn't sure if she really wanted company right then, even if it would be for a very brief time. Aly decided that she did not want Quatre to get more worried about her, so she would let him come with her.
"Sure."
"Great." Quatre and Aly took their trays up before they drifted out of the cafeteria.
As soon as they were alone in the hallway, Quatre spoke up.
"What's wrong? And please do not tell me you simply got too hot." Quatre said.
"What gave it away?" Aly asked. She felt that she should have known Quatre would see through her half-truth. He had always had a sixth sense for those types of things.
"You know me. I just can tell with you. You're a good friend Aly. I want to know what is bothering you." Quatre said. Aly grasped a towbar with one hand and held onto Quatre's hand with the other.
"It is kind of difficult to explain." Aly said.
"Please try." Quatre said. Aly let go of the towbar and put her feet down. They were standing in front of the "Gundam Pilot Commons". Aly opened the door and led the way inside. She was relieved that Wufei and Heero were not there for once.
"Ok, have a seat. I will try to explain as best I can." Aly said. She and Quatre both sat down at the table, facing each other. Aly thought for a moment, deciding where to begin.
"You remember how I told you I was going to pilot a gundam before the Ice Angel...the Wing Zero, but the factory was destroyed...?" Aly began. Quatre nodded and gave her a look, urging her to continue.
"That happened two years ago. The whole operation was top secret. The factory only had three workers. Myself, and two others, recruited by my father. They had been good friends of mine-Kenichi and Am�.
I had a dream last night...about the factory explosion. It happened so suddenly one random day. The three of us had been in the lab. We were not doing anything special, simply having a friendly conversation. There was an explosion. I remember it so well... It caught us completely off guard. We never could figure out what caused it.
After the explosion, the lab started falling apart. The whole factory was collapsing. What parts of the gundam had been finished were completely destroyed..." Aly was staring down at the tabletop, lost in her memories.
"Am� found me...she and I had to lift up a metal lab table that Kenichi had been pinned under. We all ran for the door. There were fires everywhere... Everything was burning. We all had to work together to get the door open. It was so heavy...
I froze right inside the doorway. The ceiling panels had started to fall. I was captivated by the sight of it. Am� and Kenichi came back in to get me." Aly had started clasping and unclasping her hands. Quatre watched her closely, studying all of her expressions. He waited patiently for Aly to continue, not wanting to disturb her train of thoughts.
"Am� ran back outside, Kenichi shoved me out. I could see the last ceiling panel falling and Kenichi was running for the door. I grabbed his hand. I tried to pull him out...
There was another explosion. I got knocked backwards. Kenichi's hand was pulled from mine. I saw his face as he was thrown away from me...he was terrified...
I had to look away because the blast made it so hot and sent debris flying. I reached out towards Kenichi, trying desperately to find him. I looked back and saw that the door had been pulled shut. I could hear Am� screaming...and that's when I knew...Kenichi was in there...The whole building collapsed.
After the colony emergency response team arrived, there was nothing left. When they found Kenichi...he could not have been identified. He was so...destroyed." Aly looked up at Quatre. His eyes had shadows in them. He seemed highly disturbed by her story.
"Am� always said it wasn't my fault. It never made the guilt or the pain go away though. I just wish I could have done something different." Aly said.
"You can't change the past Aly. And, Am�'s right. It was not your fault." Quatre said, puting a hand over her clasped hands to offer comfort.
"He shouldn't have died. He had reasons to live. He and Am� were married you know... And they had a daughter. She was only three at the time. She did nothing wrong...she didn't deserve to lose her father." Aly said. She clenched her teeth.
"Aly stop tormenting yourself. You can't change the past. It wasn't your fault that the factory exploded. And, it wasn't your fault that he got pulled back in by that other explosion." Quatre said.
"I know...I thought I was over it. It's been two years. And, I hadn't had that dream for months. I don't understand why it came up all of the sudden." Aly said.
"It's probably from the last battle. All the explosions from those carriers the other day must have stirred up the memories of the factory explosion." Quatre said wisely. Aly considered his words. It made sense.
"I think you're right...I guess I just am still getting used to live battles." Aly said.
"Believe me. We all are. It's hard on all of us. Even Heero and Wufei." Quatre said.
"Heero and Wufei?"
"Yes, they may seem very composed, but they bury it all inside. It hurts them too. All the death and destruction." Quatre said gravely. Aly thought about the haunted look she had seen in Heero's eyes. She realized that must have been the reason behind it.
"Thanks for listening to me...and offering some wisdom." Aly said.
"I'm always here for you Aly." Quatre gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. Aly smiled gratefully at him. She cared dearly for Quatre. He had always been a caring friend. They had a very deep connection. And, as they had discovered in the past few days, it was deeper than they had known. Aly had never expected her dearest, kindest friend to be a gundam pilot. Though, she doubted he would have ever expected the same from her.
"What?" Quatre quirked an eyebrow at Aly.
"You're always so kind; always offering words of wisdom... How do you know things will always turn out all right?" Aly asked.
"You're a strong-willed person. I have faith in you." Quatre said. Aly could not figure out why she had done it, but she had felt something pulling at her, so she went with it. She leaned over the table and kissed Quatre very lightly.
When she leaned back, she was shocked at what she had done. She tried very hard to read Quatre's expression, but was unsuccessful.
At that moment, Heero and Trowa drifted in the room. They both mentally noted the way that Quatre had his hand on Aly's and the way they were looking at each other then.
"Are we interrupting something?" Trowa asked monotonously. Quatre blushed and pulled his hand back. Aly simply frowned at the two.
"No. We were just talking. And, I'm leaving now anyway." Aly stated. She stood from her seat and drifted towards the door.
"Talk to you later Quatre, Trowa." Aly said. She drifted out the door without waiting for a reply from either of them.
"What was that about?" Trowa asked Quatre after Aly was gone. Heero did not seem to care in the slightest. He simply sat down and turned on his laptop.
"I have no idea." Quatre replied with a frown.
That night, Skye, Noin, and Aly were all in their room, on their respective bunks. Noin and Skye were talking and Aly was only half listening. She was lying on her bed with her arms folded behind her head and was staring up at the bottom of Noin's bunk.
"So, who was he?" Noin asked. Skye smiled shyly.
"His name is Alec Fontane. I met him my first day here. He's another MS techie." Skye replied.
"And you had lunch and dinner with him today..." Noin said. Skye flushed the slightest bit.
"Yes. He's my boyfriend." Skye said. Noin looked surprised.
"Really? Well. I'm happy for you. I hope things work out for you." Noin said with a warm smile. Skye smiled back at her.
"Thanks. Duo's not upset is he?" Skye asked as she leaned over the side of her bunk to look at Aly. Aly shook from her thoughts. She had been lost in her own little world of thought. Her mind had been more focused on what had happened in the "GPC" ("Gundam Pilot Commons") after lunch that day.
"No. He's ok. He said you two just didn't click." Aly replied. Skye nodded and rolled over so she was lying on her back.
"It's getting late. We should go to bed." Skye said.
"You're right. Aly would you mind turning off the light?" Noin asked. Aly got off her bed and drifted over to the light switch.
"No problem. I'm going to go get some water. Good night you two." Aly said as she switched off the light. She drifted out the door after hearing their chorused "good night"s.
Aly grasped a towbar and let it pull her down the hallway. She let go of the towbar in front of the "GPC". Pausing briefly to push back the déjà vu feeling, Aly pushed the button beside the door. The door slid open and Aly drifted inside.
She was surprised to find Duo and Heero were both there. Heero was busily typing on his laptop and Duo was eating an ice cream sandwich. Aly was more surprised to see Duo than Heero. She remembered that Heero had been there the other night when she had had trouble sleeping.
"Hey Aly. You're up late." Duo said. Aly walked to the mini-fridge and got out a bottle of water.
"Needed some water." She replied. She opened her bottle of water and took a drink.
"Oh." Duo took another bite of ice cream. Aly sat beside him while she finished drinking her water.
"Where were you after dinner today?"
"I was in the hanger, running system checks on my gundam."
"Oh-K." Duo shrugged.
Aly had been silent at dinner. She had avoided looking at Quatre. Her entire meal had been spent thinking about the kiss. She had not wanted to be around other people, so she had escaped to the seclusion of the cargo hold.
"Do you know if Quatre is still up?" Aly drank the last sip of water in the bottle and got up to throw it away. Duo swallowed his bite of ice cream before answering.
"Maybe. Why?" Duo asked.
"I need to talk to him." Aly stated plainly.
"What about?"
"Stuff." Aly narrowed her eyes at Duo. His innocent curiosity was likely to have nearly gotten him killed many times.
"What stuff?" Duo crumpled up the wrapper to his ice cream sandwich and drifted over to the garbage to throw it away.
"Stuff we talked about after lunch today." Aly looked at Heero before looking back at Duo who had sat back down. Heero glanced back and forth between Aly and Duo out of the corner of his eye.
"I will explain later..." Aly said. She drifted towards the door.
"Ok. You are going now?" Duo asked. Aly opened the door.
"Yeah. I don't want to keep him up too late." Aly drifted out the door.
"Night Aly."
"Night Duo." She closed the door behind herself and drifted down the hallway.
Aly stopped in front of the room Quatre shared with Duo and Trowa. Her heartbeat started to pick up as she lifted a hand to knock on the door. She hoped that Trowa and Quatre were not already sleeping.
After knocking lightly three times, Aly drifted back a step and waited. The door opened and Trowa stood in the doorway looking like he had been half-asleep.
"Hi Trowa...Did I wake you up?" Aly asked with a sheepish half smile. Trowa leaned against the doorframe.
"I wasn't quite asleep yet. What do you need?"
"I need to talk to Quatre. Is he up?" Aly asked, glancing around Trowa and into the room without moving her head too much. Trowa glanced over his shoulder before drifting backwards, unblocking Quatre from view. Quatre drifted out into the hallway.
"Hey Aly. What's up." Quatre had on a sleepy, yet still friendly smile.
"I need to talk to you." Aly said. She glanced at Trowa.
"I am going back to bed. You two talk. Good night Aly." Trowa said. He closed the door, leaving Quatre and Aly alone in the hallway.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Quatre asked. He leaned sideways against the wall to look at her. Aly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She looked up at him.
"I have been thinking a lot about...what happened after lunch today..." Aly began.
"What did you think?" Quatre asked. His smile fell. Aly chewed on her lower lip and glanced down briefly.
"I want to know if it was just...the moment, or the conversation, or the fact that we have been friends so long, or..." Aly stopped herself and looked back up at him.
"I just need to know if that kiss meant anything to you." Aly grasped the bottom of her t-shirt and twisted it in her fingers while she waited for Quatre to answer. He smiled gently and grabbed her other hand, clasping it between both of his.
"Aly, I have known you for almost four years now. You're a great friend...I care about you a lot..." Quatre trailed off. Aly looked away. She had a feeling what he was going to say next. Quatre gently touched her chin and turned her head to face him again. He put his hand back over hers.
"That kiss meant everything to me." Quatre said. He kissed her fingers lightly and lowered her hand, letting go of it. Aly's eyes widened in surprise. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder. Quatre wrapped his arms around her back and held her close.
"Uhm. Sorry to ruin the friendly cuddly moment you two, but, I need to get in the room." Duo said. Aly and Quatre let go of each other and drifted away from the door
"Sorry Duo." Aly and Quatre said in unison. Duo drifted to the door and opened it. Aly opened her mouth to ask Duo a question, but he cut her off by speaking.
"It's ok. And, before you ask, I just got here." With that, Duo disappeared into his room and shut the door. Quatre smiled shyly at Aly.
"So what now?" He asked.
"Now, we should both get to sleep. It's late." Aly replied. Quatre nodded. He pulled her to him for a hug.
"Good night Aly. Sleep well."
"You too." Aly pulled away from him and drifted away towards her room. Quatre waved once before he went back into his own room.
The following afternoon, Aly, Skye, and Noin were drifting towards the cargo hold after lunch. Noin stopped suddenly as they were about to pass by the door to their room. Aly and Skye noticed a woman leaning against the door.
"Sally!" Noin called. Noin, Aly, and Skye stopped before the young woman with the light brown, spiraled pigtails.
"Hello Noin." Sally said with a warm smile.
"I haven't seen you in a few days. Where have you been?" Noin asked.
"I've been working graveyard shifts doing research and helping with the night watch." Sally replied.
"Oh. I see." Noin said thoughtfully.
"I decided that if I really wanted to be useful, I should be up at the same time as you and the pilots." Sally said. She turned and glanced at Skye and Aly who were standing one step behind Noin.
"Nice to see you again Skye." Sally nodded towards Skye.
"Nice to see you again too Sally." Skye replied. Sally's eyes raised slightly when she recognized Aly.
"You're Natalya Tayeari right?" Sally asked.
"Yes. I am." Aly said simply.
"It's nice to meet you." Sally held out her hand.
"Nice to meet you too Sally." Aly said.
"You pilot the sixth gundam right?" Sally asked.
"Yes."
"I'm glad you're on our team." Sally said with a smile, letting go of Aly's hand.
"We're on our way to the cargo hold. Would you like to come with?" Skye asked. Sally turned to Skye.
"Thank you for offering, but I need to go find Howard. I was hoping one of you two would be able to tell me where he is." Sally said.
"The last I saw him, he was still in the cafeteria, drinking coffee." Skye said.
"Thanks." Sally headed in the direction of the cafeteria. Skye, Aly, and Noin continued on their way to the cargo hold.
In the cargo hold, Noin, Skye, and Aly were discussing the current politics while trying to fix loose wires in the left leg of Aly's gundam.
"What do you think White Fang's next plan of action is? They already hit Earth once with Libra's canon..." Skye said.
"I'm not sure. I have a feeling they may try to attack the Peacemillion. They know we have the gundams here and will most likely see the Peacemillion as a threat." Noin answered.
"In that case, the other pilots and I will have to fight them off before they can get close enough to attack." Aly said as she pulled a pair of pliers from her back pocket. She used the pliers to reattach a snapped wire.
"Yes. I just hope you all are ready for them." Noin said.
"Well, other than that faulty mission on L9 few days ago, we have been doing nothing but sit around and wait for the past week. The gundams are in perfect working order. We have been doing nothing more than fine tuning; just like we are right now." Aly said, gesturing to the wires they were working on.
"Hey Noin!" A voice called from above them on the catwalk. Noin, Aly, and Skye turned to see Duo waving from the catwalk.
"Hello Duo. What's going on?" Noin responded.
"Howard and Sally want you. They're in the control room." Duo said.
"All right." Noin said. "See you guys at dinner." Noin said to Aly and Skye before she pushed off towards the catwalk.
"Bye Noin." Skye said. "I wonder what Skye and Howard want..."
"Hrm...who knows." Aly said. Duo drifted down next to them. He had a wicked grin on is face.
"So...Aly...What's the deal with you and Quatre?" Duo asked. Aly stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. Skye looked up too.
"What do you mean?" Aly asked.
"Well. You guys were acting kinda differently at breakfast and lunch today. And, there was that thing last night. You two looked like I had interrupted something." Duo said.
"What's it to you?" Aly narrowed her eyes at Duo.
"Awww c'mon! You gotta tell me what's going on! I'm one of your best friends too ya know!" Duo said in a whiny tone. Skye giggled.
"Fine." Aly sighed. "He and I are going out now."
"WHAT?" Duo nearly fell over backwards in shock. "Since when?"
"Since before lunch." Aly said calmly. She went back to her work.
"Wow...who would've seen that coming?" Duo wondered aloud.
"Well, I'm happy for her... Quatre seems like a great guy." Skye said with a smile.
"Hey, I'm happy too! Just...a bit surprised. That's all." Duo said.
"Jealous...?" Skye said as she poked Duo lightly in the stomach with the handle of her screwdriver.
"Who me? Nah..." Duo said with a goofy smile. "If Aly's happy, I'm happy."
"Thanks you two." Aly looked up and gave them both a light smile.
"Whatcha working on? Can I help at all?" Duo asked. He examined Aly's work on the reattached wires.
"Sure, if you would like. We're reattaching some loose wires. I think they came undone in the hasty flight from L9." Aly said. Duo drifted down a ways to reach the toolbox and pulled out a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
"Cool. I have nothing better to do right now." Duo grinned.
The trio spent the following hour working on the Ice Angel. They finished repairing the loose wires, then ran several system checks on the DeathScythe and the Ice Angel. They had finally given up when they realized that they were not doing anything to really boost the gundams' performance.
Duo drifted with Skye and Aly to their room. He was on his way to the GPC to look for the other pilots and Skye and Aly wanted to see if Noin was back from her meeting with Howard and Sally.
The trio had not even gotten to Aly and Skye's room when they met up with Noin, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei heading towards the cargo hold.
"Libra's sent a bunch of mobile suit carriers this way! We need to go stop them before they get too close to the Peacemillion!" Quatre said in a rush. Aly, Skye, and Duo turned around and followed the other pilots to the cargo hold.
"Where's Heero?" Aly asked.
"He said he had some thing to take care of." Quatre said.
When the pilots reached the cargo hold, they all rushed to their gundams while Noin went to her white Taurus. The group quickly fired up their mobile suits and prepared to zoom out of the hatch, towards the oncoming mobile doll fleet.
It had been two days since the gundam pilots had won the first battle against the White Fang's mobile dolls. Over those two days, the gundam pilots had fought another battle against White Fang. The pilots were growing more and more anxious as they felt the final battle approach them.
Aly stood with Duo in front of a glass window looking into the medical wing of the Peacemillion. Inside was a young girl with short, almost black, hair lying very still on a hospital bed. She was deathly pale and had a blood IV going into one arm. Duo put his hand to the glass.
"Hilde..." Duo whispered. Aly looked at him and frowned. She tried to mentally sort through everything that had happened over the previous two days.
During the battle the previous day, Heero had left his fellow pilots to go fight Zechs Merquise, the leader of the White Fang. Quatre had led his fellow pilots by using the zero system to form strategic counterattacks against the enemy mobile dolls. Heero had had the system installed in Quatre's Sandrock gundam the day before.
Quatre's strategies had seemed to be working when something unusual had happened. All of the gundam pilots had heard an emergency transmission directed to the Peacemillion. It had been a friend of Duo's calling for help.
Duo had taken off to go help the girl in distress, Hilde Schweiker. Aly remembered how panicked Duo had seemed when he recognized the girl's voice.
Aly discovered later that the girl, Hilde, had stolen information from the Libra base and was trying to bring it to Duo when she had been discovered. She was attacked by White Fang mobile dolls and would have died if Duo had not gotten to her in time.
White Fang had nearly destroyed the Peacemillion as well. They had fired their main cannon at it. The Peacemillion had barely gotten out of the way in time. Only the left side was partially damaged by the blast.
When the battle had finally ended, the gundam pilots had all returned to the Peacemillion. Hilde was rushed to the medical wing of the Peacemillion. The gundam pilots watched as she was wheeled down the hallway. Aly had never seen Duo so upset. She decided that he really must have cared about Hilde.
After Hilde was taken away, the gundam pilots had returned to the cargo hold. The workers on the Peacemillion worked quickly to repair the damaged left side of the ship while the gundam pilots worked most of the night to repair their gundams.
Sometime in the very late night or early morning, Howard had shown up in the cargo hold. He had insisted that the pilots leave the work to the MS techs and go get some rest. After some hesitation, the gundam pilots relented and left the cargo hold to eat and attempt to sleep.
Aly had slept for less than five hours. She, along with the rest of the pilots, had had trouble sleeping that night. They all worried about the upcoming battle.
After she had finally given up on sleep, Aly had gone to the GPC where she found Duo on his way to the medical wing. Aly had offered to accompany him, knowing that he was very worried about Hilde.
On the way to the Medical wing, Duo had explained how he knew Hilde. The way he spoke about her, Aly could tell that she was a great person. Aly hoped that some day, perhaps when the war had ended, she could get to know Hilde.
"C'mon Duo. We should go get some breakfast." Aly put her hand on Duo's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "We will come back afterwards and see if she is awake yet." Aly said softly.
"You are right. I am not doing Hilde any good by starving myself." Duo said. He turned to Aly and smiled. She could easily see through the smile at his pain. His eyes were what gave it away. They did not have their usual glow.
Aly and Duo drifted off towards the cafeteria. They both glanced back once, silently wishing that Hilde would be awake when they returned.
-End of Chapter 7-
Author's Notes:
Hey Minna-san! Gomen nasai for taking so long to update. I got serious writer's enthusiasm block. When I got my motivation back on track, I wrote 6 pages of notes on the last few episodes of the series to write this chapter and the next one! I really hope you liked it. Please review! It means the world to me!
-AlyRain