Place: Diamro Battlefield Hanger, SE
Time: 4:16 pm
Mood: Depends on who you are
Status: preparing for competition commencement
~*~*~*~
Standing near the exit from the hanger, beside a table cluttered with rulebooks and instruction manuals, Relena looked edgy and nervous, waiting for the battles to begin. She had driven over with Hilde over as soon as they could make it, taking some last-minute looks for what, hopefully, would become her future boyfriend. She needed one, today, and still hadn't found one. This is not good, Relena thought, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. I can't be here stag; how am I supposed to make Heero jealous without someone here with me? Hurriedly looking over the crowds for someone, someone, to fill the spot, but she only found Duo and Heero heading in her direction.
Oh no, I am not dealing with them right now.
Quickly leaving her place beside the table, she moved as stealthily as possible through the large crowd towards Hilde. Her heart pounding madly in her chest, she glanced hastily over her shoulder, trying to see if she had lost them. They were nowhere in sight, so she left go a sigh of relief. Hilde lifted her gaze from the mobile suit over to Relena. "What took you?"
Flipping her hair back from her face, Relena answered as casually as possible, "I was 'scoping for guys, sorry."
A crowd had gathered around where they were standing; perhaps because the mobile suit was painted a mixture of deep purple and blue. Whatever the reason, many people seemed interested in the owners of it. Situated near the front of the crowd, a girl their age casually stepped forward. She was dressed in a standard pilot uniform, her fiery red hair pulled loosely into a hair tie. She looked skeptically at Hilde and Relena, but proceed to ask, her voice holding a slight British accent, "Are either of you the pilot of this mobile suit?"
Standing up from inspecting the left foot of the suit, Hilde raised her hand. "I am."
"Are you planning to compete in today's battle? What is your name?"
"Yes, and its Hilde."
A lower murmur passed through the crowd. The look of skepticism faded from the girls face, changing quickly into a wide, cheerful smile. "I'm damn glad someone – girl-wise – beside me decided to show these guys that we aren't going to stay fricking underfoot while they carry out such a ridiculous crime against women!" She turned for support from some other women in the crowd, apparently friends of hers. They weren't dressed in uniform, but several of them carried small signs and flags saying 'Samantha all the way!'. They gave out warm cheers of "kick their ass!" and "show those guys who is boss!", making the girl smile only wider, waving her hands wildly into the air, and taking a small bow.
"You entered too?" Hilde asked, breaking into a wide smile.
Samantha winked. "There was no way to keep me out of it. I went under 'Sam' on the online registration. Technically, that is my name; only shorter."
Relena let out a small laugh. "Well, are you any good as a pilot?" she asked, intrigued.
"Damn right I am!" she said fiercely, pumping her fist into the air. She seemed to be completely energized, raring for her chance to compete. " I've beaten everyone from my home city, including my brothers; all of them highly respected officers and lieutenants in the mobile suit armies," she said smugly, beaming from the sounds of awe coming from the crowd.
"Are you the Samantha Grey?" one boy asked, stepping forward from the crowd. Samantha nodded. Another murmur of excitement passed through the crowd.
Hilde looked to Relena. "It sounds like she is a pretty famous pilot; she must be good," she whispered.
"You'll beat her," Relena replied encouragingly.
"Well, well, well," a voice spoke from the crowd. A pilot around his twenties, like themselves, cleared a path through the moving bodies in front of him, who had suddenly become eerily quiet. He was moderately muscular with broad shoulders, standing tall with shaggy light brown hair that hung in his eyes. He faced Samantha, a devious, yet charming smile on his face. Samantha only glowered at him, looking rather enraged. Hilde looked from one face to the other; unable to decide which one was angrier to see the other. He spoke again, his voice holding a rich, playful tone. "Sammie, dear, what are you doing here? Surely, you aren't going to compete today? You know it is against the rules."
"I've read through the rulebook, just as you have, Merrick, and it says nothing about women being forbidden from fighting. We weren't allowed to have our own division, that doesn't mean that we can't participate in battle with the boys," she retorted, a look of superiority etched onto her face. She turned suddenly away from him, ignoring him completely. "My dears," she spoke to Relena and Hilde, "this arrogant, stinking pile of-"
"Sammie –"
"- is none other than my dear friend Merrick, supposedly," she continued, making sarcastic quotation mark in the air, "'the greatest pilot in North America'. Just ask him, he'll tell you." Facing the girls, she added, looking dreadfully bored, "If you enjoy speaking to superior bastards, go ahead and talk to him. However, I cannot stand being around him to long; bad for my soul, it is. Good day girls, and good luck, Hilde." Waving as she walked away, she and her friends moved through the crowd, disappearing from sight.
Merrick clicked his tongue in distaste, watching as the fiery girl sauntered away. Returning his attention to the two girls, he said, his voice carrying a hint of a British accent as well, "I do hope that Samantha wasn't to vulgar to you. She does have a particular tact with people she's never met that seems to startle them away." His skin was healthily tanned, and his green eyes seemed to almost sparkle with mischief, making him seem very desirable. A blonde woman near the trio began whispering and giggling to her friend beside her, their gaze completely focused on Merrick.
"No, she wasn't too bad… Is she always that…um…excited?" Hilde asked, trying to make polite conversation. Relena seemed to be too busy gazing at Merrick to participate. She had taken on a look not too different from the giggling girls nearby.
Frowning slightly, Merrick replied, "Yes, but only for the battle. She psyches herself up beyond reason." Stopping suddenly, looking at the girls in a curious fashion, he continued, "I don't believe I caught your names. How horrible of me to be so rude to two lovely ladies like yourselves."
"I'm Hilde," she said, clasping her hand over Merricks' extended one, shaking it warmly.
Blushing profusely, Relena managed to stammer, "I – I'm – Relena," before her cheeks turned beet red.
Giving an extra warm, toothy grin, Merrick replied, "Lovely name; enchanted to meet you." Taking his hand as well in a handshake, she was surprised to find that he bent down and gave a gentle kiss onto the back of her hand. Relena could almost feel the warmth radiating from her face she was blushing so badly.
"I'm…going to work on my suit some more," Hilde said slowly, deciding it was best to leave the two alone.
Releasing her hand, Merrick said, "Surely you must have a boyfriend prowling about, making sure no other man decides to take you away from him?" he raised his eyebrow, intrigued.
Shaking her head madly, she managed to murmur a 'no' before turning away in embarrassment. She glanced around Merrick, only to see that Heero and Duo had finally managed to track her down.
"Oh no."
~*~*~*~
"Are you sure that is Relena, Heero?" Duo asked again.
"Yes, I'm sure," he said impatiently, moving through the crowd as smoothly as possible. They pushed their way through a thick row of people encircling a blue and purple Taurus.
"Who would butcher their mobile suit with those colors?"
"Dunno."
Finally making their way to the front, Duo was surprised to find Hilde working on the purple and blue 'monster', polishing a few parts before replacing them back into the suit. "Hilde, what are you doing to this guys' mobile suit?" he said, gesturing to Merrick. Heero remained silent, looking suspiciously between Merrick and blushing Relena.
Setting down her wipe rag, Hilde responded, "Nothing. I'm just cleaning my suit's parts. The left leg seems to move just a little slower than the right. I'm hoping its just some dirt buildup."
It took a moment for the comment to register in Duo's brain. "Wait a minute; where did you get a mobile suit?"
"Lucrezia gave it to me. It's her old suit; she's replaced it, so she doesn't need this one anymore. Call it a present if you'd like, Duo."
"Why do you need a suit?"
"Because I'm competing today, duh!"
"But – but you can't!"
Hilde crossed her arms, deciding to copy what Samantha said earlier to Merrick. "The rulebook says we, women, couldn't have our own division; that doesn't mean we can't participate in the men's division. It just means that we don't have special rules to make the fight less dangerous, which is fine by me." Deciding she no longer wanted to continue the conversation, she stepped up onto her suit, making her way into the cockpit.
"Hilde, you –"
But what 'she –', she never found out. At that moment, they were interrupted by an announcement, being made by Wufei Chang, airing over the P.A.
"Attention, may I have the attention of all pilots participating in today's competition," Wufei's voice said, echoing through the suddenly quiet hanger. It seemed as though everyone ceased breathing, it was so quiet.
Continuing, Wufei said, "As there are more people participating in the RMSTC than previously expected, an unexpected change was made for the first half of the competitions." A low murmur broke out over the crowd, pilots whispering to each other, wondering what the change could be.
"Instead of having one-on-one battles in a t-formation competition, we have decided to have two-on-two battles for the first half. In this way, we may cut down the competitors in half the time originally planned. Please pick another pilot to be your partner; you will remain a teammate with this person until we reach the second half of the tournament. The first two suits rendered incapacitated will be removed from the competition. We hope that this will not be too large an inconvenience for any of those contending. Thank you," he finished, the P.A. suddenly going quiet.
Erupting over the crowds was a pandemonium of excitement. Scrambling to find a partner, pilots were dashing through people, knocking each other over, just to find the strongest pilot to match up with. Hilde stood there silently, dazed by the news.
How am I going to find a partner? I don't know any pilots here…Suddenly, as though struck with a bolt of brilliance, she snapped her fingers and said, "Samantha."
Duo looked impatiently at her from the ground, apparently waiting for her to come down in order to continue his rant. He did not feel like wasting his breath on her when she wouldn't listen to him while she was up there.
All of a sudden, Duo was shoved in the middle of his back towards the suit. Turning around, grumbling and murmuring threats of retaliation, Duo came to face the person. It was, of course, Samantha Grey.
"'Scuse me, darling, but I need to talk to the lady of this suit," Samantha said playfully, inwardly believing (quite correctly) that he must be the boyfriend of Hilde. He looked the controlling type, and was obviously dissatisfied with the fact Hilde was in the suit. Glancing to her side, she saw, to her distaste, Relena heavily engaged in her conversation with Merrick, completely oblivious to those around her, including the scowling (worse than usual, if possible) face of Heero. Clicking her tongue, Samantha continued by yelling, "HILDE! Get your butt down here! You're my partner and we're up for battle first thing!"
Jumping down, Hilde looked at Samantha in surprise. "I was just thinking of asking you to be my partner!" she said in an amazed tone, completely ignoring Duo, who could not get a word in edgewise.
"We must be psychic," she replied, grinning widely. "Come on! Get your suit ready; we're up in a few minutes."
Chatting quickly, Samantha assisted Hilde in replacing the left leg shield, now the inside had been cleaned. Hurrying off, Samantha said she needed to prepare her own suit, and would meet Hilde out on the field.
Clamoring inside, Hilde rushed to turn on all the settings of her Taurus mobile suit. She had nearly forgotten about Duo, when suddenly she heard his familiar voice:
"Hilde, I forbid you from battling in the RMSTC!!!"
Moving her suit, now fully powered, towards the hanger exit way, she replied, "I can do what I want, Duo; don't try to stop me! I'm a free person with my own free will, aren't I?!"
Duo had no response to that; his jaw simply moved up and down with out making a sound. Running beside the quickly moving suit, knowing he was losing this battle of words, he did the only thing possible in his situation: threaten her.
"Hilde, if you compete today, we're through! I will break up with you!!"
Silence followed over the blue and purple Taurus' speaker. After a moment, Hilde's voice, though sounding thicker and cracklier, replied, "Fine. So be it." Duo stopped, looking at her in disbelief as she marched onto the battlefield.
~*~*~*~
I've got the feeling
There's no concealing
Just what it is that's on my mind:
I know that I'm losing you.
There's no pretending
There's a happy ending
This stories closing and there's nothing more
Can it be
I've lost you?
I've seen it happen
I know the pattern
The way true love disappears
Just when now, more than ever,
I need you
I need your love
I'm losing the love that I knew,
Losing the love that I knew.
I'm losing you.
No use in staying,
No use me saying
Or begging you to change;
I know that I've lost you
My heart is breaking,
The time is taking
Out of the way, I've seen it fade
Could it be
I'm losing my happiness?
I can't believe it;
I won't believe it;
I won't accept that your love is gone
Just when, now more than ever,
I need you
I need your love
I'm losing the love that I knew,
Losing the love that I knew.
I'm losing you.
~Lani, "I'm losing you"
~*~*~*~
So… a cliffhanger! It didn't sound like that was what Hilde expected, did it? I mean, her plan never actually involved breaking up with Duo…
And sorry Validor, but I can't reveal what'll happen ; )
I want to give thanks to those of you that have been reviewing my story! Thank you so much tina, heather, DarkWolf, kellis, Anime_freak_4life, Validor, Black Hawk Down; and special thanks to kiki, ALL CAPS, Vanwaquessiel and Mama-sama! I wouldn't be still writing this if it wasn't for you! ^^;
Read and Review!