Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me. It belongs to some people in Japan who are probably sipping wine in a hot tub in some resort somewhere without a care in the world and a few million dollars in their wallet. Some people actually do belong to me in here, mostly just to explain what those rich people have seemingly deemed unimportant. Anything changed slightly, particularly my speeding up of time, was on purpose.

Going Away-Hilde

"Yo, heads up!"

"Hey!" Hilde Schbeiker cursed under her breath as a rolled up uniform flew over her head, missing it only by a couple of inches.

"It means duck, space case," said her fellow cadet, a tall, snooty blond.

"Why does she need to?" said the girl who'd shouted the warning before. "She's so tiny, it went right over her head anyway." The two friends nearly fell on the bed with their mocking laughter.

"Idiots," Hilde muttered. She put on her headphones and turned up the radio full blast, letting their giggles fade away. Tucking her uniform shirt neatly, Hilde placed it in her suitcase. She stared at it for a moment. Don't forget that's the reason you're here, Schbeiker, she thought to herself. She sat on her suitcase and zipped it quickly, than picked it up. She scowled at her earth-born classmates briefly before heading out the door.

I wonder if I was born here, would they give me so much trouble? The idea seemed quite possible. Despite the fact they were all in the same Oz unit, the other cadets seemed to have the same contempt for the colonies that the rest of the earth demonstrated. Never mind that the Alliance has been suppressing us for the past who knows how many years. Hilde bit her lip at the thought of her "true enemy." At least, that was what the man who had visited her old home said. And whom her parents and friends believed it was. Hilde sighed. She missed them.

* * * Flashback * * *

"Yo, Schbeiker, heads up!"

Hilde looked up from her book at the freckled, redheaded boy who had called her name. His hand reared back, launching a slightly worn-out football at her. She caught it easily and grinned at him.

"Nice throw, Sean," she shouted at him.

He gave her a thumbs up. "Think I'll make varsity next year?"

"About as good a chance as I would have making the cheerleading squad." The screen door of the red brick house, whose stoop Hilde was perched on, opened and a petite girl with the same freckles and red pigtails stepped out.

"Found it!" She said triumphantly, holding a blue comb and brush in her hand.

Hilde reached up and pulled the yellow scrunchie out of her shoulder length brown hair. "Thanks, Allie. I couldn't find them anywhere."

"Funny how I know your room better than you do," she said teasingly.

Allie and Sean Sawyer were twins and Hilde's next door neighbors, as well as her best friends. All three had grown up together in the L-2 colony cluster. As an only child, Hilde considered them to be family. Allie always seemed to be around when she needed her, and Sean defended her as he would his own sister, teaching both girls to fight when Hilde had been picked on by some older bullies as a kid. They were even close enough for him to admit that she had become a better fighter than he was. Of course, it didn't save them a trip to the principal's office, but they made it through that together. Just as they had gone to visit the twins' father in the hospital when his shop was attacked by Alliance soldiers who wouldn't pay like everyone else. Or when they went to bring the class food basket to an orphanage and spent the day there, playing with the little children whose parents had been killed. But that day would change things.

A black Sedan pulled up in the Sawyers driveway. "Who's that?" Hilde asked.

The twins glanced at eachother and shrugged. The three pre-teens ran over and stood by the car door, waiting patiently for the driver to come out. He was a tall, handsome European-looking male, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark blue cape and a blue uniform shirt, similar to the one Hilde had been putting away. He glanced them over and smiled.

"May I help you, sir?" Sean asked, in his best 'man of the house' voice.

"Yes, I'd like to speak with your mother if that is all right." He looked directly at Hilde. "Perhaps your parents, too, if they can spare the time."

Hilde gulped. "M-mine?"

He nodded. "If you don't mind," he said to Sean.

"Um, of course." Sean opened the door and led him inside.

"Are we in trouble?" Allie whispered.

"I have no idea," she said truthfully. "But if I am, Mom and Dad are so not going to be happy to hear about it."

* * * * * *

About an hour or so later, Mr. and Mrs. Schbeiker were sitting in the Sawyer kitchen around this man, who'd introduced himself as Treize Kushrenada. Hilde and her friends were there, too, staring at him with large, surprised eyes.

"I don't know," Hilde's mother was saying. "I really don't know."
Her father frowned. "I agree with what you've been saying about the Alliance, but… Do you really think Oz can achieve what Heero Yuy tried to do so many years ago?"

Treize nodded. "Perhaps. I have faith in my soldiers. And your children would be a good addition to the Specials, and of course, Oz."

Ms. Sawyer bit her lip. "But how do we know they'll be safe?"

"Nothing is certain, ma'am," Treize said. "You didn't know your husband would end up with the fate he did, either. But I assure you, this is for the peace of the colonies."

* * * End Flashback * * *

For the peace of the colonies. The words still echoed in her mind today. Yes, that was what she was fighting for. Although, despite Sean's teaching, her test scores deemed her the weakest of her unit. She accepted that, not that her classmates' teasing would let her forget. But no matter what she was or wasn't, she would die fighting if it were for the peace of the colonies.

Then why do this? She wondered. Why go to this place at all? She knew the reasons. Lady Une, the colonel in charge, had explained why they were going to this "camp" set up by the Specials. They were given the option of course, but she knew that too. Not that she had a choice in the matter. With the attack on her family's home a month before, she didn't have them to go back to for the summer. Only her uncle's remained, but she was not quite ready to face her relatives yet, when she was the one supposed to protect them. As for the twins, they had been sent to a different unit. She had written them letter, tried desperately to get in contact with them, but in vain. Only last week was she finally informed that they weren't even in Oz any more, but had been sent home long ago.

And so, Hilde was alone, without her family or her best friends. She had changed, not just in appearance because of her newly cropped hair or in behavior by learning to be organized without Allie to do it for her. But she would keep on fighting if it were for the peace of the colonies. Yes, she thought, for the peace of the colonies.