Disclaimer: Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me. So sue me. But please don't.

Going Away- Zechs and Noin

"A camping we will go, A camping we will go. Heigh-ho the cheriooooo-" The four cadets held that last note for a minute or so, making their comrades laugh. "A camping we will go."

A tall, short-purple-haired girl clapped, leaning against the doorway. A clipboard in the crook of her elbow, she was dressed in the same uniform as the other Oz trainees. "Bravo!" she said with a grin.

They looked up at her. "Hey, Noin!" the boys chorused, smiling back. Hearts appeared in their eyes and saliva at the corner of their mouths as they stared at her lovingly.

Lucrezia Noin pushed her long bangs out of her eyes. "How's it going, guys?" she asked casually.

The singing cadets jumped up to greet her. As nice as she was dangerous, Cadet Noin had quite a following among the male cadets, though outside of her classmates and friends, most were quite intimidated by a woman who was the second best student in a military academy. But her charm and personality had won these guys over and most of them were putty in her hands, each vying for her attention at one point or another. None had ever succeeded, but they never stopped trying.

One of them put his arm around her waist. "Better now that you're here," he said flirtatiously. He was handsome, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, but Noin looked past him as she did all of the others. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it around, pulling him off her. Then she tossed him to the ground. His friends burst out laughing.

"Nice try," another cadet cracked. His name was Otto and he was a good friend of hers. "You know she won't look at anybody but Zechs," he said, reminding them of his friend and personal hero.

Noin blushed, but didn't try to argue. She knew it was true. She'd been hopelessly in love with the man, who was also her best friend, since the day she'd met him.

"Aw, darn. Some guys get all the luck," he complained good-naturedly. He offered her his hand and she hoisted him back up. "Thank you very much for not putting me in traction."

"Anytime," she joked. "Speaking of Zechs, where is he anyway?" the others shrugged.

"I don't know," Otto replied for all of them. "Why not ask his Excellency?" He pointed behind her.

Noin spun around and sure enough she saw the smiling face of Treize Kushrenada staring back at her. Self-consciously, she smoothed out her uniform. "Your Excellency, forgive me. I… didn't know you were standing there." She blushed further at the display he'd seen. It was one thing to have her superior and instructor see her fooling around, another hearing them gossip about her and his best friend. She hoped this wouldn't get back to Zechs.

"Not a problem," he replied. He stepped out into the hall, signaling her to follow. She did obediently, shutting the door behind her so the others couldn't hear.

"I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your friends any more than I may have already did, not that they don't already know, but I thought I'd congratulate you on your success. You'll make a fine teacher, Cadet, or I should say, Lieutenant Noin."

"Thank you, your Excellency," She said, bowing her head. She bit her lip to symbolically contain the pride that bubbled up inside of her. "I'm honored that you remember me."

"How could I forget such skill?"" he said rhetorically. "And in such a young girl too. But then, no gender on the battlefield *, right?"

"Um, right." The things she'd said at that age! How embarassing. But it was true and she still believed it. Women could fight just as well, or better than men could. It was just a matter of trying. Most of her fellow cadets and the officers agreed with her philosophy. If mobile suits were without gender, so should the soldiers be inside them. Of course, one might wonder about the coincidence of her ranking, but she shrugged it off when asked. He was the best and that was that, no use killing herself over it. It didn't mean she wasn't a feminist.

"Well, it was a pleasure to see you again," he said charmingly, kissing her hand. Noin shivered. He was handsome; the other girls were right about that. But her heart still belonged to another and his did too. Colonel Une, who unfortunately would be joining then, was believed to be his current lover. Personally, Noin felt that the woman was not all there and rather scary looking, but there was no accounting for taste. Maybe Treize just saw another side of her. Most people are afraid of Zechs, she thought philosophically.

"By the way, Zechs should be in his room. He takes longer to get ready than a woman. I beg your pardon. He was looking for you earlier, as well." Treize winked at her. "He's been sure to mention to me your skills a number of times."

Noin thought her face couldn't get redder if she put paint on it. Put a couple of slices of pepperoni on it, and cheese, and she'd probably be mistaken for a pizza. True, he respected her skills as much as she did, but to mention it to Treize… She'd have to either thank him or smack him later for that.

* * * * * *

"Knock, knock." Noin poked her head into the room. Zechs looked up from his book. He put it down when he saw her.

"Come on in," he greeted her. She did, leaving the door ajar behind her. It was one of the Academy's rules: no members of the opposite sex in the dorm unless the door was open. Zechs and Noin always respected this rule, even after they graduated, which was more than a lot of their other friends could say. But they had reputations and grades to keep up. No use losing that over such a little thing. Not that anything is going to happen anyway, Noin thought a little bitterly. Though they had gone to the prom together and were practically inseparable, their relationship was strictly platonic, much to her dismay. In the many years of their friendship, he'd never hinted that he wished for a change. But he never was with anyone else either.

Noin perched on the foot of his bunk, a safe distance away. He smiled at her; at least she thought he did. It was hard to tell with the mask. Not once had she seen what was under it. For all that Zechs and Noin were so close, there were plenty of secrets he kept from her. At first it worried her and hurt that he wouldn't confide in her. Eventually though, she decided if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't bring it up. She cared about him too much to let him go for that. And she kept secrets from him too. Not life or death secrets, but secrets all the same. Her feelings about him for starters. As for the mask, well, he still looked pretty good with it and she didn't feel like shattering her illusions about his good looks. Not that it would really change her feelings in anyway, mind you. Zechs never mentioned it, of course, but she sensed he was grateful for that.

"Did you get your cabin assignments?" he asked, holding up a clipboard like hers.

She nodded and showed it to him. "Cadet or non-cadet?"

"Non-cadet. I'm sharing with Otto? You?"

Noin glanced at her clipboard briefly. "Non. Except for one girl, but I don't know what's the story with her. My cabin's other counselor is someone named Sally Po. Ever hear of her?"

Zechs thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Treize mentioned her. She's from the Alliance."

Noin looked alarmed. "An Alliance member? With OZ cadets? You've gotta be kidding me."

He shook his head. "Nope, she works with General Septem, poor girl. She's our age, but is a captain in charge of her own unit. Supposed to be a genius or something. Treize hired her himself, actually. She just finished medical school, so he asked her to help out. He couldn't get a hold of that nurse from the colonies, apparently."

"Oh, I heard about that. I've gotta say, I was surprised. I thought Lady Une was enough for him."
Zechs chuckled. "Yeah, me too. She's a handful all right. She's pretty happy about this though, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I thought she looked exceptionally smug this morning." Noin consulted her clipboard again. "Sheesh, I think I've got the lifestyles of the rich and famous cabin. Sylvia Noventa, Dorothy Catalonia," this earned a sympathetic groan from Zechs, "Relena Darlian…"

Zechs jumped to his feet. "What did you say?"

"Relena Darlian," she repeated. "Why, what's the matter?"

"Shut the door!" He demanded.

"Wh-what-why?" she stumbled over her words. Noin thought for a moment that he'd lost his mind.

"Do it!" Noin obeyed, her head spinning. She was too surprised to argue.

"Zechs, what on Earth is going on?" She turned back to face him and gasped. His mask was gone. Blond bangs hung over his forehead, not quite covering his blue eyes. Noin felt her heart pounding. He was ever bit as handsome as she had imagined and then some. "Zechs?"

He sighed. "Sit down, Noin. This may come as a bit of a shock." She hopped on his desk chair eagerly. "I guess I'll just start at the beginning. My real name is Milliardo Peacecraft-"

Noin fell of the chair onto the soft carpet. "Peacecraft? As in the rulers of the Sanc Kingdom, Peacecraft? You're a prince?" In all her wildest dreams, she had to admit, she'd never thought of that.

"Keep it down! Someone might here you."

"Oops, sorry," she said sheepishly. Noin clamped her mouth shut.

Zechs/Milliardo calmed down. "Yes, about eight years ago, the castle was destroyed and my parents were killed. My sister and I were the only ones who managed to escape."

"You have a sister?" Noin inquired. He'd never mentioned that before. Then again, he'd never mentioned he was a prince either.

"Yes. Relena Peacecraft, or rather, Relena Darlian, the daughter of the Vice Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Alliance. I thought she was dead up until a few years ago. Minister Darlian was from the Sanc Kingdom. He visited my sister and me often when we were children, but he had none of his own. Yet when he surfaced in the political world a few years ago, he had a daughter the same age as my sister named Relena. But I couldn't confirm it. Until I met her myself, two years ago."

"Two years ago?" A memory tugged at her. Zechs and Treize had gone on some training mission that year ^. When they came back, Zechs barely would talk to anyone, including Treize. Noin had just thought he was brooding about something or other, so she let it go.

"Yeah, that was the reason," he replied, as if he'd read her thoughts. "I didn't tell her who I was though. I… well, I didn't think I was worthy of her."

Noin nodded sympathetically. Things were starting to make sense: the mask, the secrets, why he seemed so ashamed sometimes after a battle, even when he won, why he disliked the Alliance so much. She felt like she had a million questions to ask him. The first was "Does Treize know?"

Zechs nodded. He was a friend of our family. He helped me get in here, so I could get my revenge on the Alliance. He doesn't know about Relena though. Please Noin, you can't tell her about me. If she knows what I've done… I'm sure if she doesn't know, Darlian has still passed on most of our family's ideals."

Noin put her arm around him. "Your secrets are safe with me. I'll watch out for her. Don't worry about it… Milliardo Peacecraft."

He smiled sadly and hugged her. "Thank you, Noin. I knew I could count on you."

She grinned at him. "You always can. I got your back, don't worry. I'll be here when you need me. And I'll help you get it back. I promise."

"Thank you," he repeated. "I'll be honored to have you fight by my side. "Zechs paused. "And I'll miss you when I leave."

Noin felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She'd almost forgotten that. Whereas she would be staying at the Academy as an instructor, he'd be working for Treize. It would be a long time until they saw each other again, if at all. She pushed this thoughts aside and wiped her face. "I will, too. But let's not think about that. We still have the entire summer to hang out."

"Right." He put his mask back on. "We'd better open the door before someone, er, suspects something."
Noin nodded and opened it. Standing outside was Otto and a couple of their other friends.

"Hey, guys!" he said devilishly. "Are we interrupting something?" They cracked up.
If Noin thought she couldn't blush any more, she was mistaken. "No!" She pushed past them, leaving them rolling about on the floor.

"Cut it out," Zechs said crossly. She could hear moans of pain and a slamming door down the hall.

Noin's cheeks burned. She'd have to get back at them on her own later for that. Oh boy, Zechs might, but after this, they certainly weren't going to miss her!

Author's Note: Yeah, it's over! Man, that was a long prologue. No preview this time. Let the real plot begin! Ciao.

* Heero's Episode Zero

^Relena's Episode Zero