Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.
Summer Camp
First Day- Part 3
"Ahhh!" Zechs yawned hugely. He was sitting up in his sleeping bag early the next morning, enjoying the sunrise. The sky was a bright palette of reds and pinks and yellows that would make even the most colorblind person breathless. Except for sailors, of course. "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning," he recited. This didn't bother him, though, as he was no sailor (even though it meant he would be in for a nasty storm later on). He nudged the soldier in the sleeping bag next to him, so that he too would get the chance to enjoy nature's beauty.
"Five more minutes," Otto grumbled, rolling over. Zechs nudged him again with a bit more force.
"Ow!" All right, a lot more force. He sat up to glare at him. "What do you want with me now?"
"Look!" Zechs pointed to the horizon where slightly more than three quarters of the yellow orb had already appeared.
"It's the sun. We see it everyday. Go back to bed. I like to sleep in on vacations." He promptly plopped back onto his pillow and pretended to snore.
Zechs frowned at him. "You just don't get it." He felt bad immediately after he said that, Otto really didn't do anything wrong. But Zechs' mother had loved the sunrise. She used to wake him up on summer mornings just like that one when he was a child, and bring him to the highest point in their castle so they could have the best view. He hadn't seen it for some time now. A soldier's world had no room for such beautiful thing; at least, not a solider such as himself, who'd give up his family's valuable beliefs for revenge, and was completely focused on that goal. Zechs sighed. He would have to share this with Noin later. He was glad she knew his secret now; there were just some things that he thought Treize just couldn't understand.
"What I get is that you're a pain in the you-know-where. It's your fault that we had to sleep out here," Otto complained from the ground. Lack of sleep and a sour back had put him in a sour mood, and as much as he admired Zechs and would do almost anything for the man, he was more than a bit irritated with him that morning, and justifiably so.
"What did you expect me to do?" he asked defensively. "Let strangers sleep outside because of my mistake? I mean, if it were just Noin, that would be one thing..."
The screen door to the cabin opened and the purple-haired woman, her bangs sticking up at awkward angles, poked her head out the door. "Why are you guys so noisy?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Even if it were just Noin, I'd do the very same thing," he corrected himself quickly. His own long hair was standing on end as well, but for quite a different reason.
"Good morning!" The blond girl with braids, Zechs recalled her name was Sally, greeted them with enthusiasm as she came to the door. She had apparently slept very well. The younger girl, Catherine, followed behind her and also greeted them quite cheerfully. Despite their eviction from the night before, they were none the worse for wear. Only Noin appeared to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. After glaring at Zechs once more, she stomped down the rickety wooden staircase, heading to the Mess Hall for breakfast. The girls, exchanging confused glances, hurried after her, and the men rushed inside to dress quickly, before joining them.
They were just inside when the very thing that had put Noin in such a foul mood rushed over to him.
"Zechs!" Dorothy seemed to have completely returned to her old self, and threw her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek and getting dark red lipstick all over his face. All this was done while Noin glared at them, which of course was part of her goal.
"Well, don't you look pretty this morning?" Dorothy addressed her with a smirk. Noin simply walked away in reply, though Sally would find her in the bathroom later, combing her short hair vigorously and trying to apply the make-up Catherine had generously lent her without any knowledge of it.
"Um, well, see you later," Sally said. She, Catherine and Otto found themselves a table far away, abandoning Zechs to the complete alteration of perspective on the morning that occurred within the next five seconds.
Relena automatically had a bad feeling about the place as soon as her father was driven away in his taxi, back to the airport to get on his next flight—to the colonies. Kids her age or younger, dressed in uniforms, were all over the place; an intimidating woman, her hair tied back in two buns, stood in the midst of the crowd, shouting names through her megaphone and pointing to the counselors.
Relena dug into her pink pocket book (her mother had insisted upon her bringing it) for her instructions. On a crumpled piece of paper were written in someone's unfamiliar script the names Lucrezia Noin and Sally Po: her jailers for the next six weeks of her life. Dragging her suitcase along with her (Mrs. Darlian had finally given up and packed it herself), Relena approached the two women, whom Lady Une (that was the woman's name, according to the tag stuck on her uniform) had pointed out. Standing with them was a cheery redhead, whose own name tag indicated that she was a CIT named Catherine, a blond girl with scary eyebrows, and a short brunette dressed in the uniform of a cadet.
"Hi, what's your name?" The counselor named Sally asked amicably. The blond woman smiled at her kindly, but it didn't make Relena feel much better about her situation.
"Relena Darlian," she mumbled.
"Huh?" The two older teens leaned closer to hear her.
"Relena Darlian!" she shouted at a much higher volume, nearly destroying their hearing.
"Oh!" The other counselor, Noin, who had been frowning before, instantly lit up, and shook Relena's hand vigorously. "Hi, it's so nice to finally meet you!" For a brief moment, Relena feared she was going to do something strange, like hug her, but fortunately the soldier restrained herself. "You can call me Noin."
"Er, ditto. Call me Relena." Relena raised her eyebrows at the woman's sudden unfathomable enthusiasm. Although she was used to a lot of gushing from people at school because of her father's income, Noin sounded more like she was greeting a long lost sister than someone who was just rich and had a famous father. And her enthusiasm seemed sincere too. But despite this weirdness, Relena felt herself warming to the older girl, both of the girls in fact. Catherine too seemed pretty nice. Her roommates, on the other hand, might take some getting used to.
"Oh, Miss Relena!" I've wanted so much to meet you!" After that introduction, Relena was next accosted by her would-be fan club president. This girl (the blond with the scary eyebrows) did remind Relena of those other people described. She, like Relena, was also rich—it was obvious since she was clothed in Gucci from head to toe (Relena could tell that thanks to her mother's extensive lessons in fashion). And what was that awful smelling perfume she was wearing? It was probably expensive, but Relena had to step back before the stench made her vomit.
"My name is Dorothy Catalonia," the girl introduced herself haughtily. "I'm sure we'll be wonderful friends." She smiled at her, but the smile was repulsive, and definitely not genuine.
"Uh, yeah,
sure," Relena replied unconvincingly. She wasn't that stupid that
she didn't automatically distrust this girl. Intent on ignoring
her, she turned to the other one. She was surprised to see a Specials
trainee there—the cadets were supposed to be separate from the
"normal" kids. Nevertheless, despite her dislike of violence,
Relena felt herself instantly warm to the girl the moment she spoke.
"What's your name?" she asked, trying to make her tone
sound much more friendly than it had a second ago with Dorothy.
The girl started suddenly at being addressed. Then her lips spread into a wide smile. "Hilde, Miss Relena," she said shyly. Stranger or not, this was the kindest anyone her age had been to her since she joined Oz. She too liked Relena from the start.
"Oh, don't call me "Miss," the wealthier girl responded amiably. "I'm just Relena."
"Oh, I could never call you anything but "Miss"," Dorothy exclaimed, unasked, her voice maple syrupy sweet. "You're so wonderful, and much more important than our humble selves." She glared at Hilde, annoyed that she gained her trust so quickly. Not that she really wanted to be friends with the girl—no way—but she felt an acquaintance would be in her favor. Surely Relena overhead things from her father that Duke Dermail, or even Treize, wished to know. She seemed an intelligent girl, but was probably quite naïve and didn't realize the extent of the information she heard. Yes, "friendship" with this girl could definitely be beneficial. I'll show them just how useful I can be.
While this exchange was going on, Noin couldn't help watching Relena (as inconspicuously as possible, mind you). At first, she saw nothing in her that resembled Zechs, either in appearance or personality. But then when she saw Relena give Dorothy an instant glare at what she knew was a direct insult of her new friend, Noin was struck by how much her eyes reminded her of Zechs. Both had a fierce, determined look, especially when defending those they cared about. Of course, Relena's weren't as hardened or as cold as her sibling's icy blue; there was still quite a bit of innocence in them, that of a child with trust in the human race. Zechs had lost that trust the moment his parents were murdered, but she still had it. And in that moment, Noin vowed to protect Relena, so she wouldn't lose her faith the way her brother had. She would do that for her, and for Zechs too.
