Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me.
Summer Camp
First Day- Part 4
While Noin and Sally were trying to sort their girls out and to keep Dorothy from alienating the other campers, Zechs was having mixed feelings about his own group. First, there were his two CITs, by the names of Alex and Mueller. Both were only a few years into the Victoria Academy, and, although she didn't know it, on the roster for Noin's first class ever. He would pity her later- the boys were brash, rude, arrogant, and stuck-up. They were also lazy, and two bad CITs didn't make up the work of one good one. Of course, they had one trait that worked in her favor: they would do anything to impress a beautiful woman. That would make Noin's time bearable, certainly, but no matter how long Zechs' hair was, they didn't give a damn about him.
Then there were the campers themselves. So far, five had shown up, almost at the exact same moment. None of them had a parent or guardian with them, which he thought was odd. They also had a strange way of looking about them as if they were taking in the entire place inch by inch. Also, though Zechs was unaware of that at the time, they were all from the colonies.
The first one to arrive was automatically Zechs' least favorite. He felt, if not hate, than a strong animosity towards him, without even hearing a word out of his mouth. In return, the boy glared at him with deep blue eyes, odd for one clearly of Asian descent. Zechs stared back, not letting this sullen youth get the better of him, though his glare was quite intimidating for a boy of only thirteen.
"Hi, welcome!" Otto had spoken up, oblivious to the staring contest going on between the two. "I'm Otto, that's Zechs, we're your counselors, obviously enough. What's your name?"
The boy turned towards Otto, now directing his glare at him. Then, slowly as if the words were strange on his tongue, he simply stated: "My name is Heero Yuy."
Heero Yuy. The mere name touched a cord in Zechs' brain, then he remembered where he had heard it before, it was the name of the pacifist leader of the colonies, who shared similar ideas to the Peacecrafts' and was also assassinated. Ironic that this boy was named for him; Zechs wasn't sure he even knew the meaning of the word. He knew the look of a soldier when he saw one, though he didn't label him as such right then. And somehow, he also knew that, their fates were intertwined, for good or for ill. And right then, he didn't feel that it was for good.
Catherine tossed her red curls out of her face and scanned the clipboard in her hands, feeling quite official. Noin and Sally were currently at a counselor's meeting, so she was given the charge of getting the girls settled into their rooms and recording bunk assignments. She could admit that she enjoyed the power. It would be good experience if she ever tried for circus manager one day. Her boss said she would be good at it, that she was more organized and intelligent than he was. And he didn't give praise lightly.
Chewing her pen cap, she found an empty space and penned in the names Sylvia Noventa and Amanda Venti, both daughters of Alliance members. Many of the non-cadets present were in fact related to important Alliance officials, just like Relena. Treize had made a bold, but brilliant strategic move, allowing them in his camp. But of course, Cathy didn't know anything about this; she simply figured their attendance had to do with being wealthy. And these girls were certainly wealthy. She had caught a glimpse of some of the clothes they brought as they were unpacking, especially Dorothy's. The idea of that much money spent on a pair of jeans made Cathy, who'd always lived a modest living, made her head spin.
"Catherine?" A voice broke through to Cathy's sensibilities, before she could ponder what she might do with that amount of money. She looked down to see both Hilde and Relena. Relena had been the one to speak; apparently she had been elected spokesperson of the pair. Though she was rather reserved, Cathy learned quickly that it wasn't out of shyness, but out of a desire to speak carefully and well. She was a diplomat's daughter after all, although she dressed a lot more casually than the others.
"Yes?" she asked, though she had a pretty good idea what they were going to tell her, and was glad of it. Both girls seemed lonely, an emotion she could quickly recognize, having felt it so often herself. They would be good for each other, and Cathy felt herself being concerned for both of them, even Hilde, who, despite being a cadet, seemed to be a very sweet girl. "Should I put you two down as bunkmates?" she asked with a smile.
The two girls nodded, looking very serious. "Yes, please," Relena added politely.
"Great!" She added their names to her list. She checked it over once more, and satisfied that everyone was accounted for, said, "Okay, let's all go to the mess hall for dinner, all right?"
"Okay," the campers chorused. All except for Dorothy, who just groaned "Whatever" and slid out of her bunk, which she alone occupied. Very quickly the other girls had gotten the impression about her everyone else had had initially and that, and the fact that there were an odd number of girls, had made it that way.
"Great!" she repeated, ignoring Dorothy's lack of enthusiasm. She led the girls two by two, onto the gravel path that would bring them to their meal.
She could see Zechs' CITs (who, fortunately, had only arrived that morning, sparing them a possible co-ed cabin) being followed by a gang of disgruntled teenage boys. They looked miserable at the prospect of spending six weeks with those two bums, as Cathy had taken to calling them. All except for five, whose reactions were quite different: one, a Chinese boy watched those in charge with a look of haughty disdain; another, a cheerful American with an unusually long braid simply laughed and joked about them behind their backs. The blond boy next to him was also smiling, and the only other one talking. It looked as if he was trying to get his companions' spirits up. Then there was a Japanese boy with blue eyes, staring ahead with no sign of emotion, except for the occasional glare he gave to anyone who came to close. This was, of course, the Heero Yuy Zechs had encountered before, and he still hadn't seemed to warm up to anyone. Cathy had seen glaciers less cold than he was. And there was one more.
Catherine had the sudden feeling that she was looking into a photo album of her father's boyhood. That long bang was so distinctive; it could hardly belong to anyone else. And those green eyes, only one of which could be seen…
Catherine started to run toward him, forgetting her responsibility to her charges. Only a word from Relena stopped her in her tracks and brought her down to earth.
"Miss Catherine! Are you all right?" she asked, sounding quite as is she were the older one and Catherine was in her charge. It only proved Cathy's suspicions that Relena was a lot sharper than she let on; she'd probably follow in her father's footsteps one day, even if she didn't want to know.
The knife-thrower nodded, her brain still feeling fuzzy and muddled, as though she had just woken from a dream. "Yes, I'm fine Relena. Don't worry about it," she said. She turned back, but all the boys were gone.
"Triton," she murmured, so quietly than no one could hear her. It was insane, but she couldn't help believing it was truth. She knew it. All her daydreaming hadn't been for naught: her brother was alive.
