Disclaimer: As mentioned in the previous chapters, I do not own Gundam Wing. I do not own any of the characters contained within Gundam Wing.
Author's Note: Four pilots down. Now all I need to do is include the others and this soap opera can unravel. As I go along, clues to who is who will be dropped, so if you don't know by now, don't feel bad; I confused myself a minute ago. :) Feel free to guess in the reviews (Hint. Hint.) This is relatively a short chapter.
Chapter 6
Alcohol is a Girl's Best Friend
The place was old and dirty. The floors were sticky, the metal stools were rusty, and the bathroom was a nightmare all its own. There were better places to get drunk. This one was just nearby, and the bartender had a tendency not to ask questions.
Knock. Knock.
The bartender raised his head to look over, then turned, grabbed a bottle of tequila and stopped in front of her. He filled her glass again, marked it down on her tab, and then placed it on the shelf in front of her beside the bottle of Wild Turkey.
Didn't he drink Wild Turkey? She could have sworn she saw him drink it before. Zechs preferred it to other things. She'd rather have the tequila herself.
Noin sighed as she swirled her drink in her glass. How long had it been since she saw him? She had left him on Mars, right? She had to come back to Earth for something, and he told her to not worry. Dead men don't die twice, right?
She remembered the call Lady Une had sent her. It was slightly emotional for the general. She too knew what it was like to lose the man you desired more than anything. She still clung to the memory of Treize. Noin felt detached from Une though. Noin was certain Zechs knew she loved him. Whether Treize knew about Une's feelings is something only dead men will ever know.
Was Zechs drinking Wild Turkey with Treize right now? Did he feel the loss of his own life? Did it leave him emotionally scarred to know he was dead? Does he even know he's dead? Or is it just like being reassigned, you know you are somewhere different, but everything looks the same? These were questions she won't find the answers for.
Not till she died.
Noin wasn't suicidal. She knew better to kill and dishonor herself. If she saw Zechs in the afterlife after she killed herself, he wouldn't want anything to do with her. She couldn't bare him to openly tell her to leave him alone. She said she'd never leave his side, though she had to say it so often she pondered whether the war had worn away Zechs short term memory. No, Zechs would not accept her if she died by her own hand. He was a soldier, a warrior. There was no honor in self-destruction, unless you took the enemy with you, but with the war over, there was no enemy. There was no way to die honorably now. Unless she knocked some kid out of the way of a car or something, but those kinds of things were pretty hard to stage.
"Hey there, beautiful, you look a little sad," a voice beside her said.
She turned her head to see one of the patrons of the bar leering at her suggestively. Strike one. The bartender looked over to observe, knowing what was about to occur. He had seen it many times since Noin first wondered in.
"I think I might be able to help you," he said, leaning against the bar, twirling a beer in his hand, "You just have to let me."
Strike two. Noin turn back to her drink and finished it. Knock. Knock. The bartender came back and filled it up, while keeping an eye on the patron.
"Let me buy your drinks for you," the man said, "A pretty face like that shouldn't have to worry over such a thing."
Strike three. Noin looked the bartender in the eye and gestured at the now empty tequila bottle.
"May I?"
The bartender handed it over without remorse. He saw this coming. The guy should know better than to come up to a woman who was strung on tequila.
Noin held the bottle by the mouth, turned and broke it against the man's temple. The man fell from his stool and staggered away from her. Noin pick up his beer from the counter, tasted it, spit it back out, and then poured the rest onto the man. She tossed to empty beer bottle into the air. The bartender caught it and said goodnight to her as she left, knowing she'd be back soon enough. He gestured for a bouncy to drag the man off to the side so he could sweep up.