Wings of Destruction
Chapter 8
the Lying Truth

-

Mandy dragged her feet the morning after they joined up towards the bedroom door. As she grabbed the knob she turned to look back at the bed, regret washing over her. Nobody was still in it—she woke up after he did—but she still felt bad.

When she opened the door that feeling sort have disappeared. Chris was sitting on the couch, curled up into a ball, reading a book while Justin was behind him, sitting on the back of the couch and talking—probably to Vincent. She skittered her way towards the group, feeling groggy. Her hair was tossed to the side and frizzled out and her eyes were still swollen and wanted to shut again.

Vincent looked over at her and winked with a smile as he carried on his conversation with Justin.

"Yeah so… this hacker, man—right in front of me he wiped out my entire hard drive and I was like," Vincent flipped the pancake in the skillet, "Dude, come on! Give me a break."

Justin lowered his head and shook it slightly. "Lockdown two-four-five; he had you good."

Vincent shook his head in return. "Yeah—don't remind me. I lost that thing for good and the General wasn't pleased either." He looked over at Mandy as she leaned on the refrigerator door. "Hey Babe; I'm cooking pancakes so no snacking—got it?"

She blinked at him then shrugged and shook her head. "I don't eat in the mornings."

"You should," Justin cut in before Vincent had a chance to reply. "It's not healthy for you to go without it." He lifted up his coffee mug and took a sip.

"I have to find a way to get a hold of Doctor Masons today." She looked down. Vincent turned to her as he slid a finished pancake onto a plate with three others.

"Why?" He gazed over at the living room. "Chris; yours is ready."

"Great!" The noise was softened and Chris put the book down and stood to get his food.

"I have to ask him to do me a favor…" Mandy trailed off, remembering the night before. Vincent stared at her and she could tell he was remembering it as well. Justin only stood behind the counter and watched the two of them gazing at one another with a grin.

He dropped his head and shook it as a chuckle emerged from his mouth. "You guys humor me more than soaps do."

"Hey, do we have any sugar free syrup?" Chris chimed in, oblivious to what's going on around him. All three faces stared at him in silence. He blinked. "What?"

"There's syrup in the fridge," Vincent muttered and turned around to begin another batch. Chris opened the fridge as Mandy moved to sit in the living room and sighed as he took out the container.

"I asked for sugar free—this is regular." He turned to Vincent holding up the bottle. Vincent only shrugged and poured in another batch of the pancake mix.

"Winners can't be choosers." He looked at Justin with a grin and winked. "Just eat it and shut up."

Chris bit his lower lip. He never ate nasty foods that weren't healthy for him and he didn't want to start any time soon, but if he was going to be living with these guys for a while he had no choice but to start now.

-

Uno rolled off the couch and hit the floor hard that same morning. She groaned and slowly brought her hands up to check her face for any damages. A small chuckle sounded behind her.

"Silence, Zechs." She grumbled and slowly pushed herself up. She's had the same nightmare she's had for the past few months and just like the past few months she's rolled off the couch and hit the floor hard enough to nearly break her nose.

"Another nightmare, Uno?" A smile came to his face as he lifted his mug of tea. "Perhaps you should see a shrink."

Uno sat up and glared over to him. "You should speak."

"I can… I've noticed Heero should have seen one the moment he began to control Zero on his own without any trouble. Too bad he didn't." The mug lowered and Zech's smile partially faded away.

Uno grinned in return and stood up. "What about you? You piloted the Tallgeese then the Epyon."

He nodded. "Touché." He lowered his gaze to his lap and felt a sudden depressing feeling overcome him. "It's been four months." He muttered.

Uno was stretching and looking around at her couch bed. She adjusted the bottom of her shirt. "Don't let it get to you, Zechs." She turned to him. "As I said before—she was found dead and nobody knew about it ahead of time. If anybody should feel ashamed, it should be me."

Zechs turned to her. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, for starters," Uno released the band from the bottom of her braid and began unraveling it. "I was the one who was taken in from the streets to live with the Gundam Pilots of the past wars and become the main target for Synodd. I was the one who should have gotten shot in place of Theresa. I was the one who had turned Ricky's mind around so he'd end up killing himself because he loved me too much to do that too."

Uno stepped up to Zech and took his mug of tea from his hands. "And to top it all off, because they never killed me they went for the rest of the group and killed everyone else so I'd have a hard time learning to live and fight on my own." She lifted it to her lips and took a sip. Zechs lowered his head and his voice at the same time.

"You think that's the reason?" He received the mug from her and held it tightly, as if that, too, would leave him. "Synodd thinks I am dead."

"They also though Doctor J and Professor G are dead too—which I wonder myself how they stayed alive." She turned and grabbed her hair brush from the table next to her guns and ammunition. There wasn't much to the little cabin compared to the other but it was enough for the two of them to live in. She was supposed to share the other cabin with the other fighters but she didn't want to be around them as much as they wanted to be around each other; the last time she had a friend they would up dead—both of them. She didn't want her history to replay considering the history of mankind was repeating as they spoke that same moment.

"So tell me," Zechs looked up from his reflection in the mug and watched as Uno brushed her long hair free of tangles. "What are they like?"

"Well," she yawned and tugged at a knot. "There's a slut who likes to take all the horrible pick-up lines from the marine—who, I must add in, is a perverted jackass. He couldn't even wait until they got to the cabin—he was quickly trying to get down her pants." She heard a chuckle.

"Sounds like Duo." Uno turned and glared at him.

"He is not like Duo!" She roared out. She saw Zechs had no interest on his face about her remark so as easily as it came she pushed the thought aside and continued to explain and brush her hair. "There's an innocent boy there who doesn't belong in this war then a programmer."

Interest came to his face once more and he looked up at her with wonder and delight. "Justin Stevens?"

"Yeah," she replied as she began braiding her hair.

"I can tell you like him." Uno spun around with disgust on her face. "You haven't said anything bad about him yet, Uno."

"Silence, Zechs. I won't let history repeat." She grabbed at her backpack and hoisted it onto her back. "One death was enough but I already had two because of his emotions!"

"Let it go, Uno," Zechs urged. "If you hold onto the past you won't be able to fight for the future."

Uno turned her back to him and stared at the door in fury. "You should speak," she muttered, "you, who still feels bad about not knowing your fiancé or sister had been killed until it was too late."

Zechs lowered his head and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Uno—please."

She could hear the tears in his eyes and the pain in his chest. Tears began to sting in hers as well and she dropped her head. "I'm sorry," she muttered and quickly rushed out of the cabin.

The drive on the bike felt good, but it didn't help. Tears fell fast and drenched her face. Why did she always do that? She always let her past get to her! Why!

The bike flew in the air as she drove over a few rocks and off a boulder. The air felt good and as soon as the feelings came to her they rushed away. The hit the ground, the tires roaring up with anger and she sped off towards the other cabin.

-

"She's met up with the other four," the voice was monotone and sullen.

"Are they able to fight?" The other one was more depressed against its past of being happy and cheerful. "I mean, will they get in her way?"

"No," the sullen voice sat down besides the depressed one. "Doctor J tells me that she doesn't agree with fighting alongside of anyone else but she can't win this fight alone."

"Nobody could," the third voice was calming and friendly, despite the depression that lurked in the air. The face lowered. "I hope she's alright."

"She is," the final voice sounded behind the friendly calming voice with a higher tone than normal, as if it were confident. "Have faith in her—we all raised her and she was born from one of us. She can do this… she can help save us all."

"But why her—why alone?" The cheery voice deepened as tears overcame it with strong emotions. "Why did we bring this on her?"

"Do you think we could contact her?" The friendly and calm voice had asked.

The monotone one replied, "No… if we reach her now we might interfere with her work. I never liked being interfered in mine."

"Please?" The cheery one tried to sound happier, as if a possibility was around. "We could help!"

The sullen one stayed quiet and the confident voice spoke up in place. "We could…," it began, "but we'll be in her way."

-

"Hey—check this out!" Chris spoke up as he brought out a box from beneath the coffee table. Vincent stepped up to the back of the couch. "It's got stuff in it."

"Like what?" Vincent asked as he took a sip of his coffee. "Magazines—books—board games?"

Chris opened the box and looked inside. "Better… movies and music." Vincent blinked as Chris began digging inside of it all. "I think Uno knew we'd be bored." He smiled and felt pleased he wouldn't be bored after all.

Justin stepped up besides Vincent and took a peek inside. He knew was this was for, clearly. "It looks like she doesn't want us to get in her way," he muttered to Vincent.

"Yeah," Vincent agreed. "She's trying to give us all we want to do to stay here and 'play'."

"Hey!" Chris had his hand in deep in the box and brought out a jewel case with an image on it. "She looks like Uno."

Justin and Vincent gazed down at it in confusion. Justin reached down for it.

"Let me see this," he brought it up. Vincent looked at it as well and Chris turned around on the couch to gaze up at them.

"She's a singer?" Vincent asked.

"It appears it," Justin mumbled in reply and he turned the case over to the back. "But there's no production date or production company."

"So it's not a real CD?" Chris asked.

"Who are the people on the cover?" Vincent wondered and Justin turned it around. "That's Uno—for sure."

"How can you tell?" Justin asked sarcastically, noting the yard-length braid tailing down from behind her head. There were two other people in the picture—a girl who looked similar to her and a boy that looked like himself when he was younger.

"He kinda' looks like you," Vincent smirked and turned to Justin. "You got yourself a clone!"

Justin blinked and peered closer to the image then took it out of the case. It was surely a photograph. He flipped it over and read the date, feeling confusion wash over him.

"It's taken over seven years ago…" he muttered and returned to the image.

"So, what is it?" Vincent gazed down at it. "A family photo or something?"

"Maybe it's her friends," Chris added in. Both of them turned away from the photograph and gazed down at him with more mystery shining in their eyes. "Sometimes when I don't want to get rid of any pictures of old friends but I don't want to see it anymore, I used to hide it inside books of some sort or other places that I know I'd have no need to ever open."

Vincent turned back to the picture in Justin's hands and peered closer at it. Justin kept staring at Chris but in reality he wasn't even staring at him. Chris was staring back as wonder spread across his face.

"She's trying to forget her past," Justin muttered. He looked down at the case and looked inside to the CD.

"You want to put it in?" Chris asked kindly and softly.

"No," he replied in almost a whisper. "Not yet…"

Vincent turned to him and Justin put the photo back into the case. "Let it go for now… perhaps she'll explain it later."

-

"Thanks for taking me," Mandy smiled over from the passengers seat of the minivan. Uno was silent for most of the trip, expecting some wild taxi driver to pull out in front of her and swipe at them, only it never came. She expected a gunman to pull out and chase them down while firing his pistol in her direction, only it never came. She half-expected something to happen but nothing had; the day was just too perfect so far so something was bound to go wrong.

"You came to me, remember?" Uno replied nonchalantly. "I'm forced to be teammates and I never let a teammate hang out to dry unless it's caused by me."

Mandy didn't understand what she meant but she let it go anyways. Uno came to the cabin to tell them that she had a mission to fulfill that very night and needed to make sure they didn't enter the town or else her cover would be blown and to gather her extra ammunition from the closet, but Mandy also saw this as a moment for help. She went to Uno when she was busy digging in the back of the bedroom's closet—the same bedroom she and Vincent shared a wild night in—digging in a big box of firepower. She didn't seem too thrilled of being watched but Mandy had a big favor she needed.

When Uno agreed to take her too Doctor Masons she didn't expect to sit and wait but after hearing from the girl on why she had to go, she figured to stay put and drive her back when it was finished. Mandy had told her that the doctor planned on tying her tubes show she couldn't get pregnant and enhance her immune system so diseases couldn't affect her. Uno figured she got nervous from a night with Vincent—she could tell by the way Mandy moved slowly and carefully—and wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt in any way. Too bad she'd never have the chance to live normally after this; if she protected herself from ever having children… well, she'll never get the chance to have a normal family after Synodd is gone.

"Doctor Masons said it'll protect me from anything that goes on so… I don't want to wind up dead," Mandy stated as she made conversation and looked out the window. As usual, Uno's voice was hard and stern.

"You can still die. Getting fucked may not hurt you but getting a bullet in your face will." She stopped at a stop sign and waved on for the other people to go. "Our enemies are ruthless and downright evil. They wouldn't care if your emotions are in the way or if you could mean something to one of their own men." Mandy turned to her with wonder.

"How do you know?" She asked. Uno stared ahead and lowered her voice, memories rising up from the deepest parts of her mind to the surface.

"Believe me… I do."