Kent was staring at the beautiful dark hair of the woman he cared for in front of him. She was in his arms in a deep sleep. He listened to her breathing and he inhaled her lovely sent. She had finally cried herself to sleep and had ended up in the position that they were now, spooning. He had only slept from about three hours, he was too preoccupied by Noin in his bed so close to him. He would have never taken advantage of her fragile state, although that thought had crossed his mind.
She stirred and turned her head to look at him. Her violet eyes glistened with remnants of tears and sorrow, but they seemed clearer today, happier. "Good morning…" her hand stroked his cheek. He leaned into it and held her closer. She turned around completely, facing him, "Thank you…" she dropped her eyes.
He lifted her chin to look into her eyes, "For what?"
She sighed, "For being tender. I think I ruined our date."
He brought her lips to his and brushed them lightly, "You could never ruin anything." He kissed her and she kissed him back. Her arms wrapped around him and they pressed against each other their kiss deepening. He broke the kiss and looked at her eyes, "Are you sure about this?"
She gazed at him, she was longing for this kind of release, "I want you, Kent…" she kissed his lower lip, "Only you."
He smiled, his longing growing. He stroked her hair moving his hands to her dress and started to remove it, working tenderly and slowly. She helped him out of his shirt and started working on his pants. She had trouble concentrating as he moved his lips from hers and toward her breasts. "Oh…." She cooed out and he started stroking her all over. She had forgotten how wonderful this all could feel. He moved over her and she welcomed him. They moved together slowly enjoying every exhale, every heartbeat.
When it was over they lay together kissing and nibbling. Kent fell asleep and Noin watched him, reveling in her passion. She was feeling happy, finally. She closed her eyes and watched Kent making love to her in her head. He was a good lover. She continued daydreaming and slowly Kent started turning into Zechs. Noin tried to see Kent again and then even to stop the daydream altogether but it was no use. Zechs still haunted her thoughts, just like the other men she had been with after meeting him. She turned away from Kent and closed her eyes a tear rolling down her cheek as she drifted off to sleep.
Zechs had been docked with the satellite for quite some time now ready to drown himself is alcohol. He was half way through his whiskey bottle and was slumped in his chair hoping that if he dropped off to sleep that he would never wake up. Then he could never hurt her again. The comm. beeped at him and his head jerked up pulling him out of his haze, "Wha..what…" he pressed the button and saw Relena's face pop onto the screen. He put the whiskey bottle on the floor trying to hide it and tried to look as much normal as he could.
"Hello, Milliardo…" her voice was sweet and kind.
He knew he probably looked like a disheveled dog, "Hello, Relena." He brought a had up to his head pulling some hair out of his face, "How did you know I was up here?"
She smiled and tilted her head, "I tried your room first, I just guessed after that. You always have been at home in space, ever since the wars." She had noticed his appearance and looked at him lovingly, "I love you, Brother. What's wrong? You look like you've been through a war."
He had never opened up to Relena and he wasn't going to start now, "Nothing, just hard work lately."
She shook her head, knowing that he had dodged the subject, "And Noin? How's she doing?"
He glared at her and that gave her all the answers that she needed, "I really don't want to get into anything right now. Please leave me alone."
She frowned, her lips curling down in a way that he hardly ever saw, "That's the problem, Milliardo." He looked up at her, she continued, "You stay on the road that you're on now and you will always be alone whether you want it or not." He looked away from her, "Have you ever felt like there is this emptiness that haunts you and everything around you? Then is there ever anything or anyone that fills that emptiness?" She smiled, "Heero…Heero fills my emptiness; he and helping people…oh…and you do my brother."
Zechs looked toward her again, his eyes were glistening, "You…flying…" she looked at him and smiled.
"I fill your emptiness?" he could see that she was happy. She moved closer to her monitor, "Anything else other than me and flying? Think…think from the heart."
She watched his head drop. He brought his hands up to cradle his head, he sighed and a tear dropped from between his fingers, "Noin." He looked up at his sister tears in his eyes and streaming down his face, "Noin, she fills my emptiness. Even with you and my job I'm still only half full."
Relena smiled, "The we have a jumping off point to healing. You don't have to change, Brother. You just have to let her love you and you will be filled up." She smiled again and said her goodbyes.
The monitor went black and Zechs picked up the bottle starting to nurse it again. If only she knew what I did to her. I'll always be empty.
Berta was moving heavily down the hall toward the control room hoping to reach Zechs somehow; she needed to talk some sense into him. She had given it a lot of thought as she sat in the bar drinking her flask and she had planned what she should say. She thumped into the room. Khal was busy typing something in the corner at a computer. "Hey, Khal!"
He wheeled around and glared at her, "What is it, Bert? Can't you see I'm busy?"
Berta was surprised by his reaction; he was usually very friendly. She noticed that he had quickly shut off the screen he had been staring at. Her first reaction was why he was grumpy but then her curiosity perked up as he fidgeted in his seat. "What's goin' on, Khal?" She moved quickly over to the screen to turn it back on. He tried to push her back and block her but she had sixty pounds on him. The screen blinked to life and she gasped, "Khal…what have you been doing?"
Khal stood and walked away from her toward a small drawer he pulled out a small gun, "Doing something that had to be done. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, but you've seen to much already." Berta tried to run toward him but it was too late, the bullet hit her heavily in the chest and she fell to the ground. He moved over her and she tried to pull herself toward the comm. Two more shots and all was quiet.
Zechs was staring at the stars thinking about what Berta and Relena had said. They both believed that he could be happy, even though it seemed he would never be able to be happy again. As he pondered his life the systems sprang to life, spacecraft emissions trails had been picked up.
He jumped to his feet throwing the empty bottle to the floor. If the emissions had just been picked up then he should be able to see the ship. He got on the monitor and looked all around the satellite, nothing.
"What the hell is going on?" he mumbled, "Bert and I just fixed this damned thing." He typed on the buttons and scrolled through data. What he saw caused a deep fear to fill his heart. "Khal…" Zechs knew exactly what was happening now. The soldier took over and left the broken man behind. "He must have given us incorrect data for the corrections that we made." He cursed under his breath, "which means that he is in on all of this." The ship had passed over twenty hours ago and the frequencies he was getting from the readings told him that it was definitely a looter's ship. He brought up the comm. and tried to reach the mars base, but there was no response. "BLAST!" he hit the chair and rant to put his space suit on, they were going to need him; they were going to need the soldier.
Noin was dressing quietly when Kent awoke, "Good morning, again." He smiled at her and she tried to smile back. He saw the tears that she was trying to hide, "What's wrong?"
She turned around pulling her straps up, "Nothing." Her tone was bright and chipper. He got out of bed and pulled some pants on. He moved toward her and held her. She pulled away.
"Noin…tell me." She turned to see him frowning.
"I'm sorry…" She said moving toward the door, "I still love him, I'm cursed to always love him…"
Kent moved toward her and took her in his arms, "You don't have to be cursed, let me help you forget him." He kissed her and she grasped at him wanting what he was offering.
Their passion was interrupted by a hard jolt that threw them to the ground. The red alert started signaling and the emergency power turned on. "What the…" Kent ran to the comm. "Khal…Khal come in!" no response, "Khal, come in damn it!" Noin looked at him, he could see a knowing look in her eyes, they were thinking the same thing, "Go…" she jumped up and started fro the door, he stopped her, "Be careful." She smiled and ran out of the room.
"Kent put on all of his clothes and started down the hall, Noin was already out of site. They were under attack, but by whom? As he turned the corner the comm. came on.
Khal's voice echoed through every corridor, "We are the Marauders, move to the mess hall unarmed and you will not be harmed. We just want the technology, we don't want to take lives." Kent started to become very angry and he started to run toward the control room, Khal's voice repeated over and over, "We are the Marauders…"
Noin was already in her room changed and armed, if it was a battle they want a battle they were going to get.