Update: Tweaked/rewritten July 2020

It Begins

Just like the old cliché goes, "Time flies when you're having fun," Eclipse's break seemed to end earlier than expected. Even though she spent the whole time writing letters to some close relatives and a friend, the warning bell still surprised her. After a few choice words, she glanced over her schedule before tucking it into her pocket.

"Hurry up, girly, you're going to be late!" one recruit mocked as he pounded on the door. Eclipse was going to shout her own mockery, but decided against it when she realized that the kid was right. She was going to be late if she didn't hurry. A few more curses and she was running out the door.

"Well, congratulations on being in time," Captain Vindur said as soon as they were all lined up in the audience hall. "For some reason I expected at least a few more of you to be out of breath." His gaze landed on Eclipse who was obviously breathing hard. She just held his gaze until he looked away, determined to prove to him that she really did belong there. She had been having a few doubts, especially when she was writing to her cousin on Earth. They were like sisters, her and her cousin, but the only main difference was that while Eclipse wanted to save the world by using violence to get rid of war, her cousin wanted to just end it by diplomatic means. That was probably the only thing that they didn't see eye-to-eye on.

"…off to your classes."

"Shit!" Eclipse cursed and pulled out her schedule, scanning it quickly. A few kids purposefully bumped into her as they walked by, sending the piece of paper flying out of her grip. She cursed again and grabbed it before heading off towards her first class. I really have to stop zoning out so bad during speeches. She found the classroom labeled 45B and walked in, taking the last desk available; the one right in the front. A few chuckles and smirks met her as she sat.

"Welcome to your firearms class; I'm Lieutenant Kross. I'll learn your names throughout the day so no need for introductions." Lieutenant Kross was a man in his thirties with curly brown hair that was cropped short with crystal blue eyes. His talk and demeanor were rigid, but Eclipse could tell that there was a warm atmosphere around him. That was, surprisingly, almost comforting. "Your first lesson will be on the basics of the common handgun. We'll start with the mechanisms."

You have got to be kidding me, Eclipse thought, resisting the urge to yawn. I already went through this introduction and three other months of material. Do they honestly think that I have to go through it again?

"This is a nine millimeter bullet, one of the most common for the handgun. You load it like so."

I can't believe this… I feel so insulted, Eclipse thought as she grabbed her pen and started doodling in the notebook in front of her. How much do you want to bet that the next thing he's going to say is that you have to face the barrel away from your body?

"Eclipse? Lunar Eclipse?" She lifted her head up off her hand to see him. It wasn't as if she was doing anything particularly rude, so why was she being soloed out? "Would you like to teach?"

"W-what?" The Lieutenant motioned for her to stand and she slid out of her seat, her hurried salute causing a few chuckles. "Sir, I really don't think—"

"You're quite right. What was I thinking? I guess since you seemed so interested in other things, I assumed that you'd rather teach. My apologies."

Like what? she thought and looked down at her notebook as she sat. There were quite a few dark doodles across the paper, so despite her attempt at hiding any boredom, it was plain to see. Biting the inside of her cheek, she cursed silently, feeling more angry than embarrassed. "Oh, and Eclipse? I guess this considers all of you, but never pick up the pen unless instructed. Is that clear? I don't want to have to punish anyone on the first day."

Everyone nodded, including Eclipse. It was quick, but something dark crossed his expression in that moment, turning his smile into more of a scowl. The moment sent a shiver down her spine despite the fact that her mind couldn't really comprehend what it meant. Somehow the warm atmosphere that was surrounding the lieutenant took a sudden shift towards ice and based on the strange looks people were giving each other around the room, she wasn't the only one who noticed.

The next class started five minutes after the three-hour firearms one and Eclipse found herself eager to leave. After her little escapade, she had forced herself to pay attention, but she hadn't learned anything new. The pace of the class surprised her a bit, however. For three hours, they had gotten through quite a bit material. If someone was slow at catching on or picking up information, they were going to fall behind quickly. She tried to make eye contact with the others from the class, but no one was looking at anything other than their feet. The one person she did lock eyes with was the Lieutenant and his eyes darkened again when he noticed her. Shivering, she sped off to her next class.

The rest of the day went without incident for the most part. After the firearms class, Eclipse had self defense (which she was able to move up to higher training levels because of her previous training), battle tactics and code breaking, and then ended with the basics of an operating system in a mobile suit. Being a Coordinator, like all the others in her class, Eclipse had no problem with working through a typical OS. The only thing that bothered her the most about the class was that it ended sharply at 0200. Normally Eclipse stayed up late anyway, but because she had to get up at 0500 the next morning for the mandatory workout, she found herself, once again, pissed.

Weaving her way out of the classroom, Eclipse made her way down the hallways to her room. Many of the boys whistled and made a few unwanted remarks on the way back, but she just ignored them. Just ignore the immaturity, she reminded herself and let out a sigh when the door closed behind her.

"This is ridiculous!" she hissed and flung herself on her bed. What is this place's purpose anyway? We're doing all the same things that I would've been doing at any other training facility. What makes this place so special, huh? "Weapons of war" my ass. Aren't all soldiers weapons of war? She stared blankly at her pillow for a few moments, going through the events of the day before finally reaching for her journal.

The first day wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. All the classes are pretty much what I was taking before. I guess that's why I'm a little curious as to what our real purpose is for being here.

She paused, her pen forming an ink splotch on the paper. In all honesty, it was rather odd. She felt annoyed, not threatened, and so far nothing was terribly out of the ordinary. She might as well have been back in school. In fact, some of her classes involved her studying the basics of any school curriculum, so why was there a part of her, the part that had noticed something unnerving about Lieutenant Kross, that felt like something was off?

Truthfully, I'm scared. I don't think I've been this scared in a while. I have this feeling that something is terribly wrong here and I just can't shake it. Am I being paranoid? But what am I being paranoid of?

I'm getting myself into something that I shouldn't be. This isn't going to turn out good, I just know it. Let's just hope that I can figure out some way to survive this place.

Surprising herself, a tear trickled down her cheek as her pen paused on more time. She didn't often cry from fear, but the sinking pit in her stomach made her realize fear wasn't the only emotion she was processing. It was loneliness, fear of failure, and, most of all, fear of the unknown.

I wonder how my family's doing. I haven't talked to them since I left. Well, I've talked to my brother Lathan, but other then that there's been no contact. They're probably really mad at me for leaving. Can they really blame me? They've known me all my life and they were surprised that I left? I hated sitting in Orb not being able to do things. I guess being born to a pacifist family is quite discouraging when you just have this itch to fight. Does that even make any sense? I mean here I am saying that I don't want to train here, but aren't I doing what I really want to do?

I'm just not making any sense tonight. I'll write more tomorrow, hopefully. Let's just hope that my fears don't come true in one day.

"You're just scared, aren't you? That's how you've always been so I guess I shouldn't be surprised," a boy, no older than herself, taunted. He stood, arms crossed over his chest, with shoulder-length grey hair and piercing blue eyes. A smirk played across his lips, a permanent resident in that location, from what she could remember.

"She's always been that way, Yzak. Why should now be any different?" Another off to Yzak's left said. This one held his ego more in check, but his violet eyes held a different kind of warmth than the fiery hatred of his comrade. It was as if he was trying to show off. He ran a tan, slender hand through his mangled blonde hair.

"I'm not afraid," Eclipse tried to say, but nothing left her mouth. She grabbed at her throat and tried again, but there was still nothing.

"See, Dearka, she's too scared to even defend herself. How sad."

"C'mon, Yzak. You have to give her at least some credit. I mean she did survive the first day after all."

Yzak laughed. "Survived it? There was nothing to survive! What, she sat in a classroom all day."

"Shut up!" Eclipse shouted and sat upright in her bed. She looked around her room, dreading the two cocky looks of her previous comrades, but wanting to punch them off their rich-boy faces nonetheless. She sighed and rested back down when she realized that it was all a dream. A rather sad and pathetic dream, she knew, but she could only scowl at the obvious lesson her subconscious was trying to portray. Avoiding her insecurities, she glanced at her table clock and groaned.

0430.

She didn't have enough time to fall back asleep and wake up within a half hour. Instead she forced herself to roll out and turn off her alarm. Grabbing her running clothes, she opened her bathroom door and closed it behind her, afraid for the beginning of day two.

A/N: Hey all! Sorry this took me so long to put up. I pulled one of those "writer's blocks" that you write inserts from five chapters ahead, even finishing chapters, but don't work on what you're supposed to. Sigh I knew this would be the hardest part, because I haven't gotten any of the original characters in yet, let alone the Gundam SEED Plotline. Anyway, as soon as I get along further, things'll get easier and chapters will be coming faster, I hope.

I'm trying the breaks with the long lines, but I don't really like it so I'm going to try something else. For some reason Fanfiction isn't letting me do anything else.

I hope you liked the chapter and thank you for the review.

Strata