Update: Tweaked/rewritten August 2020

Then So Be It

The new classes in her schedule didn't scare Eclipse as much as the fact that this was probably the last time that she was going to spend any amount of quality time with the others. She met Stray and FS for lunch, showing them what her new schedule consisted of. The looks on their faces ranged between awe and fear and Eclipse wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps they were thinking the same thing as she was and knew that seeing their redheaded friend might be next to impossible, but some of her classes were pretty, well, scary. Two of them consisted of torture methods and psychological warfare and the other ones were bound to be more advanced than her previous classes. She was finally put into a mobile suit training class and just the thought of getting into the cockpit of one of those machines made her both nervous and excited.

It was her dream after all.

After everything that happened recently, Eclipse was surprised by her continued wish to pilot those things. Perhaps the need to defy her pacifist parents was still kicking in and drowning out the fact that if she was to get the chance to pilot one, she would most likely be killing a lot more people. But then again, she thought as she waved good-bye to the others and headed off to her first class, maybe I need the power. Perhaps I just want to keep the past from repeating itself. I definitely don't want anymore of my friends to get killed.

Glancing down at the schedule in her hand and then up at the number on the door that she stopped at, Eclipse confirmed it to be her firearms class and stepped inside. Figuring it to be about the same as her previous one, Eclipse couldn't help it when a shocked expression replaced her cool and confident one.

There were only three others in the classroom.

This is… strange, she thought and took the last seat next to a tall brunette with green eyes. He didn't look at her as she sat down and neither did the others in the room. Eclipse debated starting a conversation because the teacher wasn't even in the room yet, but the looks on their faces showed her that they really didn't want to make idle chitchat. Their eyes were focused forward and their backs straight up against the chair. Hands were folded out in front of them on the desks and their uniforms were so smooth that Eclipse thought they were nothing more than wax dolls placed in there to confuse her. The only thing that proved her wax theory wrong was the fact that their chests rose with every breath.

"Ah, so we have another new recruit in here."

Eclipse turned away from her classmates and almost literally came face-to-face with a short, stocky woman with short, blonde hair and amber eyes. She wore thin-rimmed glasses along with her lieutenant uniform. Her smile seemed so genuine that Eclipse sheepishly smiled back, but as soon as she noticed her coffee-stained teeth Eclipse involuntarily rubbed her tongue across her own pearly whites.

"I'm so glad that we're gettin' new blood in this classroom, and what d'ya know it's the only lass in this damn place. How fortunate. Tell me, lovely, how ya doin'?"

Eclipse stammered as she attempted to respond. The instructor's words fell through her lips so quickly that the redhead had to pause and wait for her mind to catch up and digest them. Eclipse stuttered a response before the older woman finally turned away and walked back to her desk.

"Well, apparently we have a mute."

"I'm doing well, ma'am," Eclipse spoke up at last, the echo of her words having bounced around her mind long enough to help her form a response.

The instructor paused, glanced at the girl, and then cocked her head to the side, as if deciding how to react. Her unamused facial expression proved she didn't expect the sudden outburst and probably didn't appreciate it either. Seeing as the others had been silent throughout the entire escapade, Eclipse really shouldn't have expected anything less than annoyance. "Tell me—Lunar Eclipse is it? Did I ask ya to speak?"

"Yes, you did ma'am when you asked me how I was doing."

"Oh? Did I tell ya directly to respond?"

"Doesn't every question deserve a response, ma'am? Isn't that why you asked it?"

Perhaps talking back to her wasn't the greatest of ideas.

The instructor's mouth slipped from a neutral flatline to a scowl. "I think I liked ya better as a mute, Lunar Eclipse, so I advise ye to either act like one or we'll make ya one permanently."

It felt like an open threat and even the way the instructor's eyes glimmered as she said it showed that there was more humor than realism in the statement. Or that was how Eclipse had interpreted it. Based on the stiff reaction of the others next to her, she slowly began wondering if her interpretation was misguided. I can't let my guard down in this class, Eclipse mused, watching the instructor carefully as she went about getting out a few things ready for the class.

It was just about the same as her other firearms class. The officer, named Lieutenant Ameria, started off going through the various kinds of handguns before having them migrate over to the shooting range to try out the weapons that she demonstrated. No one else talked through the three hours, and Eclipse followed their example. The lieutenant never did or say anything further to make Eclipse feel threatened, but the others did, so maybe she should trust those instincts.

"Next class we'll get into rocket launchers," Lieutenant Ameria stated once the time was up. "Good class today, recruits. Even though some of ya are havin' a hell of a time with your aimin', ye all have pretty steady hands." The four of them just nodded and Eclipse just wished she'd talk slower. "Oh, Lunar Eclipse, could ya wait a moment?"

Eclipse nodded but gave a little sigh. She had been getting singled out quite a bit lately and it was starting to become a nuisance. Waiting obediently by her cubicle at the range, she avoided eye contact with the others as they left.

"C'mere, kid."

Eclipse nodded and walked up to the woman, but she heard a hissed comment just at the doorway from one of her classmates.

"Bitch."

It was such a sharp comment and the sound seemed to linger in the air long after the perpetrator had left. What had she done? What had she said? Didn't she follow the instructions? Didn't she do well in the class? She turned her attention away from the lieutenant briefly to look at her targets and compare them to her classmates'. She had done well that day, so what was the issue? She'd been following the rules and doing well. He's just jealous, she decided, mulling over the possibility that the reason she was asked to stay behind was because the lieutenant was going to praise her for her marksmanship.

How vain.

Instead of the pat on the back she thought might happen, the lieutenant wound up and slapped Eclipse hard across her right cheek. The redhead's expression quickly shifted from shock to fury the moment her brain could register what had happened to her. The fuck? As soon as the initial sting subsided, she turned back to the officer and scowled.

That awarded her a whack to the face.

"Someone will teach ya obedience yet, girl. I don't give a damn if ye were asked a question or if ya were spit directly in the face. Unless told, ye are never to speak, got that? I'll never tolerate such behavior next time `round so it'd probably be wise to remember that I run a firearms class. Ya little brats mean nothing to me so why should I care if one of my pistols 'accidentally' went off and hit a recruit? Just remember what ye are, girl. No one likes a weapon that yaps."

So many snarky remarks bubbled in her mind, but none of them seemed to break the floodgate and spill out of her mouth. Actually, that might have been for the best.

The lieutenant narrowed her eyes, presumably waiting for a salute, but snorted and turned before Eclipse was able to figure out a salute would have saved her from another whack across the face. "Soldiers salute, girl. Get used to it and don't disrespect me again." Turning, she walked back to her desk with a dismissive wave. "I'm through with ye `til tomorrow. I advise you learn some manners in the meantime."

The psychological warfare and torture method classes went about as well as the firearms one. The same three other kids were with her and Eclipse was finally starting to piece some things together. Apparently, only those who were deemed "worthy" were allowed into these classes, but she couldn't tell for sure whether that meant because they had killed someone, or they were let in for other reasons. She was surprised that only three other recruits managed to make it this far. It seemed as if there should have been more, but, then again, they really haven't been in this facility for long.

Learning a lesson from the first class, Eclipse used the other's methods of sitting still and looking passive. However, while the other classes were mainly in classrooms, her next class was in the mobile suit hangar, so being stoic might not work out as well this time.

"We'll start off with you rewriting the OS on these GINNs according to different scenarios." Eclipse grabbed the folder offered her. "Your mobile suit number is listed in the top corner of the folder and there is total of five scenarios inside with further instructions. Once you're finished, just go ahead and join us back down here. After everyone's finished, we'll evaluate your work, offer pointers, and then go through some other simulations." This officer seemed different from the previous ones—based on the tone in his voice along—but everyone here tended to be more than meets the eye. Still feeling the sting in her cheeks, she knew caution was the best policy.

The instructor, Officer Roan, stood taller than the others in the room and wore a black shirt that showed off his athletic figure. He had an attractive face and often smiled, which seemed to be a rarity in this facility. Eclipse even found herself instantly attracted to him, which was going to make this class difficult, she knew. She swallowed nervously a few times to keep herself from blushing when his gold-colored eyes rested on her.

If he was going to lecture them, she couldn't promise that her concentration would be squarely on her studies...

"Now, go find your assigned mobile suit and begin. We have a lot of things to get through." After a brief hesitation they saluted and went to one of the lifts in front their GINN. The mobile suit itself was nothing special, but they were a standard ZAFT model. Being one of the very first prototypes, it had all the classic armaments like the MMI-MBA3 machine gun and MA-M3 heavy blade to slice the enemy when the bullets didn't finish them off first. It was humanoid (about 70ft tall) with large shoulder guards and wings to help guide and mask the boosters. The head resembled a human wearing both a helmet and a gas mask, at least that was the connection Eclipse's mind made. There was a large, red light right under the helmet and above the mask that served as the main camera. In an article a while back, she remembered having read about some traumatized victims not being able to get that horrid orb out of their head and now that she was able to observe the phenomenon up close, she could understand the haunted imagery.

Eclipse pushed the lever towards the word "Up" and waited restlessly as it inched its way to the cockpit. Her excitement, no longer feigned, seemed to trump her caution in the moments before. She couldn't remember the exact moment her fascination with mobile suits began, the interest taking hold slowly as if it had always been there and was always meant to be there. An uncharacteristic giggle exited her lips once her lift stopped at the cockpit and she saw the seat and gadgets inside. It was similar to the simulations she had been running at her previous training academy, but the simulators—no matter how hard they tried—could not hold up against the real thing. Not being able to control herself, Eclipse rubbed her hand over the frame of the opening before turning and sitting in the seat. She smiled and absently fiddled with the levers and buttons, but never enough to move or press them.

She would hate to know her punishment if she did.

After a few more moments, Eclipse opened her folder and rifled through its contents. The first page held some instructions how to get into the operating system itself and then the others under it gave her different scenarios ranging from desert sands to anti-gravity situations. Each one had an army of Earth Alliance weaponry and the different forms that they could come in as well as the different patterns that they could be set up. The possibilities were endless.

"Why haven't any of you started yet? You don't have all day, soldiers. This is no time to gawk at the machinery. You'll learn how they tick another time. Right now, follow your orders!"

Eclipse swallowed before reaching over to her right and pulling down the keyboard. The screen above it flashed blue and then went through a series of configurations on its own. Eclipse watched silently, following the instructions in the folder only after the screen flashed yellow twice, as it was supposed to.

So, the first scenario involves swampland. We're sneaking up on a small military base consisting of 10 tanks, 2 anti-aircraft guns, and 4 rocket launchers. About 100 in the base and I'm alone. Well, this'll be easy, she thought dryly, placing her fingers on the keyboard after taking a breath to steady herself. Here it goes.

Her hands moved only as fast as her eyes would allow, but even that was unnaturally quick. Her Coordinator genetics seemed to accelerate the processing speed in her brain, making this type of exercise feel natural. Each and every configuration of substance flickered in and out of her mind, posing the question of whether Coordinators were closer to computer processors than actual humans. The resistance of the pedal and arm levers should be adjusted according to the gravity as well as the booster output. Balance indicators need to be fixed based on the soft ground. Cockpit atmosphere adjusted to prevent the pilot from overheating. Motion detectors and heat sensors activated. Distribute more weight onto the core rather than the feet to keep the machine from slipping. Joint pressure equal in both legs. Limb resistance adjusted based on the added gravity and readjusted for pilot preference. Weapon list and supply levels… confirmed. Calibration adjusted 1.6 degrees based on previous changes. No current errors or damage sustained.

The list continued on and only in a matter of minutes was she finally done with the whole thing. Before she even clicked the "Finished" button on her screen, her mind was going through to the next scenario.

Eclipse finished the other four just as fast as the first one and was surprised to see she was the third one done. Poking her head out of the cockpit, the redhead walked out onto her lift and pushed the lever that would make the machine descend.

"Well done, recruit," Roan praised. Eclipse saluted, but barely managed to keep the smirk off her lips. The exhilaration from that exercise made her body bristle with excitement.

The remaining recruit came down in the next few minutes and Roan went over to what looked like the main computer. She noticed the large electrical cords connecting the machine to the GINNs and assumed he was evaluating the results.

The four of them stood in a line off to the side, watching the instructor in silence, but the eagerness could still be seen in their eyes. He went through the scenarios of each machine offering only a few nods or shakes of his head as evidence of what he was thinking. It took him about a half hour to go through everything and they stood silently nearby. Once he was finished, he walked over to the group and gave them his results.

"Not bad at your first time trying this sort of thing, although because I'm sure you've all had previous training with operating systems, I'm a little disappointed. Ironically, you each passed two out of the five—each one of you aced different scenarios—but the remaining three have major holes. We will be going through them one by one and have you do more scenarios until you all get everything right no matter the situation. A well-calibrated OS is often the different between life and death and a mechanic is not always on hand to help you out." Roan paused and turned to respond to a greencoat that had just given him a paper message. They saluted each other and the instructor had already read through the paper before the greencoat had left the hangar. "I have just been informed that this class will end promptly at 0730. Now, I know what you're all thinking," he continued before the four of them could ask questions. "This sounds really harsh right now but think about it. When you finally get to the battlefield, you will have to endure nights with only a few hours of sleep and even ones with no sleep at all. There is no such thing as an assigned time to attack the enemy, so you must always be on your guard."

Eclipse was rather impressed that Roan didn't seem annoyed by the announcement. Like them, he was stuck as supervisor, so his sleep schedule was going to be in the muck just as much as theirs. Perhaps he's just a better soldier, she thought grimly.

"This kind of thing will happen often, so considered yourself warned. There is no set schedule, so I'd advise that you all just learn to accept it." Roan sighed and scratched the back of his head, the first sign that he might be annoyed with the situation. "Being an important class, I guess it's not surprising that our superiors decided this…" he mused quietly, but the others could hear and they shared a glance between themselves. He didn't seem high enough on the food chain to make any of the decisions for his class and since he looked to be the youngest instructor there, it wasn't too surprising. It just meant that neither he nor they would know when and how often they would have to endure sleepless nights.

"I guess I should inform you that as the class moves along, we will be getting more and more recruits. Each of you has a different reason for being put into this class, but you are the first set of recruits to arrive. At least two of you have had prior experience with mobile suits but we needed four to start up this class. You'll learn why later on." Roan paused and scratched the bottom on his chin, as if trying to remember what he was going to say next.

He always seemed to have something to say.

Eclipse wasn't sure what to make of this instructor. He seemed too nice to be at this place and way too young, but here he was being the head of a very important class. What made him so special?

"Well, I forgot what I was going to say next, so we'll just move on with the rest of the training." He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and flipped a few pages in. "You're all going to try one final scenario and then we will sit down and go through the specifics. I'm going to tell you what scenarios you did well in previously so that you can focus on what you did right there when approaching this final task. Crimson Typhoon, you did well on scenarios one and two. Avalanche, you did well on scenarios three and five. Despair, two and four, and Lunar Eclipse, you did well on three and four. Think back on what you might have done correctly and what you might have missed and give this final scenario a go."

Saluting, they pivoted and walked back to their machines, initiating the beginning of the long evening.

Like promised, the class ended promptly at 0730. Roan, now known to be the Captain Vindur's nephew, ended up retiring around 0100 after their scores started improving in OS training. The rest of the time they were working with Ensign Miato, who was in charge of teaching them about the makings of mobile suits and mobile armors. They were working with the spare parts from GINNs and BuCUEs with the goal of giving them an active understanding of the parts, where they went, what damage to look out for, and anything else they might need to be aware of if no mechanic was nearby. Miato was an instructor who believed in very little teacher intervention, meaning most of the time he was hands off and relying on them to figure out the damage and make the repairs themselves. It wasn't a horrible teaching method for the most part, but they had found him nodding off from time to time throughout the night and unsupervised training seemed counter intuitive.

The four of them had had previous experience with machinery in their military weaponry class, but because they left that class early, really all they could rely on were the blueprints provided and their own intuition. Eclipse started getting pissed around 0430 when she failed to wire the BuCUE's main camera correctly for the fourth time and even went as far as throwing her wire cutters onto the ground at a snoozing Miato's feet. The Ensign didn't stir which made Eclipse even angrier. She debated waking him up, but when she was going through it the fifth time, she found out that one of the wires was dead. As soon as she replaced that one everything else fell into place.

The others fared about as well as she did and they were beginning to feel pretty good about themselves until Ensign Miato woke up at 0600 and looked things over. Avalanche's proposed method for reattaching a damaged leg to a GINN had been filled with holes. Literally. According to his report, he had forgotten to weld spare metal sheets over the gashes in the appendage and, according to Miato, the suit would have collapsed in the hangar the moment it took a step. Crimson Typhoon did just as bad when he screwed up the main machine guns. Instead of the barrels shooting out, the bullets would have been shooting backwards into the machine. How he managed that one was a mystery. Despair was in charge of rewiring some of the detached controls in the cockpit and despite a few glitches, it seemed to work okay. Though, Eclipse doubted any pilot would agree any glitchy controls deserved a pat on the back. Finally, even though the redhead had taken a few accidental shortcuts, the cameras she was working on also seemed to uphold in combat with only a few glitches. Miato managed to stay awake for the remaining hour and a half and went over a few more basics concerning ammo and how to mount it before dismissing them.

Eclipse went to the locker room to get her things and ended up showering after the other three left. Figuring that going back to her room would be a waste of time, she headed straight for the dining hall instead. Having gotten there so late, she saw Stray and FS as they were leaving and exchanged a few words, but really nothing more than "good morning" and "good-bye." Being on the new schedule, Eclipse's first class didn't officially start until 0815 while Stray and FS's still began at 0745. After a final wave she grabbed some toast and finished it before heading off to her first class of the day, code breaking.

She never knew how exhausted she was until she got about a half hour into the class. The other three were dragging about as much as she was, but of course the instructor wasn't about to take pity on them. He continued to threaten them saying that if they didn't finish their sequences within a certain time limit he was going to enforce some kind of punishment. At first, they took him seriously, but when the class was nearing the end and none of them got as much as a slap on the wrists, his words just kind of lost their bite.

Her next class, computer hacking, started at 1015. Being one of the "either you got it, or you didn't" classes like the code breaking one, it ended after only two hours. She ate a bigger lunch that time and went straight to her firearms class. Lieutenant Ameria was once again in a pleasant mood so needless to say, the class was terribly tense. They moved on to the shooting range once she finished talking about the sniper rifle and had them try hitting some targets with both the rifle and the rocket launcher. Once satisfied, Ameria had them finish off the class with the common handgun, determined to make them expert marksman.

By this time, Eclipse was nearing a full-body shutdown. How she kept walking she honestly had no idea, but her mind was quickly joining the dead. With eyes glazed over, she only survived her torture methods and psychological warfare classes well enough to not get in trouble. After seeing Eclipse literally losing her balance and stumbling into class, Commander Roan took a little compassion and dismissed them at 2000 instead of 2100, confident that they were making progress and that the extra hour wouldn't make that much of a difference.

None of them complained.

Eclipse didn't even bother going into the locker room, knowing that she would just fall down upon the bench and sleep there if she did. Instead, she went straight back to her room. Somehow, she found a sudden burst of energy as she was walking and decided to go and visit Stray and FS after her shower since there was the possibility they might be back from class already.

She paused at their door before knocking, listening for any sign of them. There was still about 30 minutes before curfew, they were often the ones still talking and joking around in their room or with the other recruits. That night, however, she didn't hear anything. She knocked softly at first, but after five or six knocks she figured that a little more force was a risk well-worth taking.

Still, nothing happened.

Eclipse started to panic. She hated living everyday in the constant fear that one day her friends would disappear like this, but right now fear was all that she could succumb to. Stray and FS were not in their room so where could they be? There was really only one answer to that question, but Eclipse tried to come up with at least four more in order to calm herself down. Bathroom—maybe they're there, or even talking to an instructor. How about someone else's room? I'm not their only friend of course. Hell, they could even be such sound sleepers that they didn't hear me.

She wasn't convinced.

I'll just sit here and wait for them. Yeah, that's what I'll do. They'll be back soon… I-I know it. She nodded to herself and slid down against the door, sitting on the cold floor and leaning back against the wall. I'll just wait.

Eclipse wasn't sure when they came back, only that they did. She had fallen asleep almost as soon as she hit the floor and when she opened her eyes all the lights were dimmed in the hallway and there were lights above the doors glowing red, but only on a select few. She never noticed that until that moment and even looking down the hallway at her own, she saw that it still remained green. At first, she started to panic again, thinking that the green light meant that she wasn't in her room when she was supposed to be, but then remembered that the red light only meant the door was locked. Do I not have a curfew anymore? she asked herself, rubbing the last bit of sleep out of her eyes.

After another moment she lifted her arms up and stretched, feeling something slip down them as she did. Huh? Blinking her eyes again, she grabbed some sort of fabric and brought it up so that she could see. It was a blanket. Huh? she thought again and tried to force her sleep-hungry brain to work. Finally, she remembered why she was on the floor in the first place. FS! Stray! She bolted to her feet and turned to the door knocking loudly once, but then stopped herself from doing it a second time. Should I wake them up?

Answering the question for her, she could hear a voice on the other side of the locked door. "Eclipse?"

"Stray?"

"What are you still doing here? We thought you went back to your room by now."

Eclipse blinked, looked down at the blanket and then back at the silver-haired boy. "Wait, you put this on me?"

"No, FS did, but I'll take the credit anyway." She could almost hear him shrug. "Just leave it on the other side of the door."

She nodded and folded it up onto the floor. "Hey, where were you guys?"

"Huh? When?"

"Just a few hours ago."

"What do you mean? We've been here the whole time."

"No, you haven't. I knocked on your door around 2100 and neither of you answered."

"Ah, well we were already in bed and we sleep like bricks."

"Then why did you open the door after only one knock this time?"

"Huh? Oh, I was getting up to get a drink."

"Oh." Eclipse paused, thinking that something seemed a little off, but her brain was too tired to make any connections. "Fine, I'll go to bed then. See you guys tomorrow."

Stray hit the door once with his palm to both give a farewell and acknowledge her words, leaving Eclipse to walk back to her room alone.

Stray leaned back against the door and listened carefully. Only until he heard her door open and shut did he finally sigh and walk back to his bed. "How you doing?" he asked, sitting down on the edge and looking over at the huddled figure in the corner.

"I've been better," FS replied, swallowing back another rush of nausea. "Tell me Stray, how are you so calm?"

Stray chuckled lightly and then shrugged. "Perhaps I'm just putting up a front for you, ever thought of that?"

FS paused and chuckled as well. "Well, if you are, then thanks."

"Heh, no problem, pal." He smiled warmly. A small silence passed between them before he finally got up and walked over to sit down next to FS and hugging his knees to his chest. "You sure you didn't want her to come in? Probably would've been more help than either of us could be to each other."

"Possibly, but I really don't want her to see us like this, or at least to see me like this. We're supposed to be the strong ones here."

"Maybe so, but even the strongest people have weak moments."

"She'd never outright say it, but I'm sure, deep down, she's terrified."

"Aren't we all? Think about it. What we're having to go through now, knowing what we're going to go through in the future and then wondering if we'll even be there for a future is haunting each and every one of us. No one is exempt, not even us. You saw what Eclipse's classes were. You know who she had to kill…" Stray's voice trailed off, but he finished his thought after a pause. "We'll have to start those same classes tomorrow and I don't know about you, but learning something like torture methods doesn't exactly make me think that we're going through all of this just to end up planting new trees on Earth."

"I know, Stray, I'm not saying that I'm not scared. In fact, I'm probably more terrified than even Eclipse is, but I can't find any way out of here. If MR had tried—well—we know what happened with that… The only thing that we can do is get through this and I have to show Eclipse that we can do it, even if I have to pretend."

"So, how do you propose we do that?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Well, when you find the answer, let me know." The two looked up to see Eclipse standing in their doorway, the blanket they had given her dangling from her hand. They never remembered hearing the door open and it was most likely past curfew, so it should have been locked. She tossed the blanket over towards Stray's bunk. "You have a green light above your door," she explained slowly, but neither caught onto her meaning. They turned to each other and then looked up at her, but neither of them knew what to say.

Instead she shut the door and spoke first. "It took me a little bit to figure out that the green lights above the doors indicate who is in the advanced classes and will, most likely, be out past curfew. Once I saw it on mine, it wasn't hard to check yours." She walked further into the room. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Stray asked, deciding that getting to his feet and acting normal was his best option since Eclipse was already in the room.

"Don't treat me like I'm some idiot. It may have taken my sluggish brain a while to figure it out, but I'm here now so quit playing games."

FS sighed and got to his feet as well, getting a little help from Stray. "LE, we're okay, really we are. Please go back to your room and rest. I know you didn't get any sleep last night and even now you're swaying as you stand. Please, just go."

"No."

"C'mon, Eclipse. You're being stupid," Stray pressed, being a little blunter than his roommate.

"Being stupid? That's what I told you two the other night, but you still stayed and now you just plan on kicking me out? You left me with all that debt and now you won't even let me help you when you need it?"

"Debt? LE you are not indebted to us. We wanted to do that, so please, get some rest you look exhausted," FS pleaded.

"You told me that we were in this thing together, FS. You told me that we had to stick close to each other in order to survive and now you're just telling me to walk away?"

FS didn't remember saying any of that. Somehow, he figured, Eclipse must've mixed her own thinking in with the incidents of the night. Remembering what happened, he wasn't surprised that her facts were a little hazy and didn't hold it against her. Instead of getting into it, FS answered her last question calmly. "Yes, we are. Don't you understand what it'll mean if they catch you in here again? Eclipse you're in enough trouble as it is. If you get another offense what do you think'll happen?" Stray, using FS statement as some kind of cue, walked towards her, grabbed her arm and pushed her back to the door.

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do," Stray said.

"No, I don't."

"Well, if you don't care about yourself then think about what would happen to us. We may not have gotten any harsh punishments, but we could get killed this time. Eclipse you could end up shooting us is that what you want?" The words came so easily to Stray and he knew it had struck a nerve if the visible twitch of her arm was any indication. He half expected her to slap him, but she withheld.

"I just want to help," the redhead said, sadness in her voice.

"Just take care of yourself," FS cut in, moving to sit down on his bed when his legs started shaking again. Of course, he'd never let Eclipse notice.

"But you're all I have. Please—" Eclipse started again, but this time Stray put a finger to her lips and pushed her out the open door.

"Please, we'll be fine."

Stray felt the smile slip down his lips once the door closed and he turned to see FS. His head was in his hands and the sight forced Stray to pause and take a few deep breaths himself. It was going to be a long night. He locked the door.

A/N: Uh yeah, sorry about how long it is. My intention was to make just a huge chapter wrapping up the training and it just so happened that I did. This is actually only part of it. The whole chapter ended up being over 8,000 words and I didn't think any of you actually wanted to sit and read that much so I broke it in half. Actually 6,000 words isn't much better, but there really wasn't any other area to stop it.

Anyway, like I said I finished the chapter so after a few more adjustments I'll put that one up too and then on to the main story! Yay!

Thanks again for all the support. My head has been buzzing with ideas lately and it's all thanks to you guys. A special shout-out to Death-Scimitar because I'd really be no where without her.

Well, enough with the mushy stuff. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and even though it was long, if you didn't get bored that's all that matters to me. Feel free to review and don't worry if you don't like something, or there's a mistake. Just let me know and I'll look into it.

Strata