Update: Tweaked/rewritten October 2020
Where Loyalties Lie
Falling through the Earth's atmosphere didn't turn out like Eclipse thought it would. Not like she believed it was going to be quick and easy, but honestly, did it have to take almost twenty straight minutes of intense heat and practically destroy her GINN too?
It just didn't seem fair.
She didn't remember landing—falling—crashing—or whatever really happened. When she awoke, her cockpit door was open and some arms in white jackets were reaching in to pull her out. At first, they didn't look like medics—she was a little dazed—so she panicked and some flailing seemed justified. Surprisingly, after so much that had happened, Eclipse was able to throw a few good punches.
Perhaps it was because the Berserker was still in charge.
Her strength didn't hold out for long, however, and she was bound onto a stretcher mere minutes after her fit began. The restraints held as she pulled against them, the Berserker not enjoying its confinement, but even it knew when it was stuck and only when she felt the prick of a needle in her arm and the sweet relief of a sedative, did she start to relax.
"What about the other pilots? Have you safely secured them?" Eclipse didn't know the voice, but based on the colors of the uniforms she had witnessed during her brief bout, ZAFT had found them.
Thank goodness.
The three of them were placed in a single aircraft while their units—or what was left of them—were put in a different carrier. Amazingly, Eclipse was the only one conscious, which surprised her at first since she knew she had most likely been given a sedative. Somehow, she had a feeling her Berserker had something to do with that, but while her mind was awake, the rest of her body had shut down. Based on the number of doctors she heard fussing around her stretcher, she was probably the most injured out of the lot. Seeing as her suit was the least able to handle atmospheric flight, that might not have been much of a surprise.
A routine breath caught in her throat, her chest filling with a burning sensation and her head throbbing with pressure. Her nose started running and a doctor swiped the liquid away, announcing a nosebleed, but somehow her pain felt numb. That was most likely the Berserker's fault, keeping her from the brunt of the damage. Based on the growing pains in her chest, however, she would have to face and agonizing slip into unconsciousness soon.
According to the other chatter she had been hearing, Dearka was spiking a fever over 100ºF, but minor injuries other than that. However, that problem alone was causing him much grief. Delirium and chills were only two of his symptoms.
Yzak wasn't doing much better. He also had a fever over 100ºF and the constant sweating was stinging the still fresh wound near his right eye. The medics had tried to re-bandage it, but that required it to be cleaned out. Eclipse had never heard Yzak scream before and after what she heard that day, she didn't want to again. When Dearka—in his delirious state—had heard the screams, his mind instantly skipped to some frightening scenario and his thrashing began again.
The flight was full of constant chaos and Eclipse was in and out of consciousness, her mind still unwilling to give out entirely. Their next days were going to be bedridden in a hospital, she knew, and despite the fact that she felt far more at ease with Athrun and Nicol than these two she was too tired to care.
As long as they survived, she was happy.
Luckily, their crash point had been relatively close to the Gibraltar base on Earth. If they had been any farther away, help probably would've come too late and they would probably all be dead.
The infirmary at Gibralter was crowded with doctors once they were rolled inside. Three went over to Yzak (one for his head wound and the others to help with the inspection and fever reduction) and two more over to Dearka. The boys' fevers had gone down slightly since the beginning of their transport, but they were far from stable.
Eclipse's problems were only just beginning as well, once they wheeled her into a different room. The Berserker had finally fled and new pains were gaining momentum by the minute. A fever of her own spiked and she blacked out for good that time.
It was going to be a rough night.
"You're late."
"And always a pleasure to see you too, Pride," Roan cooed at FS, slamming the door after him and taking off his black suit jacket. He threw it on the end of the couch along with his dress shoes, ignoring the disgusted faces of his fellow colleagues. While Stray and FS were the only ones officially assigned to the cottage, Roan—along with the remaining three Sins—often came over to have "unexpected sleepovers." It was nothing more than late, leadership meetings that ended with Wrath, Lust, and Sloth bailing, one of the other three left sleeping on the couch, one on the floor, and one—typically Stray—raiding the fridge and coffee grounds. This meeting, however, had been planned.
The only problem, it was scheduled to start three hours ago.
"If you say you ran into traffic you might as well kiss that head of yours goodbye," FS threatened, leaning forward on the dining room table.
"And he doesn't mean the one on your shoulders," Stray added, shoving the last bit of a bread stick into his mouth. It was almost symbolic—in a sadistic, disgusting sort of way—but still not something Roan wanted to think about.
"Where are the others?" he asked instead.
"Lust is out trying to regain connections with the Earth Forces. They said they won't be back for a couple of days yet," FS explained, calming down a bit. His brown hair—usually patted down—was sticking up in various directions. Two things could be blamed for that, his frustration at having to wait so long for Roan, and the fact that Stray got bored.
Nothing was safe when that happened.
"You sent Melanie and Phoebe out to reconnect? Lust?"
"Well, Envy, seeing as their main purpose is to make new friends, yes, I sent them out. How they do it is entirely up to them," FS said, casting his nemesis a glare as he took the seat to his right. The two Lust girls were known for their peculiar ways of getting what they wanted. To some it may not look so strange—and some guys didn't mind for obvious reasons—but whatever their antics, it always seemed to work. In fact, that was the reason they were elected onto the council in the first place. Being twins made things a bit more difficult—because FS couldn't pick one over the other—but it worked to SIN-ED's advantage in the long run. Without Lust, the brunette was sure they'd get no where with the Earth Forces.
"Trevor—well Sloth—left about two hours ago and Wrath never showed. Ironically, Sloth showed up on time. You were the one late," Stray said, shrugging slightly. "We would've left too, but since this is our house, there was no where else to go." Although Trevor was named Sloth because of his personal characteristics, he was an excellent strategist. That in itself was surprising, seeing as he was the laziest of the group. Apparently, he only put his efforts into devious battle plans.
"Naturally," Roan muttered, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt while loosening his tie.
FS was wondering about that. "Why are you so dressed up? Just come back from prom?"
"Wrath and I were making some connections of our own."
"Now, doesn't that sound dirty," Stray muttered, silencing the comment with another sip of his coffee. Wrath—formally known as Logan—not only had a quick and deadly temper, but was quite a flirt in his own right. He had called himself a "lady's man" on many occasions and some whispers had been going around that he was also a "manly man."
No one decided to test those rumors.
Well, all but Stray and he was never going to tell.
"What kind of connections?" FS asked quickly, smiling devilishly from his comrade's remark. If not his eating habits, the brunette always did like his humor.
Roan wasn't as amused. "Wrath and I were talking to ZAFT, if you must know."
"What!" was the unanimous response. FS had jumped to his feet and Stray did the most unthinkable thing of dropping the cookie he was eating. Don't worry, he quickly picked it up and shoved it in his mouth before entering the heated conversation.
"Damnit, Envy, we agreed we'd only work with the Earth Forces, take out ZAFT, and then go after the Naturals."
"That's taking too long."
"Too long?" FS asked, disbelief covering his anger for only a moment. "We don't have enough people to target both! We've barely been able to help the Earth Forces thus far. Without our soldiers, they would've been massacred by now and without their help, we'd be just as dead. And you want to do things on our own? Ridiculous." He sat down after the statement, ruffling his hair even more.
"Numbers aren't everything in a war, Pride. Besides, if we make connections with ZAFT, we'll get better weaponry and be able to pick them away from the inside. If anything, we'll be helping the Earth Forces win more quickly."
"Is speed all you care about? Envy, we'd be putting our own members in danger if we go that route," FS sighed, now rubbing his forehead and the unwanted headache that was forming. This idiot was getting on his nerves. It was going to be another long night; he could tell.
"That's the price we'll have to pay," Roan continued.
"No, it's not. We vowed we wouldn't take that risk, and that's why we were going to stay out of the spotlight. As leaders, our first priority is to protect those we command."
"Sure, sure, but can't you see all the potential? We can be so much more than the destroyers of war. We can be the rulers of peace."
"What comic book did you jump out of?" Stray spat, setting down another half-eaten cookie. "There's no such thing as 'rulers of peace' because who in their right mind would go from one subjugation to another? We only know war, so by killing off others like ourselves, we'll create an opportunity for peace. No one can rule over a people he can't understand."
"There you go, clumping me with you guys again." Roan rolled his eyes. "I'm not like you; I can think with something other than my pistol and I'm sure I can figure out how to rule a peaceful world." His eyes told them he honestly believed what he was saying, but the thing was, why? At times Roan seemed more unstable then half of the SIN-ED members and he hadn't even gone directly through the training. How could someone like that hope to run a pacifistic world?
"Hah, that's a good one," FS mocked, but held up a hand before anyone could continue. "But, for the sake of argument, what if I was to believe you? SIN-ED isn't strong enough to take out both armies, shock the remaining humans into peace, and then establish a dictatorship. We don't have that kind of power."
"Not yet."
Stray glared at the older member, slamming his coffee cup down on the table. "I knew it! That's really why you're connecting with ZAFT so soon. What the hell do you want with Lexi, Roan?"
FS took a side glance at Stray, finding his outburst a surprise. Perhaps he understood more than he had been letting on. If that was the case, Roan was about to get a proper thrashing.
Stray was very protective.
"Don't you get it yet? She's the ultimate soldier." Stray threw his hands up in disgust and FS took a slow breath. "No, hear me out. The myth of the Berserker is what started this whole predicament. She's what you guys were supposed to become. Why do you think De'Amelith and Januarias 4 were set up? Could you even imagine the kind of power someone could obtain with an army like that at his disposal?"
"It's a myth. She's nothing but a human being."
"Are you so sure, Gluttony?" Roan asked, arching an eyebrow at Stray. "There's scientific proof Berserkers aren't just legends and I have genetic proof Lexi isn't a mere human. Do you really want to fight me on facts? Besides, can you imagine what kind of power she could bring? And if we could find more like her? Guys, we'd be unstoppable."
FS had to admit it sounded appealing—what kind of ultimate power isn't?—but Roan was making a risky gamble. He was resting everything on whether or not Lexi was as "legendary" as he believed. The brunette glanced over at Stray—trying to figure out what he thought of everything—but the only clue was the chef's fussiness with his food. Staring down at his plate, Stray was pushing a chocolate chip around instead of eating it. Not a huge hint, but enough to show he was thinking things over. FS wanted to ask, but didn't dare while Roan was still around.
Stray had a friendlier relationship with Lexi than the brunette had, but that could have been down to a different type of tension between him and Lexi. Despite the trio's original decision to avoid each other, they never stuck to it. Breaking the quick—but strong—friendship was harder than any of them anticipated. So, they knew Lexi's strengths quite well, but relying completely on Roan's claims could be dangerous.
Stray finally glanced over at FS, but their shared look held a level of understanding that backed up Roan's claim more than he knew.
"So, how long are we going to be stuck in here, doc?" Dearka was the first to regain consciousness, or even "come back to life" was a good enough phrase. It had been almost three days since the elites fell to Earth, but they were a long and tiring three days. Dearka's fever had risen to extensive levels almost immediately after Eclipse had passed out. The doctors had tried everything to bring it down, but nothing was working. It had gotten so bad that everyone was convinced he would fall into a coma, but luckily that never happened.
"Yeah, we have some work to do." Yzak's cut near his right eye had reopened when an attempt to restitch it went terribly wrong. One doctor had cut out the old ones and was about to start stitching when Dearka had another moment of delirium. It involved beds that were too close together and a domino effect of medics. Needless to say, some stitching needles went straight into the wound.
"I want to keep you guys around for another day yet at least to monitor you. I realize you're all Coordinators and bounce back quickly from injuries like this, but all of you were damn near close to death. Besides, your female comrade hasn't awoken yet." The older doctor looked tired and he covered a yawn with his clipboard. If it wasn't for that fact the boys might have complained again.
Even they can be sympathetic sometimes.
One of the other doctors had explained what had happened starting from when they were found and ending with them sitting in hospital beds. While the doctors weren't giving them the full extent of her injuries, a GINN was never going to survive falling to Earth and that meant the likelihood of the pilot inside coming out remotely unscathed was near on impossible. She was alive though, and despite the minimum interaction they had had with her prior to the battle, she had been good support in the fight with the 8th fleet and that was good enough for them.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" Yzak asked, absently pulling at the bandage on his face. He really wanted it off.
"Yesterday I would've said `Any time now,' but since it's been so long, I'm not quite sure anymore. Her machine wasn't meant for that descent, which is probably why it's nothing but scrap metal now. I guess I'm also surprised she even came out alive let along with minor injuries compared to anyone else in a similar situation. She still has a high fever, a concussion, four bruised ribs, and a sprained wrist. Considering the circumstances, she's lucky to be alive." The doctor paused, hiding another yawn behind one hand. "Now, my shift is up and I'm handing your cases over to my colleagues. They'll come and get you if she wakes up while I'm gone, but for now, you two get more rest. Elsman, I'll help you to your room." No matter how well Dearka had been looking as he sat there on the bed, once he accepted help, Yzak knew things weren't going too well. The blond was one of the most stubborn people he knew.
"Dearka, you sure you're—"
"Oh, stop fussing, Yzak. Go to sleep."
Eclipse awoke with a start, Greed's smile and laughter fading from her mind. Thankfully—or mercifully—she didn't remember the extent of the dream, only the panicked feeling she had in her chest. Monster. How was she even alive? She couldn't believe it. A GINN is not meant for atmospheric entry and despite the many bruises, some pain and weight in her chest, and a throbbing head she felt relatively fine. Fine. That just wasn't possible.
Her breath quickened. Did it have something to do with what she apparently was? Was this just another perk? Greed's smile was there again and she shook her head to dislodge the memory, instantly regretting the move when the throbbing returned.
She was in a hospital bed, she knew, and in her own room by the sounds of it. One machine was beeping off to her left and it sounded like a busy hallway was to her right behind a closed door. The lights were blinding—those damn, bright appliances that seemed to burn a hole directly through to the brain, instead of stopping at the retinas. They made her headache worse and her right hand went up to soothe her forehead, but stopped short, a sharp pain coursing through her arm from her wrist to her shoulder. She cursed.
"Ah, good, you're awake," a nurse said, having just walked into the room. Either her vitals had given some indication she was awake, or that curse had been far louder than Eclipse had intended. The nurse put a soft hand on Eclipse's bandaged wrist, straightening it and slipping a pillow underneath to ease the pain. The redhead was thankful, but she was still in rough shape she knew, if the pain in her chest every time she breathed was any indication.
"Where am I?" she asked breathlessly a moment later, the nurse having walked over to her left side to check the IV.
"You and the two other elites are at the Gibraltar base," she said, helping Eclipse sit up further on the bed. She poured her a gulp or two of water in a cup and handed it to the redhead who offered a small thanks. "I won't go into the details, but you're lucky to be alive and in our care."
Sounds about right, Eclipse thought, drinking the water. Considering what was going on at the time, we're lucky we didn't fall into the ocean or something. Hell, we're lucky we fell in one piece and in ally territory.
"Is there anything else you need before I get the doctor?" the nurse asked.
"Just something for this headache…" she muttered after the nurse took her water glass. The free hand went immediate to her forehead to massage the pain away.
"I want the doctor to look at you first and then we'll give you more pain medication. I'll get him now."
The doctor walked in a few moments later, folding a few pages over on his clipboard. It had been another day since his talk with Yzak and Dearka, so he had finally gotten a chance to get a decent amount of rest. Well, sort of. Dearka ended up having an allergic reaction to his medication earlier that morning. Everything cleared up within an hour and both redcoats—Yzak was worried sick, though he would never admit it—were finally resting once again. "How're you feeling?" he asked, pulling up a chair next to the bed.
"Is 'like shit' an appropriate answer?" she muttered, still massaging her forehead. "Head hurts, among other things, and I think the room is spinning a little."
"You had a concussion so the dizziness is to be expected as well as the headache. I'll have the nurse give you something." He flipped to a different page on his clipboard and sighed. "You're lucky to be alive, you know that? If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a miracle."
"So I've been told," Eclipse muttered, but said nothing further. What could she say? She didn't understand it herself.
"Your wounds seem to be healing quite nicely as well, though you might have trouble taking deep breaths for the next few days. You're reacting well to the steroids, but some of the other medications I had prescribed don't seem to be working as planned…" he muttered, Eclipse wondering if that sentence was meant for her or for the doctor alone. "I think that is the reason your fever lasted so long," he concluded at last. "Though there are even some things in medicine I do not understand." He smiled lightly and put the clipboard down across her knees as his hands went to examine her wrist. "Your wrist is only sprained and I have braced it for now. There is no need for a cast, but you'll have to take it easy on that as well and I'll give you some strengthening exercises to do once the pain and swelling going down a bit more."
She nodded. "Sounds good. Thanks. How long will I be unable to use it?"
"Usually I would say a couple of weeks, but it sometimes depends on the patient. I'd advise not doing anything strenuous for a bit, though soldiers of your caliber might not have the luxury of taking my advice."
"I'll do what I can," she replied with a shrug.
"Right, I need to test its mobility now that you're awake. It's gonna hurt, but please try to relax as much as you can."
Hah, she was stuck in a medical bay with an older doctor fondling one of her appendages, back on Earth with no way of returning to outer space, and stuck with the two hotheads of the Le Creuset team.
Yeah, relax, that's a good one.
It was about another hour and a half after the examination before Eclipse was surprised with two visitors. Dearka still looked a bit shaky and if Yzak's worried look at him every few seconds was any indication, he probably shouldn't have been out of bed. The two of them were wearing hospital scrubs instead of matching her gowned appearance, but even she was too tired to be embarrassed. They both greeted her and Yzak pulled up a chair while Dearka sat on the end of her bed. She was still propped up against the headboard with pillows, her wrist resting comfortably in her lap and medications lulling her into a nice semi-reality of painless existence. Dearka had no bandages that she could see, but the color of his skin said it all. He just looked ill and weak; not something she was used to seeing. Yzak had fresh bandages across the cut on his face, but otherwise seemed to be the healthiest of the trio. His motherly looks over at Dearka had extended to her own condition as well, but she shrugged off the look.
They would all live.
"Heard anything from the commander yet?" she asked, hoping a conversation would ease the blooming tension in the room.
"Not a damn thing," Yzak grumbled.
"Relax, I'm pretty sure he just found out we're all still alive," Dearka said with a weary sigh.
"But it's already been four days! Don't you think he would've asked about our condition by now?"
"He's probably been updated already plenty of times, but seeing as I just had my final assessment, he'll be able to get the full report," Eclipse said, wincing as she took too deep of a breath. She did take some solace in the gesture, however, realizing the pain wasn't as intense at it had been before. Either her medication was working as intended or she was healing quickly. Probably the former reason, but Eclipse was hoping for the latter. They slipped into another tense silence and Eclipse sighed. They were all nervous, and probably all for various reasons, but one thing was certain, they wouldn't be heading back to space any time soon. "On a different note," she began. "How do you guys like Earth?"
"When did you become so conversational?" Yzak grumbled, but Dearka just sighed.
"She's asking 'cause we're probably going to be stuck here for a while."
"And when did you two start developing a mind link?"
"When you started being an ass and there was no other choice," the blond countered. Eclipse just blinked and watched them. It was common sense the Duel pilot had a temper, but she never knew Dearka to get heated as well and especially at Yzak. Seeing as they had known each other for a long time, it seemed reasonable he had to offset Yzak's anger somehow, but she had only seen him do this when it involved the other team members. They were definitely all on edge if even these two were sniping at each other.
"How can I not 'be an ass' when we're stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for orders, there's this damn bandage on my face, and the St—"
"Please don't talk about the Strike," Eclipse groaned, cutting the rant short and resting her head back against the headboard. "We know he's here on Earth, we know we failed in destroying him, and we know you blame him for everything. Let's just have that understanding, okay?"
Her interruption surprised both of them, but her condition warranted a little sassiness, even if to them it might have seemed out of character. She was about to say something more to break the strange silence that followed, but Dearka beat her to it.
"Yeah, we can't forget we failed either. The commander's probably getting an ear full back at headquarters while we sit here ignoring our humiliation."
"Maybe we should be happy we fell here. At least we'll get another chance, I suppose," Yzak added, fiddling with the bandages around his chin. "Though, that might be more hopeful thinking than anything. If I was the commander, I'd have kicked us off the mission a long time ago. With so many screw-ups, it'd be more beneficial to try another squad and their tricks instead of continuing to rely on our old ones."
"We did take out most of the 8th Lunar Fleet though," Eclipse replied quietly. "Surely that must count for something?"
"There is that, I suppose," Yzak grumbled, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.
"I guess it depends on what part of our contribution matters more: destroying the Strike and the 'Legged Ship,' or chipping away at the Earth Alliance forces. I mean, we have the other prototypes and I don't know of any other machines or pilots yet who might be up to the task of taking on that ship."
"The Strike pilot's not that good," Yzak spat and the remaining two sighed. Despite their accomplishments in space, they couldn't help but feel they were still a losing team.
And who in their right mind would keep a losing line-up in the game?
Roan had left almost 45 minutes ago, but still Stray still hadn't said a word. In fact, he hadn't moved. The chocolate chip was still being wordlessly tossed about the plate and its puppet master watching it tumbled. The silence was deafening. If FS hadn't been lost in his own thoughts, me might've picked up the chip, eaten it, and then thrown the plate at Stray's head.
"What d'we do?" the chef finally asked.
His comrade sighed, hoping he was going to ask a different question like, "Did you want more coffee?" That one he could've answered. "To be honest, I'm not really surprised by what he had to say, just didn't think he'd be so reckless about it. He's treating her like a god."
"Goddess."
"Whatever; the point is, if she comes over to our side, and he gets a hold of her first, his delusional self will end up getting her killed."
"I don't want Lexi to die." The phrase came out deadpan, as if he was just stating some fact and no questioning was allowed. For Stray, it was a bit strange. Usually he said things light-heartedly or at least added in a smile. Now he was straight-faced, narrow-eyed, and quite intimidating. Him stabbing the chocolate piece over and over only reinforced FS's fears.
"What should we do about it then?" the brunette asked, honestly wanting to hear his answer. While Stray may not say much in everyday conversation, when he did say something, FS usually paid attention.
At least when it wasn't about food.
"How deep in shit are we?" the chef asked.
"How well can you swim?"
"Honestly, I sink, but we're not talking about water. Say we stopped Envy before he does anything rash, what're the odds people will think we didn't do it?"
"86 to 1."
"86 to 1?"
FS nodded, a wry grin on his lips. "There's 86 in SIN-ED right now, not counting Envy and the six other who would be with him. If they blamed you, I'd say no and the others would say yes. If they blamed me, you'd say no and the others would say yes."
"You're sure I'd say no?"
"Jaeger…."
"Yeah, you're right; I might be a good mood," Stray said, adding the bubbliness his last statements had been lacking. It could have been the small prospect of Eclipse joining them that lifted his mood, but FS figured it wasn't.
"Glad to know I still have someone I can trust."
"So, you think we can go through with it then? Set him up?"
"Did you find anything more on Gilbert Durandal and Muruta Azrael?"
"Hm," Stray began, leaning back in his chair and wiggling the fork between his front teeth. How that made him think better FS had no idea. "There wasn't much on Durandal, only that he's a genetics scientist in the PLANTS. He doesn't seem to have much association with the military, but I think he has some connections on the Supreme Council. Azrael, on the other hand, happens to be the leader of Blue Cosmos."
"The group of Coordinator haters?"
Stray nodded. "That's the one, but they've been becoming quite powerful lately."
"How powerful?"
"Perhaps powerful enough to send an assassin after a lowly group like SIN-ED, you mean?"
They both smiled before Stray got up and grabbed two more chocolate cookies from the counter. He was about to come back to the table when he stopped, snapped his fingers and opened the freezer. Pulling out a bucket of vanilla ice cream, he plopped a scoop between the cookies. He smashed them tightly together and walked back to FS.
"Not gonna lie," the brunette started. "That actually looks good. Mind if I have a bite?" Stray nodded and handed him the sandwich, licking the melting ice cream off his fingers. FS examined it quickly, making sure he hadn't put anything... unfamiliar in the mixture. Satisfied, he chomped down. What the hell? he thought and spit it onto the table. He looked around for something, anything and ended up grabbing the only thing within reaching distance, a tissue.
Using the tissue to wipe off his tongue, the brunette glared as Stray cocked his head to the side and glanced down at the food in his hand. "What, you don't like it?"
"What did you put in that? I watched you make it. How the hell did vinegar get in there?"
"Vinegar? Oh, I didn't like the taste of the vanilla ice cream, so I added some vinegar."
"To the whole tub?"
"Uh-huh," Stray nodded, shoving the rest of the dessert into his mouth.
"Thanks for the warning," FS grumbled, crumbling up the napkin and throwing it at his comrade before rising from his seat to leave him and his delicacies behind. Sighing, FS shook his head before closing his bedroom door only to find himself gagging when the chef announced he was going to have another one. I need a new housemate.
A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry 'bout that. School's finally done-for the summer at least-and I think I officially got sick for the last time this season. We can only hope... Anyway, I plan on finishing this story by the end of the summer and since there's a lot to go yet, I got to get crackin'.
This is another slow chapter, but because there was so much action in the other one, I thought it'd be alright. I had to establish a few things here and there anyway. Shrugs. I hope you didn't mind it and have some questions answered at least.
Thanks again to everyone reading and reviewing! Yay! It makes me so happy to see chapters being read at least ten times a day. :) I hope I won't disappoint any of you and if you have any suggestions or gripes, I'm open to them so just send 'em my way!
Oh, by the way. I plan on sending personal messages to my reviewers instead of posting them on this page. I'll answer some immediate questions I think everyone'll want to know, but for the most part, my responses will be for "their eyes only." Why the sudden change? I think it's more fun to get personal ones, actually. I was never for them before, but I found myself holding back sometimes. Sorry for those of you who enjoyed reading these, but I hope you understand. :)
Death-Scimitar: So, about "Yellow Flower Syndrome," it's so true. I think Heero started it all, but Kira definitely won't end it. I'll never look at a bouquet of yellow flowers the same again... especially with my record of deaths. I was hoping to get into Andy, Aisha, and DaCosta, but it just never happened. Shrugs Next chapter though, I promise. I'm so stoked for them so it should be interesting. :) Oh yeah, amen to that mobile suit fighting stuff... I'm getting used to it, but I'll take hand-to-hand any day. It's easier to write anyway. Stravag-and all you other mobile suit writers out there-I have no idea how you do it...
CSS Stravag: Actually, I'm surprised you never saw the battle with the 8th fleet. For some reason I thought you had seen the entire Anime. Shrugs The beginning's boring anyway, so you really didn't miss much. (Sorry out there for all of you who liked the beginning DVDs, I really didn't. I didn't get into it until the fourth which is Andy!) I'm glad you liked my twist at the end of the last chapter and that it wasn't just some wimp-out on my part. I have moments of insecurity and that was definitely one of them. :P I plan on having more of those two in the future because I really need to develop them further, but we'll see where they end up.
Darkangelsonic: I'm not sure how much you'll feel that Stray and FS are wimpy in the future; at least I'm working on that. I'm glad you're interested in them though. You always seem to bring them up and I've tried to make them lovable characters, but I think I have to mix some things up here pretty quick. Also, I hope this chapter answered a few of your questions about Roan. If you hated him and thought he was cliche, good; it was suppose to turn out that way. :) The Gundam thing we'll have to see about coming up. Since I'm not straying (Hah! Stray!) too far from the story line, her predicament might be interesting...
Strata