Even though I knew the plan of action, I hadn't told Raasik yet until I was sure it would work. I had a few days left until my deadline and so, I decided to wait before I made a firm resolution. I needed to work some kinks out first –– and I had a habit of leaving things to the last minute.

In my spare time, I found myself in Jakob's room more than I liked. At first it was just because I was the ZAFT pilot Nicol's caretaker. As the week went on though, I started to enjoy his company. It was a breath of fresh air to talk to someone who wasn't a part of our team. An outsider. I also enjoyed hearing his stories of the PLANTs and ZAFT. I was careful though as to what we discussed. It was strange how quickly my barriers had gone down with him. It made me a little uneasy.

"Array, how did you know I was a Red?"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked over at him with a question on my face as I redressed his wound.

"Our first encounter with each other. You knew I was a Red elite, but it seems like you had a personal connection with it. I could see it in your eyes."

I tried to think back to that encounter. I did remember my surprise when I realized the colour of his suit. "I have a few encounters with ZAFT in the past so I am familiar with ZAFT ranks. As mercenaries, we work with both sides." I tried to change the subject. "So did you grow up on the PLANTs?"

"I did."

"Which one?"

"Mauis Four. Where were you born?"

I hesitated for a moment but decided that where I was born wasn't really giving away too much of my identity. "On Earth, in a small country. Have you ever been to Earth?"

"Once, very briefly."

Putting down the scissors and gauze, I sighed thinking about Earth. "It is so beautiful. It is so–– free. Dangerous, because it is out of the control of humans, but yet it can sometimes be as meek as a mouse. I respect that about Earth. Not like the PLANTs." Suddenly, I realized what I had just let slipped out and went silent, trying not to let my face give away the panic that was inside of me. What scared me too was how open I was. I was usually pretty closed off with people I didn't know.

"You've been to the PLANTs, Array?" He looked a little surprised.

Array. The word echoed in my mind, until it faded out of my consciousness. Array hadn't always existed. It was an identity I had created when I had left my old life and fled. It was there that the being of Array Fletching was given life. That is where my new life began. The person before didn't really exist anymore in my eyes. She was a faint and distant memory, that I tried to block from my mind. If I was truthful with myself, my previous person still existed, I could never get rid of her but I tried to keep her hidden. Dormant. I knew at some point, she would emerge again but when that was, I didn't know. All that mattered now was that I was Array Fletching.

"I have. But I was awhile ago already."

I looked over at Nicol. His calm face looked at me curiously. I had given too much away already, but that did not mean I had to say anything. Maybe I am being over vigilant. I don't think he could piece together who I was. I could tell him a few things – but maybe that is even dangerous. Don't get sloppy now. Nobody should be completely trusted, especially outsiders.

I could tell he wasn't satisfied with my answer, but he didn't question further and instead flopped himself back into his bed. "I have one more question for you, though."

"Shoot."

"Why do you do this?" His eyes looked at me with his brows furrowed. It made me uncomfortable, I didn't like other people taking interest in my life.

"Do what?"

"Be the middle man, not choosing a side."

"From the outside, people would think I am a mercenary and intelligence agent for the money. But that is not actually it, I don't care about the money."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know..." I stared at the blank wall.

Cara sat across from me as we ate our meal at the table. Suddenly, she stopped eating and set her fork down. I looked up at her. I could gauge from her face that she was pondering something, she was in a different world.

"Is everything alright, Cara?"

She snapped out of her daydream, and looked over at me with a smile on her face. "Everything is fine." Her gentle smile slowly turned into a mischievous one. "Do you like him, Array?"

I knew who she was talking about – Nicol. "Well, as far as liking an enemy can go: yes. I enjoy his company, and talking with him. He is a good-natured person." I made a side comment. "Too bad he had to be involved in this war. He is one of the few wholesome and good people left in this world."

"I don't mean like that, Array. I mean do you have feelings for him?"

I gave a small laugh. "No, Cara. I purged out that weakness out of me awhile ago."

"What do you mean?"

"When I chose to pick up a gun, I knew that with that I had to drive out of myself those womanly tendencies of love and affection towards men. War and fighting is a man's world. It is a lot easier to work alongside men when you only see them as comrades."

"Is that the only option? I don't think I could do that." She smirked as she picked up her fork again. "But then, there is nobody who is even close to my age here."

I wondered and pondered over what Cara said. Did I like him? I decided though that there were no 'feelings'. It was my maternal instinct that had kicked in. It was this instinct that was the basis of my relationship between Nicol and I. As for Nicol, he was recovering quite well. I was quite impressed, but I guess that was to be expected of a Coordinator.

After I had redressed his wound, I grabbed his shirt to help him put it back on.

"Wait," he grabbed my hand. "I want to try standing. Do you think you could help me try getting up? If we are leaving tomorrow, it would be nice to be able to walk out of here."

"Um...sure." I stood up and helped him shuffle his body to the edge of the bed. "Ready?"

He nodded his head.

"Okay, one, two, three."

With a little slow and rigid moving, Nicol stood up. A small smile spread across his face at his achievement.

"It feels strange to have to work so hard to achieve such a basic thing." He tried to joke.

He then took his first step forward. His body wasn't ready for it though. He started to fall. I stepped in front trying to catch him, but it wasn't enough. We both started crashing towards the floor. I closed my eyes for the impact.

When I opened my eyes, after we had slammed against the floor, Nicol's face was just inches from mine. We made eye contact at the same time with each other, and burst into laughter. It may have been a combination of nervous laughter and pure humour at the situation, it was hard to tell. After our laughter was over, I felt my cheeks get a little warm. Nicol lethargically rolled himself to lay beside me on the floor.

"Sorry about that." He whispered beside me.

I smiled. "It's fine. So do you think you are ready for tomorrow?"

"I thought I did pretty good." He beamed back at me.

It was kind of weird, to think this was probably one of my last moments with Nicol. It almost pained me – which was even stranger. I normally didn't miss people. Why am I so attached? I shrugged it off. I will never see him again after this.

The time had come. The end of the week had approached and now, the prisoners had to leave.

Raasik hadn't known but secretly when I was on the moon earlier that week, I had anonymously messaged ZAFT that their missing comrades were safe. That had been the beginning of my plan. Fortunately, we were currently working with a sector of ZAFT for a job. We were meant to make a delivery for them about information we had extracted from the Earth forces. I had extracted the information needed, and now all that still needed to be done was to deliver it. On top of the data sought by ZAFT, we would send them a little present. Almost a type of 'goodwill offering'. One factor that Raasik wasn't too fond of was that fact that we would have to abandon our base. Through talking to our prisoners, it was quite clear that ZAFT was already suspicious of there being activity in this area, so it was only a matter of time till we were discovered.

The data information would be a dead drop at a certain coordinate perdetermined by us. The soldiers would also be delivered to this coordinate in an old transportation pod found on our station. ZAFT wasn't expecting their data delivery would also come with our little gift so didn't have to worry about an ambush.

If ZAFT knew that it was us who had captured some of their soldiers, there was the possibility of jeopardizing ever getting work from them in the future. I was sure they would come to terms with it though. We were mercenaries after all. We couldn't be trusted. We were dangerous, but we were the ones who were willing to get our hands dirty for them. They needed us. Plus, our group always got the job done, and we did it well.

As the last of them, stepped into the pod, I also stepped inside along with Raasik and Mack while the rest waited outside of the transportation pod. The three of us cut the soldiers' bonds loose, and then started to make our way towards the door. I was the last one to leave. As I reached the gateway though, I looked towards Nicol.

"No hard feelings, right?" I joked, as I extended my hand to shake Nicol's.

He smiled a little, and returned the handshake. "Of course, not."

"Well I hope the best for all of you in this war, and let us hope we never meet again." I turned to leave, but was stopped by an arm grabbing my wrist.

Raasik and Mack along with the rest of them became all of the sudden on high alert, taking a few steps forward with guns raised.

I looked over to see it was Nicol, but I could tell even by his touch that it wasn't an aggressive or violent gesture at all. "At ease, guys." I remarked towards my group.

Nicol gazed directly into my eyes. "Will we see each other again? Can you come with us?"

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, as a viable option but I just as quickly denied it. "I can't." I regarded my team. "These people are my home now. I belong with them. I need to stay with them. " Looking back at Nicol, I reached behind my neck and let the clasp of my necklace open. Grabbing the necklace with my free hand I placed it gently in Nicol's palm. "Take this with you. It has always been close to me." I looked him in the eyes with a small smile. I slowly lifted my hand from his, grazing his fingertips. "Maybe someday we can meet when it is all over. On Earth. Make sure you keep it safe."

"I will make sure of that."

"Well…. take care Nicol. Be careful out there."

"You too."

"Let us hope we never meet again until this is all over." I took a step back and walked out of the pod. The door started to slowly close. "Goodbye." And with that I saw Nicol's face for the last time.

Turning around, I took a deep breath. "I will take the pod to the rendezvous point with ZAFT."

"Bu–" Tyren started to interject.

"Let her be, Tyren." Raasik stated. "So we will meet you on Earth then?"

"Yes." I stepped down from the platform towards Raasik. "Take care of Cara, okay?"

He smirked a little. "You know I will."

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