Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Masquerade ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

Sage began to walk around, stopping to sniff a couple of roses, smiling at their beauty in this awful time. Sitting on a bench, she sighs and leans back, her eyes closed.

"Ow!" she heard a voice say.

Sage leaned forward and turned around. "…Who-" she didn't finish, as she was looking Quatre in the face. "Oh-it's you." She said coolly.

"Yeah.." he smiled shyly, avoiding her eyes.

"Do you like to garden?" She says softly, seeing he was really sorry, and noticing the garden gloves on his hands.

"It's just something I do to help pass the time. You know-almost like a hobby." He stood up and straightened, then went to sit down by her. With him so close by, Sage suddenly felt shy, although she didn't know why. Battering her feelings down, she pinched herself and said softly:

" Why am I here?"

" The enemy has gotten out of hand-and as much as we hate to admit it, 5 Gundam Pilots just aren't enough. We need one more, and here you are!" he smiled shyly then.

"But why me? I've never piloted anything in my entire life…" Sage shook her head slowly. Quatre put his hand on her shoulder, and his touch was gentle. She felt herself go red.

"Because of the skills and abilities you have shown. Anyone can learn to pilot a 15-ton machine. Not everyone can do it right." Sage found herself looking into his eyes, and wondering at how blue they were. They didn't talk anymore, just gardened together, and Quatre showed her how to take care of the roses and other flowers. They didn't hear the footsteps behind them.

In his soft, dangerous voice Heero spoke. "I'm glad you two are having fun." As Sage and Quatre turned, Sage was amazed to see disdain in Heero's eyes for her. "But it's time now for Ms. Bennington to show us her stuff."

Sage trembled a little bit, but Quatre's hand on her shoulder steadied her.

"All right then.." she followed Heero out, glancing back at Quatre, who gave her a grin and a thumbs up.

Heero led her to a door that had the sign THE TEST ROOM on it. Sage felt sort of like a lab rat, but she didn't know why. As she walked in after Heero, her heart stopped at all the enormous equipment.

"Y-You can fit all of that in here??" As her eyes went wide, Heero smirked, but didn't say anything. Her first test was to be on a simulator. Sage clambered in, and pressed a button, where Heero's face appeared on her window/screen.

"Welcome to the Gundam simulator. Here you will develop your Gundam operating skills, Then hone them against the other pilots. I'll start you off with a computer for an opponent." Sage saw his image click out, and she found herself in what looked to be a desert wasteland. Suddenly she felt the simulator shudder, and whirled her "Gundam" about to face whatever had hit her. She saw a flash of light, and then thought a moment, turned, shot off in the complete other direction, and saw a large explosion.

"Winner is Sage Bennington," said the computer.

"YES!" Sage yelled, silently doing a victory dance. Heero's face appeared on her screen, slightly baffled looking.

"…How…?" he shrugged it off and his usual expressionless expression returned. "Very good. Now here's Duo." He smirked softly and disappeared again.

Sage saw Duo's face flash on screen in a silly grin before she felt a harder shudder that almost threw her into the screen. Unconsciously, she unsheathed her Gundam's sword, and ran at The Deathscythe with amazing speed. As Duo cut to her front she skid to the right, disappeared, and reappeared behind him, where she sliced right through the top of his Gundam. And so it went. After several hours, Sage had beaten everyone in the book, but Heero still wasn't satisfied.

"Let's try you in the G-force machine." Sage saw Quatre's eyes widen, and his hands clench tightly, and she knew this wasn't going to be as easy as the simulator had been. She clambered into the cockpit, strapped herself in, and Heero pressed a button. The machine whirled around, faster and faster. As it reached the mach one point, Sage's vision began to faze.

"Heero-It's at the highest setting. Shouldn't she have passed the test yet?" asked Duo, with a slight hint of fear in his voice.

But Heero wasn't listening. Not a word escaped him as he sat back to watch.

"Heero?!?!?" Duo cursed under his breath, but there was nothing he could do.

Sage shuddered.. She felt awful, not sick, but like she was about to die.. All of her body was screaming for help, and the pain was unbearable. She fainted.