Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Masquerade ❯ Chapter Thirteen ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

They docked in at the base's airstrip. No one was waiting for them, but Sage didn't care. Even though the original shock was over, she was now in a deep blue funk. She wasn't eating, wasn't talking. Limp and listless, she had gone a deathly shade of white and her clothes hung on her.

Duo helped her down from the craft, she nodded a small thank you and weakly stood at full height. Her eyes were glassy and dull, Her hair fell limp and bedraggled about her shoulders. She was not the same, and she never would be again. She gathered her wits about her and walked into the base. Her first stop was Heero's room. She flipped open the door, walked boldly to his desk, and slammed down the crumpled Mission sheet. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Here. Mission complete." She turned and walked out. Halfway to her room, she changed her mind and went to the sitting room instead. With a deep sigh she buried herself in her chair. She was cold. But her body was beyond feeling. There was nothing she wanted more than death right then. She heard the door open and shut, and she felt somebody's arms close around her. She looked up into Quatre's eyes.

Sage shivered and wrapped her arms around his neck. He picked her up easily and took her to her room.

"Sage-don't do this to yourself. You are worth so much to everyone here.." He said softly as he brought the covers up to her chin. "You did great out there. Your family would probably want to remember you as a war heroine. Not as a corpse. Honor their memory Sage… Do it for me!" He brushed her bangs back from her face, then sighed and stood to leave. He turned off the lights with one last look at her, then walked out and shut the door gently.

The next morning Sage nibbled at her breakfast. At lunch she ate half, and by dinner she was eating full portions. The color was already returning to her cheeks. The thing was, she still wasn't speaking. Neither of the pilots could prod her to say anything, and eventually they gave up.

"She just has nothing to say!" Remarked Quatre one afternoon.

"…Thank Nataku." Said a sullen Wufei. This comment was answered with a smart swat to the head, courtesy of Duo. Wufei snarled and jerked a gun on him.

"Don't start Maxwell." Duo shrugged and sunk back into his chair.

Everything fell to a silence as Sage entered the room. No smile reached her lips; her eyes were dull and broken looking. Duo and Quatre shot up to offer her a seat. She took her own chair, sighing softly as she unfolded her laptop and began to work on her report. The Instant Messaging screen popped up. It was Quatre.

SandrockO4: Hi.

Sage said nothing. She didn't feel like playing. War was business, and she was just another tool to be used, broken, and thrown away.

Sandrock04: Everyone's really worried about you, Sage.

Nightshade: I don't give a damn.

Sandrock04: Don't say that! Of course you do!

Nightshade: I don't. I don't give a damn about anything anymore. So if you don't mind, I'm going to just shut this off and keep working on my mission report.

Sandrock04: Sage-I love you…Don't be this way!

Sage snapped her eyes up at Quatre in alarm and saw that this was true. With a final click, she closed the Instant Message and logged off, still shaking slightly. She sunk back into her chair where she could see no one and no one could see her. What she really needed was another mission, but she had just had one. Sage snapped her laptop shut and stood. Without a glance at anybody, the only female Gundam pilot in the world went to her comfort and consolation, in the form of Epyon.

The repairs on it had gone well. Nothing major as she had found out, just a couple of minor cuts and scrapes here and there. She climbed slowly into the cockpit to brood. So Duo loved her. And Quatre too. Some luck she was having. She thought she loved Quatre, but half of her was crying out to keep her mind on her work. Suddenly, an image flashed in her mind.

She was desolate and alone, in the ruins of a building. It was beginning to rain, and even through this dream Sage felt it and shuddered with cold. Subconsciously, she started sifting through the ashes without knowing what she was looking for. Whatever it was, it wasn't in the pile she was looking so feverishly in now. She ran through the wreck to another-bigger-pile. Her hand touched flesh. She began to dig deeper, more furiously. A small cry escaped her as she lifted the body out of the debris. She held it close to her, and her heart felt the pang of loss…

Sage shook her head. She hadn't dozed off-had she? She checked her watch. Still the exact same time as when she had last checked, 4:25 P.M. Without thinking about it, she strapped in and the cockpit door came down. The computers beeped a greeting to her as they flew to life, and Sage lovingly patted the controls. She eased Epyon into its jet form and took off into the sky.

Sage felt like she was flying. Epyon responded readily to her demands, looping and swerving with the grace of a bird. She shrugged and set it on autopilot, coordinates somewhere on a remote island in the Pacific. She could use a little sun. Cooped up in that base all day long… She flicked on the stealth shield, and Epyon's rocket boosters silenced and backfired quickly once or twice, creating a small cloud around them. It moved leisurely with the other clouds in the sky, letting off wisps of smoke.

"Captain-take a look at this." The OZ soldier beckoned to his commander and pointed to something on his radar. "In that cloud-see it? It looks like a jet, but it's too bulky to be one."

His Captain squinted at the screen.

"Zoom in on it." The soldier obliged. The zoom clearly showed that Epyon was a Gundam.

"A Gundam, sir! And it's The Epyon!"

"Bring it down. I want to see if its pilot has any information that might be useful to us."

Sage groaned as the alert system started to beep. What now???

She felt a shudder course through her Gundam. Sage sat at attention, and did a full system check.

Nothing. That was…well, interesting… Then she felt herself losing altitude.

Epyon crash-landed in the shallows of a beach. With her last bit of strength Sage unlocked the cockpit and got out, trying to stand so she could run. Damn! Why did I do this? I'm such an idiot.. Anyone can see a giant mobile suit just flying around in the sky..

Then everything went black as she was hit over the head with something.

"A girl!"

"What was she doing piloting the Epyon?"

"Dunno-but she must really be something."

These were the words Sage awoke to. She was tied to a wooden chair in a bare, dark room. Captured.