Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Masquerade ❯ Chapter Nineteen ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter Nineteen

Sage yawned and threw on her clothes, grabbing a waffle from the kitchen and heading out to the hangar, following behind Heero.

They had been assigned a mission together, much to their dislike, and Heero showed it quite plainly, slamming doors in Sage's face and laughing.

"I'll show him…" She growled, flinging herself into Epyon's cockpit and quickly taking off behind the Wing Zero, both of the Gundams in jet form.

"Nightshade." Heero's face flashed up on her computer screen. Sage stuck her tongue out at him.

"What?" His eyes narrowed quite dangerously.

"Listen-there's an entire couple of squadrons out here, we need to wipe them all out. I suggest that we split up, as both squads are led by supreme commanders, and I believe one is led by a Gundam."

"Hmm. Well-I want the Gundam." He leered at her. Sage felt her blood boil.

"Atleast that gets rid of you, thank God." With that, he tore off in a complete separate direction, leaving Sage and Epyon alone.

She didn't have to wait long, in a flash she was surrounded by a squadron and a half, led by two Gundams. Sage remembered Heero's leer. He knew what was going on, the bastard! She blinked twice and recognized one of the pilots instantly as his face flashed up on screen.

"Ah-Miss Bennington. So nice to see you again, although under such circumstances…." He motioned towards the waiting mobile suits.

"Treize!" Sage froze suddenly, a cold chill running down her spine.

"Yes-That I am. Why do you pale so suddenly? Am I just another apparition? Let's see what you can do, my little flower." Sage snarled and danced backwards, out of their range.

"I'm not a little flower. And if I were, I would belong to no one!" He laughed, and Sage snarled again.

"Allright then, demon. Lets get this over with."

The other Gundam (An army general) charged at her swiftly, smiling self-consciously. Sage danced backwards again, now was not the time. When he became quite tired of her darting around, she flipped to his back and ran a long slash down through his Gundam's armor, dancing back again. Epyon was starting to lose power from its numerous cuts and slashes-not good. And she still had Treize and the squad to take care of! One more slash and the Gundam would be gone, and that was precisely what Sage did. Quick as a cobra, she darted in, darted out, and all was over-but Epyon's power gone. She heard the other pilots last command, and fear seized her.

"Fire at will!" Then the other Gundam erupted into a flash of light, and Sage saw myriads of beam cannons pointed at her and charged. Treize sprung to action.

"Hold your fire!" But it was too late. Sage had nowhere to go, no way to defend herself. She closed her eyes and waited for her inevitable death.

But death did not come. She saw the beams, she saw Treize's Gundam, and she saw him dive in front and catch the beams instead of her. Sage screamed.

"NOOO!" She darted quickly back, the flash and noise deafening. Tears ripped from her eyes as Epyon was flung backwards, and then it was over. The silence was too loud for her to hear, and she watched Heero come in and destroy the rest of the suits quickly, efficiently, and in her eyes, heartlessly.

"You spend too much time darting-need to get in there, finish the job and leave." He said in a bored tone. Sage did not cry, just nodded wordlessly and followed him back to Earth.

No tears were shed as she collapsed onto her bed in the base and thought.

"I hate being a girl." Was the rash statement she gave, and that was all. No sorrow-no regret. "One of their commanders is gone-maybe the war will be over soon. There is to be one final battle, I'm guessing, and then peace." She sighed. The word seemed so far off-so unattainable. And yet…

She stood. Dr. J would want a mission report, and she hadn't had lunch yet. Sage opened her laptop and started typing.

**Later that night**

It was Sage's turn to cook for the week.

"Honestly-I stink at cooking guys." She made a face.

"Have you burned anything yet?" Duo asked, watching her.

"…No."

"Then you're good enough for me!" Sage grinned and threw a plastic spoon at him. At that precise moment Trowa and Wufei walked in.

"Smells good-what are you making?" Trowa leaned over her shoulder. She batted him away.

"Nothing-sit down!" He smiled slightly and sat down in his place. Wufei didn't even greet Sage, and she snorted. Neither Quatre nor Heero came. Sage finished and untied her apron, setting the plates on the table, covering two for the missing pilots.

"I'm going to go give these to Quatre and Heero…" Everyone nodded and waved her off. Sage left-suppressing a smile.

Duo looked around to make sure she was gone.

"Dang-this is good! She's a better cook than Trowa and Wufei combined!" Wufei glowered slightly, and Trowa just smiled leisurely.

Sage knocked on Heero's door, and not receiving an answer, opened it and went in. Heero was typing something out.

"You're welcome." She said, setting his plate with a slight clatter on his desk, whirling around and walking out. She thought she heard him faintly chuckle-but she wasn't sure. Quatre's room was her next stop-she knocked.

"Come in-it's open!" Sage smiled and opened. Quatre lowered what looked like glasses so he could see her. He grinned.

"I brought you dinner." She set the plate down.

"You're an angel."

She shrugged, folding her hands and sitting on his bed.

"What are you doing?" Quatre rolled his eyes and held up a letter.

"Writing letters to people-for After."

"Yeah-After." She knew what he meant, The After that would follow the war.

"A couple of my advisors are urging me to finish business school-I have a large corporation to take care of." He watched her carefully for a reaction. She didn't flinch.

"Oh." Was all she said.

"What about you, Sage? What are you going to do with yourself?"

"I don't know-I guess finish college, then after that…" She trailed off.

"Why don't you come with me?" Sage's head shot up. Quatre looked a little excited. "We can finish college together-then you could come with me…" She knew what he meant.

"Married, Kataru?" He nodded slightly, eyes soft and affectionate.

"Just think of it Sage-we could be so happy!" She winced.

"Quatre… I don't know. I just don't know. For all we know, the war might go on for three more years! Oh Quatre…I don't think I could." She sighed harshly. Quatre took her hands in his, moving over to sit by her.

"I'm not going to rush you."

"I know." He kissed her on the forehead, and she bit her lip to keep from crying.

"Why me? There are billions of other girls out there like me… Walk, talk, look like me. And yet you chose…me."

"No Sage-you're one of a kind." She looked down at her feet, hand closing over his slightly.

"You've got some letters to finish." She stated, gently.

"Yeah. I think you've got a mission report to file." Sage's heart was ripping in two, the insult was more than she could bear. She stood and he stood with her, looking into her eyes. He let go of her hands, sighing as he looked back down at the letters. Sage left.