It was not a pleasant surprise for everyone to find out that Noin had left. “Where is she?” Sally asked a young officer. “I don’t know.” the young officer replied. “But she seemed to leave in a hurry.” “She left without saying goodbye to us!” Duo yelled, he was really bored and at last he found a good reason for him to yell. “Noin probably told Lady Une where she will go.” Zechs said. Later they knew that Noin went to San Juan in South America. They did not know why she was going there, but it was sure that she was needed there urgently. The four pilots were going back home, with Wufei missing after the war almost immediately. Since many bases for space shuttle were damaged or destroyed in the war, the only base they could go was a military base on an artificial island, I22, two thousand kilometres away west from South American coast. Sally Po had something to do on that island, Zechs and Relena wanted to go with them, so seven people were heading for I22. They took a light carrier plane with some cargoes inside.
The plane was about to fly across the Andes. As the pilot prepared to rise the plane to a new height, he received a message. He frowned and answered, “This is not a civilian plane. Roger.” After awhile, he said, “I understand, but we can’t agree with this.” Three minutes later, he said, “OK! But don’t expect too much.” The pilot then asked another pilot to control the plane and went to the cabin. “We received a call for help from the ground.” The pilot paused to wait for everyone’s attention. “The man over the system said there were about six hundred refugees in a camp and about one hundred of them need to be sent to the hospital and also…” Zechs asked sharply, “So they want to use this carrier?” The pilot hesitated and answered. “Yes.” “How many people can this plane carry?” Relena asked. Towa said, About one hundred to one hundred and ten people, since all the things have been loaded down already.” “Relena, it’s not safe.” Zechs plainly suggested. Sally ordered, “Pilot, ask for a more detailed information.” So the pilot came back with the details: The local conflicts have destroyed the homes of the civilians. About ten thousand civilians were driven to the Andes for shelter as refugees. They scattered around in different places and were isolated form the outside world. Since the weather turned worse suddenly and it was expected to have stormy weathers for days. A group of rescuers hoped to help all the refugees to get down the mountains, only to find that many of them were sick and injured. There were about six hundred people found at that time, but they expected to find about two thousand people at that site. Due to the limitations of the resources, they could not afford to have planes to take those people away, so they asked for help from the plane passed by. “We have to help them.” Relena said and the others agree.
The plane landed on an open area. When they got off the plane, they immediately asked the rescuers to ask the local government to help. The person-in-charge smiled bitterly, “Miss Relena, the local government is not working.” They looked out, the weather became colder and colder and there were so many people out there. “How many people are still in the mountains?” Quatre asked. “About one thousand and five hundred people.” Although the person-in-charge did not want them to help, after a brief discussion, Zechs would be responsible for asking for Preventers’ help; Sally, Quatre and Relena would help to take care of the patients; Heero, Trowa and Duo would go up to the mountains to help. “Thanks, everybody. We haven’t expected to have you on the plane and to help us.” The rescuer thanked them from his heart. At first, they all found the job difficult, all the apparatus there were rather old-fashioned. Sally found that there were not enough doctors and medicine. For the people in the mountain, they found the place was too large to search and they did not really used to hike in the wild. For Zechs, it was difficult to organize planes and coaches to come and help them, since everyone was busy at their own business.
Quatre stamped on the snow heavily. It was his third time to walk on the snow but it was the longest time he spent on snow. A little girl told him that her doll was left somewhere on the slope. Quatre promised to help her to find it. He looked carefully everywhere. The ground was white since it was covered with snow, and it was hard to find a doll with naked eyes. As he walked, he found a pale blue thing lying near a bark. He was glad to find it at last and went there to pick the doll up. Since he had little experience on walking on snowy ground, he took a wrong step and fell down. He lost his balance and rolled down slope. After two to three metres of rolling, he finally stopped and knocked unconscious by a tree. It would be fatal for him if he laid there for too long. Luckily, a rescuer happened to pass by. “Why are you here, Quatre?” the rescuer asked. She quickly carried him down to the medical centre.
It was the third day for them to Sally, Zechs, Relena and the four pilots to stay in the camp. The evacuation process was going well. They have found one thousand nine hundred and fifty seven people. Some of them were healthy, but many of them were either sick or injured. There were carrier planes and coaches to transport them away. Everything seemed fine and finally everybody could take a rest. It was a relief that they successfully evacuated all refugees before the severe storm developed. A rescuer named Alfred and a doctor called Dora were with them. They have packed all the things and after that, Alfred said, “Let’s go before it’s too late.” Dora looked sad. “What’s the matter?” Quatre asked. Dora sighed and took her bag, walking towards the last plane. “Is someone missing?” Trowa asked with looking at anyone. Alfred finally said, “There were five team members missing. But we have to leave now. It’s dangerous for you to stay here.” “How dangerous is it?” Heero calmly asked, checking the weather at the same time. “We’ll run into trouble if we don’t leave now.” Alfred carefully answered. Duo looked at everyone, “We always run into trouble. How about you?”
Noin shook the man lying on the ground. “Sir, are you OK?” No answer. “Sir,” she slapped him. “Wake up!” she quickly examined the body. The breathing was weak and there was still pulses felt. The man was annoyed when he found that he was being examined by a stranger. “Get up! Sir.” Noin helped him to sit up. “The storm is coming. Come with me!” She helped him to get down the slope. Suddenly the earth shook, the land collapsed above them one hundred metres away. The man screamed, “Avalanche! Avalanche!” He tried to escape, but in a wrong direction. “Come here!” Noin tried to grasp him. But he was too panic and struggled to free himself. It was too late the wave of snow swept past them. Noin found herself rolling down slope alone. She quickly got to her feet when the situation was more stable. No one was near her. She whistled hard, but there was no answer. She looked for the time, it has passed the meeting time. Her team members have probably gone. “I’ll find a sheltered place and wait for the help.” The wind was blowing harder and harder, and the snow fell as heavy rain. Noin couldn’t open her eyes, she tried to walk faster but her legs were sore and limp. She was tired and hungry and she had no food and water with her. As she walked, she noticed something red moving. “What’s that?” she was glad that there was some stimulations for her. She jogged there and blew her whistle. She heard a weak whistle. Overwhelmed, she ran to the red thing. “Victor!” she cried, hoping to get his attention. Victor turned his head to look up, he smiled. Noin was surprised when she saw his face although she did not show it: some of it was covered with blood; his eyes were deep and nearly without focus; his face was pale and the lips were dark. “Victor, is everything all right?” she carefully examined him and blocked the wind which blew against him. “It’s not good.” Noin thought. “He seems to have some damages on his ribs and he had broken legs. I can’t move him.” Noin smiled and said, “It’s OK, Victor. You’re fine. I’ll carry you to a sheltered place first.” With some difficulties, she lifted him up on her back and began to walk to the nearest shelter. The snow was so soft that she hardly kept her balance. “He’s much heavier than Zechs. No, concentrate.” she demanded herself, dismissed the thought of her best friend.
“I’ve never experienced this kind of storm.” said Duo, looking out from the frozen window. The snow has splashed on the windows for six hours already and there was no sign of fine weather. Room temperature has dropped further, it was a comfort that they still had enough clothes and food. Alfred constantly checked the wind speed and the communication system, hoping his teammates would call back. “Do you think they are safe?” Sally asked. “I don’t know. We know nothing about them.” Alfred sadly answered. Suddenly, everyone was silent and stared at the surrounding. The hut was shaking. Alfred quickly checked the maps. “Pack your things, we have to act fast.” Alfred urged them. They quickly got out of the hut. “Stay close together.” he shouted. It was really amazing that they felt they were blown up by the wind. Everyone had to fight against the roaring wind. The roof of the hut was torn out. Finally they managed to get on a plane. Their destination was another house 5km away.
Noin took a half-day rest under a shelter in the mountain with Victor. Actually she was busy all time. She went out to pick some dry barks, hoping to start a fire. Since the temperature was too low and the wind was too strong, no matter how hard she tried, she still could not set up a small fire. Besides, she had to repair the shelter all the time, which was a roof originally, and took care of Victor. None of these were successful. The worse thing was that Victor began to cough blood out. “I’ll carry you down.” Noin told Victor, knowing he needed immediate medical attention. Although Victor disagreed, he was being lifted up by Noin again.
This was a long, long journey. Noin was carrying a man who was much heavier and taller than her, walking with difficulties down slope. She had to be careful, not to injure him further. Her legs were burning, luckily she still had a clear mind. She took the fastest route back to the camp, hoping to use communication system there to ask for help. This would take her about ten hours from their shelter to the camp in normal days. But then in the stormy weather, this would take about twenty to thirty hours. She put the map in one pocket, the whistle back around her neck and reduced the amount of stuff she had to carry. She checked the clothing and condition of Victor for the final time. “You’ll be fine.” This was a long journey for Noin, demanding highly both mentally and physically. She kept demanding herself to concentrate on the route and stay awake. She felt as if there was vinegar flowing inside her legs. She tried to do the walking rhythmically, so as to make it more comfortable for her and Victor, and also save some energy. She tried to talk to Victor as much as possible and not lower him down because she knew that it would bring him pain if she did it often. At first, Victor answered her shortly after she asked him questions, but after fifteen hours he responded much slower and sometimes he even fell unconscious. She chose to walk at night in order to get there faster. The winds seemed opposing her idea, they howled and slapped her as hard as they could at night. Noin was in an open area, the only thing she could do was to keep walking. The night passed like a bad dream. At noon they finally reached the hut.
No hut was waiting for them. That thing was a ruin. Noin fell to her knees. For the last thirty hours, the hut symbolized hope for her. She regained her reasons, demanding herself to be calm again and searched for the communication system. It was broken in the storm. Noin made Victor lay comfortably on the ground, she tried to repair the machine. “Noin,” Victor’s voice was barely audible. “there was another…hut five kilometres east from here…Leave me…go…help” Noin looked at him, blood quietly made its way from his mouth. His lips were as pale as his face and his breath was shallow. How about Noin? She had a mild headache and sore legs. She began to feel the pain in her knees and ankles and her muscles were stiffened. She would not have the energy to go back and get him to there again nor Victor could stay alive in the storm alone and took care of himself. She has made up her mind. Once again, she lifted up Victor on her back and walked, heading towards the house far away.
They have been in the new place for a day. They had nothing to do except waiting for a good weather. Still, the winds roared as if they had to fill every silent part of the environment. The winds slapped the door heavily. Alfred seemed to listen to the sound very carefully. Suddenly, he asked, “Doc, where’s the first aid kit?” Before anyone could respond, he shouted, “Whoever you’re, step back!” Then he swung the door open, there were two people in rescuer’s clothes standing, one was carrying the other. Both were masked. “Come in.” Alfred helped them to get in. Before he knew what he was saying, Zechs asked, “Noin?” Then they heard, “Victor, broken legs, maybe broken ribs with internal bleeding.” A familiar female voice came out from the rescuer who was lowering down her companion. “When did he became unconscious?” Dr. Dora asked as she examined Victor. “About… two, no three hours ago.” Alfred quickly helped Noin to take her stuff away as Sally helped Dora to take care of Victor. Victor was sent to an inner room. It was the first time Noin had taken a real look at the surroundings. “Why are you here?” she asked, looking at Zechs, then her eyes slowly searched for another person, “Quatre, you look well.” “Well done, Noin. Have a hot chocolate.” Alfred said warmly. Noin reached out her hand, but the image blurred. Things got darker and darker. Alfred shouted, “Look at me, Noin! Look at me!” She tried but failed. She collapsed and became unconscious. Zechs jumped up to help, loosening the coat while Alfred was checking her pulse. “Doc, I can’t feel her pulses.” The door of the inner room was swung open. Sally and Dora quickly took Noin in. Zechs was nervous, he has never seen Noin like that. As she came into the house, he recognized his best friend’s eyes immediately, they were flashing like stars in the sky. Suddenly, she became unconscious. “How is she?” he thought. He sat near the door, hoping to get some more information. He twisted and played with his fingers nervously. “Milliando,” Relena said softly in front of him and looked at him tenderly. “she’ll be all right.” “Yes, she will.” Zechs answered. “She’ll be all right. She always will.” he thought. So he was less nervous. The door was opened again. “Alfred, can we reach the hospital in two days’ time?” Dora asked. “How’s she?” Zechs asked. “She’s fine, but she may have a broken leg.” the doctor patiently answered. Zechs prepared to go into the room, “Can I come in?” Dora politely refused, saying that others might bring germs into the room. They might suffer from pneumonia since the two were so weak.
Finally, the weather got better after forty hours and they rushed to get Noin and Victor into the hospital. The others were sent to have medical check-ups too, despite their health conditions were good. Next morning, Zechs visited Noin, but she was still sleeping. The doctor has injected some medicines into her body to let her rest more. There were cracks on her leg bones caused by the extreme fatigue; the other parts of her body were all right. Although she was very tired, she looked healthy. Her breathing was rhythmic and her face was not pale anymore. Zechs found himself observing her face. When he was a cadet, he heard that Noin was a beautiful girl, he never paid attention to that comment. Noin’s beauty came from the power and gentleness expressed on her face. Nurses came and Zechs had to go.
They were invited to a party a few days later. It was a party for everyone. They all went to the party. It was really different from the parties they had before. It was just a party with a boon fire and loads of food and drinks. No one was in his or her best clothes and no formalities were found there. When they arrived, they saw Noin there. She was hanging around with a group of rescuers. Besides her, there was a man with dark hair like her and also with slightly brown skin like her. He was just a little bit taller and stronger than she was and with a strong jaw. He was holding Noin’s arm. When Noin saw them, she and that man walked towards them. “Noin, you’ve recovered so quickly.” Sally exclaimed, she was really glad to see Noin there. “We’ve asked the permission from the doctor.” said Noin, looking at the man beside her. “This is Mario, he was like a brother to me when I was a child. He was also one of the mountaineers here.” said Noin, introducing her companion. Mario was surprised when he heard Zechs’ name. “Zechs? Six?” he asked. Someone played the accordion and everyone got up to dance. It was a traditional folk dance from Northern Europe. Noin laughed and invited Zechs to join. At first, Zechs could not dance, but little by little, he remembered. They spent a happy night together. They both smiled a lot.
