When Zechs was walking to Lady Une’s office, he thought of the conversation again: “Noin, will you be a mountaineer or a preventer?” Zechs asked when Noin prepared to leave the hospital. Noin said without hesitation, “Of course, I’ll be a preventer.” in her straightforward way. Zechs smiled, she was a preventer again. “Shall I call you Zechs or Milliando?” Noin asked as they left the hospital. She noticed his eyes were darkened. “Zechs, call me Zechs.” he said dryly. “I’ll be Zechs until I repay my sins.” he thought. As he arrived, he found Noin was waiting outside. They went into the office together. There would be a new project in Mars, the “Terracing Project” and Lady Une wanted them to be in charge of it. They agreed and began to study the whole project.
As they were studying the map, Zechs said light-heartedly, “Will you climb Mt. Olympus?” Noin smiled. They were really glad that they were partners for they knew they were the best partners for each other. At first, Zechs was not sure whether Noin should go with him, because that would be a hard job. But Noin insisted that she would go, so they went to Mars together. Noin looked at Zechs, she knew that would be a hard job and she was the most suitable person to help him. Also, she noticed his expression when he told her to call him Zechs. He was still haunted by his past. As his friend, she had to help him. As they arrived at Mars, they looked at the desert and the red soil from their helmets. “It’s beautiful.” Exclaimed Noin. “This is the place we are staying and working on.”
It was a difficult project. They had few resources and not everyone was willing to help. They had to go and meet different people and negotiated with them. Most of the time, Preventer Wind would be responsible for all the negotiations and meetings, while Preventer Fire would be responsible for monitoring the process and materials. Their cooperation was so great that apart from running the project smoothly, they made everyone feel comfortable when they were working with them in the project. They both had to travel a lot, usually Preventer Wind toured around different colonies and Earth to ask for some experts to come and help and asked for funding and sponsorship from the Preventers and other organizations. Years of training in politics and manners helped him a lot. Sometimes, he even found he was a good diplomat. As for Noin, she was the head of all workshops and she had to monitor the process, writing reports, evaluations and sometimes proposals. Initially, she was not accustomed to those things, later as she learned from experiences, she became better and better. Lady Une was pleased with their work.
Due to the heavy workloads, they did not have holidays. They were workers working in shifts for twenty four hours and so they often worked days and nights. But sometimes, they could find some time to talk to each other, like in the old days in the Academy. Usually Noin would talk more because Zechs thought he had enough talking during working hours. Although he talked more than before, he found himself unable to express his feelings. So he treasured the time talking with Noin, telling her about all his dreams at night, the things he encountered and many other things, Noin was a good listener. Sometimes she would commend on the things but most of the time, she just showed encouraging smiles and let him talk. Noin felt sorry when she heard that Zechs still had nightmares of his bloody past: the murder of his parents and the killings in the battlefield. Sometimes, she felt helpless because she could not help him.
By the end of the second year, a new assistant came. Her name was Matilda. She was a charming girl who was two years younger than them. She has blonde hair and a pair of green eyes and was very good looking. She has two years of experiences working on Earth as a trainee and her performances there were excellent. Lady Une sent her there hoping that she could help Wind and Fire by sharing some paper work. She was really smart, three days after her arrival, she could already take up her duties and work efficiently. Both Wind and Fire were satisfied with her performances. Also, her outgoing character also brought some joy and fun to them when they were working. She really helped them a lot. Two months later, an unexpected thing happened. One of the sponsoring corporations refused to participate in the project anymore. That would cost a lot to the project. So Wind and Matilda immediately set out to have meeting with the company.
After a month of negotiations, the issue has finally settled down. They came back, bring good news to everyone. That night, Noin heard someone knocking her door. It was Matilda. She lived in the same block with her. “Do you mind talking with me for a moment?” She asked timidly. “Of course, come in.” Noin said with a welcoming smile. Matilda sat down and asked quite nervously, “Do you mind answering me a few questions about Preventer Wind? I’ve heard that you were the best friend of each other.” Noin was surprised. “Is he serious person?” she asked. “I’d say he’s a serious person when he’s working but a good companion in leisure times.” Noin answered smilingly. They continued to talk about him for an hour. Matilda was interested in his personality and little things, Noin answered her as best as she could, but sometimes could not help thinking they were gossiping about Zechs, which was not a good thing to do. “He’s such a gentleman and so agreeable.” this was Matilda’s last comment on Wind. Noin’s simply said, “I know him long enough to know this.” Matilda blushed a little before asking the last question, “Does he have a girl friend?” she even dared not look directly at Noin. Noin thought for a while, Zechs seemed so occupied by his duties. “No, I don’t think so.” Noin smiled and said. “Thanks very much.” Matilda was really satisfied with the answer.
Noin nearly forgot the conversation since there were tons of things for her to do the next day. The project was going well and maybe it could be finished by the end of the third year. “I think I may take a rest at that time.” she thought. She still kept contact with the mountaineers and one day, she received an email form them. She replied it immediately. A week later, another email came, she was so glad at the news and searched for the information in the computer. “Noin, it’s already nine o’clock.” said Zechs, leaning against the door. “Take a rest.” “Oh, it’s just some personal business.” Noin replied. “Then you don’t have time to have a drink with me.” Zechs said. “Yes, shy not.” Noin said as she shut off the computer. They went to Zechs’ apartment. “What do you think about Matilda?” Zechs raised this question suddenly in the midst of their conversation. Noin raised her eyebrows as she sipped in the hot tea. “What do you think about her?” he asked again. “Smart, amiable, loving, hardworking.” Noin threw out her thoughts freely. “She’s definitely amiable.” Zechs said with a smile. “And she’s certainly smart.” Noin added. She saw Zechs looking at her strangely. “Do you have something else to ask me?” Zechs did not answer. Noin thought for a while, then she laughed, “Zechs, she’s not a spy, I’m sure. She’ll bring you happiness, be nice to her.” Noin stayed for fifteen minutes more and left.
Everything in the project ran smoothly. All people were happy about this. Wind and Fire found that they had more leisure time at last. They were sure that the project could be finished by the end of the third year. Everyone was pleased with the progress. It would be possible for human to have more facilities on Mars then. The future was very promising. It was late at night about ten o’clock. Noin went to the greenhouse to have a walk. Usually, nobody would be there and she could enjoy a quiet long walk there. She looked at the stars from the glasses of the greenhouses. A quiet laughter was heard. “Is someone here?” she thought. She turned around a corner and saw a couple there. The couple was surprised to find somebody was there, too. “Noin!” a male voice was heard. Noin looked at the couple more carefully under the dim light. It was Zechs and Matilda, holding hands with each other. “Good evening, Matilda, Zechs.” Noin could only say these words, she was really surprised. Matilda blushed deeply and took a step to stand behind Zechs. “So, you have a walk here, too.” Zechs said, quite unnaturally. “Yes,” Noin said, feeling really embarrassed. “see you tomorrow. Good night.” She quickly turned away and walked home.
As she shut her door, she smiled. “Finally, Zechs got a girl friend.” she thought. She was happy about that. Someone could accompany him and comfort him besides her. It was good to have Matilda with him. She was outgoing and loving, she could surely free him from his nightmares. She did not experience the Eve War, that would do a lot of help to him. She had a purer soul and possibly she could help Zechs to start a new life with a carefree soul, as Noin hoped for years. She closed her eyes, and saw both the sad and lost look and the rarer smiling faces of Zechs. She smiled and prayed, “Bless him, angels in the heaven.” She thought. Suddenly, she felt something rolling down her eyes. It was wet. She picked up a mirror and saw tears running down her face. “What’s wrong with you, Noin?” she asked herself. She could not tell, she just felt the sadness raised from the deepest part of her heart. “You should be happy,” she murmured. “he now has a new chance to start a new life again. Isn’t it what you hoped for years?” She bit her lips and cursed herself. The more she wanted to suppress her sadness, the more it raised. Luckily, her tears have stopped flowing out. The phone rang. It was Lady Une. “Fire, there is an urgent situation in L4. Do you think you can leave for L4 the day after tomorrow?” “What’s the matter?” asked Fire, drying the last drop of her tears. “It’s an old military base in L4. There will be some investigations and repairing work. We need an experienced preventer there.” Lady Une briefed the situation. “I’ll go.” Fire answered directly.
The next day, she found a file on her desk about the coming mission. She quickly arranged the things, distributing the workloads and typed out a list of things. This kept her busy for the whole day. In the evening, Fire called Wind, “Wind, please come for a really short meeting.” Wind came, Fire spoke as shortly as possible, “Wind, I’m going for another urgent mission tomorrow. It’s so urgent that I had little time to talk to you about this.” “Tomorrow?” Wind was surprised. Ignoring him, Fire continued, “This is the list of things to be done. They’re just some minor follow-ups. And these are the people you can contact to monitor the progress.” Wind collected the paper. “I’ve also given a copy to Matilda. Thanks for helping, Wind.” Fire really had no time for more conversation. Wind noticed that and said goodbye and went away.
