It was the third year in the Academy. Zechs and Noin were the senior cadets. They were the most outstanding students in the school because both were good at combating skills and strategies. The instructors were pleased with their performances and they both gained the respect from all other cadets. However, none of them had true friends in the Academy. Zechs was less cold towards Noin, but he was still reserved. Noin did not want to push him, so she decided to wait until Zechs realized the friendship and support given by her. Actually, Zechs felt that all, she was so steady and stable, but she was not the one who he could rely on. She could never understand him.
One afternoon in the end of the first term, there was a special announcement to all the third year cadets. They were all called to report to the underground base of the Academy. When they all gathered there, they were told that the afternoon practice and lessons were cancelled. They had a mission. There was a rebellion force at around two hundred kilometres away form the Academy. Intelligence reviewed that it might plan to attack the Academy with other rebellion forces, which would arrive one week later together. Due to special reasons, military agency OZ was not able to send a team to eliminate the rebellion force, so it was decided that the senior cadets would finish the mission. “This is not a game, this is not a practice. This is a war, a mission to be finished. Your mission is to eliminate the force before its alliance come.” The instructor commanded solemnly. The rest of the afternoon was spent on different meetings of explaining and analyzing the strength of the rebellion force, checking weapons and mobile suits, groupings and making up different fighting strategies. Not even one cadet was allowed to leave the underground base. The whole mission must be confidential. Noin and Zechs were assigned to different groups. All people were busy and there were no private conversations heard in the base. Every mobile suit and weapon was checked once again and also the strategy was reviewed. All cadets rested in the underground base and prepared for the mission.
Next morning at four o’clock, the cadets left the Academy. They were transported by a carrier plane with their mobile suits. After an hour, they were dropped to a wood and prepared to eliminate the rebellion force. They planned to attack it from two points. There were one hundred and six cadets in total with three instructors. They piloted their mobile suits to the meeting places located about four hundred metres away from the base of the rebellion force. They were hidden by the thick layers of canopy and brushes. They stood still to wait for the order to attack. Some of them were busy tuning their radios and hop to catch the messages sent by the rebellion force. They waited for two hours and when the instructors shouted through the communication system, “Attack!” All the engines were started and the cadets pushed forward to the rebellion’s base. When they approached the base, they met the mobile suits, which were defending their base. However, they were too weak and were quickly destroyed. All things happened as expected and they finished the mission. The instructors then ordered the cadets to destroy the base. The cadets were in excitement when they received the order. They thought they had finished the mission and began to destroy the base wildly.
All of a sudden, when a team started to search inside a warehouse in the eastern side of the base, some mobile suits jumped out and attacked the cadets. Two of the cadets were killed instantly. Siren of the base was heard again and this time, there were about one hundred mobile suits coming out from different corners and the underground base. The mobile suits in the second-round attack were more advanced and better equipped. The situation was made worse when the cadets and instructors found out that those pilots were more skillful than them. The instructors ordered to retreat. However, the rebellion force wanted to destroy them. Every cadet tried their best to escape, but about one eighth of the cadets were shot down. The instructors were busy giving instructions to retreat, some of the scared, and escaped mindlessly. Noin was busy helping others to escape. She managed to destroy some mobile suits following them. However, she ran out of bullet and the only weapon she could use was the laser sword. She fought hard in order to help others to escape. As she fought on, she slowly realized that all soldiers were trained to kill. She was shocked by this idea, since she had never realized it before. She was slowly influenced by OZ, and she could not bear the thought of killing others without pity. While she was thinking about this, she was shot and her mobile suit was damaged. She had to get out of the mobile suit quickly before the mobile suit exploded. After she made sure the exit was cleared, she got out of her mobile suit and ran quickly, hoping to catch the instructors up. As she made her way to escape, she found that Zechs was lying on the floor bleeding and unconscious. He was in the group, which was the first to encounter the rebellion force in the second-round attack. There was no mobile suit near him, so he must too on the way for escape. There was debris of metal from mobile suit beside him, so Noin thought that he must be hit by the debris and knocked unconscious. Some soldiers from the rebellion force were ready to take him away. Without a second thought, Noin attacked the soldiers, desperately struggled to rescue her best friend. She was injured but she still managed to bring Zechs out of the rebellion base. However, all the surviving cadets were gone with the instructors. They were left behind, two hundred km south from the Academy. The nearest town was about one hundred km away.
“How could we go back?” thought Noin. They must first escape from the rebellion force unnoticed, then they could find a way out. As Noin carried Zechs to the woods, she quickly examined the surrounding environment. It was a typical tropical environment with a few bushes in the ground layer. She must find a place to hide first and also she must take care of the wounds of Zechs. She loaded him down, who was still unconscious, near a stream. Suddenly, one thing caught her notice.
When Zechs opened his eyes, he saw light rays gently fell on him through the leaves high up. “Where am I?” He thought. He could not figure out where he was, but at least he was not in prison. There was something wet on his forehead and on his arm. He raised his right arm and wanted to take that thing away, he was surprised that he was no in his mask. A calm voice was heard, “Don’t try to get rid of the ferns. Take a good rest and think of the punishment you’ll give me because I unveiled you.” Noin said with a smile. She seemed satisfied with the condition of Zechs. Then she gently felt his head, her fingers penetrated into Zechs’hair. “Just tell me if you feel pain.” She gently pressed against Zechs’ head with her fingers. She observed Zechs: he was OK. After the checking, Noin told Zechs that he had no broken bones and the wet mass of ferns was used to stop him bleeding. “Do you mean they are herbs?” Zechs asked. “Yes.” Noin simply answered. Then Noin briefed Zechs about their situation and the two quickly made plans to escape. But their hiding place was not a good one and they must go away quickly. At that moment, the sounds of machine guns were heard. They were alerted. They were not sure where the soldiers of the rebellion force were, but they must be somewhere near. Noin helped Zechs to go to another hiding place, which was behind bushes. That place seemed to be safer. The soldiers were just shouting a few feet away without noticing their presence. After ten minutes, the soldiers decided to go away.
At that very moment, a really big bird landed on the bushes near them. The soldiers were terrified and fired madly. Zechs quickly picked up two sticks and threw them away, distracting the soldiers. After the soldiers left, both of them were relieved. “Zechs, are you OK?” Noin asked, her voice was a little bit strange. “Yes, how about you? Besides, we have to move.” Zechs answered, looking directly at her. “Then we will move, but I can’t carry you anymore.” Noin’s voice was really strange. Zechs quickly searched Noin with his pair of piercing blue eyes. He found there was a small pond of blood near the thigh of Noin. “Can you walk?” Zechs asked with concern. Noin nodded and they began to move. But they had to stop after several steps. The blood was gushing from the wound. Zechs began to examine the wound. It was a typical wound caused by shooting. Luckily, the wound was not near artery, however he had to stop the bleeding once. Without a thought, he placed the ferns on his wounds onto Noin’s wound. “How do you know about this?” Zechs asked, hoping to get some answers from Noin. “Papa told me.’ Noin answered. “So it’s a kind of herbs.” Zechs said. “I’m going to get some more. Stay here.” He quickly left and found some more herbs near the stream. He pressed the herbs hardly against Noin’s wound. After half an hour, blood still gushed out from the wound and Noin seemed getting weaker. Sometimes, Noin even wanted to ‘fall asleep’. This was an alarm to Zechs. He asked Noin as many questions as possible. Noin’s face was getting paler, Zechs was very nervous because the herbs seemed not working. His hands were covered with blood. He observed Noin with concern. Sometimes, Noin would smile to him, trying hard to cease Zechs’ nervousness. She tried hard to think of the ways, which can help herself. But the exhaustion and loss of blood failed her. She wanted to help Zechs, knowing that he was as tired as her, but she could do nothing to help. Just when she wanted to ‘fall asleep’ again, she found that Zechs examined her face with great care and his eyes showed his concern. He was deeply worried, Noin was bleeding severely and he could do nothing but watch her getting weaker and weaker. “Tell me, Noin. What else did your father tell you?” Zechs asked seriously. Noin thought hard for awhile, at last she whispered, “Spider-web…papa once said that spider-web could heal wounds.” Without a second thought, Zechs prepared to leave. “Stay awake,” said Zechs gently, his voice was full of concern. “wait for me.” He patted her shoulder in a friendly and supporting way. “Zechs,” Noin called him with her weak voice, “the colourful spiders are very poisonous. Don’t…” She then received a gentle smile as a reply.
“I must get the spider-web as quickly as possible. Noin can’t wait anymore.” thought Zechs as he ran through the forest and observed the surroundings. Suddenly, he saw a huge spider hanging on its web. It was a big, colourful spider and, needless to say, it was very dangerous and deadly poisonous. “For the sake of Noin, I must get it.” Then he slowly climbed up the tree where the web was hanging on. He tapped the web gently with his knife. The spider then quickly crawled near Zechs, he quickly stabbed it. However, he did not expect the ‘shell’ of the spider was so hard. The knife slipped off from the spider and it was just a few centimeters away from Zechs. After realizing it was being attacked, it began to crawl even faster towards Zechs. This time, Zechs could not miss the chance anymore, he pinned the spider to the tree as hard as he could. “What a narrow escape!” he thought. He quickly collected the spider-web and searched for more. After searching for twenty minutes, Zechs returned. Noin weakly smiled, her bleeding slowed down a little bit. As Zechs put the mass of spider-web into her wounds to block it, Noin shivered. Zechs immediately took off his jacket and gave it to Noin. “Don’t sleep, my friend.” He said with a smile. Noin has never seen that kind of smile on Zechs’ face before. It was so warm and gentle, but she was really tired and against Zechs’ will, she slept.
Zechs observed Noin carefully, she was breathing smoothly and rhythmically. “She was fine.” thought Zechs. “We’ll start the journey again when she wakes up.” He looked closely at Noin, she was sleeping peacefully. She always had a peace of mind. He envied her. Noin wanted to be a soldier because she wanted to be a stronger person. How about him? He was burdened by revenge, hate, murder and also other responsibilities. The peace of mind left him long time ago. How could he envy her? They came from totally different world, she could never understand him. She was just a friend who risks her life to save him. Was that not important? He was confused.
When Noin woke up, it was ready the next morning. She could walk and so they started the journey back to Lake Victoria Academy. They hoped to get to the nearest town in two days and made a call back, but first they had to pass through the forest first. The first day passed without any excitement. They quietly walked and gathered some fruits to eat. On the way, Noin told Zechs which kind of plants was useful and what things they could eat. Zechs has never heard these before, and he eagerly learned it. On the second day, they gathered some plants to eat, Noin even caught a fish and so they set a small fire and cooked. Just as they finished the lunch, they heard footsteps again. They quickly hid themselves. It was a group of five soldiers passed by. They seemed in a good mood and were laughing and joking merrily. One of them said, “I wonder where the two little things are.” Of course, Zechs and Noin knew who were “the two little things”. “It’s the funniest joke ever, I can’t imagine why they sent cadets to attack.” One of them choked. “Thanks to Major Ford. He fooled the OZ.” “I must say he is a good spy.” Zechs and Noin looked at each other, they finally understand the reason why OZ sent them there. “You’re still reading that foolish book.” One of them exclaimed to another. “It’s good book full of jokes.” The other waved the book in the air. It was ‘The Ideal World’. “Don’t tell me you believe in the jokes written by the dead king of the Sanc Kingdom.” One of them laughed. Noin surely heard Zechs grinding his teeth. A soldier entered the conversation, “If you think they are jokes, you’ve already thought highly on them. To me, they were just loads of rubbish!” “Rubbish! Rubbish!” the other echoed gaily. Zechs was about to move, Noin saw the sparks of anger in his blue eyes. Noin held him from behind, he was in the midst of anger and he wanted to go out. Noin quickly stopped him, he was surprised. After the soldiers went away, Noin asked, “What’s happening, Zechs?” Zechs was silent and did not have any eye contact with Noin. Several seconds later, Zechs slowly began, “They should not make jokes on the dead king.” His voice was hollow-like. “They shouldn’t tease at somebody who cannot fight back.” He was not wearing his mask; Noin could clearly see his empty and lost look. Still standing closely beside him, Noin softly said, “I understand.” and she wanted to pat his back. She never expected the act by Zechs followed. The anger came back to Zechs, he pushed her hand away. The force was so strong that Noin, unprepared for that, fell down. At the same time, Zechs said quietly but angrily, “Don’t pretend to understand me. Do you have your father died before you own eyes?” Noin was quite shocked, but she recovered almost immediately. She looked at him and said, “I’m going to find some food. Stay here.” She left without looking at him.
“Do you have your father died before your own eyes?” the questions echoed inside Noin’s head. Actually, when she thought of the herbs and the spider-webs, she has already thought of her father. Her dear papa, the avalanche, K2 and many other things came back to her mind all at once. She could never forget the faces when she examined the bodies of her father’s friends. It was still too painful for her to remember and she needed a good walk to calm her down. On the other hand, Zechs regretted deeply on what he had done and said to Noin. “How come I hit her at that time? She risked her life to save me. Such a trust-worthy friend she is. When she started saying something encouraging and supportive, I got outraged.” He thought. He usually could control his emotion on ‘that incident’ before other people, but why he couldn’t do this for Noin. When Noin first saw his face, he became cold and reserved. And then, when someone was talking about the dead king, he was mad at her again. “It’s not fair.” Thought Zechs. He smiled bitterly; fate never played a fair trick on him… why?
Noin returned with some fruits and water, she plainly said, “Here are some fruits. Sorry for what I have just said. You’re right.” She paused with a bitter smile. “I never saw papa died before me, he just never returned.” Her eyes showed the pain she felt, it never ceased, and they came back again. Zechs did not know what to say; he did not expect such answers. “But at least, he died happily.” She added. “Why?” Zechs asked. “Because papa can stay in his beloved mountain forever. Just like telling me, ‘Noin, this mountain was really beautiful place.’” Noin looked up high in the sky. “Noin, do you mean if one died because he had to defend his belief, he could die in peace with regret?” Zechs asked. Noin nodded without saying a word. Silence followed, none of them talked for the rest of the day.
Three days later, they reported back to the Academy. They told a general in a higher rank about what they heard in the woods. They were awarded for being outstanding and successfully finished the whole mission. They received a medal each. Since Zechs fully displayed his excellent mobile suit skills and also his daunting speed in this mission, he gained the reputation of ‘Lightning Baron’.
