The time it took to fall from the tree to the ground seemed very long to Noin, even though it lasted only a few seconds. She closed her eyes and wondered if she would survive. Well, if worse comes to worse, she thought in those few seconds, I'll be able to rejoin my family.

But instead of hitting the ground she hit something else. A person. Zechs. They both fell as she heard the sound of a pistol going off. Both of them lay on the cool damp earth for a moment, stunned. Noin knew at once that she wasn't hurt. Not badly, anyway. She could stand, and did. Zechs still lay on the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Zechs. Zechs? Are you all right? Oh, God..." her voice trailed off as she saw that his arm was twisted and obviously broken. In his hand he clutched a pistol, then same kind that Treize allowed them to carry around. Hers was in a drawer in her room, along with that Medal of Excellence. What was he doing out here by himself with a pistol? And what did he fire at?

He stirred and looked up at her. When he spoke his voice was furious, and she could see that his eyes, despite the partially obscuring mask, were as hard as ice. She took an involuntary step backwards.

"Why did you do that? Why did you stop me? You made me miss. I was supposed to die, damn it!"

Noin could not speak for a moment. Then she croaked lamely

"You were going to kill yourself?"

He didn't bother answering that. Instead he tried moving his right hand, and was rewarded with stabs of sharp, acute pain. He grimaced but did not cry out. Breathing raggedly, he got to his feet, still holding the pistol. Noin looked levelly at him.

"Why?"

"Why?" he repeated. With his left hand he took the pistol and aimed it at her. "Why not? I have no other choice." He said, more to himself than in response to her question. "Now go. By the time you return with the medics I'll be dead."

"No." Noin glared at him, purple eyes glittering with anger. "You're too dangerous to be left alone right now. How can think of committing such a selfish and reckless act? Next to taking another man's life, taking your own is the greatest sin of all! You don't have the right to decide when you die."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" he said savagely, swaying slightly but keeping the pistol aimed steadily at her. "You have no idea of the hell I've been living for nearly half my life! I've lost everything that has ever mattered to me and I tried telling myself it would get better. They would be avenged through me. But to do so I'd have to kill people and that is what they abhorred. I will not...become...what I hate..." His knees gave way and through the incredible waves of pain he saw Noin's expression change from righteous anger to sadness. She kneeled next to him and whispered

"I have lost everything too."

He looked at her to try to read her expression, to gauge whether she was lying to keep him from killing himself or if she was sincere. She wasn't looking at him though. She was staring at her clenched fists, head bowed.

"I have lost everything." She repeated, and then in a low voice she talked of her father and mother, and baby brother. How they lived together in the crowded apartment building. The late night fencing lessons on the roof. Why she wanted to go to outer space. The glass locket. The day the apartment building was destroyed. Looking in the ruins for them and not finding them. How she'd escaped from the orphanage and came to the Lake Victoria base. She told him everything. In her quiet voice she left nothing out and revealed to this broken stranger all that she had, and all that she lost.

"So you see," she whispered when she was done, "I once had everything. And all of that is gone. I know they wouldn't have wanted me to live the rest of my life in bitterness and hate. So I live, sometimes only for that, but I never once considered taking the easy way out." The anger had returned to her voice and she grabbed the pistol out of Zechs's hand and flung it as hard as she could into the dense stand of oak trees. He didn't seem to notice. As the anger slowly cooled she noticed that he hadn't even tried to stop her.

"That's what you were fighting for," he said slowly. "Do you remember the day Instructor Velorn made us duel?"

"Yes." Noin's voice was gentle and slightly curious.

"I lost. I'd had years of training but still I lost. I lost because of the bitterness and hatred in my heart. I hated those that were responsible for making this, this way," here he pulled at the buttons of his standard Oz coat with his good hand, "the only path I could take. I still hate them. I'll always hate them. But you, you were remembering your father, and fought for him, didn't you? For all that he taught you and for all the love he had for you."

"Yes," she said again, closing her eyes to hide the tears that suddenly welled up.

Noin has told me things she's never told anyone else, thought Zechs. The proud, silent person everyone sees is only a small part of her...she had everything, like me, and like me she lost it all. Why am I the one that tried to kill myself and she's the one who's convincing me not to? Because you are the one who wants to take revenge for what they did to your country and family. She isn't, rather, she has accepted their passing and fights to fulfill the desire of someone she loved very much. The voice was fainter now. Its tone was gentler and took the form of reason.

Zechs knew that honor would compel him to tell Noin about why he was here, but he also knew that is wasn't only honor. He felt it more forcefully than ever. There was a bond between them, one that might strain and stretch but would always be there.

"I lived in the Cinq Kingdom," he began hoarsely. The pain in his arm was beginning to make the world spin dizzily. Noin looked at him with concern. He looks like he might pass out any second, she thought. He went on to tell her about his real name, his family and their ideals, their peaceful reign of the Cinq Kingdom. How it was attacked in broad daylight by the Alliance. "By sunset," he continued painfully, "everything was destroyed. Their mobile suits and bombs leveled the Capitol. And the palace. Everything. I had nowhere to go." He drew a ragged breath and finished his tale quickly.

Noin sat back on her heels. It wasn't that surprising, really. I knew the mask was to hide his identity, she thought irrelevantly, remembering the day she was sent to his room to find out why he was late to their training session. She glanced at the young man at her side. For over a year now they'd trained side by side, but she never guessed of the depth of suffering he'd gone through, was still going through. Like she herself had. And she felt the bond between them, and knew that the ebb and flow of time might weaken it, but would always be there. I'll help him in whatever way I can, she vowed.

Zechs sighed. A great weight had been lifted from his soul. But now that she knew his secret, there was no way he'd be able to carry out his mission alone. She was involved now, and there was no going back. The bitterness and hatred...it would always be with him...but at least now he wouldn't be alone. A slight smile lit his features as he gave into unconsciousness, thinking, I am weak.