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by Zach_Rendar on Tue Sep 06, 2005 12:15 am
The skyport bustled with an uneasy quiet. Women keeping their purses clutched tightly to themselves. Businessmen casting weary glances around them, keeping eyes out for suspicious activity. Zach watched the sky through the transparesteel. Her flight would be coming in soon. Every sparkling ship coming down might've been hers. He still remembered the first time they had met...
***
It had been three years ago. It was an overcast day, dark clouds threatening rain, many people running indoors to get inside before they let loose their downpour. All except a pale young man, huddling in an alleyway.
He wasn't a pretty sight, nor were his thoughts pretty. After White Fang had disbanded, the young medic had been abandoned, left penniless and unwanted in the gutters. He was abandoned, alone, and angry. All of the old fighters of White Fang had been honored as veterans when they returned home after the war. They had been given rewards beyond measure, despite being on the losing side... but not the medic who had helped so many of those people live. Mariemaia had been a glimmer of hope in Zach's miserable life, but she had failed so quickly, it left him in the same miserable position, with twice the anger.
The rain had finally let loose on the Sanc Kingdom, and Zach stared miserably into space, his features empty. His natural thinness added with his semi-starved state made him look like a skeleton with skin. Dwelling on his hatred, he failed to notice the sound of boots splashing towards him. If he had heard them, he gave no sign of noticing. People would often give him coins so he could scrounge enough food to survive, why would this person be any different?"Rendar?" a voice asked. He turned to look, two pops from his neck indicating its lack of use."What?" he snapped, his voice harsh and sharp.
The woman kneeled down to be on level with him. While most people looked on him with pity, this one looked at him as others had before, like they needed him, as though he were useful. This look alone brought feeling back to Zach. He suddenly realized how cold he was, how empty his stomach felt, and how wet the rain felt on his face. The woman offered him her hand, and helped him up, giving him some space under the umbrella. She didn't ask anything of him until they got to The Flying Dove, where she bought him a meal which he ate like a starving wolf.
Then they had talked, about the old White Fang, about Milliardo, about the War... Okami was the first person Zach had spoken to in years, so it was very easy to trust her. It was she who gave him the idea of building a mobile suit of his own, using his new job as a barkeep at the Flying Dove as a backing for it's construction, with some financial backing from Okami herself...
That had been a year ago...
***
"Flight 1349 from MO-V has landed, passengers please report to baggage claim..."
Zach held up a sign with a fake name. Dressed in uncomfortable business attire, he waited for Okami. He knew that she wouldn't bring anything for baggage. He caught sight of her, in her standard business attire. He wondered for a moment if she'd be working tonight's operation in that, but then saw a bulging carry-on bag that undoubtedly contained extra clothing.
No words were spoken between them as they headed back to the Flying Dove. Nothing needed to be said, nothing could be said in the open. What could be said, anyway? Zach owed everything he had right now to Okami. A "thank you" would not be enough.
They arrived at the Flying Dove and took a seat at the table they had first sat down at a year ago.
"I have the plan right here."Zach said, pulling the plans out of his back pocket. "There are adjacent rooftops on either side of the grand forum where the conference is happening tonight. I will be on the western building. I will make a few shots into the crowd, and that will distract and gather them around whoever I get. This should hopefully leave the target clear for you... You do have a weapon?"Okami nodded"Alright, if we succeed or not, make a break for it, and we'll meet back here in an hour... is that alright?""
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