Gundam Wing: Descending Lost Stars (Athene & Chevalier)

[LadyAthene]

Akane Himura​

"What are you waiting for?! Go on, kill her!"

A barely younger - by one, two years at most - version of herself, now known as Akane, was staring at a shivering young girl. A quick glance implied she was probably half her age. The child was clinging to her dead parents, only eliciting whimpers every now and again. Every time it looked like actual words tried to form and leave her throat, they got stuck, resulting in everyone hearing more fearful sounds leaving the young girl's lips.

"She's innocent!" the teenager shot back, her jaw and teeth tightly grit together.

"So? You had no problem gunning them down."

The teenager didn't need to look behind her to know who 'them' referred to. She could almost feel the nod from her superior as he gestured to the girl's parents. And ... he wasn't wrong. Even still ...

"We had proof they were traitors to OZ."

"And she's different because ... "

At this point, the red-haired soldier turned and glared furiously at her superior. "Because, what can she do?! Have we not done enough as it is?"

"Are you going against orders? You do know that's insubordination and, with that, comes ---"

A loud BANG! interrupted the speech. She hadn't hesitated, nor showed any signs of remorse. The back-up soldiers of her now ex-group leader had started to reach for their own firearms, but three more loud, rapid BANG!s would ring each in quick succession. Within seconds, the small - but formidable - squad that Akane had been sent with were dead mere inches away from her. She knew she would have to move, and it would have to be quickly.

But before that ... she turned and faced the still trembling child.

"Go. Now. Haul your ass and get out!" Her eyes softened as she followed the girl's gaze and glanced down at her parents. "I can't do anything to fix that ... but if you hurry up and run, you can get somewhere safe."

"Why should I trust you?! You killed my parents!"

"You don't have to. But you should be smart. Now go. Leave. Staying here will do nothing but earn you death. I doubt you want that, do you?"

Thankfully, those words seemed to make the girl shakily get up to her feet and heed her advice. Akane remained behind, making damn sure she got away safely. And only after ensuring she was truly out of harm's way did she, herself, begin to move. The gun was placed back into it's holster as Akane ran to what used to be the leader's Gundam. Hacking and bypassing any security that had been placed upon it was easy enough ... and within minutes she was in the cockpit, flying away from her last mission with OZ.

* * * *​

07:06 AM
24th April, 197 A.C.
Japan
Exact Location: Inside Akane Himura's Residence (Bedroom)

Never before in all of the years of Akane's life had she ever felt so relieved to be woken up by the normally irritating sound of her alarm. Her hand slammed down on the "Snooze" button as she sat up with a start, panting and breathing heavily as she felt several beads of sweat falling down her face. A hand rose, running slowly through her black locks as she took a long, deep breath.

Akane ... the name she gave herself upon abandoning OZ. With those girl's parents deaths had come the demise of her old name, and not just that. All of the brainwashing OZ had coerced upon her. Had that mission not been assigned to her, she very likely would still be there. Akane would probably also be one of their best - definitely youngest - soldiers to date. But it was because of her waking up and knowing what they tried to make her go through with that now ... things were different.

Harder. Tougher. But it was all for the best.

Unfortunately, though ... now wasn't the right time to focus on getting rid of OZ. Sadly, she had to hurry up and get ready for another day at St. Gabriel's Institute. Although she was still much more of a soldier than student, she proved to be decent when it came to the latter. She simply had the reputation - and lived up to it, thank you very much - of quite the punk.

Thankfully, she wasn't alone. A relatively new one had come to the school rather recently. And though she'd never talked directly with him, he'd grabbed her attention ... even if he didn't know it. Akane couldn't pinpoint how, but she could discern this much.

Heero Yuy was ... different. Maybe not exactly in the same way she was, but it was somehow similar to that aspect. He didn't have the aura of a normal student to him and, more often than not, it showed. Well, it did to Akane. Whether anyone else noticed or not ... that didn't matter, quite frankly.

Her head shook as she groaned, forcing herself to stand up. The pace was a bit - okay, scratch that - very begrudgingly, but she had to get in those. The goddamn school uniform. Lord help her, she hated these clothes. So. Fucking. Much! Thankfully, she'd gotten her shower in the night before, and didn't have to rush as badly had she woken up ten to twenty minutes later. Her head turned as she finished tucking her shirt into the skirt, sighing as the clock now read 07:14 AM.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fucking going," she muttered, briskly walking through the halls of her small efficiency. By default, it wasn't an overly huge place. But that was fine. It had all the rooms Akane needed, and that was what mattered for her.

Within moments, she grabbed her backpack and a piece of toast. It'd be enough to help her hold out till lunch, if nothing else. Once she was out of the front door of her residence, Akane took swift, long strides and began heading over towards St. Gabriel's.

Thankfully, she only lived a block ... block and a half, something like that, away. Not very far was the point. And with the day starting in sixteen minutes, she had more than enough time. Even though her feet were guiding her to the school, Akane's mind was still planning ahead for her 'after school activities', as she liked to think of them. In the very near future, or so she'd heard, someone major from OZ was supposed to be making a major speech. With this knowledge, it had caused many hushed whispers - in and out of St. Gabriel's - to ponder what the subject would be about.

Akane, of course, had a guess. But she actually wanted to be wrong about it. Because if it was correct ... life on Japan was about to get even more harsh. And while she knew she could handle it, the others would be a different story.

For Akane, being a punk was one story. Being completely heartless? That was not only something very different, but not who she was despite giving that type of impression off.

... On the flip side, the anti-OZ part of her was more than fine if her guess was correct. It'd give her an excuse to be able to act and carry all of the plans she'd been contemplating and conjuring into play. The thought caused an unorthodox - and likely out of place - grin to appear on her face. Akane's expression quickly went to a more neutral and stoic look as she looked from side to side and took note she was already about half-way to her destination. The last bit of toast would be swallowed and a hand rose, wiping any crumbs away from her lips and face; all while she continued walking in what could be described as an oddly calm manner. Like nothing was phasing her, even though her mind and the thoughts racing through it would prove anyone wrong ... if they could read minds, that was.