Bright and early that Thursday, Ailee walked into the room with the false files the others had made. She made sure that her face never gave away any unnecessary emotion--which was considerably easy, since she hadn't been feeling quite up to much. Today, she was the bearer of bad news, but for the past few days, she felt as though she was the bad news. Only Allelujah made any effort to make her feel that she wasn't.

The school secretary greeted her with a smile, but as she read the papers Ailee brought, her smile disappeared. Her face contorted in sadness. She didn't know Mia very well, and neither did she know about the North Korean experiment's father, but there was always something about death that easily made others sad no matter the reason, no matter the person.

Dongwoo greeted her chirpily that morning, but it wilted immediately upon seeing her expression. It turned even more gloomy when he found out.

"How?" he asked sadly.

"She and her father got into an accident there. Setsuna wasn't with them at that time, so he's safe, but he doesn't feel like he's up to anything right now so he has to drop school," she said. "He's with my brother right now, trying to get better."

"When did this happen?" Sunggyu asked.

"Just this weekend. Setsuna called on Tuesday, and we hurried back," she explained.

"He must have been distraught," Sunggyu commented sadly. "Mia seemed like she was his whole world."

"Isn't that quite sad?" she asked.

"He told you, didn't he? His story, I mean?" he asked. She shook her head. My, my, were there many things she did not know about the ones around her. "Setsuna's an orphan," he said. "And he pretty much only has Mia and her Dad."

"Their love story is lovelier than anyone would have imagined," Dongwoo said. "If only it didn't end as such a tragedy."

"Yeah," Sunggyu agreed. "Is Setsuna all right?"

"He's still not speaking much," Ailee offered.

"Does he speak even less?" Dongwoo asked. "Does he eat less?"

"Setsuna hardly speaks to me  in the first place," she said. "But I'm not sure about the eating. I haven't been able to join my brother for meals."

"Skipping meals isn't good for your health," Dongwoo chastised, and Sunggyu nodded in agreement.

"I'm not skipping. I just take it a little later than them. Somehow, I oddly feel responsible for a lot of things," she said.

"I'm sure it's not you," Dongwoo said comfortingly. "They were in Azadistan, right? I heard armed conflicts come up every now and then there, and people get caught up in them everyday." Then he added, "It still doesn't sound good if you say it that way."

"It really isn't a nice thought in the first place," Sunggyu deadpanned.

"Don't worry, Ailee. I'm sure it's not because of you, and I'm sure a guy as strong as Setsuna can handle himself. He's a grown man, even if he did just lose the love of his life," Dongwoo said.

"I hope you're right," she said.

"Be a bit more positive. Negativity does not become a lovely smile," he said, then he beamed for her, causing her to smile back at him as well.

That afternoon, as the student council was preparing to go home, Sungyeol strolled nonchalantly into the room again and asked, "Say Ailee, how many brothers do you have?"

"One," she replied.

"Someone with black hair and grey eyes?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Brown hair and aquamarine eyes."

He whistled. "Big word," he commented on her description of his eyes. "So you don't have a brother with black hair?"

She shook her head. "Why?"

"There's a guy outside the building waiting for you, I think," he replied. "I mean, who else could he be waiting for? You're the only one who I haven't known since childhoood."

"Oh," a sound escaped her lips. Another "oh," as she dashed outside. What the heck was Allelujah doing at their school?

She skidded out of the room, panting. "Allelujah," she called breathlessly.

He smiled at her, turning his attention to her instead of whatever matter it was that preoccupied his thoughts. "Are your classes over?"

"Yes, why?"

"We need to go," he said. "Do you have your things?"

"Is it important?" she asked.

"Yes," he said grimly. "We need to get going. There's a very important thing that we need to do, in a far place."

"I see. I'll go tell them that I'm going to have to skip whatever else they planned to do," she replied understandingly.

Just as the boys were about to invite her to another cram school-related activity, she hauled her bag off the desk and apologized that she could not join them. Before they could ask any questions, she merely said, "Sorry, I really need to run!" before actually running off, hoping that they wouldn't remember it the next day.

When she got out of the building, Allelujah was waiting for her in an idling car. He eased out of the parking lot and shot off to where he'd left their machines.

In uniform, strapped in, and ready to go, the two meisters were briefed by Sumeragi.

"Ailee," Allelujah called over the line. "Don't forget to turn on your sonar. Tieria's going out in the Blitz--you wouldn't want to shoot him down by accident."

Ailee gaped. "In the Blitz?"

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"It's just..."

"The Blitz is a machine, just like the Seravee," Tieria said monotonously. "Its purpose is to be a weapon, no matter who wields it. That's all there is."

Ailee let it pass, but inside, she still felt like it was a transgression of sorts even if it was a more practical course of action. The Blitz' mirage colloid function was a very formidable weapon in their arsenal, and leaving it behind just because it was a dead pilot's suit was indeed a very foolish act.

They launched in sequence, and headed to Iraq.

~°~

"Morning!" Ailee chirped as she danced into the classroom and headed to where Dongwoo and Sunggyu were. She gave Dongwoo a hug before sitting down on her own seat.

"What makes you so bright and cheery today?" Sunggyu asked.

"Nothing. It just feels like a nice, new day," she said. A bright smile was plastered on her face, unfaltering, but in reality, she was shaking. Last night was the first night she actually pulled the trigger. Even though she did not see blood spilled on the ground, she knew it was there. No amount of fantasies on her side would erase that truth.

"So, will you be joining us later?" Dongwoo asked. "Then we can go out tomorrow."

"I think?" she replied. "My brother seems to have something he wants to do later, but he didn't really explain if he needs me or not. I guarantee you nuthin'."

The boys laughed at her odd inflection, but accepted her explanation. They did not, however, let the day before's event go unquestioned.

"Come on, guys, it's just so weird. He's my brother's good friend, that's all, and he wanted just a second opinion on the colour scheme of a car he's been thinking of buying," she explained, hoping they'd buy it.

"For a car?" Sunggyu asked incredulously.

She shrugged. "It was his crazy idea, not mine."

"Was he able to pick out a car?" Dongwoo asked.

"Nope," she said, with a smack of her lips. "That's what made it all worse."

They laughed.

~°~

"Do you think anyone would mind if I went out tomorrow?" she asked, as Allelujah slid out of the driveway in Lockon's car again. Lockon and Setsuna had been out for a while now, truly engrossing themselves into the work of Celestial Being. They were about to kick into full gear again.

"I don't think so," he replied. "It's pretty much just you and I around here now. We just need to send Tieria off tomorrow, do you think your boyfriend would mind?"

She blushed. "He- he-"

"Don't even try to deny it, Ailee. I know you like him now," he said. "Between you and me, I understand what you're going through, so I'll keep your secret. But that also means that your views are torn at some points."

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"Marie and I were like that, too, at one point in time. She was Soma then, and she was in the military, pitted against me and the others."

"And now you're together," she observed.

He nodded. "Love doesn't solve everything, you know. But it opens up solutions as much as it opens up problems."

"But Dongwoo  is the prince of  our enemy," she said.

"Our enemy?" he asked. "We're not the North, Ailee. Our enemy is anyone who causes strife and disorder. It's not Dongwoo until he decides to create inequality and disorder as well." He looked at her with a concerned expression. "But you need to keep in mind that that is a possibility as well. So you really need to be careful."

She sighed. "Why is everything so difficult?"

"Because we're just one small group trying to change the whole world," he told her. "And we need to keep our identities hidden away, we need to pretend that we're not doing anything, and that we're always all right to those outside. That's the most difficult part."

"I wish it wasn't," she muttered, and he simply nodded sadly.

~°~

Their laughter mingled in the air, creating a peaceful mood. Ailee chased Dongwoo around with a spoonful of ice cream extended towards him. They were having an ice cream duel, and the bright happy feeling that she had with him in that moment was something that she hadn't felt in a long time. It completely overpowered every bit of other, darker emotions that lingered in her heart.

The long, red spoon from Dairy Queen was a formidable weapon for an ice cream fight. Soon, both of them were splattered with ice cream. They'd enjoyed playing with it as much as they had enjoyed eating it.Their 16oz cups were emptied by their bellies and by their games.

"I never want to have an ice cream fight again," Dongwoo said as he laughed. They'd just gotten most of the ice cream off them, but the blobs that marked where the ice cream landed on their clothes could not be removed without washing them.

Ailee laughed as carefreely as he did and agreed. "It's a good thing that ice cream normally doesn't stain. It would be a pain in the neck to remove this many stains."

As the laughter died down, Dongwoo asked, "Ailee have you thought about which universities you're applying to and what you're going to do after we graduate?"

"Not really," she said. "Have you?"

"If I had the choice, I might have applied for an education degree," he said. "But since I don't--International Studies it is! Why haven't you thought about it?"

"Nothing. It just hasn't properly sunk in yet," she said. "It's not my top priority yet. I just might take the year off and apply next year or something."

"Are you sure?" he asked worriedly.

She shrugged. "A year off would be good, I think." But at the back of her mind, Ailee thought, I can't exactly think that far into the future. Unless the world settles peacefully tomorrow, college would be both a hindrance and a waste of time.

"Aw, and I looked forward to applying to a university with you," he commented.

"I think you can do it without me," she retorted playfully. "And I think I should just help my brother for a while. He's such a busy person, I don't think he's taking as good care of himself as he should."

"What does your brother do again?" Dongwoo asked.

"Something about complicated things," she replied offhandedly. "I'm not too sure, either. I always get confused once the numbers start coming up. Some words and vocabulary he uses are too much for me."

"I sure hope your brother isn't in any way related to any underground rebellion groups," Dongwoo said sadly. "I wouldn't want to hurt you in any way because of that."

You don't know what you're talking about, she thought. But the words that came out were, "Nah. Just computers and stuff."

"Great," he beamed. "'Cause my brother's getting eager to get rid of as many of the opposition as quickly and as early as he can. The North is getting quite restless, and we wouldn't want a war starting up again, now would we?"

"I guess not," she replied. But at the back of her mind, she thought of the irony that allowed him to speak those words to her. "Another round of ice cream?"

"As in for eating?" he asked.

"Yes, this time," she nodded.

"Why not?" he asked.

"My treat," she said happily, jumping up from where they sat in the park.