The door to Ailee's confinement cell slid open, revealing Sumeragi and Tieria, who was already in his pilot's uniform.

Tieria threw her uniform towards her and said, "Suit up; we're going on a mission."

Ailee followed the two, listening to their briefing as she made the last minute adjustments to the fit of her uniform. They strode down the halls quickly until they reached the docking area, where the other meisters were moving around their mobile suits preparing to sortie.

South Korea's knights had gotten hold of better machines than the ALAWS, or something like that. They had always been the pride of the South Korean army, but until that moment, they were rarely used by the government as front liners.

Ian went to Ailee, having finished briefing Lockon of the modifications he'd done to the machine, to brief her of the modifications he'd done to the Aegis. Ailee listened attentively, knowing that his modifications just might save her life.

When everything was ready, the meisters stood by in their machines as the Ptolemaios began to move. They would launch when they were in the area.

~°~

Dongwoo sat at the launch bay, holding his helmet, as he watched the mechanics get the machines ready. Sunggyu was there manning the launch pad so that if anything were to happen during takeoff, he'd be able to do something about it.

Myungsoo walked up to him, and silently took his place behind the prince.

"Myungsoo," Dongwoo called.

"Yes, Your Highness?" he asked.

"How many times must I tell you not to call me that?" Dongwoo questioned, a small smile dancing on his lips.

"I'm sorry, Dongwoo," Myungsoo ammended. "It's the uniform."

He chuckled, then the smile wilted. "Myungsoo... When we launch... I will handle the red suit."

"The red suit?" he asked.

Dongwoo nodded. "Don't let anyone else get in the way, okay?"

"Am I allowed to assist you?" he asked.

"Just don't kill the pilot. I want him alive."

"I'll tell the others," he replied.

Dongwoo looked out the large window, watching Myungsoo converse with his brother's knights. The knights nodded, just as his friends walked towards the larger group.

He made up his mind. Whatever happened on the field that day, he would make sure that Ailee was not killed. He still needed to understand.

~°~

Machines flew all over the place, striking at each other savagely.

The Knights launched themselves into the battle, and so did Dongwoo. He hovered near their carrier, Myungsoo beside him, and searched for his target.

There.

-Myungsoo, I've found it.- he said.

-I'll follow your lead.- Myungsoo replied.

Dongwoo stepped on the accelerator and intercepted the red suit. Myungsoo moved to attack the red suit's enemy.

Again and again, the red suit tried to evade him. But time and time again, he blocked its way. He might not be a real soldier, but he was still well-trained.

He sent her a request for a private communication. Much to his surprise, she answered it.

-What are you doing back on the battlefield, Ailee?- he asked.

-I was just about to ask you the same thing.- she replied. -Why do you keep stirring up trouble? I thought you voted for peace.-

-I'm fighting for union.- he replied. -Once the South Korean government annexes the North, we can be one Korea again. And one Korea is a more powerful force than any other government. The world can finally achieve peace through hegemony.-

-Colonialists!- she accused. -You cannot attain peace by those means.-

-Oh yeah? See me try.- he replied.

Dongwoo threw his machine towards Ailee's, attacking it brutally. But Ailee parried his blows, showing him that they were of equal ability. He grit his teeth, trying to find a way to overpower her, trying to find that opening that would give him the advantage.

Myungsoo attacked the red suit from behind, chopping off the suit's left arm.

-So this is how you fight, Dongwoo?- she asked.

-No one ever said this was a one-on-one battle.- he replied.

Ailee redoubled her efforts. Her machine was damaged, and she was fighting against two skilled pilots--things weren't looking very good. An alarm wailed from her left, and when she turned to look, she saw Dongwoo's machine headed towards her.

In some ways, the situation she found herself in was similar to the situation she'd found herself in just a little over a week ago. Except this time... there were three of them. And having seen who the third person was, Ailee was reluctant to leave her cockpit.

Vaguely, she wondered whether the lock she'd coincidentally left in the Aegis--a manual lock that needed a key to open it--would be helpful at such a time. Would it stop them from forcibly opening the cockpit?

There were small, tapping noises coming from the outside of the machine. Ailee narrowed her eyes and pushed a button that showed her who it was that was knocking on her machine. Dongwoo.

"Come on," he said. "Just talk to me."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, especially since she saw who the other man was. Myungsoo.

"I guarantee your safety," he assured her. "And so does my Knight."

"Knight!" she exclaimed to herself. "He's after my head, do you know that?"

"Please?" he asked. "Just talk to me. Make me understand. Because right now, I don't understand at all!"

"Dongwoo, let's just pry open the cockpit," Myungsoo suggested. He seemed eager.

"Pry open the cockpit now," Ailee commented to herself. "Shoot me in the head later."

"You know, no matter what time you come out, Myungsoo and I will know who you are," Dongwoo reasoned gently. "And because you have saved my life before, I can petition to higher authorities to have yours spared. I will petition for you."

Ailee sighed. As nice as that sounded, she doubted that she could go with that. Her life might be spared, but she knew, she would be questioned for the identities of the other meisters. The other students at school have already met the other four meisters.

He knocked again. "Please?"

"Dongwoo, let's just open the cockpit," Myungsoo said again.

"Courtesy, Myungsoo."

He balked. "In a situation such as this?"

Dongwoo nodded. "You can't always win a war by force. Diplomacy works best, you know."

Ailee sighed. He was definitely being civil about this, even if it wasn't what he was supposed to be. Were guys alway this nice? She'd just betrayed him by keeping a very large secret from him, yet he was talking to her as if she were a civilian fearing a soldier.

She clicked her tongue and made up her mind. She freezed all the data and secured them with a password, and then, she tapped the door of the cockpit.

"Are you coming out?" Dongwoo asked. "Tap once for yes."

She tapped it as he instructed. He moved out of the way, going down to the ground again, and the two of them waited for her to come down.

Myungsoo waited expectantly, eager to meet the pilot that had spared his friend's life, and to know why Dongwoo was so interested in his identity. It had become like a game, and the prize for his patience would be the identity.

The pilot stepped out of the cockpit and climbed down the machine, still wearing a tinted helmet. But even without the face, Myungsoo was already quite startled. Never in his lifetime did he expect that women would pilot mobile suits, and it was totally out of his paradigm that a woman would be able to pilot a mobile suit so well that she could basically fend both of them off almost at the same time.

"I'm trying not to kill you," she said. "But you throw yourself in my direction every time. Do you have a death wish? Just tell me and I'll end your miserable existence right here."

"Do not speak like that to the prince!" Myungsoo rebutted.

"No, no, it's all right," Dongwoo said.

"No, it's not," Myungsoo responded.

"Yes, it is," Dongwoo insisted. "Right, Ailee?"

She sighed. With a practiced tug, she pulled off the helmet off her head, her hair spilling out in locks down her back. "You really needed to emphasize the fact that it was me," she commented.

Dongwoo shrugged innocently.

"You're the pilot of the Red Suit?" Myungsoo balked. "All this time?"

"Does it matter?" she asked. "If I told you, would you have treated me better? I'm pretty sure you would have treated me worse. And no one needed to know."

"These are lives we're talking about," Myungsoo responded as Dongwoo carefully watched the on-going exchange. "And you are an enemy!"

"I am not your enemy," she responded. "As a meister of that Gundam, I am an enemy of a nation that decides to foster war instead of peace. It just so happens that both of you are closely affiliated with that nation, Myungsoo. If I had been your enemy from the beginning, I would never have gone into that school. I would have just killed you the first chance I got."

"Is this also what happened to Mia?" Dongwoo quietly asked. "Ailee, who killed Mia?"

The innocence with which he delivered the question caused Ailee's heart to stop for a while. But as he stared at her, imploring her to answer his question, she realized that she had no voice to speak with. Myungsoo, not entirely sure why Dongwoo had brought up their deceased classmate up so randomly, chose to carefully watch what the two would do next. Somehow, Dongwoo knew what he was doing. He always knew what he was doing.

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"It does," he replied, his resolution wavering.

"Korea killed Mia, Dongwoo. You and I killed Mia," was her grave reply.

"How?" he asked, sounding so broken.

"Think of the south and then think of the north," she said. "The finer details, I'll leave to you to puzzle out."

From the distance, she could hear the sound of approaching mobile suits. Although she knew that her answer would have caused him much pain, she had to tell him. One way or another, she owed it to him.

Before either of the boys could interrogate her further, one of the Gundams skimmed over the surface of the beach they were on before it took back to the skies, taking its comrade with it.

Ailee slid back onto her cockpit in mid-air. Although they'd discussed aerial maneuvers such as this before, just to be sure, she never thought that they would actually execute it in real life. Ah, but then there was beauty in such surprises.

When she finally got settled back in--under a minute--Setsuna, who had saved her, opened a private line of communication to her.

"That was dangerous," he warned. "Are you all settled in?" he asked as he tried to evade incoming enemies while still holding onto the Aegis.

"Yes," she replied.

"I'm going to let go now," he said. She managed to utter a response before he did so. He was that quick. "Go back to the ship; the Aegis needs fixing. Ian has the Blitz ready for you."

"The what?" she balked.

"The Blitz. Go," he urged her before cutting off communications and heading back into the battle.

Ailee followed his instructions and headed to the ship. She shot down several more enemy suits before entering the deck of the Ptolemaios.

Ian scuttled over, urging her to move as quickly as she could. The other meisters needed her; they'd already launched Marie, and Allelujah had told them never to send her in unless absolutely necessary.

"The battle is about to end," Ian said as they made their way to the Blitz. "But right now, we need all of the meisters out there. We won't be launching you the normal way. Use the mirage colloid and attack. Sumeragi will feed you with the information that you need over the radio so we can finish this soon."

She nodded her affirmation before stepping into the Blitz' cockpit. A navy blue Haro was connected to the system.

"The Haro will help you control the suit, Ailee. Just focus on shooting--it'll do the rest," Ian told her through a communication line.

She acknowledged this and prepared to launch. She activated the mirage colloid and set her mind on the task. When all systems were ready, she was given the go-signal to launch.