Episode 8:
Betrayal

        The year is After Colony 216. Dissatisfied with the World Nation's inability to respond effectively to Venus's crisis in 207, Venus's governess, Nimeesha Pembroke, has declared war on the unprepared World Nation. However, preparing for such an emergency, Mars governor Milliardo Peacecraft has been building up a defense force of mobile suits, including several Gundams...

        Sidra has inadvertently been discovered by Duo who then reported to discovery to her parents. Noin explained the situation, not knowing her son, Siduri, was listening in. Angered by the way his parents had been handling the matter, he rushes to inform his sister of their parents heartless scheme.

        "Roku! Open up!" Siduri pounded on the dorm door, "Now! It's important!"
    Roku opened the door. For her brother to sound this angry, it must be important. She shut the door behind him and slipped her mask off.
    "What is it?"
    "It's about Mom and Dad."
    "Hmm??" Siduri had Sidra's full attention, "Have they figured it out-? Or did Uncle Duo tell them?"
    "They knew all along!!"
    "WHAT!?" Sidra exclaimed, a look of panic crossing her face.
    "They were 'teaching you a lesson'! You got transferred here because they discovered you! They've been pretending to not recognize you the whole time! I over heard Mom telling Uncle Duo. I wanted to storm in and... and... I don't know! Do something VIOLENT." Nobody messed with his 'little' sister. Even his parents. "But I decided to come tell you first... those @$$holes..." Siduri punched a wall, annoyed, almost putting a hole in it. Sidra had turned away during his explanation, quivering slightly, as if trying to hold back tears.
    "I-I-I..... I can't believe they'd do this! Where were they when I needed them!?" Sidra suddenly exclaimed, clenching a fist. "How could they?! I'm trying to help them fight a f*cking war and all they care about is 'teaching me a lesson'?!" Sidra jumped up, unaware of the tears that had trickled down her face. "I dunno when I'll be back. Where was Mom when you heard this?" Sidra wiped her face and jammed her mask on.
    "At the hangar where the new suits are-" Siduri began. Roku stormed out the door.
    "I'll be back later." She told Siduri over her shoulder. Siduri got up and left, intending to track down his father to confront about this. Undoubtedly, Sidra was going to confront their mother.

        Roku burst into the hangar. Even with the mask on, Noin was pretty sure that her daughter was PISSED OFF. (Authors: Not "Not Happy". PISSED OFF.) Duo looked up in surprise from Deathscythe's blueprints. Uh-oh... the sh*t's about to hit the fan...
    "R-Roku? What're you doing here?" Noin was caught by surprise. "This is a restricted area-"
    "You knew the entire time." Roku accused, wasting no time on pleasantries.
    "Knew-?" Noin blinked. Did Sidra find out-?
    "Yes. You knew it was me the entire time, MOM." Roku slid off her mask, revealing a very angry expression.
    "Sidra-!" Noin was interrupted.
    "You LIED to me! You abandoned me when I needed you! And to teach me WHAT?!" Sidra shouted. Duo shrank back behind the blueprints and scooted back behind Deathscythe.
    "Hello!" Stephanie was also there, listening in on the raging Peacecraft daughter. Duo almost fell over.
    "Sidra, I-" Noin again tried, only to be interrupted.
    "Well, I did learn something today." Sidra hissed, voice full of venom and betrayal. "I can't even trust my own PARENTS! I hope you're happy!"
    "Sidra, just let me-" Noin attempted for a third time.
    "It's too late to apologize or explain! Besides, you'd probably lie again like you've been doing the past two months!" Sidra whirled and stormed off. "I'm leaving!"
    "I-" Noin slumped.

        Milliardo looked up at Siduri burst into his office.
    "DAD! We need to 'talk'. NOW." Siduri sounded Not Happy. Milliardo blinked as his son closed the door.
    "YOU BASTARD!" Siduri shouted, barely refraining from leaping over the desk to clobber his father, who looked very confused.
    "Excuse me!?" Milliardo stood up, a stern look on his face.
    "YOU. BASTARD. Do I need to define it, Dad!?! HOW COULD YOU!?"
    "How could I what?" Milliardo was rapidly getting Not Happy.
    "Roku! Sidra! HOW COULD YOU!? How could you lie to her like that!? YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!"
    "How did you find-"
    "I overheard Mom talking about it to Uncle Duo! That's how!" Siduri was on the war path, "You back stabbed her! Your only daughter and you stabbed her in the back! When she needed you, no less! How could you do that to her!? How could you be so heartless!? Do you know how hurt she is right now!?" Siduri was relentless in his verbal assault.
    "Siduri! Calm down!"
    "I will not calm down! I'm PISSED OFF! You and Mom betrayed her! You toyed with her! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE CALM WHEN YOU DO THAT TO MY SISTER!?!?" Siduri slammed a fist down on his father's desk, causing everything on it to rattle.
    "We thought-"
    "You thought you could teach her a lesson, right!?"
    "Yes-"
    "WHAT LESSON!? That her parents are back stabbing heartless bastards!?!" Siduri growled.
    "About running away and-"
    "NEVER MIND that she just lost a lot of her classmates! ISN'T THAT PUNISHMENT ENOUGH!?"
    "That's enough from you, young man!" Milliardo attempted to pull 'Daddy rank' and it didn't work.
    "WHEN I'M FINISHED I'LL SHUT UP!" Siduri was beyond being able to be silenced by parental tactics, "And you weren't even there to comfort her after it! You and Mom let her suffer! You weren't there when she needed you!!"
    "SIDURI-"
    "I'M NOT FINISHED SO SHUT THE HELL UP!" Siduri snapped. Normally he was laid back. This was a side of him his father had not seen before, "You sunk a knife into her heart! And rather than just pull it out, you had to TWIST it!"
    "Sid-"
    "I SAID SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! Do you know how bad you hurt her!?! DO YOU KNOW!?" Siduri stormed around to the other side of the desk to face his father.
    "You've made it quite clear!" Milliardo snapped, losing patience.
    "GOOD! AND DO YOU KNOW WHO'S FAULT THIS ALL IS!?" Siduri continued without waiting for an answer, "YOURS! YOU couldn't just let her join! YOU caused her to run away! YOU made her make the identity of ROKU MERQUISE!" Siduri snarled. Words could not describe the rage he felt, and it had built up greatly during his search for his father.
    "Are you finished?" Milliardo scowled.
    "Not quite." Siduri slammed his fist into his father's gut. Milliardo, caught completely off guard, collapsed into his chair. Siduri took of for the restricted hangar to give his mother the same earful he'd just given his father.

        Duo looked up as the door burst open once more. The other Peacecraft brat. He looked PISSED OFF. More so, if that was possible than Sidra had just a little while ago.
    "Where's my Mom?" Siduri glared at Duo.
    "She left after yer sister gave her an earful." Duo replied, wishing he was anywhere but there. Why is it I seem to end up in the middle of everybody else's parental problems? First Meiran, now this!
    "Part of this is your fault too!" Siduri snapped.
    "ME!?! Excuse me for not knowing what was going on!" Duo attempted to hide behind Deathscythe again.
    "I suppose you have a point..." Siduri sighed slightly, rage energy wearing down.

        Meiran watched the girl with the mask run by. She'd heard from students that was Roku, and there were rumors that it was Sidra Peacecraft.
    "Hey!" She called out. Roku froze. "You look troubled. What's up?" Meiran stood up and closed her book.
    "I just found out my parents are a pair of back stabbing liars." Roku replied flatly. Meiran blinked.
    "Parents, huh? I've had a lot of trouble with my father. I'm new around here, but I've heard rumors you're actually Sidra Peacecraft. You look enough like my 'cousin'."
    "I wish I wasn't... " Roku mumbled.
    "Ah. So you are Sidra."
    "Meiran, right?"
    "Yeah. So why are you here instead of your old man?" Roku's anger was also spent at the moment.
    "Have a seat and I'll give you the whole story."
    "Can we go somewhere else so I can get out of this thing?" Roku pointed at her mask.
    "Sure thing."

        "Anyways, that's basically the whole story." Meiran concluded, sitting in Sidra's dorm room.
    "Damn..." Sidra sighed and leaned back against a wall. She looked like hell. Meiran smiled a bit.
    "Everybody needs a break from their parents sometime. Why don't you take a 'vacation' for awhile?"
    "But I'm still in school."
    "So? That didn't stop me." Meiran smirked, she had missed a good deal of school, much to her parents dismay, but she'd made up most of the missed work.
    "I don't have that kind of money."
    "I stole... er... borrowed.... Daddy's.... You could disown your parents.... I don't know what good it'd do, but..."
    "Why not? I'm ashamed of being a Peacecraft anyway."
    "Parents can be so stupid sometimes, huh?"
    "Yeah..." Sidra nodded. Meiran studied the sheath of her sword.
    "You wanna get back at them?" Meiran was forming an idea.
    "It'd be nice...."
    "Take one of the new suits."
    "WHAT!?" Sidra looked up in surprise.
    "Take one of the new suits and take off. Just don't take the Seiryuu. That's mine. I think Yoshino is using the Typhoon."
    There was a knock on the door.
    "Who is it?" Sidra got ready to put the mask back on.
    "Siduri!"
    Meiran opened the door. He blinked.
    "So you know now too?" Siduri asked.
    "Yeah. We've been talking." Meiran shut the door and sat back down.
    "I'm leaving tonight and disowning everybody."
    "What!? What about me!?" Siduri sat down on the floor.
    "I'm ashamed to be related to my parents and I'm disowning them. And I'm leaving tonight."
    "Wha-? How?" Siduri blinked, trying to compute all this new information.
    "Not sure yet, but I'll figure it out."
    Meiran got up to, pausing to whisper something to Sidra.
    "I'll be in the hangar tonight. I'll keep everybody busy while you go. I'm a handful." She slipped out quietly.
    "I see you two are buddy buddy now." Siduri sweatdropped, remembering the whacking he'd gotten from Meiran at the space port.

        Milliardo was waiting for Noin in her office, an ice pack over the swollen spot where Siduri had slugged him.
    "What happened to you?" Noin came in, shutting the door behind her. She looked pretty worn out as well.
    "Our son. That's what." Milliardo was Not Happy.
    "So you got it from Siduri, huh?" Noin slumped down in her chair, "I got an ear full from Sidra. I haven't seen her since. I'm a little worried."
    "Security hasn't reported anybody leaving campus, so she's still here." Milliardo sighed.
    "Maybe this whole idea was a stupid thing..."
    "Maybe I should have just let her join... Siduri says all of this is my fault because I didn't."
    "Well, we can't change the past." Noin frowned, "Maybe we should go talk to her tonight, after she's had time to cool down."
    "And Siduri. I've never seen him like that before..."
    "So he hit you?" Noin raised an eyebrow.
    "Yeah... Very painfully too. I'm glad he didn't hit any lower though." Milliardo smiled weakly.

        It was just after curfew when Milliardo and Noin arrived at Sidra's room. They knocked, but there was no answer. Milliardo tried the door, and discovered it was unlocked. He gently pushed it open.
    "Sidra?"
    Noin peered in. Sitting on the neatly made bed was a note and a mask. She walked in a picked up the note.
    "What does it say?" Milliardo turned on the lights.
    " 'I'm leaving and I'm disowning you both - Sidra' Straight to the point, huh?" Noin sighed. Milliardo picked up the mask that had once been his.
    "Indeed..."

        The hangar was quieter at night than during the day, most of the workers resting. Meiran waited by the door, having since changed out of her dress, yet still carrying her sword. Siduri sat on the floor, having 'borrowed' his roommate's gun. Shino wouldn't miss it until the morning.
    "I can't believe I'm doing this."
    "Hush, you aren't even allowed in here. Do you know how hard it was to get that Tiffany woman to let me bring you in?"
    "Sorryyyy!" Siduri sweatdropped.
    Sidra ran up, carrying a small suit case.
    "I'm ready." She announced, grim determination on her face. Meiran and Siduri nodded.
    "Which suit?"
    ".... Tallgeese." Sidra smiled wickedly. Meiran nodded in approval and Siduri blinked.
    "Taking Dad's suit?"
    "It's the only one capable of getting into space on it's own."
    "Oh. Okay... How far are you planning on going??"
    "Earth." Sidra smiled.
    "What!?"
    "Be quiet!" Meiran hissed, "If somebody sees you two in here, we're all screwed."
    "Right." The twins nodded as Meiran led them over to the suits. Duo was snoring next to Deathscythe, rather than sleeping in the room he'd been given. Tiffany was busy working and didn't notice them as they crept silently past.
    "This is it. Get in and get going. One sword and one gun can only hold people back so long. Everybody's gonna be heading this way when you take off." Meiran glanced around.
    "Yeah. Thanks for the help you guys." Sidra hugged her brother and climbed into the white suit.
    "Remember to write!" Siduri grinned goofily, even as he checked to make sure the gun was loaded.
    "You should have done that before you took it!" Meiran snapped in a low tone.
    "It's loaded, chill." They backed away from the suit as it came to life.
    "Okay.... Get back, I'm movin' outta here!" Sidra fired up the boosters and literally flew out of the hangar door. In an instant, everyone at the academy was rudely awakened by the noise.
    "The hell!?!?" Duo sat up, only to get hit in the face with booster fumes and have a small coughing fit. In seconds the Tallgeese was a rapidly shrinking speck in the night sky.
    "What's going on here!?" Noin and Milliardo ran in moments later. Milliardo was about to climb into one of the other suits to head after the missing Tallgeese, but a glint in the darkness stopped him.
    "Don't do anything stupid, Uncle dearest." Meiran stepped forward, sword unsheathed. Noin was about to do likewise when Siduri stopped her at gun point.
    "SIDURI!?" Noin stared.
    "Let her go Mom. Let her go." Siduri sounded Not Happy. People began to gather by the group.
    "What's going on, man?!" Duo looked around, "Why'd the Tallgeese just take off!?" Then he noticed who was at the center of the crowd. "SIDRA DID IT??"
    "None of the other suits would have a prayer of catching up to her. Not with that head start." Tiffany frowned, then glared at Siduri and Meiran.
    "You said you were helping each other with school work! I only let him because of that! What are you two doing!?!"
    Siduri grinned.
    "Practicing military maneuvers!" He lowered the gun, then got smacked by his mother, "oof!"
    "You are in BIG trouble! HUGE! trouble! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT GUN!?"
    "Shino! It's his!"
    Milliardo had his hands full with Meiran.
    "Just turn around and go back to bed... She's already long gone, and I promised her I wouldn't let anybody try and go after her, so... Don't make me do something you'll regret. I'm a woman of my word after all."
    "Your parents are going to hear about this.... " Milliardo twitched. I'll get the PMS to rebuild Altron to get Wufei out here to deal with his daughter. And I'll need a new one now... He turned to go. Meiran lowered her tachi, then sheathed it.
    "Go return Shino's gun, Siduri...." Noin sighed. She was too tired to give him a full lecture. She'd just tell him he was grounded for life in the morning.

        Ariana stared. WHAT was landing in HER scrap heap in the dead of night when no normal person would be up like she was? Thankfully, it seemed to be avoiding the camouflage netting. It looked kind of like... like... The Tallgeese!? IN MY SCRAP HEAP???
    "Um....." She waited for the cockpit to open, "Uncle Zechs?" She did not expect Sidra to practically fall out of the cockpit. "SIDRA!?!" She dropped her wrench and ran over.
    Sidra looked like hell. It'd been a long, well, not too long, but exhausting flight under hefty g-forces.
    "Mind if I stay with ya for awhile...?" Sidra smiled slightly and promptly passed out.