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INTRODUCTION
Ok, spoilers abound.
The first thing is, let me just get this out of the way. We know what you're thinking:
YOU KILLED NOIN! YOU BASTARDS!
Tempted as I am to claim that particularly delicious moment, that was Ger. From the beginning of this story, Noin pretty much had a target on her back. Not because we hate her- quite the opposite. I was hoping to get her and Zechs together, and Ger seems to relate to her pretty well; however, the plot bunnies just ran away. If you want to blame anyone, blame Zechs. Ger will talk more about it.
PERSONAL NOTES
The beginning of Act 6 fell during the crisis of September 11.
It's amazing how that's affected us all. For me, I lost much of my will to write, as SNK is not a story that relieves stress. Part of it was almost eerie: in Act 7, we have a terrorist activity planned, and I've been trying to avoid looking towards that. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to deal, able to right something that struck so close to home. But I am.
The beginning of Act 6 probably contains some of the weakest writing in the entire story- my writing. I was upset, and definitely off my beat. I'm going to go back and rewrite someday (but not today). Thankfully, Ger and I agreed that it was time to take some time off- coming after our long summer break, we're aware we disappointed our fans with yet ANOTHER sabbatical, but... we needed the time to get ourselves together. Me in particular.
HOW WE'RE WORKING
Right now I'm the primary plot writer- I keep the main story idea in tact and figure out how things are interrelating. Most of the plots have started to converge, which means that we're shifting who writes whom. For example, right now I've picked up Relena since she ended up working herself into the Preventer plot. Eventually there will be only two interrelated plots as characters converge in Geneva- most of you've guessed the characters are mainly heading there, and as the last of the Gundams are revealed. My Cliffside gang (with the exception of Ilene) has now become property of Ger, and I FINALLY get Dorothy back after five acts!
Ger, on the other hand, is zeroing on Wing, Darkflight, Wufei, and the Dorothy-Zechs-Noin triangle. This triangle is finally broken, but most of the arc was devoted to building up so Noin's death would be all that much more poignant. And Noin's death will have amazing ramifications, ramifications that all the characters will feel.
WHERE THE CHARACTERS ARE FROM ACT 4 TO ACT 6
The characters are growing, becoming more dynamic and, hopefully, clearer. Each of them has their own motivation, and I think you'll see some interesting things on the way.
Heero Yuy/Wing
Heero is coming back to himself, though it isn't an easy process. He's pretty fucked up in the head, and his current choice of friends won't make it any easier. In a way, Fei is probably the WORST pilot he could have found- Fei is the most unforgiving, and when you put him together with Darkflight- well, I feel sorry for Heero.
Darkflight and Heero have an interesting relationship. I'd call them, like Wing and Atsuki, a parallel between the Heero/Duo relationship. This time, though, Heero is not the dominant personality- he receives far more than Darkflight from the relationship.
Heero himself has a long road to go- while he'll never be the boy he once was, he's starting to understand that he can be something more then what he has become (starts playing the music from the Lion King before getting thwapped by Ger). Wufei is helping him, but ultimately, it will be up to him to decide his fate, which is one of the keys to GW characterization.
Relena Darlian Peacecraft
Relena- let's go, girl!
Most people have a hard time portraying her in fanfic. They either turn her into a psycho-bitch stalker, or into a paragon. She's neither- she's merely a girl who's growing up. I'm learning to like her.
I've said that before, haven't I?
Anyway, in the second Arc, we find Relena has decided to make for Geneva- she simply can't bear to be left out of things. She's a firm believer in the ideal that one person CAN make a difference, so it isn't out of a sense of vanity that she goes. She believes that Une (and Heero) can use her help. What form that help may come in is yet to be seen.
Relena's meeting with Catherine is symbolic of many things. Both of them come from different walks of life. This is shown quite dramatically by the way they are treated by the Preventers- Relena is giving an honor guard the moment she shows up at the gate, while Catherine is given an impossible amount of paperwork, delays, and other bureaucratic nonsense. This reflection on the society of 197AC is important, and hints of things to come.
Duo Maxwell
Duo hasn't really changed much during these acts. Aside from learning where he put Deathscythe, the reader is shown very little of his thinking. He's not the pivotal character at this point.
Duo's main scene is watching Hilde go into the Zero system, and then his pursuit of her. The Zero system... seeing his beloved take it on for him.... and his own frustrations about the way his life is going means something.
Hilde Schbeiker
I always wondered what would happen if you put Hilde in the Zero System.
To be honest, I wasn't planning on it. It just sort of... happened.
Sometimes characters get away from you, and Hilde stood up and reminded me why I like the women of Gundam Wing. She stole the plans for the Libra, so she's one tough chick- and I always thought she might feel slightly inferior to Duo. She stole the Libra plans to prove her worth, so I can see her taking Wing to not only save Duo, but to prove to herself that she's worthy of him.
She's kind of out of it, I think. Vegetable-like, even.
Please note what she saw in the Zero system- what do you think she saw? The future? The past? The present? Hilde's not quite sure, and she's scared.
Hopefully she'll get back to herself. But no promises- we killed Noin so you can TELL we have no intention of making characters immortal and/or immune to harm.
Trowa Barton
He's MIA.
Not many people have wondered WHERE he is, but... I wonder.
Like GW, sometimes the canon characters vanish for a while. His activities ARE important, just... for storytelling purposes, they haven't been covered. Yet.
Look for him in Act 7.
Catherine Bloom
Cat is changing, for the better. She's taking matters into her own hands, and hopefully her meeting Relena will have positive consequences for the both of them. See what I said about her in Relena's section.
Quatre Raberba Winner
Quatre may seem meek and mild, and ready to accept whatever punches other people throw at him, but his patience is at its end. He's ready to fight back, and a ticked off Quatre is a scary Quatre.
Quatre has been relatively docile so far, but that is about to change. He's about to face the time of his life, and he's going to need every resource at his disposal to persevere.
Dorothy Catalonia
Dorothy... what to say about my Doro-chan?
One reader thought we killed off Noin to make room for Dorothy. This is very Not True. At this point, Milliard can't stand her.
Dorothy has always been in love with Milliard- at least that was my opinion while I watched the series. It certainly makes it easier for me to understand her motivation.
While Dorothy may not be everyone's fav character, Ger and I both like her. She's just faced a crisis, and how she deals with it will influence the road the rest of her life takes.
Chang Wufei
Wufei returns to sanity. That pretty much sums up this Arc for him.
Sally Po
I had a lot of fun writing that last Sally scene.
Sally has a mischievous streak, and I wanted to play with that a little- especially knowing what was just about to happen to Noin. There's not much room for humor in this fic right now, so I grabbed the chance while I could!
Sally is her level-headed self, as always, thinking on several levels. With Brown, she makes a potent combination that will be determined to get their way. She knows how to make the most of her resources, and can turn lemons into lemonade easily. Aside from a distrust of Shinobu, she's dealing quite well.
Milliard Peacecraft/Zechs Merquise
I FINALLY WROTE A ZECHS PIECE! AND I'M NEVER DOING IT AGAIN!
In case you didn't know, "Trio" is my first Zechs piece, and probably the piece I'm proudest of in the SNK universe. There's all sorts of foreshadowing, and if you read "Trio" and then read "Waking", you'll see that they were written to be companion pieces.... specially the ends. I stole the ending from Ger-bear.
Anyway, "Trio" displays Zechs' multiple natures by using the women in his life as the Fates. Someone suggested it would be more appropriate to have the Muses, but there were nine muses... anyway, if you know anything about Greco-Roman mythology, you should be able to pick out the rational for the placement of Relena, Dorothy, and Noin easily. Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. The Spinner, Weaver, and Shearer. Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. Past, Present, Future.
*smiles* Ger will talk more about Zechs- I still don't like him. I just wanted to prove I could write him!
Lucrezia Noin
Well, at the moment, she's kinda..... dead.
What more to say?
Actually, Noin in this act returned to the Noin of the series- a strong woman who was Zechs' right hand, the one who was ready to take control of her fate.
The soldier.
Irony is our friend. Noin dies a death in battle, proving she is a "good" soldier, the person Zechs expected her to be. However, that's not going to make him happy.
Lady Une
Une is... still in command. For a while it looked like she would break, but she's stronger then that. All the bad news would get to ANYONE, wouldn't you think?
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS
Atsuki/Lilah Winner
Atsuki is one of the Winner women.
We knew that.
Finally we're starting to see it.
The Winner women are some of the most remarkable people of their generation. All of them have experienced some genetic tampering, and all of them have skills that go beyond the mundane. Atsuki's self-esteem has suffered terribly due to her time in the Breaks, but I think she's starting to find her pride again
Fatima bint Narish
Fatima is a bitch, and revels in the fact. I rather like her- she's always playing to "the third level" and in her, Une may have met her match. The connection to Quatre makes me wanna hum "it's a small world after all", and I wanted to have an Arab character take an important place.
Christopher Johnsen
Chris is a believer in Absolute Pacifism; coming from an extremely wealthy family, he has never had to face the realities of "the real world" and thus he can afford to believe in the ideal, rather then the reality. He is the first third of the Cliffside Trio- between him, Ilene, and Helena, we see three extremes in opinion about war.
While he's declared he's not going to be party to bringing the Gundams back, don't count him out yet. He needs to talk to Helena, reconcile his ambivalent feelings towards Duo, and... well, that would be telling, now, wouldn't it? So don't count him out.
Ilene Keets
Ilene.... is a nutball.
She's having to cope with some trauma, and finding out her crush is someone who may inadvertently be responsible for the death of her beloved brother is hardly helping. Joining the Gundam Resistance group is going a touch far, but... well, she was betrayed. At least from her point of view.
If there's one thing she won't forgive, it's betrayal.
She means to kill Duo.
Matsuura Shinobu/Seki Takeru
Shin is fun.
Originally he wasn't supposed to be tied into this whole mess, but when we realized we needed some more ties to L1, he practically jumped up and down to demand this spot.
Shin is caught in a tangle of webs he can't break free of. Right now his friends don't know what price he'll pay, but it's not going to be pretty, if Seki Hikaru gets his way.
Helena Rosenbaum
Ah, my blonde. I like her, she's smart.
Of the Cliffside gang, she's the most rational (and to me) the most reasonable when it comes to the war. She doesn't like it, but believes it is necessary at times. She's willing to listen before making up her mind and is flexible.
Right now Chris is having problems with her- they haven't broken up, but there is a definite strain on their relationship caused by their different political views.
Reeshya Winner
Reeshya is...still Reeshya. She's very much like Quatre would have been - should he have grown up without the bitterness towards his father. I find her a nice contrast to him. And Atsuki. She's what Atsuki should have been.
ABOUT THE RELICS ARC
The Relics Arc is named for several reasons, but the primary one is the "relics" are actually the Gundams themselves. In this Arc, we find out where four of the six Gundams ended up. Epyon is still unaccounted for, as is Heavyarms. This is most definitely a key point later.
When writing this, Ger and I had to decide where to place the Gundams. Unlike Endless Waltz, I can't imagine the boys simply destroying them- they are very much part of them. So the Gundams were hidden instead, and the hiding places were based on who they are.
Like the knife mention in Act one (and the sidestory "Sin"), Heero entrusts Wing to Duo. This displays his deep trust in the Shinigami pilot, as Heero is counting on him to be the final decider. Duo leaves Deathscythe Hell and Wing Zero, in turn, at Maxwell's Church- the ruins. This is symbolistic of his ties to the past. With the possible exception of Wufei, Duo is the pilot most motivated by the past, rather than the future.
Sandrock Kai meets a different fate. Quatre has always been the most pacifistic of the six pilots (I include Zechs as he is Epyon's pilot), and unlike the others, he has made the irrevocable decision to dismantle his Gundam, and turn it into a tool of peace and prosperity- an irrigation system for a water-starved land.
Wufei... as I stated in my first mission long, isn't all there. He was so divorced from reality that he forgot all about Shenlong. It ended up in the ocean, and there would have stayed had the crisis not blown up.
WHERE WE'RE GOING
13 Acts. 6 down, 7 to go.
Next up is the Betrayals Arc, and we see things are even more muddled then most characters are able to comprehend. The return of Trowa- and what he was up to. Milliard's fury, and something even more worrying. Elaborate webs begin to unravel, explosions both figurative and literal erupt, characters meet, renew acquaintances, and form new alliances.
So is everyone still with us?
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