Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ On a Pale Horse ❯ Data Echange & New Friends ( Chapter 10 )
Anime/Manga: Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.28.2009 | Updated On: 02.25.2009 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 607 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: As far as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing goes: Bandai has rights. Sunrise has rights. Sotsu Agency has rights. Rally does not have rights; she just likes to play with the characters. It's so much fun. As far as the world of Valdemar and Velgarth go: Mercedes Lackey has rights. DAW books have rights. Rally (again) does not have rights; she just loves dropping confused bishies in and waiting to see how long it'll take them to swim. (Again) it's just so much fun!
A/N: "Italics" is Duo speaking in Standard. "No italics" mean he's speaking Valdemaren. :Colons and Italics: indicate Mindspeech.
On A Pale Horse
-Data Exchange & New Friends-
Duo swallowed back a yawn resisting the urge to give himself the luxury of a full-bodied stretch. Apparently, Simaree's version of "a little history lesson" didn't exactly mesh with his, as the girl had kept him cooped up in his room for hours. Her monologue on Companions, Heralds and their duties didn't conclude until a bell sounded and she declared that it was dinnertime.
Duo tried not to bellyache too much about the lecture because though it was long and boring, it was damned informative. He now had a good idea of what it was that Heralds did. They seemed to be the monarch's—in this case, the King's—personal "go-to guys." They were pretty much trained to be jacks-of-all-trades as far as keeping a sizable kingdom in working order went. They were law-enforcement, judges, news-carriers, teachers, soldiers, spies, diplomats; the list just went on and on. They were whatever it was the King needed at the moment and it appeared that the powers that be gave the Companions the ability to predict when a major problem was on the horizon. As it turned out, they would choose the individuals needed to solve the conflict or if the conflict was unsolvable, they would Choose those who were able to protect Valdemar as best as it could be.
Simaree offered to escort him to the common room, though upon first site Duo dubbed it the "Cafeteria." It was easily the size of the biggest cafeteria in the largest school he'd attended on Earth, but it wasn't nearly as packed. "It's still early, yet," supplied his guide. "Let's grab a table while they're free." She gestured toward a table in the very center of the room, but before they'd made it halfway there, Simaree was flagged down by a couple of Herald Trainees—given that they were also dressed in gray—that had just arrived via the opposite entrance. Both were guys. The brunet looked to be about seventeen, with burly, football player stature and a grin that revealed perfectly straight, gleaming white teeth. The blond was younger, perhaps fifteen, with slightly wavy hair that fell past his shoulders and a slight frame that almost made him look delicate.
"So, this is the new guy?" asked Quarterback of the Shiny Teeth, giving Duo the obligatory new student once-over.
"Yup," replied Simaree happily. She then turned to Duo. "Duo this is Grennon," she gestured to Perfect Smile and Grennon nodded. "And this is Keres," this time she waved to the other and Keres inclined his head slowly, repeating Duo's name. "Gren, Keres, this is Duo."
"Pleased to meet you, Grennon and Keres." The awkward words were entirely too polite for Duo usual laid-back sensibilities, but he trudged through the introductions with a grin to match Gren's.
"We heard you were a foreigner," stated Grennon not unkindly as he gestured for Duo to sit. Duo took the seat and the other three followed suit. "I'm from Calfgreer. That's way southwest of here. Simaree's from Evanscreek, about a four day ride west of here and Keres was born and raised here in Haven." As Grennon talked, he waived down a server and proceeded to fill Duo's plate with what looked like chicken, potatoes and a hunk of dark bread. "Where are you from?" Duo could see a good three-quarters of the ears around the room orienting on Gren. "You don't look Rethwellan or Shin'a'in and with the way the adults are hushing up any information on you I half-suspected you were Karsite, but again, you don't have the look."
Duo took a moment to enjoy the rise in tension in the room. It wasn't just the ears of gray-clad students focusing so intently on his answer, but full Heralds in white were also trying to hear his response. The evidence was proving that Grennon's statement about Duo being hush-hush was absolutely true. It really wouldn't hurt to tell the truth, these people didn't know satellites from moon rocks and so far, they'd been quick to tell him about themselves. He took a bite of what turned out to in fact be potato before responding. "I am from a place called L2. It is a small um... country," or a very large city.
"What's it like there?" asked Gren, waving a forkful of chicken. "If you don't mind my asking."
"Dirty," was Duo's first response and then he added, "Loud. It is a place full of people who have little, but most of us did not mind."
"Where is it? I have never heard of the place," this was from Keres, who hadn't touched his food since Duo began talking.
Duo shrugged. "I do not know where I am or how I got here. I can not say how to get home."
There was silence for a moment until Gren broke it by pointing to Duo's chest and asking another question. "Is that a symbol of your god?"
"God?" His gaze followed Gren's finger down to his golden crucifix and he smiled lightly. "A god. Not my god." At the trio of perplexed looks he clarified. "I lived in a home for children who had no parents. The people who ran the home were servants of this god and though I do not believe in their god, I wear this to remember them." He could see the moment that it dawned on them that his caretakers were no longer among the living, so he took measures to prevent the next inevitable question. "You are very understanding of gods other than your own. Why is that?"
"Well," began Simaree, "you'd normally get this in Orientation, but I don't think it'd hurt to tell you now. Valdemar is made up of people from many countries and religions. As the first law of Valdemar is 'there is no one true way' we allow others to integrate into our society without being forced into our mold."
Ah, so Valdemar is a melting pot, much like the old United States of America. Which thought brought a question to mind. "Does that not cause problems?"
"Problems?" asked Simaree.
"Yes." Duo dropped his fork and brandished a fist. "My god is real and your god is fake! Death to the fake god believers!" He picked up the fork again, shoveling in more potato. "Like that," he explained past the mouthful.
"Sometimes," admitted Gren. "Mostly in the larger cities. The more rural areas tend to worship the same gods, so there isn't usually any conflict. And, in theory, the larger cities should be easier to keep that conflict to a minimum. There are more people involved, but we've also got more personnel in place to mediate." And true to the conversation's previous form, Gren turned the question back onto Duo. "You have a different god from your caretakers. How do your people deal with religious diversity?"
Well, as far as his religious differences were concerned, he was a special case. Duo didn't tend to go prattling on to strangers about his reasoning for believing only in the God of Death and the question had been specifically about how his people handle religious differences, so it would be perfectly logical to answer only the question. "My people are less concerned with religion than they are with the people trying to control us."
"Trying to control you how?" asked Simaree.
Duo took a moment to order his thoughts into the right vocabulary, or at least as close as he could manage given the deep conversation and his limited dictionary. "My people do not have a king. The people who do the job of the king are chosen by us. Our people in charge are being told by a bigger, more strong country that we must be controlled by them. We do not agree, so now there is much fighting."
"Who is it that you fight against?" asked Simaree. "Maybe we know of them and can help you find your home."
Duo's light chuckle was slightly bitter. "You do not. Trust me," he replied with absolute certainty.
Grennon took that as a conclusion and changed the topic to one that should have been safer. "And what do you do in your L2 home? I'm gonna guess that it isn't the family business, since you've no faith in their god."
Duo's plans for keeping his image that of an ordinary teenager were shot earlier, due to little Alaen's tirade, so there really was no reason not to tell the absolute truth. "I work as a soldier."
Grennon raised an eyebrow, while Keres just managed to give a look of disbelief that he backed up with, "Aren't you a little young to be a soldier?"
Duo didn't rise to the comment; he remained calm, trying a bite of chicken. "From what I have heard about your society, it is not all that uncommon for a fifteen-year-old to take up arms."
"Fifteen?" This time Duo wasn't expecting the disbelief. "You can't be more than twelve."
Well, Duo did suppose that he was a little small, but there was no call for that reaction. "Fifteen," he replied, holding up both hands, fingers splayed and then dropping one hand and raising each of the fingers on the remaining hand one at a time, just so Keres wouldn't think he was confused about the counting system. "Same as you," he stated confidently and he proceeded to answer Keres' question before it was asked. "Part of my soldier training is to be able to guess ages and skills that enemies may have." And to make his point, "Grennon, sometimes named Gren, is good at dealing with people. He can ask questions without raising alarm that you could not. He can make strangers calm with that shiny smile of his and you Keres, born and raised in the capital city of Haven practice an agile form of fighting with small weapons, like knives. You have a bad memory and—" an over-inflated sense of self. Okay, Duo, don't be rude. "You like a crowd's attention," he finished as diplomatically as possible.
Even though he hadn't outright insulted the guy, Duo braced for a tirade. He was pleasantly surprised. Keres merely closed his eyes and nodded. "Forgive me. I was out of line."
Duo waved a hand. "Forgiven."
The rest of dinner proved uninformative and uneventful and though Simaree, Gren and Keres invited him to join them for a tour of the dormitories so that he could be introduced to everyone, he decided to turn in for the night. His room proved to be nicer than he expected now that he had a chance to check it out. The trunk at the foot of his bed held his own clothing and belongings, including all of his weapons. The clothes had been washed and the shirt had been expertly mended. His shoes had seen better days but appeared to be freshly cleaned as well.
He shrugged into his own clothing, grateful to get out of the borrowed ones and then fished through the chest for his pocket flashlight and gun.
:A copper for your thoughts?: asked Onette.
Duo picked up his gun and examined it, carefully checking the barrel and clip before setting it back into the footlocker. :Mind taking me to where you found me?:
:No, not at all.: She didn't even sound surprised at his sudden request.
JUST A SHORT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know it's been a really, really long time since I last updated. I have no excuse for making you wait so long and I'm honestly sorry about that. This chapter doesn't have much in it but I'm already working on the next chapter and I'll do my best to have it up in the next week or two. I also want to thank everyone that left a review or comment or favorited this story. It means a lot to me. You guys are the reason I keep writing.