Warnings: The world is unjust, associated angst.
Pairings:2+3, all others undecided het.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is the property of Bandai, Sunrise and Viz Comics. I'm using the characters for fun and not recieving any money. The intellectual property that is this specific story however does belong to me, and I'd like to keep it, even if it doesn't help to pay the bills. Thank You.
Notes: Suprisingly there isn't much sappy emotion going on here, it's *gasp* mostly plot. I'll get to the sappy romance bits later. Flame me later, enjoy the story now.
Urchin
by Banshi
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Part One
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Duo stretched his legs out in front of him as he learned against the tree trunk. The blue sky was cloudless, and he could enjoy the view without the sun getting in his eyes. He was studying the sheep contrast between the deep green of the leaves and the endless blue of the sky when Quatre found him.
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The blond stopped a moment to admire the silly, lopsided smile on Duo's face before interrupting.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" The smile on Duo's face evened out as he flicked his gaze down to Quatre and back up to the sky.
"Yep. Sometimes I can just look up and get lost. There's nothing to focus on when there aren't any clouds, the blue just goes on forever." Duo heaved a contented sigh and moved to pat the ground in invitation. Quatre was already sitting down against the ancient tree.
"What's on your mind Quatre?" Duo still wasn't looking at him, but Quatre knew that he had his friend's undivided attention.
"Lots of stuff, but mostly that the press is too damn nosy." Quatre sighed and also turned his gaze to the sky. Duo was right, it just kept going on and on, a depthless blue. He sighed again and let some of the tension left from his afternoon press conference seep out of his shoulders. A deep chuckle sounded from beside him.
"It's their job to be nosy. You'll notice that the only reason Relena gets any peace is because nobody glares like Heero, and she's such a darling that the tabloids won't be touch her. Though, I give that only another year or two." Duo chuckled again as he pulled his braid around so that he could play with the end. Not for the first time Quatre was reminded of a giant cat and a piece of string.
"It's not so much that they're around, it's that they don't want to know the same things that I want to tell them. Like how the new satellite systems are a benefit to the colonies as much as they are to Earth. No, they want to know who I'm taking to the grand opening of the War Memorial and what designer she'll be wearing." Quatre sighed again, and made a conscious effort to bring some of the sky's tranquility into himself. Silence reigned for a while as both young men lost themselves in thought. Quatre tried not to think of the war memorial at all, let alone who he was going to bring as his date. He had just barely begun to succeed at that endeavor when Duo spoke up again.
"Why not show up as a group. We are all invited after all. Une, Sally, Noin, Hilde, Relena, Zechs, Catherine, Dorothy and the five of us by name. Howard and his crew and the Maganacs by inference. We could just swarm the ballroom and show them exactly who they owe for this." His voice was quiet and more intense than Quatre had heard it in a long time.
"Why not indeed. Although, they may be hoping that nobody picked up the inference to the mechanics and the Maganacs. Or they would have rented a bigger ballroom."
"Tough cookies."
That made Quatre smile. He started laughing while he formulated his answer to the next "date" question at a press conference. Duo actually looked at him, and raised an eyebrow in question when he had calmed down. Quatre responded in a mimicked conversation.
"Mr. Winner, who are you bringing to the War Memorial Gala?"
"Everybody who should be there."
"Have you chosen a designer for ... everybody?"
"No. Last I checked they could all dress themselves."
Duo started with a snort and ended up guffawing.
"Can you imagine the facial expressions?"
Quatre just nodded. They spent the rest of the afternoon planning all the transportation and coordinating of press releases in the cheerful sunlight.
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The War Memorial was not improving anybody's mood. The press had reacted as expected to the announcements of both Relena and Quatre that they did not have dates, they were bringing a group. Questions about what everyone would be wearing stopped when a cheerful voice commented that fashion hadn't been this big a deal since the heir to the Rivers dynasty had gone to military school. Relena had tried not to glomp Duo in thanks, but the photographers had gotten great photos of the friendly hug. Duo winced in Heero's direction, but the other man just shrugged it off, stating clearly that he didn't mind and the reporters could do what they wanted with it.
Now they were all standing I the large ballroom in a tight huddle, most having rebuffed fashion commentators by coming in their dress uniforms. They were all pointedly ignoring the large white stone statue of the Gundams.
Duo had been looking around the room for the last thirty minutes, evaluating the monetary value of the decor. He had tried to break himself of the habit while staying with Quatre, just so he wouldn't put Rashid on edge. Now the impulse was back with a vengeance, and he felt no need to suppress it.
He had started getting angry when he realized that the champagne glasses would have kept all the Maxwell Church orphans in shoes for almost two years. What could have been fresh food for longer than he had been living at the Church was hanging from the necks of their 'gracious' hosts. He didn't even want to think about how much good could have been done with the money that had been poured into the hunk of white rock outside the window.
He seethed quietly, but noticed that he wasn't alone. The others had reasons of their own for not liking the shaped hunk of rock, but the point was that none of them liked it.
That fact had upset the poor socialites. Duo tried not to snicker or let the dark sarcasm seep into his facial expression. Hilde, Wufei and Trowa all caught it anyway. Duo decided to share his joy.
"So Wu, how'd they do with Nataku? They didn't butcher her too, did they?" Wufei's answer was a single, eloquent snort of derision. Duo took it to mean: "Yes they butchered her, and it's injustice, but I promised to behave, so drop it Maxwell." From Hilde's expression, Duo wasn't the only one who had gotten the message. They grinned maniacally at each other for just a second before a movement at the edge of his vision distracted Duo.
Some of the socialites who were responsible for the "honor" of building the monument were getting huffy.
"Hey guys, I don't think they feel our gratitude." Several eyes turned to their hosts, and the Maganacs almost spoke their collective mind. Only Quatre stemmed the tide.
"They tried. We should at least appreciate the effort." His aqua eyes pleaded with Duo to be nice. Duo nodded, he would try...in a minute. Right now, he felt the need to share, whether the socialites could hear him or not.
"That doesn't make them any less hypocritical. They just built the thing to keep us from looking at how much they contributed to OZ and/or Romafeller." He kept his voice low so that Quatre wouldn't have to answer for the sake of their hosts. The blond decided not to, but Trowa did.
"It doesn't matter anymore Duo. Nobody except those still attempting military action can be held accountable for their actions then. That's why Une got her job."
"Ok, so it's not all bad. That doesn't put food into the bellies of people still starving up on the colonies, or down here for that matter. A big white rock shaped into deformed Gundams won't find homes for the orphans. These guys get to eat caviar, the attraction to which I will never understand, drink champagne and hobnob while some kid down the street has to fight to the death for a loaf of bread." Duo stopped to take a breath, trying to calm himself. He hadn't meant to get that angry, or break into a justice rant. The intensity of his rage took him by surprise, and gave him a new perspective on Wufei. Sister Helen would have called his rage-induced realization an epiphany, and been very sad for him. He looked into Quatre's wide eyes and knew that his friend was feeling what he was feeling, and it turned his angry grin into one of sad regret.
"Duo..." Quatre reached out to him, and he had to step back. He had to get out of here before he lost it and threw his rage at the unsuspecting wealthy. Setting his glass down hard on a table he turned back to his friends and tried to make them understand, without sharing his pain.
"Nothing's really changed, the store clerks just can't shoot at us anymore." He turned and fled.
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Trowa felt his eyes widen as he watched Duo flee the ballroom, making several of their huffy hosts move to get out of his way. He echoed Quatre's question.
"Us?"
They exchanged worried glances before Hilde broke away from the group to follow their friend, leaving a very concerned crowd behind.
"Duo. Duo! DUO, STOP DAMMIT!" Hilde sprinted as she saw him stop where he was and wait. He didn't turn around. She drew up next to him and they just stood there while she caught her breath. Just when she was going to speak, he beat her to it.
"What can I do for you Hilde?" She just gawked at him for a couple seconds while her brain caught up with him. Then she got angry...sort of.
"You just about blew up in there! We're worried. You're usually more in control than that." His face didn't change, and Hilde grew frustrated with the jerky, unconnected sentences that came out of her mouth. He started to answer, no doubt with some elegantly constructed stream of babble designed to get her to leave him alone. To hell with that.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" If he wouldn't explode, then she would. However, she hadn't meant to do it that loudly. They both looked around them with wide eyes, and determined that they were alone but exposed. As she looked at the building behind her, she noticed an audience gathering at the windows. They could see, but not hear... hopefully. She resisted the urge to flip them off as Duo grabbed her hand and pulled her into the garden at the side of the parking lot, and out of sight.
When they stopped, she gave her friend her undivided attention. He looked uncomfortable, and she knew he'd try to get out of talking to her.
Like Hell.
"Hilde...," he looked her strait in they eye and pouted. So she interrupted him.
"No excuses Duo. Something is bugging you, more than the hypocrisy, and your friends are worried about you. So spill. What set you off...why today?" She planted her hands on her hips and tried to look stubborn. Apparently it worked, because Duo sighed and let his shoulders sag, nearly deflating as he plopped onto the ground. Hilde sat down in front of him and watched his long fingers pick at the grass. He spoke up before she could lose patience.
"Its been this whole week. We're heroes, we helped usher in World Peace, and it's just like everything else. The wealthy have it, the poor don't. You came with me to L2, you saw it all. How many more kids like me did I make? How many of them will die by the end of this party because nobody told them that they didn't have to fight anymore. I'm sitting here, breathing clean air and well fed, while there are so many of them being passed over for vaccinations or food donations. It turns my stomach Hilde, and I don't know how to fix it."
He hadn't looked away from the ground once while he was speaking and didn't look up now. Hilde felt her heart constrict in sympathy, but didn't know what to say. She reached forward and ghosted soothing circles over his shoulders, trying to say with touch what words couldn't express.
Without looking up he put his hand over hers and squeezed. Message received, loud and clear. She thought for a moment before speaking, hoping that her words would be what he needed.
"There are no easy, quick fixes, to any of our problems. Relena and her supporters are tackling to big problems first. Maybe they help the small problems little by little, until they get to the problems specifically."
"Maybe. And maybe at least one of those fancy-pants, fat cats actually cares about something besides their bottom line. It doesn't change the fact that peace is like the vaccine for the L2 plague: available only to those who can afford it." He turned his face up to look at her, and the expression in his eyes was heartbreaking. She didn't know what to say, and she knew that he saw that. He took her hand and planted a quick peck on her palm before he stood up. She followed, her hand still in his. She glanced back at the building, most of their audience had retreated. Hilde turned back to Duo, knowing that he wasn't going back to the gala.
"You know that you're my best friend and that I'd do anything for you, right?" He smiled a little and nodded. She continued, "So you know that you can always call me to help you, with anything." The smile got bigger, and Hilde knew that her meaning had been understood.
"Yeah, I know, and I appreciate the offer. Need to come up with the 'mission parameters' first though." They laughed and the gloom lifted a little. He kissed her hand again before letting go and walking to his car. He left without a backward glance.
Hilde sighed and began the short walk back inside, brushing grass from her shirt. She looked up at the windows. Only Trowa had remained, watching. She had the distinct feeling that he hadn't only been watching, but was on Watch. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. He didn't indicate that it had worked, but nodded in acknowledgment. He didn't leave the window, even as Hilde opened the door and stepped inside.
continued in part two