Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ On a Pale Horse ❯ The Answer is "No" ( Chapter 12 )

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
- The Answer is "No" -

Duo slept hard through the night. The long day, the migraine and his injury were really taking their toll and Duo's body had to make up for all the lost energy somehow. He didn't expect it to affect him at the level it managed, though, as he awoke to someone grabbing his shoulder. The gun was out, a bullet chambered and the barrel pressed up against his assailant's face before Duo's eyes finished focusing. There was a slight yelp and when Duo's vision finally cleared he found a frozen Keres, hand still on Duo's shoulder.

"Apologies," the boy offered sounding very much sincere but less frightened than most men would be with a semi-automatic digging into his cheekbone. Of course, he had no idea what exactly that little weapon was capable of. "I knocked but you didn't respond."

Duo let out a breath, lowered the gun and tried very hard to remember the words he needed to communicate. "I am sorry. Please, do not touch me if I sleep." He made the statement as calm as he could but truth be told if Keres understood Standard the kid would have gotten a verbal lashing. "It is not safe."

Keres released his shoulder and stepped back. "Again, I apologize. I'll refrain in the future."

"Thank you." Duo had already hit the safety, stuffed the gun back under his pillow and sat up. A quick glance out the window confirmed that it was just after dawn. The kid must be is escort for the day. "It is time for breakfast?"

The boy nodded. "Bath and then breakfast. You have a meeting with the Dean after that. Simaree asked me to wake you; she didn't mention anything about you..." He trailed off for a moment before biting his bottom lip and giving Duo a look that was almost sad. "You really are a soldier, aren't you? My father acted the same way when he came home after a year defending the border."

"Yes, I am," he replied in all seriousness. "I am sorry. I did not mean to threaten you."

Keres shook his head. "It's fine. I told you, I've been through this with my father. I know it's not your fault."

"Thank you." Duo just accepted the apology and moved on. Keres really did seem to understand and looked as if he might even help to keep the same thing from happening again with someone else. As Duo started getting dressed, Keres decided to change the subject as well. "If you don't mind my asking, that weapon of yours, what is it?"

Well, Duo didn't really think that the kid could pass up that question. It would have been his first and foremost question had their positions been reversed. Duo smiled and reached over to pull the item in question out for display. "It is named a gun. You want to learn how it works?"

The boy's dark blue eyes fixed onto the weapon and widened ever so slightly. "Yes, I would," he said before frowning hard and tearing his gaze away to look at Duo. "Later, though. There's no time now. This afternoon?"

Duo shrugged and returned the weapon to its hiding place, but that look of longing and expectation was too much for even a toughened soldier to deny for long. "Sure. Yes, if Ayden does not keep me locked up all day."

Keres smiled. "That's Dean Ayden to you, young 'un," he teased.

"He is not my Dean," Duo shot back, lightly.

Keres snickered and shook his head. "It's all a matter of time, my good man. I've heard that the Dean has taken quite a liking to you. I even heard that he called you 'brilliant.'"

Duo shrugged, putting on his most serious of faces. "I can not blame him. He knows perfect when he sees perfect."

Keres gaped for a moment, almost believing Duo's put-on and then, detecting Duo's ruse, grinned. "You're such a narcissist!"

Having finished dressing during the banter, Duo dropped an arm over Keres' shoulder and led them both out of the room. "It is not fair for you to use insults that I do not know."

"It means: Someone who is in love with himself or his own beauty. Someone who is prideful, pompous or egotistical. Someone who thinks they are better than others."

"Oh. The problem with this word is that I do not think I am better, I know I am."

"My point exactly."

The promised bath and breakfast rushed by without Duo discovering anything new. Keres had delivered Duo to the Dean's office, instructed him to wait until he was invited in and then rushed off to his own duties for the day. He didn't have long to wait as the door swung inward just moments after Keres had departed. The young girl exiting the room gave him a small smile and then nodded. "Your turn," she said in a tiny, imp-like voice that Duo had to strain to hear. "Dean says to go on in."

Duo nodded back. "Thank you."

She just nodded again, turned away and headed down to the doors at the end of the corridor.

He gave a wave to the retreating figure and then entered the office. If there was ever an office that screamed, "This is a School Principal's Office," more than Ayden's did Duo had never graced its presence. The only things missing were the framed diplomas and the paddle board. Duo got the sudden feeling that he'd been caught sneaking into the girl's locker room and was about to face retribution.

"Ah, Welcome, Young Duo." Ayden's gentle smile greeted Duo as the Dean gestured for his guest to take a seat, opposite the oversized desk.

Duo nodded and then flopped down into the center chair. He knew what the meeting was going to be about. He knew that it was pretty much a given that anyone Chosen would become a Herald. Ayden was aiming for Duo's consent in the matter and probably wasn't going to take "no" for an answer no matter what Onette had told him.

The Dean folded his hands on the desktop and allowed the smile to temporarily recede. "I would guess that you suspect the reason I've called you here today."

That was funny. This conversation was following the exact same route that Duo's last three or four visits to various principal's offices had gone. That phantom hand-in-the-cookie-jar feeling twitched again. Duo ignored it and answered the Dean's implied question. "You want me to agree to become a Herald."

"Yes, we want you to agree to become a Herald," Ayden confirmed. "Do you understand what this entails?"

"Mostly," he admitted with a shrug. "Simaree told me much about it and Onette told me more, but this is not something that I can do."

Ayden nodded as if he anticipated Duo's answer. He didn't at all display the shock, anger or disappointment that Duo was expecting. "Do you mind explaining your reasoning?"

Duo shrugged again. "The office of Herald is a lifelong term. If I agree, you will train me and depend on me to be here when you need me but the place I need to be now is home. My country is at war, my home threatened and though I am stuck here, I am the one most able to protect it. I need to get home. That is my biggest concern. I am thankful that you saved my life and I will do what I can to repay that service, but I can not agree to something that I know I will abandon as soon as I learn how to get home." Onette was kind enough to drop him a few key bits of vocabulary to help make that speech a bit more intelligible. Duo Sent her a quick "thank you." He hadn't even been aware that she'd been listening in up until then.

"That's a perfectly reasonable argument." Duo had come in expecting Ayden to put up more of a struggle but the Dean was still unreasonably placid. "This argument, though, is entirely more considerate than necessary."

Ah, there it is! Now, the fight was beginning! Unfortunately, Duo wasn't exactly sure what Ayden's next point was going to be.

To be continued...