Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ On a Pale Horse ❯ Hot Topic ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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
- Hot Topic -

All day Simaree had felt the odd sensation of eyes on her, glances stolen, but gone before she had the chance to locate the source. In the morning, she had chalked it up to sleepiness, as mornings really didn't agree with her on a massive level. By noon, she was sure that the gazes were real, but she still was unable to identify the cause and it was starting to piss her off. By early afternoon, her anger melted into exhaustion and she found that she no longer cared. If people wanted to stare, she'd let them and if they wanted to hide the fact that they were staring, so be it.

By the time she made it to her last class of the day, she had only enough energy to gaze longingly out the glazed glass windows of Herald Miran's History class. The thought that in a mere Candlemark she would be out in the sunshine with Feyan, free from roaming eyes was enough to steel her effort to yank away from that particular siren-call. Class was nearly set to start when she realized that the looks she had felt all morning had collected themselves into a tidy little group in the form of her classmates. Each of the nine other students had a level of expectation in his or her eyes that Simaree couldn't comprehend. A new sliver of irritation pricked at the back of her neck and she felt an eyebrow rise. "Have I sprung a second head?"

There was silence for a good minute before a third year by the name of Lani spoke up in an awed voice. "We heard that you met him."

The word "him" was so full of abject wonder that it took Simaree a moment to decipher who the hell it was that she supposedly met. Of course, it was about Duo. He seemed to be the Collegium's newest curiosity.

"The demon," supplied Suaran, one of Simaree's year-mates. Simaree felt her eyebrow pop again. Did he just imply that Duo is a demon? A demon? Really? Suaran was much too intelligent to honestly consider that.

"He's not a demon, he's a Karsite," retorted Lani in a scathing tone. The look she cast Suaran would have melted iron on a cold day. She then fixed her attention back on Simaree, demanding, without words, confirmation of her statement.

Simaree forced her rebellious brow to rest, licked her lips and then stood. "If you're babbling on about Duo, I have met him and he's not either." She met the eyes of each of her classmates in turn, lingering on the two offenders the longest. "I can understand that you might think Duo's from Karse, as he is foreign, but where in the world did you get the idea that he's a demon?"

Without hesitation, Suaran volunteered one theory. "Somebody might have said something about the matter yesterday evening."

Somebody, huh? And yesterday evening? Man, she hoped the suspicion gnawing at the base of her skull was wrong. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Alaen, would it?"

Suaran hesitated a moment, brushed a stray lock of dark blond hair out of his eyes and then nodded. The other five boys in the class nodded along with him.

Simaree tapped her forehead a couple of times, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for Alaen's newfound need to badmouth Duo. He hadn't so much thought about talking behind someone else's back before Duo showed up. Even though Alaen was scared of him...

But that was it, wasn't it? Alaen was absolutely terrified of Duo and Duo hadn't done anything to dissuade that fear. Duo had only confirmed Alaen's accusation by admitting that he was Shinigami. Simaree was hoping that the fact that Duo had been Chosen would make Alaen realize that Duo was not a threat. Clearly she was wrong. Fortunately for her current situation, that argument would work against the rumor mill.

"Listen everyone, Duo was Chosen by Onette. Do you really think a Companion would Choose a demon?"

Simaree was only half-startled when Suaran burst out with, "He was what?"

"Chosen," she replied flatly, allowing her tone to speak for her growing frustration with her classmates, "By Companion Onette. Why the hell else would she have screamed her head off, waking everyone, when he first showed up injured?" She exhaled loudly, crossed her arms and flopped down in her seat, indicating that the conversation was over. She wanted to ask if they had a functioning brain between the lot of them, but she knew that would have just been her anger talking. It would have accomplished nothing, except to make her feel like an ass.

Lani opened her mouth to make a comment, but Simaree cut her off with a loud huff. Where the Hell was Herald Miran? He'd finish breaking up the little gossip session faster than you could say, "Take your seats!"

"Take your seats, class," a soft voice floated in from the now open doorway.

Simaree blinked twice just to make sure she wasn't fantasizing the teacher's late arrival. The short man that entered the room took up a spot at the front of the class and immediately resumed his lecture from the day before. It really was Herald Miran. She was saved for the time being. That would give her time to figure out what she was going to say to Alaen once she managed to corner him and she would. She wasn't about to resume her game of Hide and Seek with him again.

To be continued...