Title: Heart and Mind

Author: themethotaku

Rating: Pg for angst

Neo Roanoke dreams of battle, of clashing mobile suits and mobile armors, strobeing beam weapons, and bursting explosions. This is only to be expected, he tells himself, after all he is an officer of the Earth Forces, and battles are his business. It is only natural for his mind to relay the highlights of his job in his sleep. That in the dreams he is as likely to be fighting against the Earth Forces as for them he pushes deep into his subconscious.

Neo Roanoke dreams of friendship. He dreams of ship much like the Girty Lou, but held together by bonds stronger then those of duty and shared hate. He dreams of honor an loyalty. He tries to forge such bonds in his waking hours. He has forged such bonds within the Phantom Pain, but the others are wary of them. But it's more then that The regular earth Alliance troops sometimes seem to be mere thugs. This worries Neo, because the doctors told him that Coordinators were all, evil, and that the Alliance was Earth's only hope. The doctors couldn't have been wrong, could they?

Above all, Neo dreams of love. This frightens Neo. The doctors told him that emotion was a weakness, that a true soldier cares only about his mission and his nation. His heart and his dreams tell him that that is not true, that a true soldier cares for his friends and his honor before anything else, and that love is the most important thing in the world, and that a certain busty brunette means more to him then anything else.

Neo is confused. But he will fight anyway, because he is real humanity's only hope. The doctors told him so.