In the Gods' Name
Continuity note: This story is set just before the invasion of the Sanc Kingdom when Dorothy, Heero and Quatre were staying at that school Relena ran.
To the Greeks it was Aries. To the Babylonians it was Nergal. To the Romans it was Mars. To the Aztecs it was Camaxtli. To the Hindus it was Karttikeya. To the Christians it was the name of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But across all these cultures the key idea of the figure remains the same; the ultimate embodiment of war.
War. Such a small word. But it is war that beats at the very heart of human existence. Since man took that final step from ape to human there has been war. The first war was man's conflict with that which had given him life; nature itself.
I sometimes try to imagine what it must have been like all those eons ago. A lone figure, naked, sitting against a tree somewhere in the fertile plains of Africa. He gazes up in wonder at the stars while keeping a watchful ear for any hungry lions that might be in the area.
How arrogant we are now. Man looks at his fine clothes, great cities and powerful machines and smiles, secure in the fact that he is nature's greatest work.
But it was not always so. Back on those starlit nights on the African plain man was little more than another beast concerned only with finding its next meal. But the gods smiled on this small, weak and naked creature called Man. And so Man was given an ability no other beast held; the ability to make war.
So Man went to war with nature. The lions that had killed Man and stolen Man's food were killed or driven from the land. Man was now the King of Beasts. And as would any good warrior-king Man set out to build an Empire. An Empire that was to be called Civilization.
Ah, Empire. Another word I like. It sounds so large, so grand and noble. Like war. All across the world, all across time armies have marched in the name of Empire and in the name of the gods of the Empire.
The more cynical among us, dear Ms. Relena among them, would say that those wars lead to nothing but pain, suffering, rape, looting, slavery and many other distasteful activities. Poor Ms. Relena. I wonder if she considers herself a cynic. But a cynic she is. While those things did happen they obscure the grander, nobler picture.
In ancient times conquerors often brought knowledge and order to primitive lands ruled by equally primitive peoples. I wonder if Ms. Relena has ever stopped to wonder what the world would be like if not for, say, the Roman Empire. As everyone knows the Romans practiced slavery, held brutal gladiatorial games and dreamed of ruling the world. And yet they made breakthroughs in law, science, architecture, art and countless other areas which affect the lives of every living person to this day. And all of these wonders, in one way or another, were done to glorify the Empire.
As a child my maternal grandfather, Duke Dermail, took a personal interest in the education of my cousin Treize and I. He wanted to be assured that when the time came we would both be wise enough to take our places among the world's true leaders in the Romafeller Foundation. That education included thorough training in the ways of war.
I recall how grandfather would take Treize and I to study out in the garden of his estate. There, at a table by a beautiful fountain, he would read to us great books on war by men who knew the art well. One thing he read to us over and over was a passage from The Aeneid by the ancient poet Virgil. If I close my eyes I can her grandfather's voice speaking to me.
"Roman, remember your strength to rule Earth's peoples-- for your arts are to be these: to pacify, to impose the rule of law, to spare the conquered, battle down the proud."
Grandfather would have made an exemplary Roman.
But the fact that so many of man's wonders were created to drive forth the cause of war is not what truly interests me. What I love is the human drama of war. For it is an ageless story, nation verses nation, army verses army, general verses general and solider verses solider. To see these men fight, for their gods, for their Empire, for their loved ones and indeed for their own lives, I can think of nothing more beautiful. Or more human.
Oh father, I wish I could have seen you in your last moments on that battlefield. I'm sure you were magnificent.
The history of war on the Earth is like some glorious never-ending dance. Like an endless waltz. Soon the Sanc Kingdom will become the ballroom on which that waltz will unfold. I can barely wait.
Since I was a child I've watched films and read books on war. They have served only to feed my desire to know war firsthand. To step and twirl in time to the gunfire and laugh as the world burns down around me.
Yes, do hurry up and start a war.
Poor Ms. Relena. When her kingdom is gone I shall pity her. But her dream of absolute pacifism is just that; a dream. And like all dreams it will disappear when the dreamer wakes to reality. Can you hear reality knocking at your door, Ms. Relena? Knock knock! Reality is coming for a visit and it's bringing the Dogs of War with it.
Indeed war will come to the Sanc Kingdom, as it will the rest of the Earth and the colonies. For war is man's way. In the end Ms. Relena will be swept away by history's tide, remembered only as a martyr to a doomed and hopeless cause. And those like myself will have our wars. Such is inevitable. For the gods are on our side.
The End
Author's Notes: Well here you have it, my second Gundam Wing fic. Originally I was planning to have my second GW fic be about Wufei, but Dorothy is my favorite GW character so once I got this idea in my head I just couldn't let it go.
The question I'm sure some of you are asking is "Why is *Dorothy* your favorite character?" You got me. She just is. Okay, I admit, eyebrows aside, she's pretty hot. I also guess I liked just how evil and psycho she seemed when we first met her. Of course, in the last few episodes we learned that grief over the death of her father was responsible for some of that attitude. Some, but in my opinion, not all. Let's face it, with guys like Duke Dermail and Treize as relatives your childhood is going to be weird. That's why I think Dorothy's feelings about war may have been ingrained in her at an early age and that it was the death of her father that later turned those feelings into an obsession.
At least that's my take on things. Personally, as nice a character touch as the death of her father was, I really enjoy writing Dorothy as the war-loving whack job she came across when we first met her. Bad guys who do bad things and really enjoy it are the best types of villains in my book.
Anyway, thanks for reading this and stay tuned. I've got more GW fic ideas that I will get around to writing sooner or later. :p