Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: A response to Gangsta Videl's anti-bashing challenge on Livejournal, in support of canon!Wufei, Dorothy, and Relena.
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Here Be Monsters
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As a child, Relena used to love maps. She could spend hours in the family library looking through books with maps of foreign countries and cities. Maps of the stars. Anything she could get her hands on, really.
Once, when some well-meaning adult had asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she had answered that she wanted to be an explorer, so that she could draw maps. The disappointment as she had found out that there weren't really any places left to discover had been a hard blow to her eight-year-old heart.
Even today, though, Relena kept the memories of those maps she used to study with her. She had a habit of looking at people like she looked at maps, sometimes.
Heero Yuy had been quite an interesting map – not quite finished yet, but somehow still managing to show people the right way. Fascinating, that was.
Chang Wufei was another matter entirely.
Relena was sitting in on a sofa in his office in the Preventers headquarters, waiting for Lady Une. She was supposed to meet with her to discuss some political issues, but had found out from the Lady's secretary that there had been an emergency call which she had been forced to see to first.
She had decided to wait, and ended up running into Wufei in one of the hallways. They had exchanged a few words and he had offered her his office as kind of a waiting hall.
If Wufei was a map, she pondered, he was an early one, made long ago when the world was still wild and there were places left to discover and get your imagination going. Back when unknown, somewhat more dangerous places were marked with Here be monsters.
Because to Relena, that was what he was – an unknown element. She had never known him nearly as well as the rest of the pilots, in fact, they'd only met a few times. And when they had, she had sometimes had the feeling that he didn't really like her. And even if it wasn't for that, he still had this somewhat unnerving ability to keep you on your toes, to not really let anyone know what was really going on in his head an to keep you guessing.
As if he had sensed that she was thinking of him, he looked up from the papers he was working on. For a moment there, Relena wondered if she had been speaking her thoughts out loud.
"Are you bored? I'm sorry I'm not more interesting company today."
"Oh, I'm fine. I'm a politician, after all, believe me when I say I've been through much worse." She smiled at him.
He smirked a little. "Dorothy said she'd stop by sometime today. I'm sure she'd be better company."
He meant Dorothy Catalonia, Relena supposed. She hadn't been aware they knew each other.
"I'm grateful to you for putting up with me, really. I know you don't really approve of me."
It was kind of a personal thing to say. She didn't really know what made her say that, and she certainly did not know what kind of reaction to expect from Wufei in return.
Here be monsters.
He looked a bit surprised at the comment. "You heard about that, did you? It's not that I don't approve of you, really, it's just that I did not always agree with your ideals." He looked at her and shrugged. "I couldn't make myself believe in your peace. I still don't always do, I am a cynic after all."
Not many people told her things like that right out. It seemed they were afraid of upsetting her, either because they thought she had to be a spoiled little brat who couldn't handle criticism, or because they were cynical politicians who thought disagreeing with her wouldn't get them anywhere on whatever selfish issue they were driving at the moment.
"But you carry the weight of the peace of the world on your shoulders. That takes a lot of courage and strength, and I respect that."
Well, that was a surprise. Relena did know enough about Wufei to realise that he never would say anything like that if he didn't truly mean it. And she understood how rare it was that he did.
Before she could think of anything to say to that, something swept in – the door had been standing open the whole time, no knocking was needed – and she didn't have to try.
A cloud of platinum blonde hair flew past her and the newcomer threw herself down next to Relena on the sofa.
Dorothy Catalonia.
Relena briefly wondered how she managed to sit down so carelessly without getting all that hair in the way and accidentally sitting on it. The thought was quite amusing, actually.
"I'm exhausted," Dorothy declared, sighing theatrically. "Shopping with Mother is no holiday, I'm telling you. I should get paid for it."
Dorothy wasn't a map. She was a labyrinth, with mirrors instead of walls. And when you thought you'd reached the exit, it usually turned out to be fake.
"Wufei hasn't been boring you, has he miss Relena? At the rate he's going, I swear he's going to be a politician soon. All work, no play. No offence, of course, miss Relena."
"Oh, ha ha. Your sense of humour never ceases to amaze me, Dorothy Catalonia." Wufei's eyes never left the paper in front of him, but there was actually a hint of amusement in his voice as well.
Dorothy smiled sweetly at him. "Why thank you, Chang Wufei."
Relena giggled a little at the exchange. They obviously did know each other. "I was just here waiting for lady Une. We were supposed to have a meeting."
"Oh, more politics." Dorothy nodded. "That reminds me, I was doing some thinking today while concentrating on tuning out Mother's comments."
"Oh lord. That's why you should never go shopping with your mother, Dorothy. You thinking never leads to anything good."
"Ah, but this one involves you too, Wufei dearest. I say you and I should take over the world."
He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I mean, people expect it from us anyway. We're supposed to be unpredictable and somewhat untrustworthy people who switch sides in the Great Battle between Good and Evil occasionally when we get bored. And we haven't done any switching in a long time, and I am getting a bit bored. We can't disappoint the public, now can we?"
"It does sound interesting… How do you suggest we go about doing it? I guess you've got the Grand Secret Plan ready too?"
Relena could just hear the capital letters as they spoke.
Dorothy frowned. "No, not yet, I'm afraid. But if we put our heads together, I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out, what with your brain and, well, my brain."
Wufei turned to Relena. "You're the only person we know with any actual experience in being the leader of the world. What do you say? Would you recommend it?"
"Well, my position wasn't exactly… ideal. I wouldn't recommend the kind of world-ruling I did."
Wufei nodded. "Yes, I see your point there. And to be honest, I don't know if I want all the extra work that taking over the world would require. Been there, done that, really. Couldn't we just chose some little corner of the world that no one else wants anyway, somewhere that wouldn't require as much work? Preferably, somewhere without that much actual people. They tend to get so upset and bothersome when you try to take over their world, in my experience."
Relena wondered suddenly how many people would take this conversation seriously, if they heard it. Come to think of it, she wondered how seriously Wufei and Dorothy took it themselves.
How many people did actually think of them like that? And what were their own thoughts? Neither one of them had come out of the war with their consciences completely clear. Perhaps it was hard to trust oneself in cases like that.
Relena had never really thought about that before. Because she herself had never had any trouble forgiving them, she had never really considered the fact that it wouldn't be like that for everyone.
She sighed a little, suddenly remembering her missed appointment. "I'm tired of waiting. Would you like to get some lunch with me?"
As they all headed for the door, in her mind, Relena erased the Here be monsters-sentence from the map.
It was just like back when the maps were made – the monsters disappeared once you learned more about them.
History always repeated itself, apparently.