Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat
Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)
Well, I'm back. I never expected to go this long between updates. But my mind shut down on me. All my characters quit talking to me. One can think of it as mega-writer's block. I know what happened, I've been through this twice before with my parents passing. It's a form of depression. I'm not sure what I have here is as good as it should be but I have decided it finally is good enough to put up, that it does carry the story forward where it needs to go. I hope this is not going to be typical of my chapter spacing for the next while. A month plus between them seems way too long to me. But I won't make any promises only to find I haven't really broken the block all the way down yet.
And yes, I will get back to the main action soon. That I do promise.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.
"Do I gotta Dad? They're little kids! They aren't gonna be any fun to play with."
"We can always go back to your Grandmother's house if you'd rather. I know she doesn't have any pastel feather bushes in her garden or any painted fairy butterflies but if putting up with the youngsters will be too much for you . . . . . ."
"NO! I mean, ah, yeah, I can put up with the kids."
Lance Thoms kept his face straight and his eyes on the road as his son fumed in the seat beside him. He'd grown so in these last few months of the war when it had been impossible to get home much at all that neither of them really knew the other any more. This trip was as much to let them become reacquainted as it was to help the Daws. Lance glanced down. The boy was so tall now! He had his mother's rich brown hair shot with copper bright enough for polished coins but he had his own amethyst eyes. He had Joni's even temper too, a characteristic his grandmother liked to brag about. Perhaps that was what had been behind Serin's invitation.
For inviting Jiro had most definitely been Serin Ito's idea. She wanted to gradually expose the Daws children to other Coordinator children in a controlled setting. She had the staff bringing their children who were fairly close in age over already. The Ito Project was most definitely not an orientation facility for those immigrating to the Plants. But Serin liked Lynn and the children so the decision had been made to hold the Daws there while she helped them adjust.
And they needed that help, badly. Both Howie and Sarah had an unfortunate tendency to revert to their father's language when they were frightened, tired, or stressed. Calling someone a 'space monster' in the Plants was just about the perfect way to get yourself beaten to a pulp if you were a kid. Terms like 'gene freak' and 'lab rat' were no better. Nor was implying that some god hated you for being artificially assembled by your fellow humans instead of by random chance in the game known as 'natural selection'.
Jiro was just five; a perfect age as far as Serin was concerned. The Daws twins were not quite four. That year's gap looked huge to his son but to the psychologist it was just about right for a big brother figure. They needed a mentor who was close to them in age and level of understanding but who knew the Plants and who could tolerate their outbursts. That last had proven to be the real deal-breaker. So far none of the staff children had worked out in the role. Lance wasn't sure he should have listened when Serin had turned to him but he had. Now he was headed for the Project with his son, the main garden and its fantastic array of plants and insects the bribe he was offering the boy to put up with the younger kids, and to see if he just might make friends with them. That he wanted to be their mother's friend wasn't a reason he was fully admitting to himself yet.
"Dad."
"Yes?"
"Do they really go around calling people space monsters?"
"I'm afraid they do Jiro. It isn't really their fault, they've been badly taught by their father, but yes, they use a lot of very bad words. Dr. Ito is trying to find people to help them learn the truth about the Plants and about Coordinators. They didn't even know they were Coordinators themselves until a couple of months ago! They thought they were Naturals and they believed what their dad told them about us." Lance shook his head slowly, wanting his son to understand why he wanted him to help these angry foreign kids.
"It's been a real hard thing for them. They've had to leave their home. They've lost their father; he turned against them when he learned they weren't Naturals. They are up in space where they were always told it was so dangerous and surrounded by Coordinators who they grew up being told were terrible space monsters. I'm not surprised they get defensive and say nasty things. Think how scared they must be."
Jiro sat thoughtfully, kicking the air in front of him. It was a habit of his when he was really concentrating on something. He reminded Lance of his mother when he was like this. She'd had the same kind of way of concentrating on a subject until she was satisfied with her own thoughts on it. It was rather reassuring to see her son do the same thing now.
He stayed focused for the remainder of the trip. He didn't even come out of his resolute internal study to exclaim over any of the mobile suits they passed on the way in to the Ito Project's site. Lance began to hope the boy wasn't coming to any conclusions that would wreck things here. Because when Jiro emerged from one of these 'think things over' his mind was made up for good on the issue.
Thoms had to tap his son on the shoulder twice to get his attention after he parked the car. But to his father's relief, the boy looked up with clear eyes and a smile. So he was ready to be disturbed from his consideration of their earlier talk and there wouldn't be any of the temper tantrums or sulks typical of interrupting him too soon.
They checked in at the reception desk, Jiro much more focused on the display of flowering plants and bushes in their neat beds than the lady who was trying to get his handprint, and started for the garden door. Lance had to reassure him a half dozen times that he would find the same thing out in the garden only bigger to get through the main hall. If this interest in botany kept up he knew what his son would be doing for a living in a few years. As things stood now, prying him away from an exotic plant required something just short of physical force.
As he opened the door to the garden however, Lance knew it was not going to go well. He was a father, he could tell the difference between the shrieks of children playing and the screams of kids fighting. What he was hearing were most definitely the latter. Then too, there were adults converging on one spot from several points around. So whatever had gone wrong had just started.
"Somebody musta really said something bad." Jiro announced with the solemn judgment of a child who knows he's on the edge of big trouble that he's not going to be blamed for.
"Yes, it does look like it, doesn't it? Shall we go over and find out?"
"Sure!"
Thoms found himself forced to suppress a grin at the enthusiasm. As long as they weren't being held responsible, kids always wanted to check out any trouble. And for a wonder, the prospect was enough to hold his son's attention off the garden around him long enough for them to reach the center of the action.
As the two of them came around the last of the feather bush hedge, they could see everything laid out in front of them like a picture. Serin had Lynn and her kids on the right with a couple of others. There was a stocky boy, a woman who had to be his mother, and perhaps four other parents and children on the left. The boy and Howie were facing off. Since both were looking somewhat worse for the wear and being held back by their respective mothers, it was pretty clear this shouting match had been a fight a few moments ago.
He could see Roland Ito coming toward the scene at a fast walk on the path directly across from the one he was on. All the big guns were here then. He wondered what the kids had done. It didn't take long to find out.
"Monster! Monster! Monster! Monster! Monster!" Howie screamed repetitively.
"Scum! Natural Scum! Chairman Zala was right!" The other howled, completely incorrectly, back.
"Ugly monster!" Howie tossed in for variety. "You lie! You lie!"
"Do not!"
"Do! Dododododododododo!"
"Naturals are scum and we should kill them all!"
Lance jerked up, anger shooting through him. What the hell? Who let a kid in here who thought that way?
"I thought you said it was the Howie kid who said bad things." Jiro whispered, a bit shocked.
"He does." Lance replied. "But he's pretty clearly not the only potty mouth here."
Howie was screaming in wordless rage now. The other boy was yelling some amazingly vicious things about killing all the Naturals. From the look on her face, he wasn't getting this from his horrified mother. Lance wondered who was saying things like this where the kid could hear them. Serin was ordering both boys to be quiet to no effect. Lynn and the other kid's mother were trying to shut them down as well but weren't winning the battle.
"The only good Natural is a dead one!" The boy mocked Howie's helpless fury despite his mother's efforts to get a hand over his mouth.
Lance Thoms was very, very pissed. This had the look and feel of a setup. Someone had seen to it that a kid got into the group who would set little Howie off like nothing else could. Someone really, seriously, didn't want this small family to find a place in the Plants.
Therefore, this had to stop! And it had to stop now! But at the same time, he couldn't afford to be seen to really take sides here either. He was going to have to clip both combatants as close to equally as he could. But it wouldn't hurt either side if he nailed the local kid first. He was the one who was supposed to know better after all.
"THAT WILL BE ALL FROM YOU BOY!" Commander Thoms shouted at the top of his lungs, and waited for silence, glaring from one fighter to the other.
He got it instantly. Everyone turned and stared at him. Apparently no one had noticed his approach, not a surprise given the show the kids had been putting on.
"I will remind you," Lance told the stunned youngster as he focused on the local boy with a voice that could have frozen space itself, "that our allies from Oceania and the African Union are Naturals. I served along side some of those people. They were as brave and as fine a group of soldiers as any we put in the field. I have even met a few outstanding individual officers and troopers from the EA as well. And I've known a few of our own I would gladly have shot! Never, you little fool, never judge anyone by their genetics! You judge them by what they do!"
"Besides which, ignorant donkey, we're dead without them." Roland Ito announced bluntly. "Don't make any idiot plans to kill off the gene pool we need to survive just yet. That Zala you like so much almost made us extinct! You might want to be a tad more careful who you hero worship."
Double teamed by an angry ZAFT Commander and his mother's boss, the boy went from screaming aggression to shivering tears in seconds. Lance felt sorry for the kid in a way. At the same time, he hoped the lesson took. He glanced at the others who were standing on the unfortunate boy's side. He saw much the same shock there too. He could only hope the lesson sank in to these kids as well. The peace, so dearly bought and not yet finalized, wouldn't last unless it did. At least whoever had tried to so bitterly influence these children wasn't going to have things go his way today.
"Did you really Commander?" A lean man standing beside a small girl asked cynically.
"Did I really what?" Lance asked coldly, in no mood to put up with any arguments from any parent here.
"Know anyone outstanding from the EA. I really find that almost impossible to believe."
Lance stopped, studied the man briefly, and decided the question had been asked honestly; so he nodded thoughtfully instead of angrily. "I can understand that. But yes, I did meet a handful of individuals. The Hawk of Endymion, the Captain of the Archangel, the pilot of the Freedom, they all wore the EA's uniform. They were also people of integrity, great courage, and high honor. I have known many of ours who could stand with them, but none who were really better."
The questioner looked a bit shocked. But then, how many ZAFT Commanders would admit to knowing those three? Not many, Lance knew. And fewer would openly acknowledge that they were as good – as human beings – as anyone from the Plants. But he had a lesson he was trying to teach here and it wouldn't hurt the adults to learn it either.
Thoms looked down at the boy he'd shouted at earlier and spoke much more calmly if no less firmly. "You see, it isn't your genetics that matter. It's what you do. Muruta Azriel, leader of Blue Cosmos, and Lt. Commander Mu La Flaga, the Hawk of Endymion, were both Naturals. Yet one was a hate-filled killer and the other an honorable and courageous soldier. Chairman Zala and his son are Coordinators of course. Yet he was driven to a kind of murderous insanity by the loss of his wife, and his son Athrun to a desperate form of heroism by the loss of his mother. Again, the difference is in what you do, not how you are made."
"I hope you were listening Howie." Lance turned to the other boy. "This applies to you too. You have to stop calling people angry names. They're hurtful and they aren't true. You need to start judging people by what they do as well. After all, it wasn't Coordinators who drove you off Earth."
The child's topaz eyes wavered. The defiance crumbled and what could only be called homesickness suddenly took over. Howie abruptly sat down on the neatly trimmed grass, collapsing as if his legs wouldn't hold him any longer. Watching him, Lance rather thought they wouldn't. Lynn knelt behind him, her hand resting lightly on his head, eyes as homesick as her son's.
"I wanna go home!" Howie wailed. "Nothin's right here! I jus' wanna go home!"
"All right everyone." Roland said quietly, motioning to the watching staff the excitement had drawn in and the parents with their still nervous children. "How about we just go inside and have some ice cream eh? We've all had too much of the wrong kind of excitement, something soothing and tasty would be good for all of you right now."
The old man chivied the crowd away, talking directly and very soberly with the youngster who had been fighting with Howie as they went, leaving Serin and Lance with the three Daws. He looked at the other Dr. Ito questioningly. She shrugged unhappily. One more failure then. He sighed and looked down at the crying boy; he had no idea how to help him.
But someone else did. Suddenly, Jiro was beside Howie, arms wrapped around his shoulders. "You don't really want to go back down to Earth! It's dangerous there! Besides, it's nice here in the Plants. There's lots of things to do. Every Plant is different and has different neat stuff to do. And the war's over. So you can go back for visits to Earth sometimes if you really, really hafta."
"What can you do in a Plant?" Howie demanded ungraciously. "They're little fake bottles that pretend to be like the Erf!"
Jiro gave him a very strange look. "Did your Daddy tell you that?"
"Yeah, why?" Howie asked warily.
"Cause he doesn't know anything about Plants or Coordinators! He wouldn't say dumb things like that if he did. Plants are really, really big for one thing. And everything in them is real! We got a big lake in every Plant. It's to help keep the humidity balanced. But it also gives everyone a place to go to fish or swim or sail a boat too. And there's woods to hike in on every Plant too, even the industrial Plants have some area set aside for green space to keep the air clean. And there's parks and play areas and all sorts of things. And gardens, lots and lots of great gardens!" Jiro waved his hands wildly as he tried to indicate everything a Plant had to offer.
"Are there any sheep here?" Sarah crept up beside her brother and stared at this new boy who didn't seem to be afraid of him like most of the other kids were.
"Ah, I don't know. What's a sheep?" Jiro asked, caught by surprise by the unexpected question.
"I can try to find out if you can tell me what it is." He added, willing to be helpful if not entirely sure just how to do it.
"They're animals silly! They have wool. They're really mostly friendly, well except the rams, rams are mean. But the ewes and wethers are nice! They come in lots of colors and baby lambs are cute!" Sarah giggled.
"Grandpa has lots and lots of sheep." Howie sniffed. "He's got horses and chickens and dogs and llamas and goats and Grandma was trying to talk him into getting a pig!"
"What's a pig?" Jiro asked, fastening on the last on the list. "Why would your Grandma want one?"
"It's another kind of animal." Howie told him. "They get round and fat and they kinda stink. But they're good to eat. That's why Grandma wants some. She doesn't like how they fix meat in the stores so she wants to raise it all at the ranch. Grandpa doesn't want any pigs. He says he doesn't need any critter on the place that's smarter than he is at five in the morning. He says they don't raise their own beef and Grandma hasn't been after him to get any cattle. So he doesn't see why she's so all fired set on a pig."
"Pigs aren't nice." Sarah said solemnly, shaking her head firmly. "They're very mean. They even kill people sometimes. I think Grandma should just buy pork from the Kluge's and not get any pigs."
Jiro stared up at him and Lance just shrugged. "Yes, they raise animals for food down on Earth. You have to remember son, they have the room to spare for it. A Plant is a very large structure but it is tiny compared to the planet itself."
"Dad, did you ever eat an animal?" Jiro asked faintly, looking quite distressed.
He knelt down by the children. "Yes, I have. The mess hall at Carpentaria bought food on the local market. Almost all of the available protein was in the form of meat from animals. I have to admit, it took some getting used to; we're trained not to think of animals as a food source here in the Plants because we simply can't support a real animal agriculture big enough to feed us. But once I did, it was pretty good."
"Do they eat these sheep animals too?" The thought of eating something that was described as 'friendly' plainly horrified his son.
"Yes, sometimes." Lance did not lie to Jiro and he wasn't going to start now. "But sheep produce wool too and many sheep are kept for that instead of being future dinners."
"Oh." Jiro latched onto that with relief. "We had a section on natural fibers and how they're used this last year. I forgot they said wool came from sheep."
"Aunt Alys promised to teach me how to spin when I get old enough!" Sarah announced proudly.
"What's that?" Jiro was getting very lost in this conversation.
"Spinning is how you make wool into yarn so you can knit it into sweaters."
Lance managed not to laugh. His son obviously got no information from that answer. Truth was, he hadn't gotten much either. But at least he'd heard of the craft before even if he had no idea how it was done.
"Momma! I wanna go home! I wanna go to Grandpa's! He can make Daddy be good! Everything's wrong here! The day's wrong, the light's wrong, the food's funny and I don't even weigh the same! Everybody is a Coordinator! There aren't any normal people here!" Howie cried, tears rolling down his face.
"Howie! Everyone here is perfectly normal!" Lynn admonished firmly.
He shook his head stubbornly. "Are not! They're Coordinators!"
"Coordinators are normal in the Plants, silly." Jiro told him determinedly. "Here it's Naturals who aren't normal! Besides, Daddy said you're a Coordinator too. So you belong here."
"Do not!"
"Do so!"
"Howie, we do belong here." Lynn hugged both her children. "I brought you up here because we belong here. I know you miss everything back on Earth but we are all Coordinators and Coordinators aren't welcome many places there. But we are welcome everyplace here."
"Don't care!" He cried. "I wanna go back to Grandma an' the Dobba Hawk!"
Lance Thoms froze. Had this child just said he wanted to go home to the Double Hawk? To Grandma and Grandpa at the Double Hawk? He could feel his jaw dropping. He suddenly knew just who the 'Daws' had to be. How ironic! He was trying to help the wife and children of the man who'd tried to kill his Second!
"What's a Dobba Hawk?" Jiro asked, trying to keep up with everything.
"It's a sheep ranch in Colorado." His father replied very slowly. "The proper pronunciation is Double Hawk."
He heard Serin gasp. So she'd not understood what the boy was saying. Well she knew just who she was helping now.
Lynn, no Rebecca, stared at him in startled surprise. "How did you know that?"
Jiro looked up, shocked. "Hey! Isn't that where Captain Ito and Lieutenant Lubbek and Lieutenant Joule went to bring back the Captain's lady?"
"That's right." Lance nodded, as his eyes met Rebecca's stunned gaze. "That's were they went."
Howie's eyes were enormous. "There's ZAFTs at Grandma and Grandpa's? What're ZAFTs doing there?"
Lance Thoms cocked his head at the suddenly angry boy and smiled slightly. "Well Larry, it's like this; my Captain wants to marry your aunt."
"Which aunt?" The boy demanded to know, not noticing that he'd just been called by his rightful name. "I only got four of 'em you know!"
"Kayla, Adrian wants to marry your aunt Kayla." Commander Thoms told him.
The child stared at him. "That's crazy! Aunt Kayla is a Erf Force officer! Why would she marry a ZAFT?"
Lance just stared at the butterflies dancing among the bushes for a few moments before he finally simply shrugged and replied. "I think they call it 'love'."
"Ohhhhhh, germs!" Both children sat back, fairly revolted looks on their faces. Jiro's expression wasn't any better. 'Love' suggested something mushy that involved a lot of sloppy kissing and other stuff they'd rather avoid at this age. Although he had to admit this was the first time he'd ever heard it associated with germs! What did they teach kids in Natural schools?
"Somehow, I doubt my son or your aunt would appreciate it if you go around telling everyone that they're spreading germs, all right?" Serin Ito asked, one eyebrow arched very high indeed.
"But, he'll give Aunt Kayla boy-germs!" Shiloh cried.
Her brother stared at her, then waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, and she's gonna stick him with girl-germs! Aunt Kayla's real strong! She can beat anybody's germs! He's only a ZAFT. He's gonna be the one in trouble!"
Only a ZAFT? Adrian Ito? Girl-germs? Lance Thoms found himself meeting their mother's now-dancing sapphire eyes and then the two of them were suddenly laughing uncontrollably.
Jiro, hopelessly lost, could only stare back and fourth between his father and the Earth lady in complete confusion. Sheep, pigs, spinning, those were strange enough. But he knew his science class had never mentioned that germs had genders! Earth was even weirder than he'd ever thought!
