Title: White One
Author: Omnicat
Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge: Masashi Ikeda & co's Gundam Wing, including side stories, and Tensai Okamura & co's Darker than BLACK.
Warnings: Slave trade.
Characters & Relationships: Lady Une & Yin & bad guy OCs
Summary: "You're in luck, Ladybird," the slimy voice said. "Girls this age are in high demand. I wouldn't have been able to get you a beauty like her for this amount if she wasn't blind." / 846 words
Author's Note: Enjoy!
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White One
The air of anonymity and abandonment of the rundown warehouse district should have been comforting.
It wasn't.
Here she was, infamous and renown head of the Preventers, hiding in an alley waiting to purchase a slave. A slave with no will of its own and stripped of its human rights by the clinical diagnosis of 'Doll', but a slave nonetheless. And she, the esteemed Lady Une, was going to buy it.
So much for the pact Preventer had made with PANDORA. So much for being a professional, leaving the past behind her, dealing with the emptiness left after Treize's death and Mariemeia's departure into adult independence, starting over, finally starting to live for herself instead of for others.
Was this really the answer?
But the time for doubt was gone; her suppliers were coming. A silent, sleek black car, two burly guards and one smaller, thinner figure in a long, shapeless coat similar to her own. One of the guards stayed with the vehicle while the other followed his boss over to her.
"You must be Ladybird. Got your share?" a familiar, slimy voice asked from between high collar and low-pulled cap.
This organization was professional, she could tell. By all means, she should be arresting these men.
She lifted a briefcase from the shadow of the dumpster next to her and showed the money to him.
Do you want a male or a female? they had asked.
Shocked though she was at the question she should have known would be coming, the answer came immediately. Female. After Mister Treize, there would be no more men in her life.
Age? they had asked.
Around Mariemeia's age would be best, she'd decided. The change wouldn't be as severe that way, and while she knew how to dispose of a body should the Doll pass away before her, she wasn't going through with this to end up changing a granny's diapers. Too young would be equally impractical.
How pretty would you like her?
She hadn't answered, but the girl being brought out of the car was certainly pretty. A young, slender thing with silvery hair and a black dress, moving sluggishly, as Dolls were wont to, and staring at nothing with glazed violet eyes. She wouldn't be hard to look at at all.
Une bit her lip to keep the thought 'ornament' at bay.
"You're in luck, Ladybird," the slimy voice said. "Girls this age are in high demand. I wouldn't have been able to get you a beauty like her for this amount if she wasn't blind."
Une looked up sharply, eyes narrowing behind dark glasses. "You said she was fully functional."
"Course she is. You wouldn't notice unless you asked. Her observation specter takes care of everything, just make sure to always have some water around." Slimy's hand ran along the girl's delicate jaw. "Ours come with fluency in English and pre-programmed survival instincts, nothing like your usual Dolls. Even the little kids know how to take care of themselves, when to eat, pee, sleep. No personality to speak of otherwise, though. But of course that's not what you were looking for, not from a Doll."
"Of course." Une's voice was cold with suppressed emotion.
Complete and utter devotion to another had helped her function – to an extent – when she was the one giving it. This purchase was a desperate woman's attempt at finding out if it worked the other way around as well.
No personality of her own; all a Doll knew to do was what it was programmed to. This girl would not face the same pain and troubles she had. No matter what she asked it to do.
The man was a professional, he knew when to take his leave. With a careless, "They called this one Yin, by the way. 'White' in Chinese, after her hair. But if you give her another name she'll start answering to it soon enough. Dolls are adaptable like that," he and his goon retreated to their car, and the car blended seamlessly into the dark of the night.
It didn't make Une feel any better.
Silver, Une thought, a cold knot in her gut. It means silver, not white.
Hadn't they even known that much about the girl?
She was left with a pretty little blind girl with an empty expression and an empty mind, and a road ahead of her she had never traveled before.
Looking at the Doll waiting silently beside her, Une decided that as long as there were blank pages left to fill, she might as well get started right away.
"I'm Lady. Lady Une. That's not a title, it's really what my parents chose to call me. Silly, I know, but it's mine." She slipped her hand into the girl's and tugged, leading her new companion away. "You'll be living with me from now on. I think we will find something else to call you. Yin doesn't seem like it was supposed to belong to you, does it?"
She hoped she wasn't imagining the slow, minute shake of the Doll's head.
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PSAN: Comments on older fics will always remain welcome. :)