Title: Swallowed Into Obscurity

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Wu Fei + Huán Hu, Heero

Notes: Challenge 186. Baby Series 4 #16. Takes place immediately after In Blood and Fire.

Spoilers: None

Warnings: Extended Length

Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.

Title: Swallowed Into Obscurity

"I think to give us the chance to live. I ask that you give some thought to it, to helping us find our feet. They came here because they could not settle elsewhere and they have tried! As I tried. As you have tried, I think. I will require strong people who understand how to operate in the world of politics. I am still learning and I have gained good teachers, but there is always room for another who can teach me how to get the best for those I care for. Sanc has opened itself to me, accepted me and I know it will accept the Clan. They have done it before and are willing to do it again."

"You would have us swallowed up into obscurity amidst…"

"I would have us enter into a relationship, mutually beneficial, to our Clan and to everyone who lives in Sanc. I would have people learn of our history, our culture, as I learn of the history and cultures of the diverse peoples who make up this land. I would have us accepted for being ourselves, unique, and willing to accept the traits of a people who have been trampled over, invaded, risen above the conquest to stride forward time and again throughout history. As our Ancestors likewise endured. I would have us accept Sanc as the people and land have accepted others who found themselves outcasts. We are not alone here. Sanc picks up the flotsam and jetsam of this world and turns it into wondrously crafted masterpiece the world can only stare at in abject awe. I have high hopes for the future, Elder and I have no intention of seeing the Clan vanish from history. This is a new page in the new book fate has thrown us, and we need to fill the book with our pride, our creativity and our strength."

"The Clan will be swallowed into obscurity."

"If we do fall into obscurity it will only be because we did not fight hard enough to maintain our personal identities and integrity. We will get out of this arrangement with Sanc exactly what we put into it. Nothing in life is free; nothing worth having in this life comes without a struggle. It is simply the natural order of things."

The glaring contest, Heero decided, was going to explode soon, if someone did not give ground. He was fairly sure Wu Fei had given as much ground as he would in this clash of wills. Too much more and the Elder would think he could dominate the much younger man.

"Within a hundred years, four generations, no one will know the proud history of the Chang. No one will understand what makes us Chang. No one will know the name as more than an oddity amidst these European curs. We will be looked down upon, treated as second class citizens. It happened in the past; it always happens."

"As you look down upon Europeans? As you consider them to be inferior to you? As you believe yourself to be better than they? Listen to yourself, esteemed Elder. Just listen to yourself. You are no better than the worst of those who see themselves as better than others. It is not a symptom isolated to Europeans. It was rife within China in ancient days and it is no less in existence now as then! China segregated itself from the entire known world in the dark depths of history. What did that lead to? Invasion, repeatedly and even our vaunted ancestors could not keep the invaders out. Again and again it happened and always there was the 'we are better than thou' mentality… On both sides! We have a chance here to make a place for ourselves. We have a chance to become one with Sanc, with the land and the peoples who are already in residence and we do not have to lose everything that we identify as Chang. Resurrection as Chang is possible, but not as the old Chang. Elements must be maintained, practised, that we remain Chang, but other elements should be consigned to history. Traditions should be recorded, honoured, but we should not be made slaves to it."

End

Karina Robertson 2012