Title: The Mystery of Life

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Duo + Milliardo

Notes: Challenge 193. Baby Series 4 #35. Takes place immediately following Live and Learn

Spoilers: None

Warnings:

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: The Mystery of Life

He could not fault Duo for his views. Indeed, he had to agree. There would be no mystery to egg him on if he knew what the mystery of life was. It was the search for enlightenment that was the driving force behind living.

"There is so much in this world to learn, and I know I will never know everything there is to know. No one can live that long, but I'm going to live every second of every day, and I'm going to drink it all in, the good and the bad. One can not know the one without the other. You have to compare the two to recognise the difference. You have to look at all sides before you can really see something."

Milliardo inclined his head slightly. "You would do well in a philosophy class."

Duo snorted softly, shaking his head, setting the long braid bouncing against his shoulders. "Nah. It's not for me, that kind of thing. I don't want to be constrained to a class room and hammering out other people's view points. You only learn so much in a classroom. The war was probably the best classroom for learning the simple facts of life. The war and striving to bring it to an end; to find peace and know that when you found it, it was what you were looking for all along. Sometimes we don't recognise what it is we are looking for so desperately. It has to bite us in the ass before we even get a glimpse of it being so close to us. Or we have to lose it first and then find it to appreciate it."

The taller man inclined his head slightly. He was tired and it would be so easy to settle down for a nap, but the walk to his rooms would only serve to wake him. It was better to stay here, amidst the refuse of centuries past and talk to the surprising young man who never failed to leave him breathless. There were so many facets to the persona that was Duo.

"We all seek peace, and yes, too often we do not see that it is closest to us. We can travel the world and not find it, only to return home and discover it was there all along."

Duo grinned, white teeth flashing. "Or we can stay at home all our lives and never find it, because it was waiting for us just over the border that we never crossed."

Pale hair shimmered gold in the lighting as he inclined his head. "We can make the most complex plans to achieve it, and in the end fail."

Duo inclined his head in turn, his smile widening. "Only to realise watching kids playing in the garden pond that it was not so complicated a thing to find after all."

"It's adults who have trouble understanding what peace really is."

End

Karina Robertson 2012