Title: Power
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Milliardo + The Elder
Notes: Challenge 198. Baby Series 4 #51. Takes place at the same time as In His Eyes.
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: Power
"More than half the country was laid waste when the Alliance invaded, and much that had been rebuilt was decimated when Romefeller's leadership determined another lesson needed to be learned." Milliardo looked over the parkland view toward the distant city. "Two thirds of the city was lost to fires. Too many people died."
The Elder was not accustomed to being reduced to feeling insignificant, either physically or intellectually, but somehow this young upstart was managing it. It was not so much an attitude or the exact words spoken, but there was something about him that dominated the very air surrounding him. Without intending to this man made the observer feel every short coming, every weakness in his own persona.
This was a dangerous man.
"It will be a long time coming, but we will emerge stronger, more resolute. It is often an inconvenient truth, but truth none the less that nothing worth having can be simply gifted. To honestly appreciate what we have we must work for our goal, each in our own way, and not always physically. But you would understand that well enough, Esteemed Elder." The blue eyes were on him, clear, vibrant... Too intelligent. "You would have witnessed much more of what this life has to throw at us than I, and you have survived to tell the tale. How often have you felt...that it is too much? That you fight against insurmountable odds? Found yourself wondering if it really is worth the struggle to move on?"
Horribly frank; candid. Very different to when he had been introduced to the King the previous evening. The man was proving himself to be unpredictable and that made him dangerous. Warnings were shuddering through every nerve in his body and he wondered if he would survive the interview intact. This man was as likely to hug you as he was to slip a knife neatly between your ribs in the height of the embrace.
He was all sleek perfection and refined excellence. He had power, and it was a greater power than a mere Crown. It was not the physical trappings that made the man dangerous, but that unnamed, unseen, untamed, but clearly sensed Power that trembled the air. He had used it in the past to threaten an entire civilisation and that civilisation had trembled before it. It was a personal power, something entirely integral to his nature. He could only wonder if it had been in evidence during his childhood, or if it had manifested and grown from the seeds of massacre?
Had everyone considered him insane? How foolish of them all, he included. Their first meeting the night before had cautioned him, now this longer audience enabled him to progress his assessment to the point where he found himself to be afraid. He had not reached his age or his elevated position in the Court of Chang through charity, but astute judgements and extensive training in the complicated games of politics.
What was he to do?
End
Karina Robertson 2012