Title: A Simple Man
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Milliardo + The Elder
Notes: Challenge 199. Baby Series 4 #54. Takes place following A Wise Man.
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: A Simple Man
"We stand on the eve of the future. Not just our personal futures, but the future of our civilisation. Of course, one could say those exact words every day and nothing but the truth would be spoken. Each day is the moment before the next, the eve of something that might be as wonderful as it might be disastrous. Regardless of what these events of change brings, it will still be the moment in time before the beginning. The eve. The prelude. The pregnant pause before action. That significant gasp of air before one takes that destined step from the cliff into what is, despite the best plans, always a step into the unknown."
It seemed every time the man opened his mouth he managed to surprise. He had heard much of the King of Sanc, little of it good. The man's wartime reputation led him to believe the man would be little more than a rabid dog, but this man before him was proving to be anything but rabid.
"I had not realised you were a philosopher."
The King looked thoughtful for a moment before a shimmer of light highlighted his hair, reflected from the great chandeliers lighting the ballroom, marking the smallest motion of denial. Milliardo rested a hand casually on the table behind him, casually hiking himself around to rest a hip against the table.
"I am afraid I am no philosopher, Esteemed Elder. I am very far from being such an honoured individual. I am a rather simple man. Simple, uncomplicated and just trying to do the best I can. I stand where I do through the designs and machinations of others, not by any real choice of my own. I simply do the best that I can on a day to day basis."
He would have said lie, outright untruth, but there was something about the man that led him to believe it was, at least in part, the truth.
"You have no grand plans for the future of your country? Of course you do. One does not wear a Crown and have no designs on the direction of the future."
"A King might wear a crown, but he also wears chains that bind him to submission at hand and foot. One might desire any number of things, but one knows well enough that only a fraction of such desires are doomed to know the light of day."
"Doomed?"
"One might birth an idea, speak it, back it, but when it leaves one's mouth and interacts with other players in the game, it ceases to be YOUR idea. The design inevitably is played with; it mutates with each mind that plays with it. In the end, as great or as simple as that end might be, the result is never what one initially envisaged. Only for the eve of the great reveal to others does it remain your own."
"I was right. You are a philosopher."
End
Karina Robertson 2012