Notes: Any form of colonial and World Nation government here is made up and in no way related to anything they may have actually had in the series, and my version mostly derived from stories of the ancient Roman senate and the Assembly of Tribes. And I so need to do a picture of Duo for this... unless someone else wants to do one...*heh*
"The outcome of the war is in our hands; the outcome of words is in the council."
--- Homer, The Iliad
"Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed."
--- Mae Tse-Tung
"Damn right I'm a maniac
You better watch your back
'Cause I'm fuckin' up your program."
--- Limp Bizkit
Requiem for the Sinners Part 2
The Council
Heero took his place at Relena's side, and didn't see Duo again until the conference was already underway. He wasn't hard to miss when he came in. The rest of the pacifists were dressed in creams and whites and other soft pastel colors.
Duo and his entourage of senators came into the great hall like a band of morticians in a wedding. The senators were dressed in black long coats, while Duo was dressed in a sweeping dark charcoal military uniform reminescent of OZ. His hair was plaited in a long French braid down his back. It had only gotten longer since the wars.
His gold epaulettes, buttons, and the medals of honor bestowed on him by the colonies stood out brightly against the black. They glinted under the chandelier lights. He walked with a lethal, stalking feline grace that seemed to reverberate through the hall in a wave of awestruck, whispered murmurs. He did not wear the gloves of the aristocrat, nor did he bow, but it was still the same reaction that he would have gotten...
Treize?
Again, Heero was struck with that sense of déjà vu. It was almost as if Treize Khushrenada had risen from the dead.
~~"History will repeat itself, Heero."~~
No!
Heero closed his eyes, then opened them. He looked again. This was not Treize. This was only Duo Maxwell, his partner and his friend, chief representative of L2, the youngest Councillor to ever be elected by a colonial state.
Duo...
Heero heard Relena take a deep, almost surprised breath beside him, but there was no expression of surprise on her face. She had gotten good at hiding her emotions; her face was expressionless and blank as a champion poker player. She was a true politician now, and she had learned not to give her hand away.
Her voice rang out across the hall, bouncing off the tapestried walls. It was rich and confident. But Heero could see a tense set in her shoulders. A wild look that flashed momentarily in her sky blue eyes.
She had seen it. She knew.
"The World Nation Council recognizes Duo Maxwell, Councillor of the L2 cluster. Please take the floor."
Heero shifted slightly where he stood beside and slightly behind Relena at the main podium, looking down at Duo as the L2 councillor walked into the center of the marble floor, black coat sweeping the marble floor.
It was so strange, Heero though, to look down on his comrade-in-arms, as if Duo was below him.
Duo looked up at Relena, a young woman whose life he had once saved, back when the first war was young and the lines were not quite as blurred as they were now.
"I called for this meeting of the Assembly and the Council, Vice Foreign Minister, because L2 needs immediate aid."
A rush of whispers ran through the World Nation, even those representatives of the other colonial states. Heero knew what they were saying, and he hated them for it. L2 cluster. The welfare colonies. The penal provinces. It had been started as a place to send violent criminals away from Earth, Heero knew, then had grown into the slums of space.
And now Duo was their leader.
Heero wasn't sure whether to be proud or afraid. So many things had changed.
Relena looked down at Duo silently a moment, hands clasped decorously in front of her at the podium, then spoke. "How so?"
"L2-3648 has more homeless and more unemployed citizens than half of the former United States alone. Our people and our economy were decimated by the Occupation. We cannot recover from the wars on our own."
There was another outbreak of whispers behind him, and Duo turned and looked around at the leaders of the World Nation accusingly. "I have noticed that all of the war relief programs for the Earth sphere have been put into effect immediately after the war. Where is the war relief program for the L2 cluster? Where are the war relief programs for any of the colonies?"
The colony councillors looked at each other questioningly. However, John Mahoney, Alderman for the Former United States, stood, glaring back at Duo, an expression of challenge on his face.
"Out of all the Lagrange Points, L2 was the one that threw its support almost totally to the White Fang. L2 must be punished for its flagrant support of the revolution against the World Nation."
"The people of L2 will fight for whoever will give them food and a word of hope against Earth's oppression," Duo replied, his violet eyes flashing dangerously.
"Then that should say something about the moral character of L2 citizens, wouldn't you agree?" Mahoney answered icily. There was a murmur of agreement among the leaders of the World Nation, while the representatives of L2 began to protest loudly in indignation.
"Be quiet!" Duo's deep voice echoed across the assembly, cutting off the rabble like a razor.
There was a moment of thunderstruck silence.
"So you would withhold food, water, and medical supplies from homeless children to make a point?" Duo asked softly, addressing the World Nation once it was quiet. "And you would criticize our ethics..."
"Those are the same children that killed our soldiers," someone pointed out, and the assembly muttered its accord. Heero did not see who spoke. And he didn't care. He tried desperately to catch Duo's eyes with his.
Duo, what are you doing?!
"Because the White Fang promised them food and peace. In that order. World Nation 'peacekeepers' haven't given them anything but martial law. And we've had enough of martial law over the last decade or so, thanks so much anyway."
Duo turned back to Relena, and Heero could read the plea in his eyes. Please, Relena. I saved your life once. Please listen to me. Please.
"L2 has had more civilians killed in crossfire than any other Lagrange point. There are riots in the streets. We've had a forty percent unemployment ever since the Wars ended."
"We've sent soldiers in order to control the riots in the L2 cluster, Mr. Maxwell," Relena replied. Her voice was firm, but gentle.
Duo grinned, and the expression was terrible to see. "Don't send us soldiers, Vice Foreign Minister, send us Snickers bars. My people are starving."
There was a moment of silence. Someone on the Earth's side of the Council coughed loudly.
"Why should we help a colony that joined a revolution to overthrow the World Sphere?" Councillor Mahoney spat. The rest of the Earth politicians looked at each other. Heero could see it in their eyes. They felt the same way. Duo would never win. He never had a chance.
Duo was furious. He whirled on the councillors like a wild thing. "How can you condemn thousands of women and children to death? What do you know about it?! I was fighting rats for food on the streets while you mingled at your cocktail parties. I was fighting for your peace while you sat on the sidelines and watched. Old men are great at starting wars, but it's the young men that have to die in them!"
Duo, just stop. Please. Heero's heart was pounding in his chest, yammering like a trapped, wounded animal.
It's happening again. Just like before. And there isn't anything I can do about it now...
Relena stiffened, and she set her expression into stern disapproval. "That's quite enough, Mr. Maxwell."
Duo turned on her. "I'm not finished yet!"
There was a collective gasp from the politicians.
He continued on, grating the words out through his fury. "You make a mockery of the very ideals you all proclaim to stand for! Heero Yuy would roll over in his grave! We gave you this peace and we can take it away again!"
"Enough, Maxwell, or I will hold you in contempt of the World Nation!" Relena cried out suddenly, trying to regain control of the situation.
"Then I'm in contempt!"
Heero saw the rest of the colonial leaders watching Duo in rapt fascination, like a mouse will watch a snake, paralyzed and terrified and awestruck, all at the same time. Quatre sat with his sister in the crowd. The blonde ex-pilot looked horrified. And Heero knew then that Quatre could see it too.
He was a shield now, not a sword. He couldn't stop it.
None of them could.
Heero looked down at him. Duo's eyes flared with such wild fire that Heero felt the urge to recoil. Relena, always courageous, stood her ground, showing no fear. But Heero, close enough to smell her perfume, could see her hands trembling.
"Duo!"
That one word from Relena, almost desperate in its intensity, shut him off like a switch. Heero watched as the fire in the Deathscythe pilot's eyes smoldered and banked. Duo took a deep breath and quieted. To Heero it looked weirdly like a ruffled bird settling its feathers.
"I apologize to the Council," Duo said, his eyes closed, head lowered, smiling gently. He didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.
He turned to the L2 representatives beneath him, and Heero couldn't see his face. But something passed between the councillor and his entourage. Something without words. Duo turned back to Relena.
"If L2 is going to be denied aid as retribution for the actions of White Fang, then we have decided to request secession from the World Nation. We have been economically self-sufficient from Earth for over a hundred years. And we demand our independence."
The council sat in that struck silence again. Not since Mariemeia's coup had anyone even tried...
"Denied," Relena said, firmly. Her gaze was steady as she looked down at him. "The World Nation holds control over all the countries of the world and all the colonial states for a reason, for the good of the people and the peace." She looked into Duo's eyes, and something seemed to pass between them, like a spark.
There was an undercurrent of panic in her words, now. Heero was sure only he could hear it. "It's an alliance. The nations of the alliance can't just pick up and leave whenever we have a disagreement. We have to work together. We have to compromise, Duo."
When Duo spoke again, his voice was flat and angry. "L2 is through compromising. We'll only ask once." Heero looked into Duo's eyes. They were cold. He knew a threat when he heard one, no matter how soft-spoken. Duo didn't yell, now.
He didn't have to.
"No."
Heero looked over at her. Relena was stern and immovable. He glanced back to Duo in desperation. He wanted to shout, to ask Duo what the hell was he thinking, didn't he remember what happened before?
But he couldn't speak. He wasn't a soldier anymore, or even a politician. He was just a step above a civilian now. Just a member of the Cinq Kingdom's imperial guard.
So he was silent.
"So be it," Duo replied softly. He turned his back on Relena and walked back to his seat. He was silent, giving a small nod to his second before leading his representatives away.
Some other politicians came down to the floor, the Earth councillors calling for a bill or a tax or more troops to prevent riots, but Heero didn't hear it anymore. Neither did the other colonial politicians, Heero would bet. All of them had glanced nervously at Duo as he left the council. They spoke quietly amongst themselves, eyes drifting to the spot where Duo had stood and defied the world nation. But there was something new now, under the tension.
It was speculation.
The challenge had been issued, and the gauntlets thrown down.
Heero couldn't get over what he had just witnessed. He felt as if he had been struck by something large and fast-moving, and in his shock hadn't had a chance to realize he was hit yet.
Duo... what in the hell are you thinking?
TBC...
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