| I know what you�re thinking. Holy $^@%&, another one already?! What can I say, my muses finally got their asses in gear�� Part of Duo�s reasoning in �Kids� was that the children will help all the pilots to heal. So far, we�ve seen Wufei begin his new chance at life, now it�s time to let someone else try their luck. Written during a hour long stretch during a Psych class on motivation and a Philosophy calls about St. Augustine�s reasoning. They influenced this. See if you can tell how. Have fun, minna-san! Title: Learning to Walk on Your Own (Part of the Children�s Series) Author: Lady DarkAngel Ladydarkangel_1 @ yahoo.com Archive: Lady DarkAngel's Gundam Wing Fanfiction Library http://www.geocities.com/ladydarkangel_1/index.html, Darkflame�s (if she�ll take it�.) and anywhere else is fine, just ask me first Category: Humor, POV, some Angst Pairing(s): If you ask again, I�ll make them all single for life! I don�t know yet! Disclaimers: Gundam Wing or Shinkidousenki Gundam Wing is copyrighted and trademarked by Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency and associated parties with all rights and privileges. The characters were used without permission for the purposes of entertainment only. This is not meant for sale of profit. Any characters not created by those listed above are mine and hereby considered the sole property and copyright of the author. Anyway, I�m just a poor college student. So can I play with them? I promise I won�t break them�... much. Rating: G Warnings: I believe there�s a bad word or two�� Trowa�s pondering may be a tad depressing Feedback: Kami-sama, YES!!! Ladydarkangel_1 @ yahoo.com (ignore the spaces); any and all comments are welcome like the sweet ego-sustainers they are. In the end, it all comes down to choices. The ability to reason and utilize logic is a purely human thing. Our extraordinary mental capabilities are what create new eras, religions, philosophies, social systems and lifestyles. Life provides many differing options but the mind can find even more. But what makes us what we are is not the fact that we CAN chose (any living thing can and does so on a regular basis), it�s the fact that we can explain WHY we chose. We can share and outline the processes by which these results were obtained. Thus, what was once an exclusive method privy only to the individual creature in question can now be understood by whoever cares enough try to figure it out. Mankind is in essence defined by choices. The individual can be argued to be the sum total of their choices and those that lead to their birth. The same goes with societies and even history itself is nothing more then a catalogue of billions of choices that affected everything else then and to come. It�s not the words and not even the actions that make us the people we are; it is what we *choose* to say and do. Or in some cases, what we choose NOT to say or do. In so many words, we ARE our own choices. Cathy thinks it�s strange that I ponder over things like this. Apparently though I strike people as a deep thinker, I don�t come across as a philosopher. I�m not quite sure that I am; I prefer to consider myself a student of the phenomena that is humanity. And I am particularly interested in the notion of choices. Choices are intrinsically linked to free will. What happens then when free will is taken out of the picture? When your choice is really not a choice at all? When you�re set up, manipulated, faced with the choice of a rock or a hard place? The damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don�t scenario? It�s still technically a choice but�� do the same rules apply? Is it just to define someone by things not their fault and not taken of their own free will the same way you do for everyone else? The question is a rather important one to me. This war, this damned war that ravaged our world�� it ravaged us, the young, the disillusioned, the ones who fought, the soldiers in a pointlessly bloody conflict. We all did things we didn�t want to do. We had no other alternatives, no other choice. Are we therefore to be judged by the same guidelines if we do not have the same circumstances? If we are our choices, are we forever soiled, making them soiled as well? That�s not fair to exclude us like that. It�s easy to be clean when there is no dirt around. It�s easy to stay pure of heart if you never have to deal with evil. Is there no way to make a clean, fair, manipulation-free choice if all your hands have ever know is filth? For the longest time, that answer appeared to be �no�. Then Duo got his kids. He chose to take them in. To raise them and give them a home. I was shocked when I got that email from Quatre saying Duo�d applied to an adoption agency. I couldn�t understand at first. I thought it was a colossal joke on the braided baka�s part. There�s no way in that it would happen. He�d never *actually* do it, he�d never be approved, he�d never get the support he needed, he had no idea what to do�� Duo is as aware as the rest of us that we are tainted. So what on Earth would posses him to question that, to try to change that permanent status? A joke, surely. A very BAD joke. Well, the joke�s apparently on me. Not only did he do it, he got his approval fairly quickly and easily. He succeeded. He made his choice and further more, made the damn thing *work*. That did NOT fit with my understanding of reality. Leave it to Duo to crush other�s worldviews that are (however inadvertently) in his way. Unable to reconcile this one-time miracle, with a lifetime of examples that contradicted it, I maintained that it was an isolated incident. Caused by Duo, affecting only Duo, involving only Duo. But then the others started to get involved. Relena gave him her support and Dorothy gave him shelter. Heero tried to stop him. Quatre rescued him and regularly visits. Wufei is now an integral part of their �family�. One by one, we are being drawn into what should rightfully be none of our business. And you know what? Fifty creds says that was in his plans all along. These children�� this Daisuke and Delavan�� The products of an absurd choice that now hold sway over the minds (and possibly hearts) of my friends and colleagues. Who are they? What strange power do they hold? Why did they feel the need to integrate themselves into the fabric of our collective reality? Why couldn�t they have stayed on the sidelines where they belonged? Why can�t they be satisfied with things the way they were? Am I even blaming the right people or is Duo somehow behind all this? Duo�s choice is now our reality. ����� I�m not sure I like this. We are tainted. No one can deny that. But what happens to that taint in the presence of goodness? Does it corrupt and spread wildly, infecting everything with its presence like Heero believes? Or will it vanish like poison before the pure unicorn, as Duo holds? Can it be tempered and balanced out, equal parts light and dark, and thus rendered harmless like Wufei states? Or is it simply not relevant anymore, a thing of the painful past that should be put to rest, as Quatre counsels? Will these children *really* make us better? What do I believe? I believe�� I think�� I�� I don�t know. I�m not really sure. Maybe�� maybe I should go see for myself. I need to know, to reach my own conclusion. I need to make my own choice. Wufei chose to join them. Quatre chose to accept and help them. Relena and Dorothy chose to let them be. Heero�� well, when we find where that sneaky bastard snuck off to so he could sulk, we�ll know exactly what he will choose. I choose�� I choose�� I choose to go and learn how to make my choices, free of taint. ~ ~ Owari ~ ~ Another one down and but damn that was fast! Next: Heero. Where did he go? What will he do when he comes back? How will it affect the others? When will I get around to chosing a pairing? When will this damn series DIE and leave me alone to finish my other works?! You�ll just have to read to find out! Lady DarkAngel ---------- �Neesan to Misuzu and A-chan Lady Protector of POVs in Hentai Onna-Gumi Chibi Duo's Babysitter Moderator of Duo's Sugar Intake Keeper of Duo's Nice Rear-end Co-Keeper of Shinigami's Wings (with Meela) Keeper of Heero's Homicidal Intentions Keeper of Quatre's Teacup Keeper of Trowa's Mask Keeper of Wufei's Sense of Honor Co-Keeper of Duo's Chatter (with Tomanaiya) Co-Keeper of Heero's "Hn" (with Tomanaiya) Co-Writer of Wufei's Rants (with Tomanaiya) Leader of the Inspirationally-challenged Muses: Alisande, Rynvi, and Kiagara Co-Keeper of real-life hamsters named Heero Yuy (Hee-chan) and Shinigami Eagle Vision (Shini Eagle)(with Tomanaiya) Keeper of the Hit List Proud Owner of two sets of chibis: Chibi Angel Duo and Heero in leather (twins of Tomanaiya's) and Chibi Angel Duo and Heero in black flight gear with stripes from the final GW episodes Acting GOD in Charge of The Anime Muse Adoption Center and WSCT of the AMAC Proud member of SDDI, the Society of Defending Duo's Intelligence Member of the Society Against the Complete Bastardization of Heero Yuy Occupant of the Happy Hentai House Master Hacker of the Shinigami Organization Assistant Mob Psychologist for the Shinigami Organization Founding Member of Saa-EEP!!! Happy to be a member of the DuoML Member of 1x2, 2x1 Fan Club and ML Many more MLs but you don't want to know... Lady DarkAngel's Gundam Wing Fanfiction Library www.geocities.com/ladydarkangel_1/index.html |