Work Text:
From slums came Mika and Orga, while McGillis' story moved from poverty to privilege, and Gaelio alone was born into nobility. But imagine that the fates chose a slightly different path — that while Orga and McGillis were static in their destinies, their charismatic selves at different ends of the social continuum, Gaelio was the one born a Mars slum rat and Augus was descended from the noble name Mikazuki.
In this universe, Gaelio would still tease his little sister, but no longer would it be about her childish affection for Macky, but probably Orga. See, in this universe, Almiria and McGillis would not be betrothed. But let’s take a few steps back before we get to this point, because we haven’t covered a few things.
Gaelio was born to the Bauduins, eldest son to carry on the once-noble name. Gaelio, half a generation older than Orga Itsuka and adopted family. Gaelio, who would have set out to find work once he reached adulthood so he could be the dependable son for his ageing parents. Gaelio, still easygoing and friendly, with a strong sense of justice tinged with bitter determination rather than the righteousness in his privileged alternate self. Yet he would work for many years and struggle only to return and discover that his parents had passed away from a drone accident and that apparently, he had a younger sister, Almiria, sent to an orphanage that he did not know of.
And he would, of course, desperately look for her, working endless jobs, using his easy going personality to look for information (any information) to where his sister could possibly be. He did not have the charisma of a leader, but he had the charisma of a team member that you could depend on and confide to. Perhaps a tip off at a bar, or a lone word on the street, about a girl with a peculiar hair colour in the local orphanage, a hair colour befitting one of those high and mighty inhabitants of Earth…
Meanwhile, Almiria Bauduin was raised in the same orphanage as Orga and his family and where Mika was supposed to be. Almiria was raised not to be a lady (or rather, a pawn in the political chess game of Gjallarhorn), but to survive. Yet as was the case with those born to poverty, Almiria was not as childish as her pampered alternate self (who still somewhat had an inkling of her fate as a chess piece in a Greater Game) but had an eerily mature understanding of the unfairness in this world. As a chess piece of Gjallarhorn, she could project her hopes onto Macky, but as a discarded pawn in the slums of Mars, she directed some of her affection to Orga. Orga the dreamer, the romantic, the leader.
Gaelio would finally find the orphanage, but perhaps he’d be a bit old to join the place with his sister. Instead, maybe he chose to work in it as a staff member.
Almiria heard about the new face in the orphanage staff. They had not wanted to place false hope in her heart, so their whispers fell to silence when they knew she was around. But Almiria was clever for her age and a tad too shrewd. She heard that the new face had hair like hers, that his last name was Bauduin.
It was Orga who first realised Almiria’s fidgeting when she asked him who that new face possibly could be, who understood that for her peace of mind, he had to check if the male was related to the orphanage’s beloved little princess (they all doted on her, of course they did, she was adorable and precious and also they could pretend that they were normal children by having a favourite youngest to spoil).
It was Orga who first extended his hand to the new staff member, introducing himself. Taken aback at the boy’s surprisingly mature greeting, and also because Gaelio was not really supposed to talk to any of the children (it was the rules, though Gaelio had to admit to himself what kind of orphanage had rules where you couldn’t be friendly to the children, what was the point of raising kids if you treated them like strangers?) but he slowly returned the handshake, Orga’s hand a lot smaller than his own.
Maybe he could serve as a role model to not only Almiria, but also Orga and his peers, and be the moral compass they very much needed. Gaelio would have been somewhat doting, somewhat firm, likening himself to being an older brother with many younger siblings.
When Almiria discovered that Gaelio was indeed her older brother (the other children looked on in envy as siblings hugged each other tightly) Orga saw opportunity. Orga may have been a visionary, but he was also shrewd. He knew that having Gaelio on his side would be beneficial, because such was this world where adults only trusted other adults, and Gaelio was reliable enough and not so ambitious such that he could, surely, listen to Orga’s ideas instead.
It was a clear night a few months after Gaelio and Almiria were reunited that Orga decided to broach the subject. There were not many stars that could be seen through the polluted crimson Mars atmosphere, but the sun was just about to dip below the horizon. Gaelio had finished his cleaning and cooking duties for the day, sitting on the veranda enjoying the peace. Orga had joined him shortly after, and for a while, they had simply stayed in comfortable silence.
“I want us all to leave here.”
Gaelio is surprised to hear this from the young boy.
“To where?”
Orga looks at Gaelio with big, earnest eyes. “To a place we can call our home.”
Gaelio wants to say, ‘this is our home.’ He wants to say, ‘as long as I can continue to look after my sister, where we are doesn’t matter’. He wants to say, ‘there’s no place for us to go.’ But he can’t look into those large, pleading eyes that reflected Orga’s, Almiria’s, all the orphanage children’s dreams.
He’s a realist, but he also knows that children need to be able to dream, especially in a world as cruel as this. And Almiria looked up to this child — he could let them dream a little, while guiding them to understand what was right and wrong. He had to — he couldn’t fail his little sister again.
So he says, “tell me more.”
And Orga beams and speaks, because Gaelio has proved to be trustworthy by sneaking a little extra food and delivering kinder punishments when the children were in trouble. Gaelio was not as bad as one of those adults who were selfish and only had hidden agendas to follow. Gaelio still had a younger sister, after all, and he was certainly more loyal to them than those cruel adults, right?
So Orga tells him about his hopes and dreams, about the world in which they would carve out for themselves and become equal and taken seriously.
Gaelio’s heart wants to break because there is nothing for them. Mars rats do not get or deserve anything. They have to know their place and try to live within their means — it was the best they could hope for.
But he smiles and he nods and he encourages.
So let’s leap forward a bit, to the turning point. What if Orga was not as pure as we wanted to imagine him to be? What if Orga purposely took the injuries when fighting that unknown man so that Mika would take up the gun in his small hands and prove to Orga that he was capable of being what Orga envisioned him to be?
In this world, there is no Mika, only Augus.
So imagine that Orga had decided that Gaelio’s optimistic, favouring-hard-work view of the world as reductive and simplistic, and chosen to shake things up. Orga knows Gaelio would always be on their side, but he simply never took Orga and his dreams seriously. For all that he was good for, Gaelio was still a jaded adult.
But in any case Gaelio, caught between believing the words of Orga or those of the orphanage leader, with a tumultuous sense of responsibility in his heart, would have to decide. Who was right? Who was the liar?
Gaelio, in all his self-righteousness in the Original World, was an intelligent but emotionally simple man who believed that what side he knew was right (if not fraught with corruption) and the other was Wrong. Likely, it was McGillis who had suggested to Gaelio that Gjallarhorn was not Perfect.
In this world, Gaelio was less likely to agree with someone younger, who he thought had not enough experience of worldly matters. But he was still a man who trusted in what he believed, on what he thought was correct.
Perhaps in this world, Orga had shot the orphanage leader himself, and an infuriated Gaelio, shocked to the core of his beliefs, had tried to leave. Perhaps he wanted to take Almiria with him.
“Let me stay, Gaelio! I’m not coming with you! I’ve known Orga for longer than I’ve known you!”
The words cut deep into Gaelio’s heart. The unsaid words resonated: “you are not my family.”
But Almiria was all he had left, so he couldn’t go. He could only stay and try to be the moral compass for a band of teenage boys and girls desperately carving out a better living. He suggested jobs, scouting for places that might hire them, sweet talking patrons in bars to give him tips about the local area. Gaelio would do anything he could to ensure that they, and his sister, would be safe.
He was the objection when Orga suggested undergoing the operation for the Alya-Vijnana system.
“You could die,” exclaims Gaelio in horror. Orga’s golden eyes stare at him coolly. Underlying his look is raw determination.
“If I don’t risk anything, how could I achieve something?”
“You can’t do it. I won’t do it.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“But you can’t! Come on Orga, we can look for an alternative job, please…!”
“We’ve been searching for ages and we have no alternatives, Gaelio. We’re human debris, we have no choice. Besides, what do we have to lose, anyway?”
Gaelio wants to say, ‘does this mean nothing to you?’ or ‘your family’ or ‘you have so much to lose, can’t you see that?’ but he’s starting to realise that Orga is no longer interested in listening to him.
The younger the recipient, the better the chances of integration. Gaelio stood by his words - he would not pilot an attack drone using the system. And even if he tried to undergo the operation, if he died, who would be there to guide the rest of them to follow the safer path? Or if he was permanently paralysed, who would be there to look after his sister?
Even if he didn’t trust Orga necessarily, the teenager had a charisma that Gaelio was drawn to. He didn’t want to say he was doting on the boy, but he did have to say that if he had a younger brother, he might have wanted it to be Orga. Orga, who was a product of his environment, Orga, who was the dreamer who was inherently good (surely!) who shot that orphanage leader because he didn’t have a proper role model (and Gaelio had failed him too in that respect). Orga who had so much potential, who could go further than Gaelio, if only he had someone to keep him on the right path. If Orga was truly bad he would have shot Gaelio, too, right? But he didn’t, so he was surely good, Gaelio justifies to himself.
Imagine that Atra still suffered the trials and tribulations of being an errand girl of a seedy brothel, but when she was near collapsing from starvation, it was not Mika who coolly commented that she should stop staring at his food because he damn well wasn’t going to give her his lunch he had worked hard to earn. Instead of aloof rejection, Gaelio saw the lonely kindness in the young girl’s heart, the potential that a child who was simply raised in the wrong environment had, the support that she could offer to their ragtag group. He had offered her to work for the same organisation that fed and clothed Orga and family.
Atra would have been worried, of course, and perhaps wanted to reject the man’s offer. Perhaps he was dangerous! Perhaps he was an organ seller — but a side of her that was tired of being a living punching bag thought who cares and I have nothing to lose and accepted his offer.
And Atra, despite her timid nature, would have been quite the sharp tongue with Orga and the others. In this world, she would not have learned to read and write from Haba as she would never have worked for her, but from Gaelio instead (whose parents tried to give him the best education they could despite their circumstances, but when they fell to debt, he had no choice but to abandon going to university and start working instead). In the spare time after they had finished completing their chores, Gaelio would begin his lessons, patiently letting Atra trace letter after letter and sound out simple words. But she was a hard worker, that Atra, and over time the lessons became a little more complex and sometimes the others would join in the lessons too. Only Yamagi had the same focus, while several of the children including Orga and Eugene had a natural aptitude for learning. Biscuit was particularly promising with mathematics.
Gaelio thinks to himself, a little sadly, that in a world that wasn’t so war torn, these children would be at school, and they certainly would make their parents proud. And even if their parents weren’t proud, he would be. But he’d never get to see them accept certificates or awards (or even their graduation scroll) grinning awkwardly as they stood on the dusty stage, holding a piece of printed lightweight cardboard for the audience to see. He wouldn’t click his tongue in disapproval as he receives a call from the principal, telling him that Eugene and Shino, trouble pair, were in detention, again, due to some stupid daredevil stunt. He wouldn’t see Orga being announced as the class president, attend a debate where Atra passionately spoke about the importance of social issues, he’d never see Biscuit accept a mathematics scholarship. He’d never lecture Eugene and Shino for jiving school, then feel a surge of pride when they’re accepted into engineering at a pretty good university despite the teachers having low expectations. Most of all, he’d never see Almiria graduate with a big smile on her face, fret over her demanding Orga to be her prom date, sigh proudly as she graduates as valedictorian because she wanted to surpass Gaelio’s reputation. Gaelio feels robbed of his education a second time. Children should be learning and playing, not training to be independent mercenaries.
In this world, they would still have ended up working for Chryse Guard Security (and later, still have been betrayed, for that was human nature). Yet Gaelio with his determined heart and silver tongue, would prove himself to be able to pilot Barbatos, prove to Chryse that he was an asset to their company. They wouldn’t like it, no matter how friendly Gaelio could be — but they’d let it slide. Perhaps they’d offer to reallocate him to a different group but he’d refuse to be separated from his younger sister (and he’d seen the way some of the men had stared at Almiria and Atra and it was appalling, they were young girls!) Family had to stay together, because he could not trust anyone outside of their group to look after them. Of course, if he wasn’t going to join the first unit, then they wouldn’t be able to officially let him train with Barbatos anymore, unless he offered to be on hand should they need him on a mission, which he grudgingly accepted under Orga’s request.
They would have still been selected to escort Kudelia Aina Bernstein, some things cannot change for the fates are not that lenient or cruel, depending on how you see it. While Gaelio would have been wary of the influential noble lady, he would still have greeted her with a casual warmth and a strong handshake, treated her as an equal. She would have fallen in love with his easy going charm, that of a noble plant sprouted from the cracks of a concrete, barren land.
There would still be betrayal as Group One tried to use their unit as bait for Gjallarhorn. Instead, Gaelio would have piloted Barbatos and Crank would have no qualms for fighting Gaelio, thinking that he was using a bunch of children for his own ends.
And Gaelio, outraged, would have told him, no, no I would never do that, I am protecting these children from people like you.
Crank would have paused and then decided to retreat, taking a protesting Ein with him.
“Thank you for protecting me,” says Kudelia.
“It’s my pleasure,” Gaelio replies.
“I’m so sorry… I feel responsible for the deaths of your comrades…”
Gaelio would not have been like Mika, coldly telling her to stop thinking so highly of herself. Instead, Gaelio would have seen that Kudelia too had a weight on her shoulders far beyond what she was capable of carrying. He would have seen his younger self reflected by her large, clear eyes.
“Don’t worry, you aren’t responsible,” he promises her, because he is nothing if not good at promising. He questions if he’s nearly as good at upholding those promises.
When Orga hands him the gun and asks him for a favour, Gaelio is appalled. At first, he doesn’t want to shoot the man, he’s not a killer. Never a killer. But Orga knows how to push the right buttons, he tells him what that bastard tried to do to Almiria. Gaelio sees red, the same red the night sky was when Orga told him about an innocent child’s dreams. Gaelio is furious that Orga did not properly protect Almiria but in the end, it was really Gaelio’s fault, really, he was too focussed on what was in front of him. At the least, Atra had stopped it before it gotten too far and been able to comfort the young girl.
Gaelio also wanted to believe that Orga was lying and Gaelio had been cruel enough to ask Almiria if that man had touched her and she burst into tears and held onto him and pleaded that it was nothing, it was not his fault or anybody’s fault, that the man had inappropriately groped her and it was scary. She was fine, Atra, small, kind Atra had protected her because Almiria had gone into the wrong room and Haeda had grabbed her, before Atra wondered why the hell Almiria was taking so long to get extra potatoes and gone looking for her. Lucky that absent-minded Atra had taken a metal spatula with her and when she heard Almiria’s muffled yelling she had feared the worst.
Fucking bastard, she was only nine years old.
If Haeda had gotten any further, Gaelio was certain he would have shot the bastard’s balls right off first before the goddamn “meeting”. Instead, he agreed to Orga’s plans with gritted teeth.
He follows through as requested, the first blood stain on his calloused hands, before the alarm sounds.
“He’s got a white flag.”
“What does he want, forgiveness?” mutters Eugene darkly under his breath. Orga’s eyebrows are furrowed. Gaelio holds up a hand.
“Wait. I’ll go talk to him.”
Gaelio suits himself up with Barbatos and faces Crank head on. The two regard each other for several long, silent minutes.
“What do you want?” Gaelio finally asks him. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to know why you are protecting these children.”
“Because I’m responsible for them.”
Crank laughs, saying that he feels that Gaelio would get along with a young man Crank knows.
Gaelio hesitates, feeling no ill intention and rubs at the bracelet Atra made him, before asking. “Do you want to join us?”
“I’m just an old man, I don’t think I can keep up,” Crank says jovially. “And I could not join you, I merely wish to apologise.”
“For attacking us?”
“Yes, and for assuming you were using the children as your fighters. I’m amazed you feel responsible for so many, though I’m sympathetic to your situation.”
“Sometimes I feel like I'm losing control,” admits Gaelio.
“Don’t we all?”
“Why don’t you join us?”
“What? I told you, I couldn’t.”
“I can’t kill you, but if I don’t kill you then I most certainly will have to take you prisoner.”
“Well, I suppose that could work.”
They both put down their weapons and Gaelio leads Crank to Orga.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” splutters Eugene, looking like he’s about to murder both Gaelio and Crank. “He’s the enemy!”
“I’m taking him prisoner,” says Gaelio casually. Orga narrows his eyes.
“We could get information from him, and he could help us,” Gaelio offers. “Reinforcements.”
“He will betray us,” says Eugene.
“It’s fine,” says Orga finally, surprising him both. “But he’s your responsibility.” Gaelio agrees, supposing Orga must have seen an opportunity.
At first, there are mutinous mutters among those who do not want one who has killed so many of their allies to join their side, but Gaelio is determined to make things right. After all, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. And who knows, perhaps there was an opportunity. You could never be too sure.
Crank insists on reporting back at least to let Ein know he is safe, but Gaelio cannot allow him this reprieve, and Orga forbids it. Crank is a prisoner, not a guest, and Gaelio has already allowed him to live with them.
Meanwhile at Gjallarhorn, Crank is declared missing in action.
After a few days, Gaelio notices that Kudelia is troubled. He takes her and Atra to Biscuit’s grandmother’s cornfield.
Cookie and Cracker still scream, tires still skid, but the ones who get out of the car are McGillis and Augus. Nobody has anybody by the throat, though Gaelio storms up to the car’s occupants with anger in his eyes. He confronts Augus furiously, demanding what the hell they thought they were doing.
Augus stares at Gaelio coolly, if not a little arrogantly. Gaelio would have quite liked to punch his expression right off his face.
“Gaelio!” says Miss Sakura in warning. Gaelio lowers a fist and wonders when he became so hot-headed.
McGillis still questions Biscuit and Gaelio about the fight nearby, and they pretend that they know nothing. This time, there is no Alaya-Vijnana system for anyone to remark on, but McGillis still gives Cookie and Cracker chocolates as an apology for scaring them.
And here, three lives intersect.
Let’s take another step back.
Mika, talented Mika, loved and blessed by fate Mika, was allied not with a slum dog and his big dream, but a man who was adopted into prestige and fully intended to use his powers for what had to be done.
Augus Mikazuki, only child of the noble Mikazuki family. Augus, childhood friend of Carta Issue and McGillis Fareed. Augus, who held half of Carta’s heart in his bloodstained hands.
Oh, his hands were still bloodstained, no doubt about it. Augus had a shrewd mind and a clear understanding of their society. Augus, mistreated by his parents who decided that he had to live the path they had set out for him, the only heir, the one who Had To Carry On The Noble Mikazuki Name. The one betrothed to Carta Issue for political reasons, who saw in McGillis what could have been and decided that he would be fiercely loyal to this blond.
Of course, at first, it wasn’t like that. Augus Mikazuki knew that everyone had a place and at first he was rather blunt about McGillis being casually brought into their world. He was even more shocked when their families arranged for Augus to be McGillis’ bodyguard — the nerve!
And at first, McGillis doesn’t want to be caught up with Augus, either.
“He doesn’t belong in this world,” says Augus.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” snaps Carta at him, before turning to McGillis. “McGillis, you are a Fareed! Stand proud! Don't worry about what Augus says.”
Carta exasperatedly strives to keep them together. She is the oldest and most responsible, after all. It was her duty to one day lead the other children of the Seven Stars, so she has to ensure that everyone is on good terms with each other. Over time, she is pleased to see that McGillis and Augus start getting along a lot better that she had anticipated.
In this world, McGillis shows Augus a world that could be, and he takes it upon himself to serve McGillis in any way he can.
There was no friendship or camaraderie between Augus and Ein, simply Augus curtly nodding at another one of his subordinates. But in this world, Crank is never killed by Gaelio. Ein does, however, feel vindicated when Gjallarhorn refuses to actively look for Crank, describing his actions as “having disobeyed an order” for “acting of his own accord.” It’s for this very reason that while Ein is angry at Tekkadan for having killed some of his allies, he is able to be convinced by Crank to align with him instead.
You see, Ein never sacrifices himself for Gaelio, because they never established that kind of relationship at this point in time. When he fights against Gaelio, he sees Crank’s gear in the distance, and is shocked. It’s Shino in there, of course, Crank is still a prisoner and doesn’t have the right to fight. Fearing the worst, Ein rushes to fight Shino. Gaelio follows close behind, promising Ein that Crank is alright. He even turns on the communication line despite the risks, and Ein is placated a little, though still suspicious.
In the meantime, as a prisoner of Tekkadan, Crank is kind and patient. He makes friends first with Gaelio, then Atra and Almiria, then Orga and grudgingly, most of the rest of Tekkadan come round.
They still form an alliance with Teiwaz. Orga is still made brother with Gaelio at his side. Tekkadan and Teiwaz still fight together, work together, act together.
There are a lot of scenes that don’t change in this world, really.
Fumitan still dies, but Gaelio gently carries Kudelia to safety. Montag still offers his help to Tekkadan, Akihiro’s brother still dies in battle.
But when Gaelio and Augus fight, they are on nearly equal terms. Gaelio may not have the Alaya-Vijnana system, but he has picked up many skills that his haughty, battle-theory trained alternate self doesn’t. Augus doesn't have the intuition that Mika does, though he is still very formidable from years of extensive training.
Gaelio clashes with Augus and wounds him, but Augus is still determined, willing to lay down his life. He receives near-fatal damage, and McGillis rescues him. (Later, Augus is given new life with Alaya-Vijnana, but he is thankful. He wants to avenge himself, to defeat the Mars slum rat who thought he could take on an heir of the Seven Stars and win.)
Lives are still lost, but Gaelio always insists (where possible) that they fight in groups to pick off the enemy, one by one. He is the main voice of reason when Orga tries to implement some crazy suicide mission, the one to propose with Biscuit an alternate plan that will succeed and minimise casualties.
Carta is still humiliated by her defeat at the hands of Tekkadan. Before she can leave to avenge herself, McGillis proposes to Carta. She’s embarrassed and feels unworthy of his respect, but she accepts, to some outrage. Not that anyone could really say anything, because Augus was barely alive. McGillis and Carta have a small ceremony, though McGillis promises a proper one when she comes back.
Carta’s troop is still decimated, and she still strikes blindly, killing Biscuit. But unlike Mika, Gaelio accepts her challenge, and Eugene and Shino grin as they join the fight to the death.
Only Gaelio has qualms when he hears Carta crying for McGillis. Something about it hurts him deeply, even knowing that she had struck Biscuit down in cold blood.
In this world, Gaelio is a little more hardened but he's still a moral compass. He demands that Orga stand up and take responsibility.
“All our hands are bloodied,” he tells Orga. “Stand up and tell them that this blood spilt won’t go to waste. We will not shed more blood, but we will simply force the other side out our way. We need to get to the election in time.”
Orga stands up wordlessly.
“Where are you, Orga? Where’s the Orga who told me we had a place to go?”
“I was wrong.”
“Are you? Are you really? So you’re saying you took us on a little suicide mission for fun, and now you’re backing off because you’ve got cold feet?”
“I’m not fit to be a leader."
“Nobody’s fit to be a leader! But you’re a little less unqualified. Stop second-guessing. Rely on us more. We are going to get Makanai to the election! We are going to find our place, and you're going to lead us there!”
For the first time in days, Orga smiles.
The next day, Orga rouses everyone in a speech. Merribit objects to the senseless sacrifice and turns to Gaelio. He closes his eyes. Just this once, he would turn the other way. Just this once, he would resume being a useless adult.
There are casualties, but they get through.
In this world, Lafter, Azee, Shino and Gaelio together fight Augus Mikazuki in his new Gundam Frame.
Augus flies to the city and Gaelio follows on his tail. He knows he is likely going to die, that he is no match for this new and terrifying frame. But he can trust in Orga now, right? He can believe that the others will ensure that Tekkadan stays on the right and true path. He has nothing to lose anymore.
The sad thing is that children born into nothing, who have fought to get something, who keep thinking I have nothing to lose don’t realise that there is always something to lose, because this world takes and takes and takes and won’t be satisfied till your dried out empty corpse is the only payment you have left.
But in this world, Gaelio has Shino and Lafter and Azee to support him. He can’t synchronise to Barbatos without the Alaya-Vijnana, but that's okay. He has his Tekkadan and Teiwaz Family.
They take down Augus explosively, the Frame falling to its knees.
And Gaelio wonders, briefly, if in another world that could have been him.