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Under Your Mask (Vidar-Gaelio/Julieta)

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Literature Text

Under Your Mask

Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans

Description: To Julieta Juris, a man without a face is not to be trusted...but the more she finds out about the mysterious man named Vidar, the more she finds herself wanting to learn more about her enigmatic ally. 

For Vidar, he finds himself questioning whether he should open up at all and dare bring her into his world of revenge. 

(Julieta/Vidar, Julieta/Gaelio)

______________________________________________________________________________

"I trust that my performance was satisfactory."

Julieta was surprised that the man she was approaching was already aware of her presence, as he was sitting in his mobile suit's cockpit with his mask turned to look at some mechanical matter related to the suit's controls. A grey mask that was too dark to be considered a shining silver kept her from seeing where his attention actually was, though the black visor pieces were looking at least enough in her direction for her to guess he was seeing her just out of the corner of his eye.

Just how did he do that, anyways? Masks were horribly constricting on vision, and yet here he was a frighteningly skilled pilot despite wearing a mask that had a segment cutting off the space between his eyes and metal in the way of his peripheral vision...

Still, Julieta was indeed pleased by his piloting ability as he implied. In fact she had never seen something like it in her life, and it had frozen her when she was viewing it on the battlefield when she realized that this enigmatic man who rarely spoke and always kept a mask over his face was without a doubt the most skilled one she had ever seen.

"You hit something. That means you are already more useful than Iok."

He did not fight with the ruthless pragmatism she had learned from Galan Mossa, but rather he had transformed battle into a near dance of decisive blows. He disabled suits and spared their pilots by running their mobile suit's heads through with the fencing sword like lances his blue and black god of vengeance brought with it to the battlefield. Without taking one hit he disabled a larger force than Julieta had even gotten to engage by the time of his arrival, and he ended the conflict with the rebels swiftly and without any question as to who was in charge of the situation.

They wouldn't be disturbing order now, that was for sure: those who survived the battle would be able to tell the tale of the blue and black Vidar that tore them apart all on its own, impaling and dodging them as if it was a battle between a man and his personal punching bag.

The masked man who went by the name of Vidar, the same moniker as his mobile suit, finished doing what he was doing with the controls before turning his attention to his suit's displays. His voice was quiet as always as he accepted Julieta's compliment, "It is good to be useful."

His fellow Gjallarhorn pilot finished floating across the hangar to reach his suit, where she stopped herself outside the open cockpit with a hand. Once she steadied herself, and seeing that he wasn't about to be the one to speak, Julieta tried to think through what she came here for.

"About the battle..."

Her incomplete statement drew Vidar's attention to her again, "Yes?"

His gaze pierced her as she hovered before him, standing just in front of the cockpit while she thought of just what to say. Those black slits on his mask were paralyzing when he wasn't speaking, for they hid any look into his soul one could receive from looking at him. Why did she come here after all? It had something to do with that useless buffoon Iok...

Julieta's eyes widened for a moment as she remembered her purpose. Yes, that fool Iok had mocked her after the battle. Apparently he had overheard her communications with Vidar even though his bodyguards had removed him from the actual conflict. Being told by a useless idiot that she was apparently foolishly in love with an unknown man had rankled Julieta, her words about Vidar's style being "extremely beautiful" obviously misconstrued by Iok.

She didn't want this mysterious man getting the wrong idea either. She thought more of him than Iok of course, but she wanted to be sure he understood before Iok might run his mouth off down the road.

After clearing her throat she spoke up with a crisp, direct tone that showed that she was speaking seriously. She was not some lovesick schoolgirl like Iok tried to make it sound when he joked at her expense when they returned, and she did not want to show weakness, "When I said you were beautiful, I meant how you did combat. The finesse you displayed was beyond that of anything I have seen before. I wanted to make sure you did not mistake it for a compliment towards your personal features, for I do not even know what you look like."

Vidar paused for just a moment, as if contemplating her words in some context unknown to her, before turning his focus back to his work, "I understood. I would have been worried if you had been speaking of my face, as beautiful as it may be."

Julieta leant in to try and stare down her ally who she still knew so little about, baffled by the idea that he had just tried to crack a joke. Did he really just do that?

Of course, once she was partway into the cockpit, the hatch began to close and knocked her further inside. It did not slam shut, but rather was a gentle shove that struck her back. As Julieta drifted inside, she cast her gaze back towards the door that had just closed on its own, since Vidar hadn't touched any controls.

"What?"

Vidar seemed to be surprised as well, looking upwards for a moment as he contemplated the mobile suit essentially locking the two of them inside together, "You..."

Hovering now in the middle of the suit, Julieta stopped herself just over the controls as she remained mostly horizontal. Perhaps the suit had some automatic process to close the hatch under certain circumstances? After all, it was not as if the Vidar could make such decisions on its own. To reference the oddness of it, Julieta spoke with a smile as she looked back at the door, "It is almost as if it has a mind of its own."

"You can say that," Vidar looked down from the ceiling to Julieta, his voice still quiet, though traces of exasperation made their way into it, "My apologies. This suit is as eccentric as you or I."

Julieta gave him a scrutinizing look, not understanding what he meant by that. Was it just a special, unique mobile suit? It reminded her a bit of a Gundam, but she wasn't even sure if that was correct since her sensors hadn't been able to identify it as one during the battle. Just Gjallarhorn unit twenty one or something along those lines. Was it a newer model that had yet to be mass produced?

As she contemplated why the Vidar suit could be so special, the man who called himself Vidar gestured to open space on his right, "Here."

While she liked being able to "look him in the eye" even if a mask was in the way, Julieta decided to accept his offer to take a so called "seat" beside him in the oddly spacious cockpit. She felt fortunate that it was not a cramped suit, for she may have stumbled into Vidar himself when the hatch shut if she did not have so much space to right herself.

Ever inquisitive, Julieta decided to push further for information as Vidar went back to quietly ignoring her and working on his suit. It was if he did not care that she was essentially stuck in his suit, though she bet if she asked he could open the door...it just wasn't important at the moment, so she didn't ask about that when so much else was on her mind, "What is it that makes this mobile suit so special?"

"How much do you know of the Gundam frames?"

The simple return question got Julieta wondering how it worked into her suspicions. He just implied that this was a Gundam, even if it did not have the same signature as any known one, "I know that they played a role in what happened a year ago, and that they possess two reactors instead of one. I fought the one named Barbatos and held my own, though I intend to improve my skills so that I may best it next time."

Vidar turned his attention over to her, his voice now taking an apologetic tone, "Unfortunately you may not have the chance. Should the opportunity arise, the Barbatos will fall to my hand."

"This suit does not have the signature of a Gundam. Are you saying it is, even though it is not?" Julieta stared at him intently, hoping to get him to unveil some of the mountain of secrets he had behind him. She would keep mining away until she felt she needed nothing more to understand him completely.

The masked man brought a hand to the controls, gently gliding it over them as he thought in silence, "In a sense, yes."

That was not a complete admission, but it would have to do. So it was a Gundam, but not? That could mean that it was a normal suit modified to be like a Gundam, or a Gundam modified to be something more. If it was the latter, just who was this man that he could possess a Gundam of his own?

Having seen the Vidar in action however, Julieta was enthused by the sight of its controls...would she be as capable, as graceful, if she were to pilot it? Was it the man's own skills, or did he just possess a suit that was so far beyond the capabilities of their enemies that they had no chance even if they were against a novice or an Iok?

"Could I pilot this mobile suit?"

"I..."

That question actually seemed to strike Vidar, as he paused completely, not saying anything as he looked up at the ceiling again. After some contemplation however he finally returned to looking over at Julieta, though it was a sideways glance through his mask rather than a direct one like before.

"I do not know. That would be for the Vidar to determine. If he would let you, then yes."

His words brought a smug grin to Julieta's face. Did he really just call the mobile suit a man? Perhaps he was sillier than she thought, "He? And here I thought you to be above calling machines what they're not."

Another pause on his part, one that made Julieta wonder if she offended him by dismissing what he said, before he gave a verbal riposte for which Julieta had no true response.

"What is a Human being but a machine made of flesh and blood?"

Contemplating the differences and similarities between a Human being and a machine was not something Julieta had really done in the past, having just viewed them as machines to be used, but the way he said it made her wonder if Vidar had considered such a philosophical question himself at some point.

Unable to really tackle a question like that without proper research and thought prior, Julieta instead defaulted to repeating something she had said to him during the battle, "You still are weird. Even more than your mobile suit's readings."

"And yet you are here."

Julieta balked as she realized that she indeed had sought him out, and could not claim that it was a one-time thing since she had done so multiple times already. She really did like getting the chance to verbally probe him for whatever glimpses she could unveil about his identity. He was an enigma, a puzzle, and she wanted to solve it. This time she just had an excuse to seek him out, but she did understand the underpinning of what he meant.

She liked talking to him...whatever that meant. He had given her comfort that no-one else had when her father figure Galan Mossa had died thanks to Tekkadan,

Still, it was not as if she could just come out and say such a silly thing, so Julieta deflected with a finger pointed at the hatch she still hadn't ask to have opened, "Your mobile suit had a part in that."

"But not the whole part."

Julieta could not see his reaction, but she certainly felt like she was blushing. Why did he have to say it like that? It wasn't like she was stalking him or anything. After all, she only came by to see him every now and again...well, maybe sometimes multiple times on the same day, but could she be blamed for wanting to figure out just what his deal was? Why this man was seeking revenge on McGillis Fareed to the point that he dedicated his life and name to the pursuit?

Hoping to hide her face by leaving, Julieta moved in the zero gravity environment towards the hatch. She could always ask him more another time, when she wasn't being the one pressed, "Open the door."

Vidar tapped his control panel, but the door remained closed. He did so again before sighing as yet again nothing occurred, "I would if I could, but he does not seem to feel like doing so yet," as Julieta returned in a huff to his side, Vidar looked down to her with some interest of his own for once, "Why is it that you are so curious?"

"I..."

Saying she was interested in him and figuring out what made him tick would sound bad, and while she normally did not bite her tongue she did not feel like making a fool of herself. As such, she put on a serious face and shut her eyes, speaking a part of the truth behind her interest in him, "I do not like being surprised."

"You looked up to a man with no name. Is having no face so much worse?" Vidar asked as if he was amused, though his quiet tone kept it ambiguous.

Julieta looked back at him with a sideways glare, "Even if a man has no name, I can still read their face. But because of that special mask of yours, I can't even read your eyes."

"You must find clowns scary then."

She gaped at his odd statement. What did clowns have to do with this?

"What?"

"Face paint can mask a Human's ability to read the expression of the wearer," he explained plainly, as if it just was common knowledge that she ought to have known already.

Not about to let him continue to have this edge up on her, Julieta smirked at him and poked at his mask under where his eye would be, "So you are a clown?"

Her hand pulled back as he tilted his head as if in confusion, his voice lighter than its usual serious inflection, "Am I not funny?"

With her hand now back at her side, Julieta lifted it to tap her nose, "What is funny is that your vision should be clouded by a mask like that. How is it that you see?"

Vidar paused yet again, though this was not so much to think as it was to reach a breaking point of patience. His voice was still polite when he spoke again, but Julieta could see that her constant barrage of questions was actually beginning to eat at him.

Which, to her, meant that this whole Vidar thing wasn't who he truly was...deep down he was a normal Human being with regular emotions. He wasn't so stoic after all, even if he still had a polite bent to his voice.

"Not to be rude, but must everything be a question?"

He had obliged her questions in the past, so his reluctance to continue doing so now actually surprised Julieta. Sure, he never told her just who he was, but he hadn't tried shutting down her inquisition before, "Huh?"

Vidar brought a hand up to touch his metal mask, "The more I say, the less reason I have for wearing this mask."

"And the less reason you have for throwing away your name and taking your mobile suit's instead," Julieta reasoned, revealing the thought she had during the last battle when she thought about how he and his suit possessed the same name. He was trying to throw away his past and to dedicate his entire being to this new identity of his, which must be why he was so adamant about hiding who he was.

"My mobile suit's name..."

The way he said it, it almost felt like Vidar wasn't its true name...which made sense since there wasn't a Gundam named the Vidar. But just which Gundam was it then? There were so many that were still missing for one reason or another, so it was hard to really just guess. It had been so heavily modified that whatever Gundam it had been was merely a skeleton this new machine had been built off of, but that rose the question of why? Was a Gundam not enough? Why would one strip a Gundam apart and rebuild it from the ground up?

Vidar had gone silent again, now looking down at his controls as his mask hid any emotions that might have been playing across his face. He seemed like a nice man, someone who cared a lot, so when she learned that he was dedicated solely to making McGillis Fareed pay for some unknown reason Julieta had been surprised. Here he had been speaking to her in a way after Galan's death so as to divert her from a path of vengeance, and yet he was obsessed with it himself. Was he aware of the dangers of seeking revenge because of his own experiences? Was that why he talked her down from acting with anger and grief after her mentor's passing?

He also defied the idea of a man dedicated to revenge as she expected it to be like: instead of howling in anger, he was always centered and calm. Even in battle he had been stoic and had managed to defeat an entire force of enemies by himself without even showing a hint of his latent anger and desire for Fareed's downfall. He had been a beautiful sight of complete dignity as he swiftly dispatched his foes, not a rabid monster tearing up everything set before him and his goal.

This too gave Julieta an inkling of his true nature, for if he was a lesser man, a more common man, he would be like that. Instead he must have been quite the kind, good man to be acting in this way after whatever major slights he received from McGillis that would drive him to dedicate his life to his ruination.

"How is it that someone so quiet can be after something as repulsive as revenge?"

Drawn out of his thinking, Vidar looked back to Julieta, "How did it feel when you lost the nameless man?"

"I wanted to make them pay. I wanted to be there, so I could have helped him. You know that though," Julieta explained, her voice steady as she explained the feelings she had since locked down. As Vidar had said, thinking that her being there would solve everything diminished the man who died, "Galan Mossa" , and his own capabilities and Julieta would never dare dishonor his memory after he did so much for her.

With this feeling re-established, Vidar spoke again in a more wistful voice, "I too have lost those I cared for, thanks to Fareed. And what I did not lose to death, I lost in spirit."

Hearing perhaps the most personal admission Vidar had yet to give her caused Julieta to gawk briefly before reconstituting her neutral expression. McGillis had taken people from this man just like Tekkadan had stolen Galan from her...to lose multiple people who held such meaning was almost beyond Julieta's comprehension, for she only had Galan and Rustal, but just thinking of how she might feel if someone were to take both of them from her...she almost shivered at the thought of that.

So that was why Vidar was so willing to go to such lengths to bring McGillis to justice...had he been wronged as well, though? The way he said it, this was for those he cared for, but Julieta understood from Rustal's praise of Vidar that Vidar knew quite well about how McGillis operated and thought. So he had to know him personally to some degree, right? Then had McGillis harmed him as well?

Given her lack of verbal response, Vidar continued to talk to Julieta of his grudge, "So long as he lives, someone I care for is in danger. I will take revenge for those lost to his ambitions, and in doing so free another from the threat he poses."

Did McGillis have a hostage against the man known as Vidar? Julieta winced as she tried to think of how she would react to having Rustal or Galan in danger thanks to another...in a position she was helpless to aid them.

"A friend of yours?"

Another pause, as befitting his quiet nature, then he spoke in an even quieter voice while looking away from Julieta.

"Someone closer."

Thinking through his words though, Julieta felt some anger swell within her. Partially at McGillis for being such a seeming monster towards so many others and for seemingly ruining this man's life to the point he would cast aside his identity, but at Vidar for not having kicked down Fareed's door and killed the man for daring to hold someone he cared for against him. For not seeking direct revenge yet, instead hiding behind Rustal and directing him in ways to defeat Fareed by proxy. Why did this man not take the fight right to McGillis himself?

Julieta narrowed her eyes at her ally, "How can I trust a man who does not just go and protect someone that close to him? Who sulks for revenge, rather than fighting to save someone they care for?"

His response was quiet still, though it contained a bit of an edge to it as well, "I do not ask that you trust me. Nor do I want you to."

Already a little upset, this feeling deepened in Julieta as confusion also began to mingle with it, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"My friend we spoke of, who fought for his pride, trusted me. He trusted me with his life, and he paid for it with everything he had. I was not strong enough to repay the faith he gave to me."

With that, most of Julieta's anger shifted to pity. He had been speaking of someone who was either dead or not far off before...was their pain and possible death a result of McGillis too? Just how much had been taken from Vidar?

Still, Julieta had her pride too, and so she used the remaining traces of her anger to try and say something that wasn't wholly sympathetic. She didn't want to reveal the pity she was feeling towards him even as her face unveiled it for her.

"Why would he place his life in the hands of someone so...weird?"

"Why do you follow Rustal, or the nameless man?" came Vidar's simple response, answering a question with another question once again.

Julieta frowned as she thought of what he was trying to imply, "They took me in when no-one else would..."

Was this friend of Vidar's so much like her, as Vidar once implied? Did Vidar show him the kindness Rustal and Galan had given her all of this time?

Her thoughts would be soon answered as Vidar gripped the controls of his Gundam with seeming anger, losing his calm aura for once, "Others looked down upon him and tried to trample his pride. I saw him for the man he was, rather than what he was, and for that reason I am the one sitting in this seat and not him."

Someone else might know what to say, or know how to comfort him, but Julieta was at a complete loss. She was a horrible people-person, and so she lacked the learned behaviors for consoling others. It took her a moment, but she tried to think what Galan might do to someone in such pain...which was how she found herself placing a hand on his shoulder. Her mind had contemplated hugging him instead, but she quieted that voice given how unprofessional it would be to act that way around a comrade...particularly one she did not even know the face of. That was how she rationalized it to herself, but she wasn't even wholly convinced of it.

Vidar kept his head down as he thought of the failure he felt he had on his shoulders, the specifics still unknown to Julieta, "It is my fault, and I do not wish to drag any others with me into this abyss."

Still unsure of how to continue, Julieta decided that a course change was in order. Or rather, an unsubtle changing of the subject.

"You really are talkative today."

Vidar was quiet at first, as she expected, but when he did speak it sounded like he was amused by her unabashed switching of topics, "What should I do, ignore you? The hatch is locked."

Seeing his hands still tightly clenched on his suit's operating pieces, Julieta got an idea. She moved from her position beside him so that she was hovering just barely above his lap, swinging her thick legs around so that she could fit into the seat as well, now on top of him. This done, she put her hands by his and motioned for him to remove them.

"Show me how the controls work."

With her now on his lap, Vidar seemed baffled as to what to do next, but he still spoke to question what her intentions were, "For what purpose?"

"The more I know of this suit, the better I can fight alongside it. While you have your secrets, why hide those of a machine?" she reasoned, not seeing any reason for him to disagree.

While it was not comprehensive, Vidar did explain to her what some of the controls did indeed do. They were not all that different from a normal mobile suit, but there were some things he didn't bring up that she was going to have to ask him about another time. He was intentionally not speaking of what they did, so they just became new mysteries for her to unravel.

When he was finished with his cursory tour of the controls, Julieta turned to look up at his mask. Something had come across her mind as he obliged her request to learn about the mobile suit, and it was that she was indeed coming to enjoy their time together...but that her lack of knowledge on just who he was made her uneasy around him still.

More than that, she thought of how he had been repaid the last time someone trusted him...she doubted it was entirely his fault like he made it sound, but in her own way she tried to say something that might cheer him up.

"I don't trust you. So you don't have to worry about losing my life, okay? It is mine to use as I see fit."

His surprise came out in the manner of complete silence, Vidar not seeming to know what to say back to that.

She was saying that if she died, he shouldn't blame himself, just in less kind terms...she was sharp tongued as ever, but now she was saying something kind with it.

Since he wasn't speaking, Julieta did instead. She faced forward again and turned her nose up in the air arrogantly, "But when we do fight McGillis, I would not mind aiding you. He is opposing Master Rustal, and so he is an obstacle I must remove. Our interests align quite nicely."

It had obviously come to Vidar's mind that Julieta might confront McGillis, and he did not appear too worried about it, possibly because he intended to be there as well, "It would be best to keep from showing him your hand before you do fight."

"My hand?"

Vidar explained his metaphor to the socially inept woman, "How you fight, the cards you hold. He can analyze fighting styles and adapt as needed to counter them."

Turning on top of his lap, Julieta brought a hand to touch Vidar's chest, "Did he use your weaknesses against you when he hurt you?"

The touch seemed to unnerve Vidar, or at least unnerve him as much as anything could, and he looked away from her, "I think that is enough for now. Has your curiosity been sated?"

Julieta frowned up at him, not wanting to stop now, "No. And it will not until I know who it is I am fighting beside."

He did not budge, and she realized he was indeed intent on not revealing any more that day. Because of this she removed herself and moved towards the cockpit's entrance, which began to open now as if on its own since Vidar was not touching any of the controls.

Turning around to face Vidar as she drifted out to the entrance, Julieta had an idea which she thought would benefit them both, "I shouldn't let McGillis know my fighting style until the moment we battle, but would you mind sharing ours over a simulation battle? You can perhaps teach me some of your grace and beauty in piloting a mobile suit, and if you know how McGillis fights, then I would like to learn of that as well."

Some might call it an excuse to spend more time with him, but she would argue vehemently that it was just to improve their skills as pilots.

Vidar looked up again for reasons unbeknownst to his visitor, "If you please, but I will have to see how he thinks of it. A simulation battle may not be worthy of him."

So he was still acting like the maybe-Gundam was a person and calling it a he? Julieta smirked as she turned halfway around to leave, "Goodbye, weird man."

"Goodbye, monkey."

If she had not already kicked off from his suit to leave, Julieta would have stopped to confront him over him calling her that, "Did Iok tell you to say that?"

"I would not know. Just as I would not know what a butterfly tastes like."

While she drifted away Julieta sighed before smiling at the masked man who still continued to amuse her with each thing she learned about him, "Now I have more questions."

"We each have our idiosyncrasies others find weird."

As he spoke, she finished turning around and she returned to the railing and walkway to exit the hangar. As he watched her leave from behind, Vidar watch the powerful kicks of her legs and the force she threw behind her movements to pull herself out of the hangar's zero gravity environment. Just as she had not expected beauty from him, he did not expect such strength from her when they first met.

Looking back to his suit, Vidar mused, "If you are beauty, does that make me the beast?"

Unanswered, he watched the petite Gjallahorn officer named Julieta Juris leave. For the first time in a year, Vidar felt as if he had someone he could trust and talk to...even if she continued to say she did not trust him in return.

"Julieta..."

If someone were looking and there was not a mask obscuring it, they may have seen him smile.
A/N: Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. If you have any thoughts, please leave them in the comments below, and if you would like to see more please let me know! This is technically a oneshot, but if people wish I can always add more.
© 2016 - 2024 Thundercracker417
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EchoWing's avatar
Well, it took me a while to get to this - and it's spoiled me rotten - but the wait was worth it. Yay for shipping!