Title: Shine
Fandom: G Gundam
Rating: PG
Length: 522
Content notes: I think there is one (1) singular swear word
Author notes: For challenge "Looking back"; also for dove_drabbles prompt #123 "Be someone you look up to"
Summary: Chibodee writes to his younger self


Dear five-year-old me,
Hey, kiddo. I know you've been through a lot - more than anyone should be asked to. All you know is you're alone. And you're allowed to be angry about that! You shouldn't have to be alone! It's not fair. It's a rotten lesson to have to learn, that things aren't always fair. But don't let it beat the good out of you, okay? Mom called you her star. You remember that and you keep shining.

Dear ten-year-old me,
I bet you don't wanna hear anything I've got to say. I get it. You gotta watch out for yourself because nobody else is there to do it. You can't even imagine you'll make it to adulthood, so the last thing you need is some self-righteous jerk telling you it gets better. But I promise you, something's coming, something big. Someone's gonna notice you.

Dear fourteen-year-old me,
Figure you've hit the jackpot, huh? You finally made it to the colony, where you don't have to hustle or steal or fight for your life anymore - well, I guess you're fighting for your life in a different way now. But those habits are gonna be hard to break. You're either gonna avoid trusting anyone, or you're gonna wanna dig in and not let go. Learn when someone's not working in your best interest, sure, don't be careless, but you're gonna have to learn how to trust people sometimes if you're gonna make it. Your manager and your tutor are there to help you out - take it. You can do that now. You're safe.

Dear nineteen-year-old me,
Gear up, buddy. Life is about to try and knock you out. You're not gonna anticipate any of it, and it's gonna make you regret agreeing to the Gundam Fight. No, I mean it - you're gonna get suckered into doing things against your will, lose control of yourself, be humiliated in front of the whole world, face things you've been avoiding your entire life, learn what it's like to put your life on the line for someone else. And after all that you won't even win! I know you already have to fight to keep hope alive - you thought you were finally done having trouble thrown at you - and this is really gonna test you.
But at the end of it, you get to be part of something so much bigger. You get the admiration of your whole nation - people all over the world, even. And you're gonna make the best damn friends a guy can have. Yes, even the one you think you hate at first. Especially him. And remember you've got the gals too. They're family. Learn to lean on them a little, would ya? Believe it or not, that's what friends are for!
I know that's still a lesson we're learning, that being friendly is not the same as having friends. Friends support each other, and that still feels a little too much like leaving yourself open to attack. I get it. And they'll get it too, if you just tell ‘em. But it's so worth it.
You've got this. Keep shining, kiddo.