Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Before Dawn ❯ Reunion ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Before Dawn
by kat

Chapter 1 - Reunion

"It's nice to see you again." I mumbled, slightly in shock at the unexpected reunion.
"What- what brings you here?" Quatre asked politely, because Trowa still could not speak. No one had ever seen him look so completely devestated. It was like he had just frozen. He was staring, wide-eyed and speechless.
"I'm looking for a job and a new home." I told them, forcing my brain to start working again. It was obeying me, but it was taking a little bit of time. Slowly, I felt the gears in my head begin to turn again. I could tell as I watched Trowa that was coming out of shock as well.
"How's your family?" he asked. I sighed as I grinned nervously.
"Well... they're... okay." I lied. Great going Middi. I saw two people running towards Trowa and the his friend who'd introduced himself as Quatre. One had hair that seemed to be pulled back, hidden underneath a baseball cap. The other was a woman. I guessed she must be his girlfriend, judging by the way they were holding hands and seemed to be competing as to who was the fastest, while remaining civilized and trying not to laugh.
"DUO!" Quatre greeted him with a smile and a hug. I wondered how long it had been since all the famous gundam pilots had seen eachother last. Quatre had said they were meeting in this cafe' for a reunion, I was in this cafe' mainly because I was filling out an application for employment. Plus they had great coffee. Could I ever make coffee this good? I'll have to learn, I NEED this job if I plan to make it here, supporting my younger brother.
"Hi Hilde!" Quatre greeted the woman who had come with this "Duo". Trowa didn't seem to have noticed them yet, he was still staring at me. Did he hate me? Probably. I guess I deserve it, I did betray him the last time I saw him. What a tangled web we weave... or something like that.
"TROWA!" Duo yelled happily as he hugged Trowa. Trowa hugged him back. He hugged the woman named Hilde afterwards. Then both of them looked over at me.
"Hi." I said weakly, waving slightly.
"This is Middi." Trowa told them. Yep, the pain in the butt herself.I smiled.
"It's nice to meet you!" Hilde said.
"It's nice to meet you too. This has been a nice little visit, but I actually have to be going." I told them as quickly as possible. I didn't want to get into another conversation. I would be asked more questions that I didn't really want to answer, I don't answer anybody's questions or follow anyone's orders anymore. Plus, I think Trowa was mad enough to kill, although he seemed to be hiding it fairly well.
"That's a pity." Quatre said sadly. After that I ran out the door without another word, seeing that the bus I needed to catch had left without me. So much for that great plan of ducking in the restaraunt to get out of the rain, while applying for a job. Note to self: no more stopping on cafes, you never know when you'll run into a person whom you betrayed when you were about thirteen.

I walked into the apartment I had just begun renting and shook out my coat, making sure I didn't get wet in the process. The rain was still pouring down hard outside. The apartment had a ciuple of leaks on the roof here and there, but the landlord said he would fix that, and at least this place was warm.
"DANNY!" I yelled, wondering where my younger brother had wandered off to in the tiny apartment. I heard noises coming from one of the two bedrooms. I sighed. I knew those sounds. He'd found a television to hook up to his game system for something to do while I was out. Where could he possibly find a free tv? I walked into his room and watched as he played Donkey Kong on one of the old Sega gamesystems.
"Where'd ya get the tv?" I asked. He shrugged, letting his light blond bangs fall into his eyes."
"I found it in that closet in the hall." he mumbled, continuing to play.
"What closet in the hall? We don't have a hall closet. WE DON'T EVEN HAVE A HALL!!" I shouted, wanting a true answer.
"Do so. Look for yourself."
I walked away from his room towards mine. The so-called "hall" was small, and just before I entered my room. There was a closet, but it was small, and it was hard to open. I guess it must've been designed to look like a wall...?

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Trowa sat staring at his coffee from the eye that wasn't covered by his long, brown bangs. He was thinking about his meeting with Middi. It was completely unexpected, not that he'd ever choose to see Middi again anyway. She still looked like the small blond girl who had given him that cross and declared that God would always be with him. Of course, that cross had turned out to be a tracker, and Middi was a spy for the enemy. He was the only one who had survived. He still remembered pointing that gun at her head when he asked how much they had paid her. And she had done it all for her family.
Now, just a few minutes ago, he had seen her again. She looked exactly the same. It seemed like she had grown shorter though... but then, Trowa had grown taller since he had seen her last. Now nineteen, Trowa topped six feet. That's it, he just grew taller.
And that small, churning feeling in his stomach, what was that? He had felt that the second he laid eyes on her. He had to admit, there was some kind of feeling there, something other than hate. Then he remembered those words she had said to him so long ago. She said she had loved him. Could that have been true? Trowa shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind, why was he bothering to think about them in the first place? She was just some girl who he had known, who had betrayed him.

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I started my job at the cafe' the next day. Turns out I do make a good cup of coffee. Or maybe I don't and they were just desprete. Either way, at least I had a job. She smiled as a good song came over the radio.

never win 1st place
don't support the team
can't take direction
and my socks are never clean

I ignored the world around me and just listened to the music. Granted, Pink wasn't exactly the best singer, and I didn't like her much, but it had a good melody. So, you can imagine, how I didn't noticed when Trowa walked in to find me singing lightly. He leaned against the counter beside me and stared.

teachers dated me
my parents hated me
i was always in a fight
cuz' i can't do nuthin' right

I continued to make coffee as I tapped my foot to the music and sang.

everyday i fight a war against the mirror
can't stand the person staring back at me
i'm a hazard to myself
don't let me get me
i'm my own worst enemy
it's bad when you annoy yourself
so irritating
don't wanna be my friend no more
wanna be somebody else

It's sad when you sing to a song like that, and people actually join in, while you entirely oblivious to the world around you...

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Trowa stared on in... well, not horror, but not exactly enthusiastic either. To tell the truth, it was a little odd. It felt odd anyway. Here was the girl he had known so long ago, who had become his enemy, and she was just a harmless waitress at the local cafe' singing to Pink...

LA told me
you'll be a pop star
all you have to change
is everything you are

She began to dance a little bit. Heck, practically everybody in the cafe' was singing the song now.

tired of being compared
to damn Brittney Spears
she's so pretty
that just ain't me

Trowa began to smirk slightly as he watched her. Maybe he had felt something for her, he had hidden it. After all, he hadn't shown emotions back then. He was only beginning to show any now.

so doctor doctor
won't you please perscribe me something
a day in the life of someone else
i'm a hazard to myself
don't let me get me
i'm my own worst enemy
it's bad when you annoy yourself
so irritating
don't wanna be my friend no more
i wanna be somebody else...

Middi took the coffee had been working on over by the register, at last. She looked up only to see Trowa staring back at her. He smiled. She grinned nervously.

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Had he been watching? I couldn't know for sure. How long had he been standing there?
"Uhh.. Ca- can I take your order?" I asked as one of the other waitresses took the coffee I'd finished away to the person who'd ordered.
"Just a regular coffee." he told me. I started to get it quickly. "So, you got the job?"
"Yeah, I got lucky." I replied. It was easy to make, although for some reason my hands seemed unsteady. Figures. "How's Quatre and Duo and Hilde doing?" I asked. I might've been trying to make conversation, so I could keep him around for a while. He was... semi-easy to talk to. He'd been easier to talk to before I got all his friends killed way back when, but I guess you can't change the past.
"They're good. Duo asked if you were available, and Hilde smacked him." Trowa told me. I laughed. "He's got a black eye now, but the swelling's gone down."
"That's good to know." I replied.
"How's your family?" he asked.
"Uh... fine. My brother's starting school at the end of the summer, so he's a bit... annoyed at the moment and spends every free moment playing video games." I explained. "He's here right now," I said, peering past Trowa and watching my younger brother talk to one of the waitresses. "He's hitting on the other waitresses."
Trowa grinned again. This was a nice, civil conversation. How long could this last? It was too bad another person came to give me his order.
"When do you get off?" I heard Trowa ask. I looked over at him, surprised.
"Five. Why?" I asked in return. I saw him sigh, as though he were letting go of a grudge.
"Can I walk you home?" he asked. I saw my brother look over at me, waiting for my answer.
"O- okay." I managed to stutter out. He smiled. I smiled back... Now this is an interesting development.

When my shift was over I walked over to my brother who had gotten into a conversation with Trowa. They stood. Dan was red from laughing so much. Since when did Trowa tell jokes? Was he turning over a new leaf and actually expressing himself? Hmmm.... I'll have to ask him that.
"Ready?" Trowa asked. I nodded and smiled, slipping on my coat to protect me from the cold rain that always seemed to be falling. As we left, Dan ran ahead of us and played his gameboy on the way on the home. Well, at least he had his head away from some screen for a few hours, that was better than nothing.
"So, did you move here after the war?" I asked. Trowa shook his head.
"No. I'm here for the circus." he told me. When he looked over and caught me looking at him strangely, he explained. "I work there."
"Oh. Do you like it?" I asked.
"Yes. I found my sister there. We're part of the same act." he told me.
"I didn't know you had a sister." I said, as if he probably hadn't figured that out.
"Her name's Catherine. For a while she was just my surrogate sister, but last year we had our blood tested and it turns out we're related." he told me.
"I guess it's a good thing you didn't fall for her. You might have ended up marrying your sister." I said. Okay, stupid comment. Trowa smiled. Okay, maybe not.
"So why'd you come here?" Trowa asked me. I looked up at him hesitantly, as though he might see through the lie I was more than likely about to make.
"I told you, new home. I- I have friends here." I lied. I didn't have a single friend in the whole wide world and all the colonies.
"Where'd you leave?" he asked. I couldn't help but feel like he was interrogating me.
"Colony L4." I said.
"It's nice there. Why'd you go?" he asked me. This time he sounded more curious, which made me less angry, and yet more nervous. What was I supposed to tell him?
"I-" I sighed and hung my head, not being able to come up with another lie.I had given up lying when I gave up being a spy. "I just... couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave." I told him. He nodded his head like he understood, although I couldn't imagine that he did. How could he possibly understand me and everything that's happened in the past few years? It was very unlikely.
I was glad that we finally arrived at the old apartment building. I watched as Trowa looked it up and down.
"It's very old." he commented.
"Yeah, it's not too bad. It gets a little annoying every now and then because we have these monster leaks in the cieling, and then carpeting gets all wet so when you walk in it, it feels completely disgusting, and the pip-" I stopped midsentence. I couldn't believe it. Was I babbling? I looked over at Trowa and found he was grinning. Great. I'm a fool, and a comedian. This was the perfect end to a pitiful day. "Well, thanks for walking us home." I said as I unlocked the door and let Dan walk up the steps to the apartment building. He yelled back down to say bye to Trowa.
"No problem." he told me. It was an akward moment. I almost felt like asking him if he wanted to come up, or when he was going to walk me home again, or come by the cafe' again. What I really felt like doing was hugging him without end. I had been in love with him, and betraying him had been a stupid thing to do. But I had responsabilites then, just as I did now. My responsabilities had just lessened.
So, with few words, he left, and I walked up those steps to the small apartment I had rented under a name that wasn't mine.



When I was little, all I had ever really heard were screams. Screams of pain, terror, people dying. The scent of blood was always thick in the air. I woke from a nightmare from my childhood, everything around me seemed to be damp. I couldn't tell if I was sweating, or if my bed had just soaked entirely from all the rain leaking down from the new leak in the roof, right above my bed.
I got up and went about my business, forgetting about Trowa. Surely, he was being nice, and he wouldn't be doing it again. After all, no guy has ever been nice to me after the first date. That's just the way it is. I opened up the phone book and looked up martial arts. If I was going to survive here, I would learn some kind of self-defense. I didn't know if I had escaped my demons, I was darn-well going to try to stay away from them. But, if by chance we came face to face, I'd know how to kill them.

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"So?" Duo wanted to know.
"So what?" Trowa snapped. He'd been being bugged by these guys all night.
"So, how'd it go? Will you tell us now?" they all seemed to jump up and ask.
"Fine." he mumbled. "I walked her home. We talked. She lied. The end." he snapped. Quatre, Duo, Heero, and Wufei all stared as Trowa stood up and left the room, slamming the door to the bedroom he'd been given by Quatre for the week they were all having their little reunion.
"She lied?" Quatre asked.
"What reason could a girl like that have to lie?" Duo asked himself, scratching his chin like some kind of demented Sherlock Holmes-type character.
(Duo: *looks over at the audience and winks*)
(Duo Fangirl: *sighs and faints*)
"I told you it wouldn't work." Wufei stated.
"Awww, what's that mean Wuffie?" Duo asked, grinning because he used the nickname Wufei hated so much.
"That onna did get the men he fought with killed in the first place. Now she's a liar. How appropriate." Wufei said, disgusted.
"You're right. There's no justice in the world." Duo said in a mocking voice. Wufei nodded before he realized that Duo was joking.
"THAT'S IT MAXWELL!!!" Wufei screamed as he grabbed his Chinese Broad Sword and started chasing Duo around the room, threatening to cut him into little pieces, and cut off his hair.
Quatre looked over at Heero to see what he thought about this whole situation. Heero saw Quatre look at him and made his usual grunting noise. Quatre sighed. Heero had had a girlfriend, until a few months ago when he got into a fight with Relena and she dumped him. No one's really seen him in mourning about the loss of their relationship, but Quatre knows he's really sad about it. After all, who else would be eating all the chocolate ice cream in the middle of the night while Duo's sleeping, quite noisily, locked in his room to keep him from eating out the whole kitchen? Wufei?
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kat: Okie, first chapter's up! YAY!!! So what do you guys think??? Well... let me know. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!