Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Forged Together ❯ Chpater 14 ( Chapter 14 )

A/N- I try to minimize new characters by calling them `this man' and `that man'. Let me know if it's a regular pain. I do like the g girls a lot and try not be bitchy with them. But seriously…how many here actually like Relena?

 

Chapter 14

 

The circus was the same; the smell of animals, (carefully masked by air filters during performances), the people strangely normal outside their colorful `working' clothes. Trowa stood on the outskirts, watching the people get ready for the performance, hoping to catch sight of the dark brown hair of Catharine. He nervously fingered the khaki trousers hoping no one would recognize it was an OZ uniform. The shirt was covered by a leather jacket but he hadn't brought a change of clothes with him and he was starting to regret it.

 

“Trowa!” The voice was home as far as he was concerned. He turned around and smiled as she came running out of a trailer, her hair steaming in the wind. “Why didn't you tell me you were coming?” she asked as she hugged him.

 

“I wasn't sure how long it would take for me to wrap things up,” he said, burying his face in her shoulder. Her hair was longer but other than that, there was no real difference. “It's just a short visit,” he added before she could plan for an extended stay. “I'm leaving in a couple of days.”

 

“But at least you remembered your sister,” she said as he stood, feeling awkward. “That counts for something. Come in, there's so much I want to talk to you about.”

 

“So do I,” Trowa said before he could help it as he followed her closely.

 

“What is it?” she asked, pulling back and look up at him. “You look troubled.”

 

“Nothing,” he said, trying to retrace his steps. “Just forget I said it.”

 

“You don't look too happy,” she observed. “I'm your sister, you can tell me anything.”

 

For some reason, it only made a lump form in his throat and all of a sudden he wanted to cry, as she led him into the camper. At least when he'd had amnesia, he had had the right to close his eyes and let Cathy take care of everything for him.

 

He had not expected Heero to be hurt when he'd told him they were through. Not that he had exactly asked why or even shown any outward emotions, but the sight of those blue eyes widening in surprise and hurt, the way he'd looked as Trowa had walked out the hangar, had been enough. It had come unexpectedly. He had thought Heero treated the arrangement between them the same way he did; as a causal interlude before moving on.

 

True, it had lasted for almost one year and they had been exclusive…so maybe Heero had been right to read more into it than a causal fuck, and Trowa had been the insensitive one. He was the one without the feelings, not Heero, it would seem. Even though Heero had harped on about emotional detachment he had still been attached to Trowa on some level. Still, he didn't think Heero was in love with him or anything; that wasn't the reason why he broke it up, though. He just hadn't been able to take it anymore, Quatre's hurt look when the blond thought no one was looking; he could always hear an echo of Quatre in his head, almost as if their brain cells were interconnected . And then there were Duo's accusations and glares and Wufei's constant prodding. Who'd have thought Wufei would care two hoots about anyone's feelings, let alone play the matchmaker.

 

So he'd broken it off, to put it mildly, and Heero hadn't seen it coming. The guy could see an ambush a light-year away but couldn't see understand human relations unless it shot him with a nuclear missile. Still, Trowa had messed up big time and run away; leaving Wufei to mop up the leftovers, if that was possible. Then in one of his most idiotic moves, he'd called Quatre. To say what, he didn't know. He didn't think he was the best person to be with, for the blond and saying `I told Heero I thought it was time we stopped fucking' was not the best start up for a conversation. Luckily, Duo had answered and he'd been able to wriggle out of it, though that meant a visit to Hilde.

 

He could live with that; he respected her because of the danger Hilde had put herself into to bring vital data for them. He would drop in on her later in the day and maybe, he'd take Cathy with her. It would do her some good to get to know some people outside the circus.

 

“So,” said Cathy as she handed over a cup of coffee. “What's wrong?”

 

“I'm not …I'm making a mess of things,” he said as he sat on the camp bed, his elbows on his knees, palms supporting his head. He looked up, took the mug and held it close to his chest.

 

“Trowa,” she said softly, abandoning her mug in favor of sitting next to him and putting hand on his shoulder. “Talk to me.”

 

“I…hurt someone,” he said softly. “Someone I cared about…maybe more than one person. Thought he was…” he stopped wondering how he was supposed to explain the whole concept to her. “…like me.” He finished lamely.

 

“It had to be one of those boys you always brought back with you here,” Catherine said, perceptively. “Which one was it?”

 

“It doesn't matter,” he said dully.

 

“Was it the one who made you want to self-destruct?” Catherine asked, her voice laced with contempt. “I never liked him very much.”

 

“You don't like any of them,” Trowa said with a faint smile.

 

“The one with long hair was too noisy but that quiet one with black hair was nice,” she said with a shrug. “He didn't do anything much but ate everything I put in front of him.”

 

“I'll tell Wufei the next time see him,” Trowa said with his lips twitching as he tried to imagine how things would have turned out if Wufei had not been shocked into silence by his failed assassination of Traize at the time. Had he been his raving self, maybe Catherine would have treated him differently.

 

“It's that blond boy I really can't stand,” Catherine said, startling him enough to look up at her. “He took you away from me.”

 

“Cathy,” he said softly. “I…”

 

“I'm being selfish, aren't I?” she said with a wry grin. “I see so little of you and when I do, it's to find out you are hurting inside. Do you have to go back?”

 

He couldn't answer that. He would be safer in the circus in his clown make-up, hiding from the world. He opened his mouth to say something when she held up her hands. “You can't hide here though. You have to face what you've done no matter how small because otherwise it'll follow you around forever.”

 

He looked at her and smiled, took a sip of coffee -- and spit it out just as quickly. The only person who could stomach Cathy's brew with a straight face was Wufei and maybe he did deserve a medal for that. “Fine,” he said. “I can't say here too long,” he said remembering Heavyarms in the former OZ carrier on its way to Earth. “Trouble seems to follow me around.”

 

“That was good coffee,” Cathy pouted. “You have no idea how hard it is to find that stuff here.”

 

“It tastes like…” Trowa hesitated. <i>`lion piss mixed with elephant dung'</i> “…something died in it.”

 

“Want to tell me exactly what is wrong between you and your friends?” Cathy asked more seriously. Trowa saw that she was not even attempting to stomach her own coffee.

 

“I don't know how to handle people,” Trowa said softly. “I keep hurting them and …and…I think I like someone but he…” There, how was he going to tell his `sister' he liked a male, even if she really wasn't his sister? He cringed as he thought of what Catherine would say or do. It wasn't as easy as it had been when he had been alone, when the only opinion that mattered had been his own.

 

“It's a boy that you like.” The sentence was not a question.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Is it the blond?” more quietly now.

 

“Yes, but…”

 

“Should I hunt him down for hurting you?”

 

“No!” said Trowa before he realized Cathy was smiling at him. Really smiling. She got up, walked to the door and stopped then, turning around threw, one of her knives at him. Trowa reacted instantly, ducking even before he realized it was never meant to hit him, just fly over his left shoulder. He looked up shaken to see his `sister' smiling widely.

 

“I have to thank him for making you want to live,” she said. “A year ago you wouldn't have ducked.”

 

“Cathy,” Trowa said, getting to his feet.

 

“I have to get ready now,” she said. “We'll talk when I'm finished but remember this; you have to face things eventually.”

 

--!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111--

 

By mid-morning, Heero had bandaged Wufei's back carefully and served him breakfast without uttering a word. Wufei ate the toast in silence wondering how he was going to face Duo when he came back with Quatre. He was extremely fond of the long haired boy but he did not want to hurt Heero either. Especially since Heero seemed to be making a point of being around him.

 

Not that Heero, all of a sudden, turned from the silent, brooding guy to a clingy limpet overnight, but he did behave a little differently. The same way he had behaved with Trowa. Wufei would have to be blind not to see that Trowa had been paired up with Heero as his partner in most of the missions they had gone on, and Heero had chosen to stay closer to Trowa than any of them. Now all that attention seemed to have been transferred to Wufei, much to his dismay. Wufei had tried to bring up the subject of Trowa several times but was met with silence so had given up eventually.

 

He thought of a couple of ways of getting out of this predicament. Amnesia, disappearing, telling Duo he had been hypnotized into sleeping with Heero… the excuses he could think of grew to be more and more farfetched and he had started to snicker at his own improbable scenarios. However, there was no going back and he had behaved disrespectfully, giving into the baser needs of his body. He had behaved like an animal and there was no excuse for it. In the morning, he'd come up with a half a dozen of ways in which he could have persuaded Heero to stay which did not include sex. The bottom line was, he had wanted Heero and when he had made an offer, Wufei had taken it.

 

He called Duo by mid-morning, intent on coming clean with him and then moving on. Perhaps leaving their fragile friendship before he fractured it beyond repair. He'd even gone as far as to pack his bag when he realized that, should he leave, Heero would be left alone, and that was no better than what Trowa had done. He didn't know what to do; in the end he was going to end up hurting both Heero and Duo.

 

The person who answered Quatre's com was a stern looking female with her blond hair tied in a top knot. He immediately adopted a defensive stance he used when facing a female and demanded for Duo. A large part of his almost legendry contempt for females came from there; not because he thought they were inferior but because he found them mysterious creatures, and the only way he knew to deal with them was by showing dislike. He had seen a sum total of five females during his training period as a child; his mother, his aging aunt, a servant who had looked after him and acted as his nanny, his master's wife, and her elderly mother.

 

Then at the age of fourteen, he was thrust into the arms of a fiery girl who was nothing like any of the submissive, older women he had known before and was told that she was his wife. And he had tried to measure up to her all his life while trying to understand women who had neither the softness of his mother and the submissiveness of his master's wife and nor the passion of Merian.

 

Duo answered the vid looking flushed as if he had been running. “Wufei,” he said smiling delighted when he saw the Chinese boy. “How are you?”

 

Wufei found, to his consternation, that he could not answer the question because he was staring at Duo. Until that moment he had not been aware of how much he'd missed his boyfriend. He had missed the way Duo was in constant motion, his sense of humor and his unexpected wit. “I missed you,” he blurted out, uncharacteristically, wishing Duo had never gone. It had been a mistake to let him go. He wanted to smell the long braid and feel those arms around him.

 

“I missed you too,” Duo said smiling. “But you won't believe how busy we've been here. And guess what, Quatre's sister said she'd…” he stopped, looked over Wufei's shoulder just as a hand closed around his bicep. Wufei looked down to see Heero's hand clamped hard across his hand.

 

“Heero,” he said weakly.

 

“I was looking for you,” Heero said in his nasal voice. “I wanted to know if you'd like to burrow my laptop since yours seem to be defective.”

 

Wufei did a double take at that since Heero Yuy and his laptop were never parted and no one ever put hand on it unless they had a death wish. And when he looked up at the screen Duo was looking at the two of them in a combination of resignation, disbelief and anger.

 

“Yuy,” said Wufei, slightly annoyed at the interruption. “I'm a little busy here. I'd like to speak to Duo… alone.”

 

Heero remained still for a moment, then turned around abruptly, leaving the room as silently as he had arrived. His shoulders were rigid with tension but he was far too much in control of himself to slam the door on his way out. For a moment, Wufei watched his retreating back before turning around to face Duo.

 

“Anything you want to tell me?” Duo demanded as he looked Wufei straight in the eye.

 

“I have some explaining to do,” Wufei said weakly.

 

“Really,” said Duo coldly.

 

Duo must have been broadcasting his agitation since a few seconds later, Quatre walked into view, frowning. “Wufei,” he greeted the other boy and rested his hand on Duo's shoulder. “What's wrong? Has anything happened to Trowa on the mission?”

 

“You wish,” Duo snarled as he pushed back and got up from his chair. “I think this conversation is over.”

 

“Duo!” Wufei sounded stricken, even to himself but he was speaking to Quatre who was the only one present.

 

Quatre said with unexpected fierceness. “What did you do to hurt him like that?”

 

“I didn't mean to,” Wufei answered dully. “I…” he pushed a hand over his brow. “I have behaved in a despicable manner and betrayed everyone's trust. I should not have called.”

 

“Are you going to do a disappearing act?” Quatre asked dryly. “Or fall on one of your swords? Duo and I are returning the day after tomorrow. Think you can stay until we come back?”

 

“Yes,” Wufei said as he looked down at his hands. He didn't think he could leave Heero any more than he could break away from Duo.

 

“Be there,” Quatre ordered before abruptly switching off leaving him facing a blank screen.

 

--!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--

 

“So,” said Cathy as she ran a hand over her blue jeans. “Who's this friend of yours I'm going to meet. Should I have dressed up?”

 

“For Hilde?” said Trowa, amused by the way she was trying to brush back her hair. “Hardly that sort of friend and I don't think she'd really care. She used to pilot a mobile suit for OZ before she changed sides. Helped us get some data on Libra which was invaluable.”

 

“So what's she doing in this part of L2?” Cathy asked as the continued to stroll down the road, leading towards the lower realms of the colony. The lower parts were mainly the older constructions, built when the colony was first formed. Once the outer parts were finished those who could afford had moved up leaving the poor behind.

 

“She runs Duo's scarp yard while he's away” Trowa explained.

 

“That's not exactly a woman's job,” Cathy said.

 

“Throwing knives at people is?” teased Trowa as they rounded a corner and came to the junk yard district. Streets were lined with scarp metal and discarded machine parts. Children of various ages ran around, falling over each other as they played a game of tag. They both paused so a little girl with pig tails was chased by a slightly older girl with longer hair

 

“Where exactly is this place?” Cathy asked, looking around. The piles of junk seemed to have cut off the artificial sun and the streets were not as well maintained as they were in the upper levels.

 

“The second block from here,” said Trowa as they walked on, his hands in his pockets. He could see a couple of men from an adjoining junk yard studying the two of them through mesh fence. The fence was meant to hold the junk away from the road but most likely supported the heaps so they wouldn't all fall over. The men didn't look all too friendly and were eyeing them as if they were prey. Trowa had a feeling that some of the `junk' hadn't joined the heaps voluntarily.

 

Cathy shivered and moved closer to him. After years as a performer, she could read people as well as he could. “I hope your friend is there,” she said in a low voice. “I don't like these people. And why are all these kids running around? Don't they have anywhere else to go and play at?”

 

“They're street kids,” Trowa said. “They don't have a home to go off to.”

 

They arrived at their destination a few minutes later in silence, each submerged in their own thought. “Is this it?” Cathy asked as she looked at the yard, which was deserted.

 

“She must be in the office,” said Trowa as he climbed up a couple of planks nailed together to form a flight of steps. He mounted quickly and knocked on the door of the shack that served as an office. When no one answered the door he gave it a push, which caused it to swing inwards and walked in.

 

“Maybe she went out,” Cathy said from the bottom of the staircase. “Let's wait for her outside.”

 

“I don't know,” said Trowa warily. “This isn't the sort of place where you leave your door unlocked.”

 

He walked into the semi-darkness and waited for his eyes to adjust. He took two steps forward, letting the door swing shut behind him, and almost walked into Hilde, who had a big gun pointed at his chest.

 

“Trowa,” she said, her voice laced with relief as she lowered her gun.

 

Trowa raised his hands in a classic gesture of surrender and waited.

 

“Oh, put down your hands,” she snapped, holstering her gun. “I'm not going to shoot you. I thought you were someone else.”

 

“Who were you expecting?” he asked as he lowered his hands carefully.

 

“No one you'd want to meet,” Hilde said with a grimace as she walked around to Trowa. “Did Duo come with you?”

 

“No,” said Trowa as he moved to open the door. “But my sister did and she's outside.” He looked out to tell Cathy to come up and stopped when he realized she was not alone. Cathy was standing exactly where he had left her but now she was surrounded by the three men who had been watching them as they had walked down the road. And they didn't look as if they'd come to buy discarded oven parts. “This is the trouble you were expecting?” he asked with a calmness he did not feel.

 

---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111---

 

“Let her go,” snapped Hilde, leveling her gun at the men firmly. For a moment the men faltered and then shrugged, letting Catharine walk up the steps into the office.

 

“We weren't holding her,” one of the men leered. “Thought we'll keep her entertained while you and the boy there were having some quality time together.” Apparently their sense of humor was very light since it made them all laugh uproariously while Hilde slammed the door loudly.

 

“Who are those people?” Catherine inquired, looking a little shaken but not scared. She met all kinds of people in her line of work and it took more than three morons to make her cry.

 

“They are the former White Fang,” Hilde said in disgust as she holstered her gun for the second time. “They have a grudge against Duo since he refused to side with them and the only way they can take it out is by pushing me out of business.”

 

“But I thought White Fang is no more,” Cathy said as she sat down on a rickety chairs without being invited.

 

“They just need an excuse to push me out of here,” Hilde explained, going over to the counter and picking up a bottle. She poured its contents into three glasses and took one in either hand. “They were bullies before White Fang recruited them and they are bullies now. Nothing's changed.”

 

“Isn't there anyone you can call for help?” Trowa asked as he took the offered glass, one with a chipped rim, and nodded his thank you. “There has to be some law and order here.”

 

“On L2, law belongs to those who pay for it,” Hilde snapped as Cathy took the second glass and sipped it without missing a beat. Trowa gave her points mentally guts and followed his sisters' example. He didn't think Hilde would poison them or give them anything disgusting but years of living in constant battle had its drawbacks.

 

“What do they do?” Trowa asked. “Apart from show up at the office and make bad jokes.”

 

“All my potential customers have to come past then,” Hilde explained, downing her glass in one gulp. Since Trowa had found out it contained only lemon juice he was not impressed. “They probably thought you were customers right now and came to scare you away. They're always like that, my last two orders didn't get here at all and I even paid an installment for it. This is getting way over my head.”

 

“What have you done about it?” Cathy asked. “Surely, you aren't going to give up on this.”

 

“Oh, no,” Hilde snapped. “This might not be the best business but Duo is counting on me to stick it out and keep an eye out on the kids out there, and if I'm not here, who will?”

 

“We only came for a visit,” Trowa said apologetically, guilty at the predicament Duo's friend was in. “I don't think we can stay long.”

 

“Oh,” said Hilde with a small smile and with that ridiculous barrette she wore, managed to look extremely young. “I'm sorry. Where are my manners, Trowa? You haven't even introduced me to your sister properly and here I am whining about my problems.”

 

“That's perfectly alright,” said Cathy getting up gracefully. “I'm Catherine Bloom, Trowa's sister. You must be the Hilde, I've heard so much about.” She even managed to sound convincing though Trowa knew the only time he had mentioned Hilde at all had been in about two sentences as they were walking towards the junk yard.

 

“Hope what you heard wasn't all bad?” Hilde said looking pleased and Catherine smiled.

 

“Former OZ mobile suit pilot,” Catherine said without missing a beat. “Invaluable to winning the war. What more is there to say?”

 

“I like your sister,” Hilde said to Trowa with a wink that made Trowa wonder which way Hilde swung. Before he could speculate though someone banged on the door loudly, making them all jump.

 

“Expecting anyone?” Trowa asked as he moved out of direct line of fire from the door.

 

“I sent a message to the sweepers through a contact number Duo left but I don't think they'll be getting here any time soon,” Hilde said, biting her lower lip. “Looks like you got here at a bad time. I'm sorry, I'm not much of a host, am I?”

 

“It certainly is exciting,” Cathy said dryly as she moved out of the way and Trowa fought the urge to pull her behind him. The walls of the office were paper thin ply wood boards that would not stop a bullet coming through, come to think of it, perhaps not even Cathy's knife.

 

“Stay here,” said Hilde as she jerked open the door in a single move to face who ever was outside.

 

“Good day, miss,” said the man outside, a non-descriptive type with a face like a sewer rat. He was small made, and better dressed than the men before.

 

“What do you want?” Hilde demanded and Trowa did not think he was a customer.

 

“I heard you got a couple of visitors,” the man said. “Do they know you haven't paid for your last shipment…?”

 

“Which I never got,” Hilde snarled. “Get out while you can or…”

 

“Or what?” the man was far too confidant for his own good.

 

“I'll shoot you,” Hilde said but her voice didn't sound too confident. She wasn't a killer and even the man knew it.

 

“Just pack your things and leave,” the man said as he looked over Hilde's shoulder at Catherine. “I saw your act on Tuesday miss,” he said, speaking to Catherine. “Wonderful…simply stunning.” Which was as far his praise would go before he was all business again. “If the circus needs supplies, I suggest you come to my place, just down the road. Much nicer there and the prices are more affordable. Don't know who recommended this place to you but let me tell you…”

 

“Why don't you just go?” Trowa said moving over to Hilde's side. “What we do here is our business.”

 

“You kids have no idea who you're messing with,” the man said as the ground began to shake under their feet.

 

“What the hell is that?” demanded Hilde, brushing aside the man and rushing outside. Trowa grabbed Catherine firmly by the hand and dragged her out since the building they were in wasn't all too steady. And blanched. There was huge earth crusher, used to shift scrap metal in the junk yards rushing towards them in the distance.

 

“Is that yours by any chance?” Trowa asked as the vehicle came roaring down the street causing the piles of junk to tremble.

 

“You are kidding, right?” snapped Hilde. “I can't afford to rent one of those for an hour, let alone own one.”

 

“Just taking back some of what is mine,” the rat-man said smoothly. “You should remember, you are borrowing space off my part of the town and I can take it back when ever I want.”

 

“I'm not on your turf,” Hilde shouted back, over the increasing roar of the machine. “This was part of the Maxwell Church holdings and…”

 

“Now I own them,” the rat-man finished as the huge machine crashed through the wire fence.

 

“Damn,” swore Hilde, angrily. “It's going to take me a week to put that back up.”

 

“You won't be here that long,” the annoying man threatened. “It's that shack of yours next and then we'll see.”

 

“Want to bet?” Hilde shot back even as she brought out her gun and pointed it at the man.”

 

“Do you have license for carrying firearms?” the man asked.

 

“I don't need one,” Hilde said fuming in anger as she motioned towards Cathy. “Take your brother and go while I…” Both women looked towards where Trowa had been standing, only to find out that he was gone. “Where did he go?” she asked.

 

They both turned as one when Trowa appeared on to the left as he vaulted gracefully from one scrap heap to the other heap, before reaching the roof of the earth mover. He leapt, twisting in mid air, caught the bar above the drivers' seat and kicked the driver off the vehicle. The driver flew out the seat and fell on to the ground in a heap.

 

Trowa switched off the engine and jumped down lightly to land in front of the man, keys in his hand.

 

“Why you…” the rat- man said, even as he reached into his inner pocket only to stop when a throwing knife hit the ground squarely between his feet.

 

“If you've watched my show you should know I don't miss,” Cathy said in a cold voice as another knife appeared in her palm.

 

“There's just the two of you but so many of us,” the man snarled even as burly men started showing up all around them. “This isn't your home turf, this is ours and you are outnumbered.”

 

“Well then, it's time we evened the odds,” said a familiar voice and Trowa stared as a scrawny old man, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, in a pair of oversized shorts and a Hawaiian shirt came strolling into the yard as if he owned the place.

 

“Howard,” the rat-man, who had been loud mouthed and blustering a few minutes ago turned three shades paler. “I thought the Sweepers weren't in this sector of space for a while.”

 

“Well,” said Howard as he paused. “We are now and you'd better leave the girl alone if you know what's good for you.”

 

The man grunted with displeasure but his bravado was gone. No one ever crossed the Sweepers if they knew what was good for them.

 

“Don't you have something to do, Trowa?” Howard prodded.

 

Trowa looked at him blankly before he thought of something, smiled and took off his leather jacket. “I'm arresting you,” he said with a secret grin. “In the name of Lady Une.” And snapped his handcuffs on the annoying man's wrists.

 

--!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1--

 

“Lady Une!” hooted Howard as he drove his car through the narrow roads. “In the name of Lady Une!”

 

“It as the best I could think of,” Trowa said weakly, blushing in embarrassment.

 

“You'd better tell her and you can ask her to make it official,” Howard said with a snicker. “Lady's Une's law keepers.”

 

“All made up of nice young men …,” Cathy said scathingly in manner which suggest those `young men' were all in a g-string and holding palm leaves. “From what I've seen of her during the war, it's nothing to laugh over.”

 

“Maybe,” said Trowa, trying to find his footing.

 

“When are you heading for Earth, Trowa?” Howard asked. “One of my carriers is going through earth and I could arrange life for you. In fact, I could even have Sally pick you up from the Space Port and drop you at you destination.”

 

“That'll be nice,” said Trowa wondering why Sally was bothering to meet Howard's shipments personally and why Howard was sure she would do as he told her to.

 

a/n- I should add Hilde winked at Trowa coz she thinks Cathy is his girlfriend, not sister. Trowa just misinterprets the gesture.