Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Flirt ❯ Remembering Trowa ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Flirt Chapter Two

Harriet had spent the past few days not doing anything but wandering around. Nowhere particular, just... around, to see what there was to see. After the confrontation with Heero, she'd been feeling kind of depressed. She knew Heero hated her now. Harriet had suspected it from day one, and the entire thing really ticked her off in a way. All she really wanted was to get to know these guys better -- it wasn't like she was going to use the stuff she learned against them. Her afternoon with Quatre had been great. They talked about everything and anything and laughed a lot. Duo seemed to like her as well... at least she had some friends.

As far as she knew, Harriet had been born and raised in a small town in southern Ontario, Canada. All her memories were from there. She had family there, but after her decision to try and construct a Gundam was brought up they lost contact. Her father had kicked her out of his house and given her whatever money he'd been saving for her future -- he'd been hoping she'd go to college, not decide she wanted to be a pilot. Harriet had taken the money, invested it wisely and watched it double, then triple. She drew up plans, looked at photographs of Wing Zero, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, and Shenlong as well as notes on them, and devised her own plans for her very own Gundam suit. She took up residence in a derelict apartment in a dirty part of town, and used her money to find herself a place large enough to work on her suit -- an abandoned airplane hangar. Her prototype had failed miserably, and she referred back to the Gundams to make modifications. Deathscythe stuck out considerably in her mind, and after neatly mimicking some aspects of it, the second prototype succeeded. The next few months was devoted to creating the actual suit, which she dubbed RipRock. Harriet left the apartment, took her money and left in RipRock, not knowing her destination. She wrote home when she landed at a colony, but no response.

Sometime during AC 195, Harriet literally ran into Relena Peacecraft. They met on a slippery sidewalk in the middle of a crowded town square. She felt awkward around Relena, but they soon got to know each other, yet Harriet remained wary. Relena was amazed that Harriet had made RipRock herself, and later asked if she would like to meet the Gundam pilots. Harriet was ecstatic, jumped at the chance, and found herself in the meeting room two weeks later. Again Harriet wrote home, and got a reply from her mother, who was glad she'd found something to do "out there in space."

One of Harriet's more recent treks led her to her mail. She never expected any letters, but today she found three. Strange... Who'd be writing to me? She took the letters and found a sunny spot outside to read them. The first was from her mother.



Dear Harriet,

How have you been settling in? Well, I pray. Your brother had disappeared for a week, but he is back safe and sound. I want you to tell me about those boys they call the Gundam pilots and everything you do that's of relative importance. I know how you teenagers feel about telling stuff to your parents.

I hope your health is good. I haven't been feeling well lately, but I'm getting better.

Love,
Mother.


Harriet sighed and put the letter from her mother aside. Always worrying, as usual. That's probably why she's sick, Harriet thought. The next was from her father, another lecture...



...and if you think that this will look good on a resumé, you've got another think coming missy... what kind of girl takes the college money and builds something completely useless out of it?... I tell you Harriet, you're not going to amount to anything with that piece of junk...



As she crumpled up the letter in rage, Harriet's mind filled with fury. Piece of junk? JUNK? RipRock is not JUNK! Does he have any comprehension of how hard it is to get Gundanium alloy these days? Or how expensive it is? If there's anything that's a piece of junk, it's his brain! Sighing, she turned to the third letter.

This one nearly scared her. In the middle of the page of plain lined paper, in letters cut out from a magazine, was one message:



STAY AWAY FROM TROWA.



Harriet dropped the paper. "Stay away from Trowa?" she whispered. "But... I don't intend on hurting him or anything! I don't know much about him, although he does seem... familiar!" The last word was louder. Stuffing the papers into her pocket, Harriet dashed off to find Trowa Barton.

"Trowa! Trowa, where are you?" Harriet called. She wasn't scared. Okay, so she was a little scared. But more confused and angry. She remembered where she'd seen Trowa Barton now and thought that the note had something to do with that.

Quatre heard Harriet's yelling and went to investigate. "Harriet? Harriet what's wrong?" he asked.

Harriet turned back around and walked quickly to Quatre. "Have you seen Trowa?"

"Not today," Quatre answered, a quizzical look on his face. "Why?"

"I got this in the mail today," she said, showing Quatre the note. "And if whoever sent it to me thinks I'm going to listen-"

"Maybe you should," Quatre interrupted. "Trowa's got a pretty vague past. I'd hate for this to be from someone out to kill both of you."

Harriet made a face. "I've met him before."

"Who? Trowa?"

"Yes. I've met him before. I didn't remember it until I got this note, but we've met -- It wasn't a pleasant time either," Harriet explained. "I have to find out if he remembers too."

"I doubt that," Quatre said. "Like I said, his past's sketchy."

"Still..." Harriet trailed off, "I have to try."

Quatre sighed and looked concerned, but he tried to hide it. "I'll tell Trowa you're looking for him if I see him," he said.

Harriet leaned against the wall with a hand to her forehead. "I'd better keep looking. Talk to you later." She continued down the hall.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Quatre.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Harriet called back, not turning around.

~*~**~*~



"What are you doing here?"

"Looking."

"For?"

"Parts." Harriet wandered around the rows of metal in the desolate junkyard.

"What are you making?" A guy with mysterious eyes was following her suspiciously.

Harriet turned around and gave the guy a hard look in the eye. He was about her age, slightly taller than her. "A mobile suit."

"You?" He laughed a little.

"Think that's funny, don't you?" Harriet retorted. "Well I am, and if you don't believe it... too bad."

"Hey, I don't doubt you," the kid said, putting his hands up in defense. You just seem kinda young."

"So do you," she replied.

"Come on. There's some stuff over here." The kid showed her a deserted corner. "Not much, but it might give you a start."

Harriet looked over the parts. "Got any... Gundanium alloy?" she asked sheepishly.

The guy looked shocked. "You wanna make... a Gundam?"

"That would be the plan."

"Wow... Well, um, I think there's a little-"

SMASH! KABOOM!

An explosion rocked the yard and threw Harriet and the kid to the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's going on?"

"They're attacking."

Well duh, Harriet thought.

"Don't know why. You hide, got it? Take this key, go in that door and don't come out. Got it?" Harriet took the key and nodded. "GO!" She ran for the door and locked it behind her. Through a crack she saw the kid run in a different direction, then disappear.

Suddenly, a moblie suit burst out of a derelict building and began retaliating with hundreds of rounds of artillery. Harriet's memory flashed in front of her. She recognized that mobile suit, from the pictures...

Heavyarms.


~*~**~*~

Trowa stared at the faded picture in his hand. He knew one of the six children in the photograph was himself, and another was Catherine, but the other four were unknown to him.

He could hear someone calling him, and recognized the voice as Harriet's. Trowa didn't answer. Instead he continued to sit at the desk in his room and study the photograph.

There was a knock on the door. "Trowa? Are you there?" It was Harriet.

"Come in," Trowa said emotionlessly. He didn't look up as Harriet came in and stood next to him.

"I need to talk to you," Harriet said, "about this." She pushed the note across the smooth wood of the desk.

Trowa read the cut-and-paste message and raised one eyebrow. "Then why are you here?"

Do you really think I'm one to follow instructions? It doesn't happen, especially with threats," Harriet told Trowa. "Do you have anything to do with this?"

"No," Trowa replied, shaking his head. "And I don't know anyone who might be."

"Thanks anyway," Harriet sighed. Then she noticed the photograph. "Where'd you get that?"

"I've had it since I was little," he answered. "Why?"

"That girl there," she said, "that's me."

"What?"

"That's me," Harriet repeated, "and I have that picture. See?" She pulled an identical photo from her pocket.

"We... we have the same picture," Trowa murmured. "That means.... this was taken when I was six... Where are you from?"

"Canada. I'm not from the colonies," she said. There was a long silence. "You're the kid from the yard! I got my Gundanium alloy for RipRock from there."

"How do you know I was there? That was ages ago," Trowa said.

"Heavyarms was a dead giveaway. Afterwards I realized, 'Hey, I was talking to a Gundam pilot'," she answered.

"I wasn't working there, just getting stuff for Heavyarms."

"Well... I remember that picture being taken," Harriet said. "I rememer moving from colony to colony for about a year or two when I was younger and there were only a few kids I was really friends with... Especially one guy, I can't even remember his name."

I was kind of a loner too, but..." Suddenlt Trowa's green eyes went wide and he gasped as he stood up. "You... that's you. Harriet!"

Suddenly it was all like a reunion as Trowa and Harriet recognized each other as the childhood friend they'd lost so long ago. A warm hug ensued.

"Harriet," Trowa asked, "do you remember my real name?"

"No," she answered. "Would you want me to tell you if I remembered?"

"I don't think so. It'd be too weird," he said. "But what about this note?"

"Probably someone just trying to scare me," Harriet said off-handishly. "Doesn't matter now."