Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ Twin Clowns ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Cousin D 
Trowa meets Shin. Shin gets irritated when someone kills his goldfish.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.24.2003 | Updated On: 01.23.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 10.1K | Visits: 685 | Status: Work In Progress
Trowa meets Shin. Shin gets irritated when someone kills his goldfish.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.24.2003 | Updated On: 01.23.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 10.1K | Visits: 685 | Status: Work In Progress
CHAPTER 3: TWIN CLOWNS
Trowa-
He went by the name of Trowa Barton, but it wasn’t really his. He used the name because everyone used it for him and he didn’t bother to correct them. Why should he bother? The real Barton was dead and didn’t need his name any longer. Why not borrow it? Just for a little while, anyway. It wasn’t as if he was planning to keep it forever. He wasn’t likely to live forever, not even for a very long time. He might not even live through the night.
The tavern was crowded and the air thick with smoke and the smell of beer, the most popular drink. It was loud, far too loud for Trowa’s taste with the sounds of drunken laugher and minor brawls. It was, all in all, a disgusting place. It was also the perfect place for mercenary’s to lay low until another job popped up. L4 wasn’t as bad off as many of the other, smaller colonies, but it was bad enough. The crime was running rampant, but as a result, no one really paid any attention to another group trying to make a quick, if not quite honest, buck.
Trowa wasn’t drinking, but the older men were and Trowa was stuck with them. He was apart of the group and was expected to stay with them. It was some idea to do with loyalty, not that Trowa put much stock in that sort of thing. So he sat in a corner with his back against a wall and watched his comrades. They weren’t friends by any means, but it was interesting to watch them, in a way. In another way, it was dull as dirt. They were virtually drowning themselves in cheap beer and showed no signs of stopping. Most of them were relatively intelligent and normally sensible, but now they looked like a gathering of village idiots. He didn’t understand why some people were willing to throw their lives away with alcohol. It will only make one careless and then dead. Everyone died, it was just a matter of time. What was important was the manner in which one lived. Trowa knew he would die and that he would probably die sooner than most people, considering his line of work. While he lived, however, he intended to do something important.
That something important was to overthrow the Alliance and the Romafella Foundation which ruled not only Earth, but the colonies in space with an iron fist. The politicians, spoiled by years without challenge to their authority, spoke of the public good and the welfare of the future, but their actions were far less noble. While they spoke of peace and butchered defenseless people. Trowa had seen enough evidence of their wanton greed and disregard for human life to know that they had to be stopped at all costs. If the cost was his own life, then there was nothing really lost.
A burst of laughter caught Trowa’s attention and he looked to another corner of the tavern where several of the mercenaries he’d been working with for the past few months were ruddy -faced with drink and at the point of passing out. They weren’t so inebriated that they couldn’t shout loudly and obscenely at the harried serving girl. Fortunately, she was used to louts like that and gave back as good as she got. As she was sober, she was even more able to take care of herself. After one of the men grabbed her backside, the feisty girl turned on him and slammed her fist into his face. That only made everyone at that table laugh harder.
It was all vaguely disgusting. Still, Trowa thought that maybe it was one of the strange things adults did. He was fourteen, why should he presume to know how adults thought? He was only here to learn, not make any kind of impact on the lives of these people. Let them use their hard earned money to kill brain cells. His trainer had instructed him to take the position with these mercenaries for the experience in fighting and tactical planning. I think I’ve learned all I can from them. Trowa stood up from his place and started to make his way out of the tavern. It’s time to leave.
One of the men who was sitting at a table near Trowa looked up with watery eyes as Trowa walked by. His cheeks were flushed from the half gone drink in his hands. "Where ya goin', kid?"
Trowa didn't answer or even look back. The man meant nothing and Trowa had decided that he no longer belong with these people. Of course, that meant that he would need a new place to hide himself when he wasn’t involved in his Gundam training. Heavy Arms was to be his Gundam and the trainer seemed to think that it was important for Trowa to know his machine inside and out. He worked for hours every day studying the schematics of Heavy Arms as well as studying the workings of the Alliance government. Between jobs with the mercenaries, Trowa would go back to the colony of L4 and do simulation flight training with his trainer and work with Heavy Arms. He rarely had free time and when he did, he didn’t like to spent it in smoke filled, taverns with a bunch of drunks.
Outside the tavern, the air was much sweeter. Not good, but what could one expect on a colony? Nothing was ever really good. It was less bad than in the tavern and at least didn’t reek of smoke and alcohol. Trowa looked up and down the street. Both ways looked pretty much the same and he had no reason to go either way. For a moment, he just stood there in the dim light and debated. He had no reason to be anywhere. He wasn’t hungry, yet, and there was no training scheduled for a few days.
I suppose I could just stand here all night.
It was then that he happened to notice someone. To his left, Trowa saw a person hunched down staring into the window of a building. Curious, Trowa chose his direction and walked to the person. The closer he got, Trowa realized that the person was a boy. He was smaller than Trowa, but looked sturdier built. He stared into the window of, of all things, a pet shop. He was crouched down, sitting on his heels, and had both hands pressed against the glass.
Trowa stopped a few yards away from the boy and watched, curiously. He had very ordinary clothes, patched in places, and auburn hair with sideburns that were long out of style. The boy sniffed sadly about whatever he was looking at and wiped his eyes with the back of one hand. The position he was in was a very vulnerable one, especially in an area of the colony that didn’t much care about law or order. The boy leaned forward then and nearly pressed his nose against the glass of the pet shop, he was so intent on whatever he was looking at. The boy sniffled again and Trowa saw a tear slide down his cheek.
"Why are you crying?" Trowa couldn’t help but ask as he closed the distance between them. He stood right at the boy’s side, but even then the boy didn‘t so much as look up at Trowa. There was nothing in the window but a fish tank with a few goldfish in some murky water
The boy looked up at Trowa then back to the fish tank. "The poor little things." Another tear ran down his face and he quickly wiped it away. "They're so sad, trapped in there. I feel badly for them."
How very kind. Trowa didn‘t often see that kind of compassion for humans, let alone for animals. It made him think well of the boy. "You shouldn't show weakness in a town like this. Others will make trouble for you." Trowa didn’t bother to ask how he thought he knew what the fish are feeling. The boy was probably unbalanced, so it would do no good to try reasoning with him. Even if he was insane was there really anything wrong with liking animals? Frankly, Trowa had always preferred animals over humans. At least animals were honest. I wonder if anyone's supposed to be watching the boy, or if he's just been left out here to fend for himself.
The boy stood up straight and spun on his toes to face Trowa. With his hands clasped behind his head, he smiled a bit sadly. "I know what you mean. This isn’t really a very nice place, is it? I just can't help myself when I see the little darlings in a prison like that. I'm Mouri Shin." He bowed with a flourish before turning back to the pet shop window. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m pretty well able to take care of myself.”
"Trowa Barton."
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trowa. They're very beautiful, aren't they?"
Shin’s voice was far away and dreamy, apparently thinking of nothing but the lazily swimming fish, even as he touched the glass with his fingertips. Trowa went to stand next to him in front of the pet shop window and looked at the fish.
"Trowa, what are you doing out here?"
Shin and Trowa both turned to see Mayers, the commanding officer...correction, the 'former' commanding officer of the mercenaries, standing outside the tavern. He was the leader of the mercenaries for the simple fact that he'd killed the last leader and no one had yet tried to fight him for the title. That wouldn’t last for long, no matter how good Mayers thought he was.
"I told everyone to stay in the tavern until I got details for our next job, didn't I?" Mayers was not a pleasant person. He had gotten to his position by sheer brute strength, and, Trowa would admit, a cunning nature. It didn’t hurt that he was viciously ruthless. He had a way of making rivals disappear when they showed too much ambition. Mayers might have been a good-looking man, dressed as fine as a gentleman, but his face held a continuous sneer that ruined it.
Trowa didn’t like or respect Mayers. So, instead of answering, he went back to looking at the display of fish with Shin. He's right. The fish really are very pretty.
A hand landed on Trowa’s shoulder. "Hey! Just because you're young doesn't mean that I'll excuse insubordination from you any more than I would another of the other men! Don‘t you dare ignore me!" Mayers' voice was rough and angry. More than likely, he was worried about Trowa, but not in a kind, fatherly way. Mayers was worried that Trowa was gaining too many admirers within the band, men who thought Trowa was clever and strong for being so young. Mayers worried about how different Trowa was and that others saw those differences. They would see that Trowa was cool and collected, able to deal with any situation that came about. Those were good qualities in a leader. Trowa had no interest in leading the mercenaries, but Mayers doesn't know that. Even if Trowa had told him, Mayers wouldn’t have believed it.
Turning sharply and looking Mayers directly in the eye, Trowa said, "I’m leaving your people. You have no cause to fear me." It was perhaps a silly thing to say, given Mayers ego.
"Fear you?" Mayers' eyes widened at the thought. "Why should I be afraid of a kid? You think to much of yourself, boy." He was unhappy with the idea that he is afraid of Trowa, but Trowa could see it in his eyes. He was afraid of a 'kid' and that was why he was so angry. He's afraid that the fear will make him weak and then he would become just another target for one of the men under his command. He would be challenged just as he’d challenged the previous commander.
"Then go. Leave me. I will tell none of your secrets." Trowa just wanted him to go away. Shin is watching the confrontation but kept his mouth shut. Very smart. There wasn’t any reason for him to bring himself to Mayer’s attention. Goodness only knows what Mayers might have done if he’d realized they were being watched.
There was suddenly a gun barrel at Trowa’s temple, pressing into his skin. "You know you can't just leave us, Trowa. No one just quits." Now this was interesting, but not entirely unexpected. Trowa knew he was in a dangerous position ever since he’d become a little too good at his job. Mayers was looking for an excuse to kill, but Trowa really didn't think he'd do it in the middle of the street. It was much more sensible to have Trowa killed during a job and make it look as if the enemy had done it or that it was just some stupid accident. The others would believe it, they really weren’t smart enough to search out or find the truth. Perhaps Mayers wasn’t as smart as Trowa had given him credit for. Still, it was night and Mayers might get away with this since there were so few people were out to be witnesses and the rest of the gang was drunk. He could just go back to the tavern after killing Trowa and act as surprised as everyone else when Trowa’s body was found in the street. No one would question him. It might work, except that there was one witness. Shin.
Oh, dear. That means Shin will have to be killed after I am. Well, I can't let that happen. Trowa only needed to dodge slightly to make Mayers' gun slip and after that it was simple to disarm him. Trowa grabbed Mayers’ wrist and twisted it enough that he yelped in pain.
Mayers brought up his other fist and tried to hit Trowa, but he must have been drinking as his reaction time was slower than normal. Trowa caught his fist and twisted it along with the other wrist, bringing him to his knees.
Unfortunately, Mayers' other men started to drift out of the tavern at this point, looking around for their missing leader. Trowa was quite lucky that they were mostly drunk. When they saw Trowa’s attack on their leader, most couldn't react at all. One threw up all over his own shoes, two passed out, and one was drunk enough that he attacked Trowa with his bare hands. Stupid, really. That man was quickly face down in the street and Trowa knew he wouldn't be getting up for a good long while.
The last man standing drew his gun and started shooting wildly, bullets flying everywhere without direction. Glass shattered and Shin 'eeped' as one bullet shot passed inches from his face and broke the glass of the pet shop window, going straight through the fish tank Shin had been crying in front of.
"No!" Shin screamed, watching in horror as all the fish slosh onto the ground at his feet. He knelt, ignoring the battle Trowa was fighting and tried to save the fish, but there simply wasn't enough water left to save them. Shin ended up on his knees staring forlornly at the pitiful, dead fish with tears now streaming down his face.
Trowa leapt around, getting closer and closer as he tried to get the gun while avoiding bullets. This man was more dangerous than Mayers. He would kill innocent people without noticing, the way he was firing. Just as Trowa was almost at the man, Shin ran passed him and right into the gang of drunks the mercenaries had degenerated into with his face twisted with rage. Trowa stopped to watch Shin, as, apparently, he wasn't needed anymore.
Shin fought madly, almost insanely. He was fast and agile, kicking and punching with lightening speed he made his way through the disorderly crowd until he came to the shooter. Shin smacked the gun out of the other man's hand before giving the man a solid whack over the head, sending him crashing to the ground.
When it was over, Shin stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by bodies. He was barely winded and almost didn't seem to notice what he'd done. Shin wandered through the bodies back to the broken window and the now dead fish, still on the pavement. Kneeling again, Shin picked up the still fish one at a time until he had all six of them in his cupped hands. "Poor little beauties." He cried softly looking down at the fish in his hands. "Innocent bystanders always get hurt."
Trowa followed Shin, but wasn’t sure why. Torwa trailed just behind Shin all through the city and to the park. It was a small grassed area maintained by growth lights with only a few trees. The one bit of Earth that had been brought to this colony, with only about four feet of soil for the plants to anchor their roots.
Shin sat cross-legged on the ground and looked back at Trowa. “Who are you, really?” Shin put the dead gold fish on the grass beside him and started to dig in the shallow soil with his hands. He dug a shallow pit, just enough to bury the fish. When he was finished, Shin bowed his head and mumbled a brief prayer. "Why did they want to kill you? These innocent lives died for you, Trowa." He reminded Trowa about the fish. Small lives but, to Shin, that didn't matter. Life was life.
"I was a mercenary working for them. I decided to leave. They wanted to fight me over my choice." Shin should have been able to tell what was going on through the conversation he'd just heard between Mayers and Trowa. He didn’t seem to be overly stupid.
Shin thought it over and smiled, acceptingly. "Well, it’s good that you want to get out of that sort of thing, right? You must be a good person. I'm sorry I hurt them, but they killed my fish."
"Your fish?" The fish had been in store, after all. How could Shin claim them?
"My fish. Come on, then. You move very well. If you're not going to be a mercenary anymore, would you like a new job?"
"What sort of job?" Trowa thought it best not to tell Shin about his real work. While the mercenary thing was just a cover, as well as a way to make money while waiting to be called into action, Shin must think it was horrible that Trowa was a killer for hire, despite how easily he’d accepted it. Wasn’t that odd? Trowa didn’t think people would normally react so carelessly when someone revealed that they were a mercenary. Shin didn’t even seem to care. Still, the whole mercenary thing didn’t even matter. Shin surely wouldn’t want to know about the Gundams or Trowa’s mission to destroy the Alliance. He certainly didn't need to know-that would only put him in danger. More danger than now. Trowa admitted to himself. Just by being around me, he’ll be in trouble. Mayers isn’t likely to forgive so easily.
Shin laughed and sprang to his feet. “You’ll like it, I’m sure! And, from what I saw back in that fight, I think you’ll be quite good at it. Come on!”
A short time later, Trowa followed Shin through a busy circus that hadn’t yet set up for business. Trowa remembered some sign advertising this circus, on this colony for only about two weeks and this would be the last day. Everywhere they went, Trowa found people watching him suspiciously. He didn’t bother looking back, but kept his eyes on Shin who seemed in constant danger of sprinting excitedly ahead. No one paid Shin any attention, so Trowa guessed that Shin must have been with the circus for quite a long while.
"Cathy!" Shin called, carefully stepping past people in all manner of costumes and animals that looked as if they had the run of the show. The circus must have just arrived at L4, from the looks of all the work going on. It was not an extremely large circus, but seemed well run and orderly. “We’ve lived here for almost as long as I can remember.” Shin told Trowa, over his shoulder. “There wasn’t much before the circus and none of it was very nice. It’s much better here.”
“We?”
“Cathy’s my sister. Catherine Bloom.”
“You said your name was Mouri.”
“She’s not really my sister, but it’s close enough. She always takes care of me. Our parents died ages ago. I can’t even remember them, but Cathy does." Really very sweet.” He stopped suddenly and turned to Trowa with a faintly worried expression. “Just…don’t get her angry. Okay?”
“Should I ask why?”
“Ummm…no.” He smiled again. Did he always smile? “No, probably not. You seem like a nice person. She just gets angry easily, that’s all.”
“A lot of people have short tempers.”
“Not a lot of people are experienced knife throwers, though. That’s how we came to be with the circus. We've been with the circus since the ringmaster saw Catherine throwing her knives to defend herself against some robbers. She‘s deadly accurate.”
“Ah.” His sister throws knives? Now there's an interesting hobby.
“I’m glad you understand. Now, where is she?” Shin yelled again, "Cathy!"
From our of one of the brightly colored tents, they heard a voice, "I'm right here, Shin. What are you yelling about?" She was older than Shin, by a few years, and pushed the tent flap aside, striding out with an air of great confidence. She was very pretty and smiled sweetly at Trowa before looking at her brother. Trowa saw that they shared the same slight build and auburn hair though her hair curled and bounced when she walked.
"I have an idea for our act. This is Trowa." Shin introduced and Catherine politely held out her hand. Trowa took it, giving her a gentle shake. Catherine's face became guarded and she looked at him closely even as Shin spoke, almost as if she were inspecting me. "He was attacked and did some wonderful moves. Trowa would be great in the show, Cathy."
"I suppose." She said softly. "Um, Shin? How did you meet this guy?" Catherine asked quietly as she took Shin by the arm and pulled him slightly away from Trowa, though they were still close enough that Trowa could hear what they were saying.
"In the city." Shin brushed a hand though his hair. "He was with some horrible fish killers, but I saw him do some really interesting things when he got in the middle of a fight. He's very strong and fast. I'm sure we could use him in the show. I'll put him in my own act."
"I don't know, Shin. I don't trust him." She cast another suspicious look at Trowa, not seeming to care whether he heard or not. "There's something wrong with him. No," She corrected herself. "Not wrong, but odd."
Shin waved her objection aside. "I'm sure you just have to get to know him. I like Trowa! He can use my cot, if he needs to. I don't think he likes being with those other guys very much." Shin sniffed at the thought of the 'fish killers'. "Where else could he go?"
"Shin, you're too trusting." Catherine shook her head at his attitude, though she smiled as if amused. This attitude of Shin’s didn't seem to surprise her. "We don't know anything about him."
Shin, instead of answering, spoke to Trowa. "Do you want to stay here?"
Now there was the real question. Staying in a circus was a different sort of path than Trowa had considered, but it would be an unlikely place for Mayers to look for him. No one would ever expect him to be hiding in a circus of all places. "I would like to stay here."
"See?" Shin smiled at Catherine. "We can't make him leave if he wants to stay with us. That would be very rude."
Catherine sighed, shaking her head. "I'll humor you on this one, Shin, but we still have to convince the ringmaster that Trowa can work here. You know how hard-headed that man can be."
Hardheaded, it turned out, was a polite term for the sour faced, overbearing man. They brought Trowa before the ringmaster, a hard looking man with a whip in one hand and a dark beard. "I found him in the city," Shin repeated the story of how they’d met, just as he‘d told Catherine, holding Trowa by the hand, as if he was afraid Trowa would run away.
"What business is that of mine?" The ringmaster asked gruffly as he examined Trowa. "I'm no charity worker and I take only those who can work for their keep."
Shin smiled. "Oh, he can work. I've all ready thought up an act for him. He can work with me and do the acrobatics."
"What's your name boy?" The ringmaster asked after a moment’s consideration.
Trowa was silent, his face expressing very little, as was habit that time. He didn’t have a name, not a real one.
"Well? Answer!"
"You can call me Trowa."
"Call you Trowa? Is that your name or not?"
"Does it matter?"
Shin, smiling at the answer, took a mask from the top of an abused looking trunk. The mask was quite creepy looking if one looked at it for too long. Two large stars where the eyes should be and a strangely wicked smile made the mask look unnatural for some reason. "Cathy, give me one of your knives." Shin said, holding a hand out to her.
With a puzzled look, Catherine pulled out one knife off where she kept about three of them sheathed on her left thigh and gave it to him.
After releasing Trowa for the first time since the ringmaster had entered the tent, Shin cut the mask exactly in half, right down the middle. He was, apparently, one of the circus' clowns and he just cut his prized mask in half. One half he handed Trowa and the other he kept for himself. "What do you say? Will you try clowning with me?"
Trowa agreed with a quiet nod of his head, taking the mask and holding it over the left side of his face before turning to look in a mirror propped up in a corner. Shin stood next to Trowa and looked in the mirror with him holding up the other half of the mask to his face.
The effect was, Trowa had to admit, interesting.
The ringmaster snapped at Shin before he left. "If he fouls up, Shin, it's on your head. You train him and make sure he isn't going to hurt himself or anyone else doing your routine. You’re too advanced for just anyone to step right into the act. I'll not have him killing himself trying to do your stunts!"
Shin barely appeared to listen as he stared at their reflections in the mirror. “Perfect.” Shin whispered when the ringmaster had left. “It’s perfect. We’ll be a hit, I just know it.”
They stood like that for a few minutes until Catherine spoke up again. "That looks really creepy, guys. But, if you're both determined to do this, we'll have to make Trowa a costume for tonight." She wagged a finger at Trowa. “No fancy stuff tonight. You’re just a beginner, no matter what Shin says. Tonight you keep it simple, tomorrow we’ll take you on a run through of Shin’s stunts with all the safety measures. If you do well, we’ll reorganize the next performance.”
Such precautions really weren’t necessary, but Trowa kept his opinions to himself. Information was valuable, why just give it away?
"I'll make his just like mine." Shin announced, taking the mask away from his face. "An exact copy. Do you think you'll be ready for a show tomorrow if I show you tonight?"
Trowa nodded slowly. He felt very much at home in the mask. It seems right. The mask was like his name, just another disguise. Still, Trowa wondered how Shin would react if he knew Trowa’s secret, that he was training to bring about war and that the circus was just a hiding spot.
The ringmaster didn't have to worry about Trowa. He'd done this sort of thing many times before, but not for fun. Four nights after Shin had brought Trowa to the circus, Trowa made his debut. In front of the L4 audience, the image of the both of them flying through the air on the trapeze, tumbling in acrobatics, and waving the crowd inside the big top was an instant success. The people were in love with the Twin Clowns, the new stage title Trowa and Shin used. Entertain instead of kill. It was an interesting change. A good change. Trowa found that he liked making people smile.
Over the next few weeks Trowa managed to prove Shin's faith in him was not misplaced. He was able to not only keep up with Shin's acrobatics, but also to show him some new tricks. With the both of them, they were able to do some of the more difficult tricks, such as the teeter-totter where one would stand on one end of the ten foot long teeter-totter and the other would jump down from a raised platform. This would send the first soaring into the sky, better able to do more impressive rolls and spins before landing perfectly.
To their fans they were known as Right Clown and Left Clown for the half-mask each wore covering the opposite sides of their faces. Both of them were thin, though Trowa was, perhaps, a bit taller than his new partner. For some reason the Twin Clowns were a huge success with the fans, so much that the ringmaster had been told numerous times that people came especially to see them. The ringmaster was pleased with the new addition to their circus and the money they were pulling in.
For their most popular act, Shin would run to Trowa in the center ring. The two would clasp hands and, since Shin was lighter than Trowa was, Trowa would toss him around, letting Shin flip in the air. Sometimes, Shin and Trowa would balance on large balls while juggling or other silly things, but all the things they did were skills that Trowa needed to practice for fighting. He doubted Shin would ever fight as Shin was the most gentle person Trowa had ever met, except for the time when he’d seen Shin go berserk when the goldfish had been killed.
The masks they wore were an interesting way to keep a little mystery so the audience would always wonder whom we really were, only ever showing off half a face and a little hair. The two of them dressed in identical costumes, long sleeved white shirts and immense, billowing pants, for the performance. The clothes were not what the ringmaster wanted them to wear, outfits that were designed to reveal them rather than conceal, but both Shin and Trowa were too modest to wear what the Ringmaster had given them. Besides which, Catherine had nearly bitten his head off when he’d presented them with the costumes.
“What? Are you turning this into some kind of sex show?!” Catherine wasn’t in the least bit afraid of the ringmaster and she’d thrown the costumes back in his face before either of the boys could touch them. “I won’t have them parading around like that just so you can have people drooling over them!”
Shin and Trowa were pretty much stars of the circus along with Catherine, the knife thrower. She normally used Shin as a target, because with his unshakable faith, he never moved when the knives came flying at him. It was useful when Trowa came along, Catherine had once told Trowa, because when Shin was sick or just couldn't perform, Trowa was a pretty good target, too. She had excellent aim; Trowa had to give her that.
All in all, everyone was happy with the arrangement. Shin and Trowa were happy to perform together. Catherine was happy that Shin had a new friend and the ringmaster was happy with the money. All was not peaches and roses, though. After nearly two months of living and traveling with the circus, Trowa was woken in the middle of the night to Shin’s screams as a nightmare took hold of him and wouldn’t let go.
Shin-
Shin was swimming deep in the darkness of the sea as he usually did in his dreams. The sea wrapped her cool arms around him, filling his lungs with her salty being. Here, in the water, with light just barely filtering down through the depths, Shin felt totally at peace. It was as if he honestly belonged there and nowhere else, like finally coming home to a place you'd never been.
Shin knew he was dreaming. This was pretty much the same dream he had every night, the colorful tropical fish fading into the gleaming grays and browns of the northern sea's fish. At times, the water was almost black, shrouding him in the darkness, but then it would slowly change into the crystal clear, bright blue water of the tropics. Shin kicked, propelling himself forward, laughing as he saw a group of dolphins playing and the sharks hunting prey. He was so comfortable and relaxed, everything seemed natural. It was the way things were supposed to be. No more disorienting space travel or walking on the hard, unyielding ground. Here, in the sea, Shin felt completely free.
Everything changed suddenly and Shin felt a presence. Something he'd always known lurked at the back of mind was in the sea with him, but it made Shin feel uneasy. Whatever it was, it was big and powerful. It filled the whole sea with its presence. ‘Where is it?' Shin looked around for the something he knew was close by. It might have helped if Shin knew what he was looking for, but he really had no idea. He only knew that it came from him, somehow, and he belonged with it. It was calling him, pulling him towards it and Shin followed the calling, though not without doubts. Down, to the bottom of the sea, it called him.
The darkness was growing, making it harder for Shin to see, but he knew it was there, waiting for him. Light from the surface shone down suddenly and Shin saw it. A suit of armor, pale blue and white, standing on the ocean floor with a yari (trident) in one hand and a bladed crescent on the helmet. The helmet of the yoroi started to move and the face-mask looked up at Shin. The yoroi pushed off from the sea floor and swam toward him. Shin's fear grew as the yoroi got closer and closer.
Shin tried to back away, frightened. What was this thing? He was stopped, however, when the yoroi raised its yari, pointing it at him. Something wrapped around Shin's wrists and ankles, binding him in place. It was seaweed, long strands of seaweed, holding him as if they were chains. The sea had betray him.
"Stay away." Shin tried to say. "Keep away from me, I don't want you!" The thing, of course, didn't listen and Shin still couldn't move.
It came close enough that Shin could now see the face behind the mask. Shin’s own pale eyes looked back at him. Inhuman, cold eyes with no emotion at all. Not love or hate, simply there. It reached out a gauntlet hand toward him and Shin screamed with all his might.
End Dream-
Catherine-
Trowa was already awake when Shin’s moaning and mumbling woke Catherine. “How long has he been like this?” They’d lived together since Trowa had joined the circus, all of three of them sharing a tent. There was limited space, after all. It was practical and, most importantly, safe. Shin trusted Trowa and that was good enough for Catherine. She hadn’t once feared for her virtue with Trowa so close at night, when she was vulnerable. Even when she found out how often he stayed awake all night, she was still comfortable enough to sleep. There was just something very safe about Trowa. “Has he said anything?”
“A few moments and no.” Trowa answered softly. He hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights and sat in the darkness on his bed. His hands were folded neatly on his lap and he looked at Catherine with those lovely, sad eyes of his. “Nightmares?”
“He doesn’t have them often.” She looked at Shin writhe on his bed, his hands clenched so tightly on his blankets that his knuckles had turned white. Catherine ran a hand through her hair as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes to fully wake herself. She wasn’t surprised by Trowa being awake. It wasn’t the firs time she’d woken in the middle of the night to find him sitting there, staring into space with his mind a million miles away. Trowa was the lightest sleeper Catherine had ever met and could be woken by the sound of a mouse creeping across the floor. “Hasn’t had a nightmare in a long time. Never one this…” She trailed away, not wanting to say what she was thinking. Violent. It was a violent nightmare. “Should we wake him?”
Trowa looked back at Shin, his long hair hiding his face for a moment. “I have heard that it is best to let a person ride out a nightmare, psychologically, speaking.” Trowa was very intelligent, Catherine knew. He was always polite and soft-spoken, never wasting words without a reason. Catherine had the feeling that if he had some, Trowa would spend a good deal of his time immersed in books. More than once, Catherine had asked Trowa about his past. Of course they all knew Trowa had come to them from a group of mercenaries, Shin had proudly told everyone how he’d met Trowa. They didn’t, however, know about Trowa’s life before the mercenaries or what had brought him to work with the mercenaries he apparently disliked so much. Trowa was very good at keeping his secrets.
Shin began to mutter in his sleep. He didn’t say anything, just low murmurs under his breath, but whatever was happening was making Shin more and more agitated and Catherine bit the inside of her cheek, worriedly.
“However,” Trowa continued. “I see no point in letting Shin suffer.”
"I agree.” Catherine slid off her bed and leaned over Shin. The tent they all used was so small that their cots were only about two feet apart. Shin was in the middle between Catherine and Trowa was closest to the tent’s flap. It was close, but comfortable living arrangements. Times were tight for the circus and everyone had to bunk up together, especially a newcomer like Trowa. “Shin? Shin! Are you all right?" Catherine didn’t touch Shin, just spoke loudly. She’d heard stories of people who suffered heart attacks if they were woken too suddenly from nightmares and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with at that time of night.
Shin’s eyes sprang open with a look of complete terror. “I…!” He was panting heavily and soaking with sweat. For a moment, he didn’t seem to see Catherine or Trowa, he just stared straight up. “The sea…turned. Blue…the blue…yari…” His voice trailed away and he fell silent, worrying Catherine all the more.
“Shin, can you hear me?” She licked her lips nervously and wished that Trowa would say something.
Shin finally seemed to come to himself. He blinked a few times and then focused on Catherine. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I'm fine, really." A quick glance at Trowa made Shin squirm, guiltily. “Sorry, Trowa.”
“You didn’t wake me. We were worried about you.”
Shin laughed, though it sounded weak and half-hearted. “You shouldn’t worry. It was just a nightmare. I’m fine.”
Catherine sat back on her heels and scowled. "Since when do you lie to me, Shin?" She hated lying more than anything else. A terrible habit and one that she didn‘t want her baby brother to take up. "Tell me the truth. What were you dreaming about? You aren’t fine. Look at your hands, you’re shaking and you were making enough noise to wake the dead.”
“Sorry.” Shin drew himself up in a tight ball, hugging his knees to his chest as he tried to calm himself.
Trowa had slowly backed away from Shin’s cot after Shin had woken up, but that was just how Trowa was. As much as Catherine liked him, she’d realized quite a while ago that Trowa was not a touchy-feely sort of person. Trowa was good and kind with a heart of gold. He was compassionate and gentle, but he wasn’t the type of person to give spontaneous hugs. That didn‘t matter. The fact that Trowa had come to check on Shin was enough. Besides, if he wanted hugs, that was what Cathrine was for and she did her duty, moving sit next to Shin and putting her arm around his shoulders when he slowly sat up. “Tell us what it was about.”
Shin flushed dark red and looked down at his lap, ashamed. Still, what teenage boy wouldn‘t be embarrassed about having a nightmare and having his big sister hugging him to make him feel better? Especially in front of a friend. He battled with himself before giving in and admitting, "I was swimming. But this time it was different. There was something looking for me."
Catherine frowned and Trowa remained as stone-faced as ever, standing beside his cot. "I thought you liked your dreams of swimming. What was looking for you?"
"I'm not sure what it was. It was some kind of youri (armor) with a yari (trident). It was alive, Cathy. It was me! It's going to find me, Cathy." Shin started to rock back and forth and hunched further in over himself. "It's going to find me and I won't be able to stop it! It’ll never let me go!"
Watching Shin was hard as he rocked back and forth, so obviously terrified of nothing more than a dream. It wasn’t right. Shin was not the sort to be so frightened of a mere dream and he'd had plenty of nightmares before. Shin was just far too sensible to be unnerved by something like this.
Catherine pursed her lips together and weighted her options. There really weren’t many. It was just a dream and Shin would calm down. ‘In a few minutes, he’ll be embarrassed and begging us to go back to bed and forget about it. It’s probably nothing.’ Still, it might be something. Shin had always loved the sea and would take any excuse he could find to get near Earth with it’s wide, rolling oceans. If he was frightened of the sea, for whatever reason, it could do great damage to him. ‘He’ll be unhappy and I can’t have that.’ As her only family, Shin’s happiness was of paramount importance to Catherine. "I'm going to talk to the ringmaster." Catherine announced abruptly, standing up. "Trowa, stay with Shin, please."
Trowa nodded and sat where she'd just gotten up from. It was one very good point in Trowa’s favor. He knew when things were important and when not to argue. Trowa was sensible. In just the few weeks they’d known him, Catherine had to admit that she’d never met anyone quiet so rational. Trowa never got overly emotional about anything and always dealt with what life gave him clear headed and with an even temper.
"Where are you going?" Shin asked nervously.
Catherine gave him a reassuring smile. "Just for a breath of air. I won’t be long." She left the tent and once outside, she took a deep breath of the stale, tasteless air of the colony. It was warm, almost too warm and the stars were too close. From the colony, Catherine could look up and see not only the distant sun, but also Earth and the moon circling it.
“Your brother needs your help.”
Catherine swung around and found herself facing one of the oddest people she’d ever met and that was saying something considering that she’d lived most of her life in a circus. He was slightly built and dressed as a monk. How old he was, Catherine really couldn’t say as his face was shadowed by a low hat woven out of reeds. In one hand he held a staff that was taller than he was with jangling rings held on the ornate top. With that thing, Catherine should have heard him coming a mile away. “What do you know about my brother?”
“I know Suiko has called to him and he is frightened. You must help him get back to Earth, where his doom awaits.”
“Doom?” Catherine’s eyes widened.
“Fate, if you prefer. He must go back to Earth.”
“It was just a nightmare.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Who are you?” She hadn’t seen him before and people didn’t just go wandering around the fairgrounds this time of night. Besides, he wasn’t even dressed like a colonist. Still…there was something peaceful about him. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Shin is in danger if he stays here. Suiko calls to him and he must answer.” The monk held out his staff and aimed the top of it at Catherine. “Forgive me, but you are the only one who can help him and, thus, help us all. Shin must go to Earth.”
There was a feeling of warmth around Catherine’s eyes and she rubbed them. ‘What am I doing just standing around here?’ With new vigor, Catherine set off to the ringmaster’s tent. It was obvious what she had to do and she kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Shin had to go to Earth. It was the only way to rid him of his nightmares.
Most people would think that what she was about to do would be extreme, that she was risking a lot just over a nightmare. Catherine didn’t care what other people thought, for the most part. She cared about Shin and something was striking her wrong about this whole nightmare. It wasn’t anything in particular, just something…wrong. Shin would have to go to Earth, to the sea. Again, she didn’t know how she knew this, but she knew it as surely as she knew her own name. Catherine didn’t stop walking until she came to the ringmaster's tent and cautiously slapped her hand against the flap.
From inside the tent a man’s sleepy voice mumbled, "What is it?" Ringmaster didn't like being woken up in the middle of the night and Catherine knew he wasn’t going to take this well.
"It's Catherine, sir. I need to talk to you about Shin."
"Come in, girl." He grumbled and Catherine walked in just as he was lighting a candle. "Well, what is it? Hope you’ve got a good reason for a late night visit.”
Catherine took a deep breath. "We have to go to Earth."
"What? We’re not going to Earth."
"No. Not we as in the circus. I mean we as in Shin, Trowa, and myself. We have to go to Earth so Shin can see the ocean."
Ringmaster groaned angrily and rubbed both hands over his face. "Girl, if this is another attempt to let that brother of yours to go swimming, forget about it! You have some nerve waking me up for that! How dare you try to interfere with circus business just for his pleasure?! We’re going to L1 in two months and you can find a swimming pool at one of the swankier hotels."
"You don't understand. It's not for pleasure. Shin's sick and he needs to see the ocean." Alright, maybe ‘sick’ was a bit of an exaggeration and Catherine didn’t exactly KNOW that Shin had to go to the ocean, but she did have a very strong feeling about it.
"Oh?" Ringmaster crossed his arms over his chest. "What makes you think that? Have you become a doctor?"
This would be the hard part, Catherine knew. Convincing ringmaster that Shin wasn't just having nightmares when Catherine wasn‘t sure of it herself. "He's not physically sick, sir, but if you could see him now you'd understand. He's just had a horrible nightmare of something chasing him through the ocean and now he's so scared that something's going to catch him."
Ringmaster sneered. "He had a nightmare? Is that what has you so worried? Gods, girl..."
"No!" Catherine clenched her fists at her sides. "You don't understand how important this is! Shin can't do any of his work in the state he's in. He has a tendency to have the same dream many times over, I told you that before, and he’ll have this one again tomorrow night. Then the night after and the night after that. It’ll go on and on and he won’t be any state to sell balloons let alone do the high flying acts with Trowa. If this continues, I'm afraid he's going to get really sick and I won't let that happen."
Ringmaster rubbed his tired eyes. "Look, Catherine, I'll call a doctor in the morning and have them take a look at him. There's probably something very natural at the bottom of all this."
Catherine glared and crossed her arms over her chest. "If he doesn't get better within the week, you are going to lose three of your people."
"What?!" She now had ringmaster's full attention again.
"I told you. I have enough money saved up for Shin, Trowa, and myself. We ARE going. If we can, we‘ll come back, but we are going."
"It can't be that bad!"
"Not now, it isn't, but Shin is sensitive and easily influenced. I won't let him become afraid of the sea he loves. I'll give this one week, but if it continues after that, we are going to Earth." With that she turned on her heel and marched out, back to find Shin had fallen back asleep with Trowa rubbing his back soothingly.
Catherine and Trowa looked at each other. "This is not like him." Trowa said quietly.
"Yeah." Catherine agreed. "I just told ringmaster if Shin keeps having nightmares like this, we're all leaving for Earth." Then she gave him a sheepish smile. "I hope you don't mind me speaking for you."
"No." Trowa replied. "I think it would be best for Shin if we did go to Earth."
It was five days later and four nights of Shin waking up screaming with the same nightmare that Catherine was looking through the mail, and stopped on a familiar handwriting. It was sloppy and looked as if someone was rushing to get though it. She smiled fondly and called out. "Shin! There's a letter from Xiu!"
"He says he's got a cousin visiting from one of the colonies, someone named Chang Wufei. He’s been there a while now, from the postmark." Shin told her as he read through the letter. Then a bright smile lit his weary face. "He says Mama Fan wants to know when we're coming for a visit."
Catherine, noticing ringmaster in the doorway and then looking back at Shin's tired, pale face. He hadn't been sleeping again and she'd found this morning a bottle of pills that were supposed to make you stay awake longer. "In two days." She announced, abruptly.
Shin looked up from his letter in surprise. "What?"
"I have the money and we can all go. You do want to see Xiu and mama Fan again, don't you?"
Ringmaster, just out of sight of Shin, turned with a sour expression and stalked away.
A day later-
"Well, I hope you're all satisfied." Ringmaster grumbled at the three younger people as they packed. "We're giving up a very profitable tour just so you can go swimming!"
The perpetually grumpy ringmaster had given in to Catherine's ultimatum, and decided that a trip to Earth instead of one of the colonies he'd been planning to visit was better than losing his two best acts. Catherine was not a liar and if she said she'd leave, taking Shin and Trowa with her, then Ringmaster had to believe her. He couldn’t be sure that they’d come back after they’d left.
Shin looked away guiltily as he packed his few belongings. "I'm sorry about this." He muttered, but Catherine put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault, Shin." She told him reassuringly before turning her glare on the Ringmaster. "Leave him alone. I‘m not forcing you to come with us. It‘s your own choice."
Ringmaster sighed and threw up his hands in defeat. He just couldn't argue logic with a protective big sister. It wasn't just Catherine, though, or even Trowa, but the whole Circus was behind Shin. Everyone loved him and would do anything for him, so it would be a rebellion if he didn't get Shin to Earth and at least try to get his mind away from the nightmares. If nothing else, Shin was falling apart in the ring now, leaving it to Trowa to do all the fancy, high flying moves. Seeing as how they were still billed as the Twin Clowns, one just wasn't good enough in the eyes of the audience, so they were starting to complain.
But, in his heart, even Ringmaster knew he should lay off Shin for a while. The boy was pale and worn looking from lack of sleep with blood shot eyes. Shin was sick, Ringmaster was sure of that now, and if nothing else, they would have to go to Earth to get a decent doctor to heal him. Ringmaster was very proud of the fact that he took care of his people, no one here ever had to worry about an injury or sickness, not if Ringmaster could afford the best. He turned and walked back to the big top to supervise the dismantling of the circus tent. They would be leaving today and arrive on Earth probably in two weeks.
Ringmaster never saw the man watching this scene from behind the moving crates. The man watched it all, focusing on Trowa who was helping to pack and letting Catherine tease him with a clown's half mask, with a star over the eye and a large red mouth. The man dashed away.
In a tavern-
Mayers was drinking heavily, not an unusual state for him, when one of his men ran into the tavern. "I found him, boss! I've seen Trowa." The man nearly shouted. It really didn't matter if anyone heard, this was not the most law-abiding place in the universe.
Mayers put his tankard down hard, sloshing the ale everywhere. "What!" He demanded roughly. "Where the Hell is that kid?!" He had been searching for Trowa for weeks now, the embarrassment of having a child beat him was too much for him reputation to bear. Not to mention that other kid who'd been with Trowa at the time. Mayers simply had to find Trowa and show him what happened when you left his mercenaries.
"In the circus, if you'd believe it. He's one of those Twin Clowns that everyone's talking about these days. I saw him put on the mask, a half mask with a star over one eye. I heard them talking and they're going to Earth, soon."
Mayers sat back and smiled at the news. Revenge wouldn't be difficult, then.
Trowa-
He went by the name of Trowa Barton, but it wasn’t really his. He used the name because everyone used it for him and he didn’t bother to correct them. Why should he bother? The real Barton was dead and didn’t need his name any longer. Why not borrow it? Just for a little while, anyway. It wasn’t as if he was planning to keep it forever. He wasn’t likely to live forever, not even for a very long time. He might not even live through the night.
The tavern was crowded and the air thick with smoke and the smell of beer, the most popular drink. It was loud, far too loud for Trowa’s taste with the sounds of drunken laugher and minor brawls. It was, all in all, a disgusting place. It was also the perfect place for mercenary’s to lay low until another job popped up. L4 wasn’t as bad off as many of the other, smaller colonies, but it was bad enough. The crime was running rampant, but as a result, no one really paid any attention to another group trying to make a quick, if not quite honest, buck.
Trowa wasn’t drinking, but the older men were and Trowa was stuck with them. He was apart of the group and was expected to stay with them. It was some idea to do with loyalty, not that Trowa put much stock in that sort of thing. So he sat in a corner with his back against a wall and watched his comrades. They weren’t friends by any means, but it was interesting to watch them, in a way. In another way, it was dull as dirt. They were virtually drowning themselves in cheap beer and showed no signs of stopping. Most of them were relatively intelligent and normally sensible, but now they looked like a gathering of village idiots. He didn’t understand why some people were willing to throw their lives away with alcohol. It will only make one careless and then dead. Everyone died, it was just a matter of time. What was important was the manner in which one lived. Trowa knew he would die and that he would probably die sooner than most people, considering his line of work. While he lived, however, he intended to do something important.
That something important was to overthrow the Alliance and the Romafella Foundation which ruled not only Earth, but the colonies in space with an iron fist. The politicians, spoiled by years without challenge to their authority, spoke of the public good and the welfare of the future, but their actions were far less noble. While they spoke of peace and butchered defenseless people. Trowa had seen enough evidence of their wanton greed and disregard for human life to know that they had to be stopped at all costs. If the cost was his own life, then there was nothing really lost.
A burst of laughter caught Trowa’s attention and he looked to another corner of the tavern where several of the mercenaries he’d been working with for the past few months were ruddy -faced with drink and at the point of passing out. They weren’t so inebriated that they couldn’t shout loudly and obscenely at the harried serving girl. Fortunately, she was used to louts like that and gave back as good as she got. As she was sober, she was even more able to take care of herself. After one of the men grabbed her backside, the feisty girl turned on him and slammed her fist into his face. That only made everyone at that table laugh harder.
It was all vaguely disgusting. Still, Trowa thought that maybe it was one of the strange things adults did. He was fourteen, why should he presume to know how adults thought? He was only here to learn, not make any kind of impact on the lives of these people. Let them use their hard earned money to kill brain cells. His trainer had instructed him to take the position with these mercenaries for the experience in fighting and tactical planning. I think I’ve learned all I can from them. Trowa stood up from his place and started to make his way out of the tavern. It’s time to leave.
One of the men who was sitting at a table near Trowa looked up with watery eyes as Trowa walked by. His cheeks were flushed from the half gone drink in his hands. "Where ya goin', kid?"
Trowa didn't answer or even look back. The man meant nothing and Trowa had decided that he no longer belong with these people. Of course, that meant that he would need a new place to hide himself when he wasn’t involved in his Gundam training. Heavy Arms was to be his Gundam and the trainer seemed to think that it was important for Trowa to know his machine inside and out. He worked for hours every day studying the schematics of Heavy Arms as well as studying the workings of the Alliance government. Between jobs with the mercenaries, Trowa would go back to the colony of L4 and do simulation flight training with his trainer and work with Heavy Arms. He rarely had free time and when he did, he didn’t like to spent it in smoke filled, taverns with a bunch of drunks.
Outside the tavern, the air was much sweeter. Not good, but what could one expect on a colony? Nothing was ever really good. It was less bad than in the tavern and at least didn’t reek of smoke and alcohol. Trowa looked up and down the street. Both ways looked pretty much the same and he had no reason to go either way. For a moment, he just stood there in the dim light and debated. He had no reason to be anywhere. He wasn’t hungry, yet, and there was no training scheduled for a few days.
I suppose I could just stand here all night.
It was then that he happened to notice someone. To his left, Trowa saw a person hunched down staring into the window of a building. Curious, Trowa chose his direction and walked to the person. The closer he got, Trowa realized that the person was a boy. He was smaller than Trowa, but looked sturdier built. He stared into the window of, of all things, a pet shop. He was crouched down, sitting on his heels, and had both hands pressed against the glass.
Trowa stopped a few yards away from the boy and watched, curiously. He had very ordinary clothes, patched in places, and auburn hair with sideburns that were long out of style. The boy sniffed sadly about whatever he was looking at and wiped his eyes with the back of one hand. The position he was in was a very vulnerable one, especially in an area of the colony that didn’t much care about law or order. The boy leaned forward then and nearly pressed his nose against the glass of the pet shop, he was so intent on whatever he was looking at. The boy sniffled again and Trowa saw a tear slide down his cheek.
"Why are you crying?" Trowa couldn’t help but ask as he closed the distance between them. He stood right at the boy’s side, but even then the boy didn‘t so much as look up at Trowa. There was nothing in the window but a fish tank with a few goldfish in some murky water
The boy looked up at Trowa then back to the fish tank. "The poor little things." Another tear ran down his face and he quickly wiped it away. "They're so sad, trapped in there. I feel badly for them."
How very kind. Trowa didn‘t often see that kind of compassion for humans, let alone for animals. It made him think well of the boy. "You shouldn't show weakness in a town like this. Others will make trouble for you." Trowa didn’t bother to ask how he thought he knew what the fish are feeling. The boy was probably unbalanced, so it would do no good to try reasoning with him. Even if he was insane was there really anything wrong with liking animals? Frankly, Trowa had always preferred animals over humans. At least animals were honest. I wonder if anyone's supposed to be watching the boy, or if he's just been left out here to fend for himself.
The boy stood up straight and spun on his toes to face Trowa. With his hands clasped behind his head, he smiled a bit sadly. "I know what you mean. This isn’t really a very nice place, is it? I just can't help myself when I see the little darlings in a prison like that. I'm Mouri Shin." He bowed with a flourish before turning back to the pet shop window. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m pretty well able to take care of myself.”
"Trowa Barton."
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trowa. They're very beautiful, aren't they?"
Shin’s voice was far away and dreamy, apparently thinking of nothing but the lazily swimming fish, even as he touched the glass with his fingertips. Trowa went to stand next to him in front of the pet shop window and looked at the fish.
"Trowa, what are you doing out here?"
Shin and Trowa both turned to see Mayers, the commanding officer...correction, the 'former' commanding officer of the mercenaries, standing outside the tavern. He was the leader of the mercenaries for the simple fact that he'd killed the last leader and no one had yet tried to fight him for the title. That wouldn’t last for long, no matter how good Mayers thought he was.
"I told everyone to stay in the tavern until I got details for our next job, didn't I?" Mayers was not a pleasant person. He had gotten to his position by sheer brute strength, and, Trowa would admit, a cunning nature. It didn’t hurt that he was viciously ruthless. He had a way of making rivals disappear when they showed too much ambition. Mayers might have been a good-looking man, dressed as fine as a gentleman, but his face held a continuous sneer that ruined it.
Trowa didn’t like or respect Mayers. So, instead of answering, he went back to looking at the display of fish with Shin. He's right. The fish really are very pretty.
A hand landed on Trowa’s shoulder. "Hey! Just because you're young doesn't mean that I'll excuse insubordination from you any more than I would another of the other men! Don‘t you dare ignore me!" Mayers' voice was rough and angry. More than likely, he was worried about Trowa, but not in a kind, fatherly way. Mayers was worried that Trowa was gaining too many admirers within the band, men who thought Trowa was clever and strong for being so young. Mayers worried about how different Trowa was and that others saw those differences. They would see that Trowa was cool and collected, able to deal with any situation that came about. Those were good qualities in a leader. Trowa had no interest in leading the mercenaries, but Mayers doesn't know that. Even if Trowa had told him, Mayers wouldn’t have believed it.
Turning sharply and looking Mayers directly in the eye, Trowa said, "I’m leaving your people. You have no cause to fear me." It was perhaps a silly thing to say, given Mayers ego.
"Fear you?" Mayers' eyes widened at the thought. "Why should I be afraid of a kid? You think to much of yourself, boy." He was unhappy with the idea that he is afraid of Trowa, but Trowa could see it in his eyes. He was afraid of a 'kid' and that was why he was so angry. He's afraid that the fear will make him weak and then he would become just another target for one of the men under his command. He would be challenged just as he’d challenged the previous commander.
"Then go. Leave me. I will tell none of your secrets." Trowa just wanted him to go away. Shin is watching the confrontation but kept his mouth shut. Very smart. There wasn’t any reason for him to bring himself to Mayer’s attention. Goodness only knows what Mayers might have done if he’d realized they were being watched.
There was suddenly a gun barrel at Trowa’s temple, pressing into his skin. "You know you can't just leave us, Trowa. No one just quits." Now this was interesting, but not entirely unexpected. Trowa knew he was in a dangerous position ever since he’d become a little too good at his job. Mayers was looking for an excuse to kill, but Trowa really didn't think he'd do it in the middle of the street. It was much more sensible to have Trowa killed during a job and make it look as if the enemy had done it or that it was just some stupid accident. The others would believe it, they really weren’t smart enough to search out or find the truth. Perhaps Mayers wasn’t as smart as Trowa had given him credit for. Still, it was night and Mayers might get away with this since there were so few people were out to be witnesses and the rest of the gang was drunk. He could just go back to the tavern after killing Trowa and act as surprised as everyone else when Trowa’s body was found in the street. No one would question him. It might work, except that there was one witness. Shin.
Oh, dear. That means Shin will have to be killed after I am. Well, I can't let that happen. Trowa only needed to dodge slightly to make Mayers' gun slip and after that it was simple to disarm him. Trowa grabbed Mayers’ wrist and twisted it enough that he yelped in pain.
Mayers brought up his other fist and tried to hit Trowa, but he must have been drinking as his reaction time was slower than normal. Trowa caught his fist and twisted it along with the other wrist, bringing him to his knees.
Unfortunately, Mayers' other men started to drift out of the tavern at this point, looking around for their missing leader. Trowa was quite lucky that they were mostly drunk. When they saw Trowa’s attack on their leader, most couldn't react at all. One threw up all over his own shoes, two passed out, and one was drunk enough that he attacked Trowa with his bare hands. Stupid, really. That man was quickly face down in the street and Trowa knew he wouldn't be getting up for a good long while.
The last man standing drew his gun and started shooting wildly, bullets flying everywhere without direction. Glass shattered and Shin 'eeped' as one bullet shot passed inches from his face and broke the glass of the pet shop window, going straight through the fish tank Shin had been crying in front of.
"No!" Shin screamed, watching in horror as all the fish slosh onto the ground at his feet. He knelt, ignoring the battle Trowa was fighting and tried to save the fish, but there simply wasn't enough water left to save them. Shin ended up on his knees staring forlornly at the pitiful, dead fish with tears now streaming down his face.
Trowa leapt around, getting closer and closer as he tried to get the gun while avoiding bullets. This man was more dangerous than Mayers. He would kill innocent people without noticing, the way he was firing. Just as Trowa was almost at the man, Shin ran passed him and right into the gang of drunks the mercenaries had degenerated into with his face twisted with rage. Trowa stopped to watch Shin, as, apparently, he wasn't needed anymore.
Shin fought madly, almost insanely. He was fast and agile, kicking and punching with lightening speed he made his way through the disorderly crowd until he came to the shooter. Shin smacked the gun out of the other man's hand before giving the man a solid whack over the head, sending him crashing to the ground.
When it was over, Shin stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by bodies. He was barely winded and almost didn't seem to notice what he'd done. Shin wandered through the bodies back to the broken window and the now dead fish, still on the pavement. Kneeling again, Shin picked up the still fish one at a time until he had all six of them in his cupped hands. "Poor little beauties." He cried softly looking down at the fish in his hands. "Innocent bystanders always get hurt."
Trowa followed Shin, but wasn’t sure why. Torwa trailed just behind Shin all through the city and to the park. It was a small grassed area maintained by growth lights with only a few trees. The one bit of Earth that had been brought to this colony, with only about four feet of soil for the plants to anchor their roots.
Shin sat cross-legged on the ground and looked back at Trowa. “Who are you, really?” Shin put the dead gold fish on the grass beside him and started to dig in the shallow soil with his hands. He dug a shallow pit, just enough to bury the fish. When he was finished, Shin bowed his head and mumbled a brief prayer. "Why did they want to kill you? These innocent lives died for you, Trowa." He reminded Trowa about the fish. Small lives but, to Shin, that didn't matter. Life was life.
"I was a mercenary working for them. I decided to leave. They wanted to fight me over my choice." Shin should have been able to tell what was going on through the conversation he'd just heard between Mayers and Trowa. He didn’t seem to be overly stupid.
Shin thought it over and smiled, acceptingly. "Well, it’s good that you want to get out of that sort of thing, right? You must be a good person. I'm sorry I hurt them, but they killed my fish."
"Your fish?" The fish had been in store, after all. How could Shin claim them?
"My fish. Come on, then. You move very well. If you're not going to be a mercenary anymore, would you like a new job?"
"What sort of job?" Trowa thought it best not to tell Shin about his real work. While the mercenary thing was just a cover, as well as a way to make money while waiting to be called into action, Shin must think it was horrible that Trowa was a killer for hire, despite how easily he’d accepted it. Wasn’t that odd? Trowa didn’t think people would normally react so carelessly when someone revealed that they were a mercenary. Shin didn’t even seem to care. Still, the whole mercenary thing didn’t even matter. Shin surely wouldn’t want to know about the Gundams or Trowa’s mission to destroy the Alliance. He certainly didn't need to know-that would only put him in danger. More danger than now. Trowa admitted to himself. Just by being around me, he’ll be in trouble. Mayers isn’t likely to forgive so easily.
Shin laughed and sprang to his feet. “You’ll like it, I’m sure! And, from what I saw back in that fight, I think you’ll be quite good at it. Come on!”
A short time later, Trowa followed Shin through a busy circus that hadn’t yet set up for business. Trowa remembered some sign advertising this circus, on this colony for only about two weeks and this would be the last day. Everywhere they went, Trowa found people watching him suspiciously. He didn’t bother looking back, but kept his eyes on Shin who seemed in constant danger of sprinting excitedly ahead. No one paid Shin any attention, so Trowa guessed that Shin must have been with the circus for quite a long while.
"Cathy!" Shin called, carefully stepping past people in all manner of costumes and animals that looked as if they had the run of the show. The circus must have just arrived at L4, from the looks of all the work going on. It was not an extremely large circus, but seemed well run and orderly. “We’ve lived here for almost as long as I can remember.” Shin told Trowa, over his shoulder. “There wasn’t much before the circus and none of it was very nice. It’s much better here.”
“We?”
“Cathy’s my sister. Catherine Bloom.”
“You said your name was Mouri.”
“She’s not really my sister, but it’s close enough. She always takes care of me. Our parents died ages ago. I can’t even remember them, but Cathy does." Really very sweet.” He stopped suddenly and turned to Trowa with a faintly worried expression. “Just…don’t get her angry. Okay?”
“Should I ask why?”
“Ummm…no.” He smiled again. Did he always smile? “No, probably not. You seem like a nice person. She just gets angry easily, that’s all.”
“A lot of people have short tempers.”
“Not a lot of people are experienced knife throwers, though. That’s how we came to be with the circus. We've been with the circus since the ringmaster saw Catherine throwing her knives to defend herself against some robbers. She‘s deadly accurate.”
“Ah.” His sister throws knives? Now there's an interesting hobby.
“I’m glad you understand. Now, where is she?” Shin yelled again, "Cathy!"
From our of one of the brightly colored tents, they heard a voice, "I'm right here, Shin. What are you yelling about?" She was older than Shin, by a few years, and pushed the tent flap aside, striding out with an air of great confidence. She was very pretty and smiled sweetly at Trowa before looking at her brother. Trowa saw that they shared the same slight build and auburn hair though her hair curled and bounced when she walked.
"I have an idea for our act. This is Trowa." Shin introduced and Catherine politely held out her hand. Trowa took it, giving her a gentle shake. Catherine's face became guarded and she looked at him closely even as Shin spoke, almost as if she were inspecting me. "He was attacked and did some wonderful moves. Trowa would be great in the show, Cathy."
"I suppose." She said softly. "Um, Shin? How did you meet this guy?" Catherine asked quietly as she took Shin by the arm and pulled him slightly away from Trowa, though they were still close enough that Trowa could hear what they were saying.
"In the city." Shin brushed a hand though his hair. "He was with some horrible fish killers, but I saw him do some really interesting things when he got in the middle of a fight. He's very strong and fast. I'm sure we could use him in the show. I'll put him in my own act."
"I don't know, Shin. I don't trust him." She cast another suspicious look at Trowa, not seeming to care whether he heard or not. "There's something wrong with him. No," She corrected herself. "Not wrong, but odd."
Shin waved her objection aside. "I'm sure you just have to get to know him. I like Trowa! He can use my cot, if he needs to. I don't think he likes being with those other guys very much." Shin sniffed at the thought of the 'fish killers'. "Where else could he go?"
"Shin, you're too trusting." Catherine shook her head at his attitude, though she smiled as if amused. This attitude of Shin’s didn't seem to surprise her. "We don't know anything about him."
Shin, instead of answering, spoke to Trowa. "Do you want to stay here?"
Now there was the real question. Staying in a circus was a different sort of path than Trowa had considered, but it would be an unlikely place for Mayers to look for him. No one would ever expect him to be hiding in a circus of all places. "I would like to stay here."
"See?" Shin smiled at Catherine. "We can't make him leave if he wants to stay with us. That would be very rude."
Catherine sighed, shaking her head. "I'll humor you on this one, Shin, but we still have to convince the ringmaster that Trowa can work here. You know how hard-headed that man can be."
Hardheaded, it turned out, was a polite term for the sour faced, overbearing man. They brought Trowa before the ringmaster, a hard looking man with a whip in one hand and a dark beard. "I found him in the city," Shin repeated the story of how they’d met, just as he‘d told Catherine, holding Trowa by the hand, as if he was afraid Trowa would run away.
"What business is that of mine?" The ringmaster asked gruffly as he examined Trowa. "I'm no charity worker and I take only those who can work for their keep."
Shin smiled. "Oh, he can work. I've all ready thought up an act for him. He can work with me and do the acrobatics."
"What's your name boy?" The ringmaster asked after a moment’s consideration.
Trowa was silent, his face expressing very little, as was habit that time. He didn’t have a name, not a real one.
"Well? Answer!"
"You can call me Trowa."
"Call you Trowa? Is that your name or not?"
"Does it matter?"
Shin, smiling at the answer, took a mask from the top of an abused looking trunk. The mask was quite creepy looking if one looked at it for too long. Two large stars where the eyes should be and a strangely wicked smile made the mask look unnatural for some reason. "Cathy, give me one of your knives." Shin said, holding a hand out to her.
With a puzzled look, Catherine pulled out one knife off where she kept about three of them sheathed on her left thigh and gave it to him.
After releasing Trowa for the first time since the ringmaster had entered the tent, Shin cut the mask exactly in half, right down the middle. He was, apparently, one of the circus' clowns and he just cut his prized mask in half. One half he handed Trowa and the other he kept for himself. "What do you say? Will you try clowning with me?"
Trowa agreed with a quiet nod of his head, taking the mask and holding it over the left side of his face before turning to look in a mirror propped up in a corner. Shin stood next to Trowa and looked in the mirror with him holding up the other half of the mask to his face.
The effect was, Trowa had to admit, interesting.
The ringmaster snapped at Shin before he left. "If he fouls up, Shin, it's on your head. You train him and make sure he isn't going to hurt himself or anyone else doing your routine. You’re too advanced for just anyone to step right into the act. I'll not have him killing himself trying to do your stunts!"
Shin barely appeared to listen as he stared at their reflections in the mirror. “Perfect.” Shin whispered when the ringmaster had left. “It’s perfect. We’ll be a hit, I just know it.”
They stood like that for a few minutes until Catherine spoke up again. "That looks really creepy, guys. But, if you're both determined to do this, we'll have to make Trowa a costume for tonight." She wagged a finger at Trowa. “No fancy stuff tonight. You’re just a beginner, no matter what Shin says. Tonight you keep it simple, tomorrow we’ll take you on a run through of Shin’s stunts with all the safety measures. If you do well, we’ll reorganize the next performance.”
Such precautions really weren’t necessary, but Trowa kept his opinions to himself. Information was valuable, why just give it away?
"I'll make his just like mine." Shin announced, taking the mask away from his face. "An exact copy. Do you think you'll be ready for a show tomorrow if I show you tonight?"
Trowa nodded slowly. He felt very much at home in the mask. It seems right. The mask was like his name, just another disguise. Still, Trowa wondered how Shin would react if he knew Trowa’s secret, that he was training to bring about war and that the circus was just a hiding spot.
The ringmaster didn't have to worry about Trowa. He'd done this sort of thing many times before, but not for fun. Four nights after Shin had brought Trowa to the circus, Trowa made his debut. In front of the L4 audience, the image of the both of them flying through the air on the trapeze, tumbling in acrobatics, and waving the crowd inside the big top was an instant success. The people were in love with the Twin Clowns, the new stage title Trowa and Shin used. Entertain instead of kill. It was an interesting change. A good change. Trowa found that he liked making people smile.
Over the next few weeks Trowa managed to prove Shin's faith in him was not misplaced. He was able to not only keep up with Shin's acrobatics, but also to show him some new tricks. With the both of them, they were able to do some of the more difficult tricks, such as the teeter-totter where one would stand on one end of the ten foot long teeter-totter and the other would jump down from a raised platform. This would send the first soaring into the sky, better able to do more impressive rolls and spins before landing perfectly.
To their fans they were known as Right Clown and Left Clown for the half-mask each wore covering the opposite sides of their faces. Both of them were thin, though Trowa was, perhaps, a bit taller than his new partner. For some reason the Twin Clowns were a huge success with the fans, so much that the ringmaster had been told numerous times that people came especially to see them. The ringmaster was pleased with the new addition to their circus and the money they were pulling in.
For their most popular act, Shin would run to Trowa in the center ring. The two would clasp hands and, since Shin was lighter than Trowa was, Trowa would toss him around, letting Shin flip in the air. Sometimes, Shin and Trowa would balance on large balls while juggling or other silly things, but all the things they did were skills that Trowa needed to practice for fighting. He doubted Shin would ever fight as Shin was the most gentle person Trowa had ever met, except for the time when he’d seen Shin go berserk when the goldfish had been killed.
The masks they wore were an interesting way to keep a little mystery so the audience would always wonder whom we really were, only ever showing off half a face and a little hair. The two of them dressed in identical costumes, long sleeved white shirts and immense, billowing pants, for the performance. The clothes were not what the ringmaster wanted them to wear, outfits that were designed to reveal them rather than conceal, but both Shin and Trowa were too modest to wear what the Ringmaster had given them. Besides which, Catherine had nearly bitten his head off when he’d presented them with the costumes.
“What? Are you turning this into some kind of sex show?!” Catherine wasn’t in the least bit afraid of the ringmaster and she’d thrown the costumes back in his face before either of the boys could touch them. “I won’t have them parading around like that just so you can have people drooling over them!”
Shin and Trowa were pretty much stars of the circus along with Catherine, the knife thrower. She normally used Shin as a target, because with his unshakable faith, he never moved when the knives came flying at him. It was useful when Trowa came along, Catherine had once told Trowa, because when Shin was sick or just couldn't perform, Trowa was a pretty good target, too. She had excellent aim; Trowa had to give her that.
All in all, everyone was happy with the arrangement. Shin and Trowa were happy to perform together. Catherine was happy that Shin had a new friend and the ringmaster was happy with the money. All was not peaches and roses, though. After nearly two months of living and traveling with the circus, Trowa was woken in the middle of the night to Shin’s screams as a nightmare took hold of him and wouldn’t let go.
Shin-
Shin was swimming deep in the darkness of the sea as he usually did in his dreams. The sea wrapped her cool arms around him, filling his lungs with her salty being. Here, in the water, with light just barely filtering down through the depths, Shin felt totally at peace. It was as if he honestly belonged there and nowhere else, like finally coming home to a place you'd never been.
Shin knew he was dreaming. This was pretty much the same dream he had every night, the colorful tropical fish fading into the gleaming grays and browns of the northern sea's fish. At times, the water was almost black, shrouding him in the darkness, but then it would slowly change into the crystal clear, bright blue water of the tropics. Shin kicked, propelling himself forward, laughing as he saw a group of dolphins playing and the sharks hunting prey. He was so comfortable and relaxed, everything seemed natural. It was the way things were supposed to be. No more disorienting space travel or walking on the hard, unyielding ground. Here, in the sea, Shin felt completely free.
Everything changed suddenly and Shin felt a presence. Something he'd always known lurked at the back of mind was in the sea with him, but it made Shin feel uneasy. Whatever it was, it was big and powerful. It filled the whole sea with its presence. ‘Where is it?' Shin looked around for the something he knew was close by. It might have helped if Shin knew what he was looking for, but he really had no idea. He only knew that it came from him, somehow, and he belonged with it. It was calling him, pulling him towards it and Shin followed the calling, though not without doubts. Down, to the bottom of the sea, it called him.
The darkness was growing, making it harder for Shin to see, but he knew it was there, waiting for him. Light from the surface shone down suddenly and Shin saw it. A suit of armor, pale blue and white, standing on the ocean floor with a yari (trident) in one hand and a bladed crescent on the helmet. The helmet of the yoroi started to move and the face-mask looked up at Shin. The yoroi pushed off from the sea floor and swam toward him. Shin's fear grew as the yoroi got closer and closer.
Shin tried to back away, frightened. What was this thing? He was stopped, however, when the yoroi raised its yari, pointing it at him. Something wrapped around Shin's wrists and ankles, binding him in place. It was seaweed, long strands of seaweed, holding him as if they were chains. The sea had betray him.
"Stay away." Shin tried to say. "Keep away from me, I don't want you!" The thing, of course, didn't listen and Shin still couldn't move.
It came close enough that Shin could now see the face behind the mask. Shin’s own pale eyes looked back at him. Inhuman, cold eyes with no emotion at all. Not love or hate, simply there. It reached out a gauntlet hand toward him and Shin screamed with all his might.
End Dream-
Catherine-
Trowa was already awake when Shin’s moaning and mumbling woke Catherine. “How long has he been like this?” They’d lived together since Trowa had joined the circus, all of three of them sharing a tent. There was limited space, after all. It was practical and, most importantly, safe. Shin trusted Trowa and that was good enough for Catherine. She hadn’t once feared for her virtue with Trowa so close at night, when she was vulnerable. Even when she found out how often he stayed awake all night, she was still comfortable enough to sleep. There was just something very safe about Trowa. “Has he said anything?”
“A few moments and no.” Trowa answered softly. He hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights and sat in the darkness on his bed. His hands were folded neatly on his lap and he looked at Catherine with those lovely, sad eyes of his. “Nightmares?”
“He doesn’t have them often.” She looked at Shin writhe on his bed, his hands clenched so tightly on his blankets that his knuckles had turned white. Catherine ran a hand through her hair as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes to fully wake herself. She wasn’t surprised by Trowa being awake. It wasn’t the firs time she’d woken in the middle of the night to find him sitting there, staring into space with his mind a million miles away. Trowa was the lightest sleeper Catherine had ever met and could be woken by the sound of a mouse creeping across the floor. “Hasn’t had a nightmare in a long time. Never one this…” She trailed away, not wanting to say what she was thinking. Violent. It was a violent nightmare. “Should we wake him?”
Trowa looked back at Shin, his long hair hiding his face for a moment. “I have heard that it is best to let a person ride out a nightmare, psychologically, speaking.” Trowa was very intelligent, Catherine knew. He was always polite and soft-spoken, never wasting words without a reason. Catherine had the feeling that if he had some, Trowa would spend a good deal of his time immersed in books. More than once, Catherine had asked Trowa about his past. Of course they all knew Trowa had come to them from a group of mercenaries, Shin had proudly told everyone how he’d met Trowa. They didn’t, however, know about Trowa’s life before the mercenaries or what had brought him to work with the mercenaries he apparently disliked so much. Trowa was very good at keeping his secrets.
Shin began to mutter in his sleep. He didn’t say anything, just low murmurs under his breath, but whatever was happening was making Shin more and more agitated and Catherine bit the inside of her cheek, worriedly.
“However,” Trowa continued. “I see no point in letting Shin suffer.”
"I agree.” Catherine slid off her bed and leaned over Shin. The tent they all used was so small that their cots were only about two feet apart. Shin was in the middle between Catherine and Trowa was closest to the tent’s flap. It was close, but comfortable living arrangements. Times were tight for the circus and everyone had to bunk up together, especially a newcomer like Trowa. “Shin? Shin! Are you all right?" Catherine didn’t touch Shin, just spoke loudly. She’d heard stories of people who suffered heart attacks if they were woken too suddenly from nightmares and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with at that time of night.
Shin’s eyes sprang open with a look of complete terror. “I…!” He was panting heavily and soaking with sweat. For a moment, he didn’t seem to see Catherine or Trowa, he just stared straight up. “The sea…turned. Blue…the blue…yari…” His voice trailed away and he fell silent, worrying Catherine all the more.
“Shin, can you hear me?” She licked her lips nervously and wished that Trowa would say something.
Shin finally seemed to come to himself. He blinked a few times and then focused on Catherine. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I'm fine, really." A quick glance at Trowa made Shin squirm, guiltily. “Sorry, Trowa.”
“You didn’t wake me. We were worried about you.”
Shin laughed, though it sounded weak and half-hearted. “You shouldn’t worry. It was just a nightmare. I’m fine.”
Catherine sat back on her heels and scowled. "Since when do you lie to me, Shin?" She hated lying more than anything else. A terrible habit and one that she didn‘t want her baby brother to take up. "Tell me the truth. What were you dreaming about? You aren’t fine. Look at your hands, you’re shaking and you were making enough noise to wake the dead.”
“Sorry.” Shin drew himself up in a tight ball, hugging his knees to his chest as he tried to calm himself.
Trowa had slowly backed away from Shin’s cot after Shin had woken up, but that was just how Trowa was. As much as Catherine liked him, she’d realized quite a while ago that Trowa was not a touchy-feely sort of person. Trowa was good and kind with a heart of gold. He was compassionate and gentle, but he wasn’t the type of person to give spontaneous hugs. That didn‘t matter. The fact that Trowa had come to check on Shin was enough. Besides, if he wanted hugs, that was what Cathrine was for and she did her duty, moving sit next to Shin and putting her arm around his shoulders when he slowly sat up. “Tell us what it was about.”
Shin flushed dark red and looked down at his lap, ashamed. Still, what teenage boy wouldn‘t be embarrassed about having a nightmare and having his big sister hugging him to make him feel better? Especially in front of a friend. He battled with himself before giving in and admitting, "I was swimming. But this time it was different. There was something looking for me."
Catherine frowned and Trowa remained as stone-faced as ever, standing beside his cot. "I thought you liked your dreams of swimming. What was looking for you?"
"I'm not sure what it was. It was some kind of youri (armor) with a yari (trident). It was alive, Cathy. It was me! It's going to find me, Cathy." Shin started to rock back and forth and hunched further in over himself. "It's going to find me and I won't be able to stop it! It’ll never let me go!"
Watching Shin was hard as he rocked back and forth, so obviously terrified of nothing more than a dream. It wasn’t right. Shin was not the sort to be so frightened of a mere dream and he'd had plenty of nightmares before. Shin was just far too sensible to be unnerved by something like this.
Catherine pursed her lips together and weighted her options. There really weren’t many. It was just a dream and Shin would calm down. ‘In a few minutes, he’ll be embarrassed and begging us to go back to bed and forget about it. It’s probably nothing.’ Still, it might be something. Shin had always loved the sea and would take any excuse he could find to get near Earth with it’s wide, rolling oceans. If he was frightened of the sea, for whatever reason, it could do great damage to him. ‘He’ll be unhappy and I can’t have that.’ As her only family, Shin’s happiness was of paramount importance to Catherine. "I'm going to talk to the ringmaster." Catherine announced abruptly, standing up. "Trowa, stay with Shin, please."
Trowa nodded and sat where she'd just gotten up from. It was one very good point in Trowa’s favor. He knew when things were important and when not to argue. Trowa was sensible. In just the few weeks they’d known him, Catherine had to admit that she’d never met anyone quiet so rational. Trowa never got overly emotional about anything and always dealt with what life gave him clear headed and with an even temper.
"Where are you going?" Shin asked nervously.
Catherine gave him a reassuring smile. "Just for a breath of air. I won’t be long." She left the tent and once outside, she took a deep breath of the stale, tasteless air of the colony. It was warm, almost too warm and the stars were too close. From the colony, Catherine could look up and see not only the distant sun, but also Earth and the moon circling it.
“Your brother needs your help.”
Catherine swung around and found herself facing one of the oddest people she’d ever met and that was saying something considering that she’d lived most of her life in a circus. He was slightly built and dressed as a monk. How old he was, Catherine really couldn’t say as his face was shadowed by a low hat woven out of reeds. In one hand he held a staff that was taller than he was with jangling rings held on the ornate top. With that thing, Catherine should have heard him coming a mile away. “What do you know about my brother?”
“I know Suiko has called to him and he is frightened. You must help him get back to Earth, where his doom awaits.”
“Doom?” Catherine’s eyes widened.
“Fate, if you prefer. He must go back to Earth.”
“It was just a nightmare.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Who are you?” She hadn’t seen him before and people didn’t just go wandering around the fairgrounds this time of night. Besides, he wasn’t even dressed like a colonist. Still…there was something peaceful about him. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Shin is in danger if he stays here. Suiko calls to him and he must answer.” The monk held out his staff and aimed the top of it at Catherine. “Forgive me, but you are the only one who can help him and, thus, help us all. Shin must go to Earth.”
There was a feeling of warmth around Catherine’s eyes and she rubbed them. ‘What am I doing just standing around here?’ With new vigor, Catherine set off to the ringmaster’s tent. It was obvious what she had to do and she kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Shin had to go to Earth. It was the only way to rid him of his nightmares.
Most people would think that what she was about to do would be extreme, that she was risking a lot just over a nightmare. Catherine didn’t care what other people thought, for the most part. She cared about Shin and something was striking her wrong about this whole nightmare. It wasn’t anything in particular, just something…wrong. Shin would have to go to Earth, to the sea. Again, she didn’t know how she knew this, but she knew it as surely as she knew her own name. Catherine didn’t stop walking until she came to the ringmaster's tent and cautiously slapped her hand against the flap.
From inside the tent a man’s sleepy voice mumbled, "What is it?" Ringmaster didn't like being woken up in the middle of the night and Catherine knew he wasn’t going to take this well.
"It's Catherine, sir. I need to talk to you about Shin."
"Come in, girl." He grumbled and Catherine walked in just as he was lighting a candle. "Well, what is it? Hope you’ve got a good reason for a late night visit.”
Catherine took a deep breath. "We have to go to Earth."
"What? We’re not going to Earth."
"No. Not we as in the circus. I mean we as in Shin, Trowa, and myself. We have to go to Earth so Shin can see the ocean."
Ringmaster groaned angrily and rubbed both hands over his face. "Girl, if this is another attempt to let that brother of yours to go swimming, forget about it! You have some nerve waking me up for that! How dare you try to interfere with circus business just for his pleasure?! We’re going to L1 in two months and you can find a swimming pool at one of the swankier hotels."
"You don't understand. It's not for pleasure. Shin's sick and he needs to see the ocean." Alright, maybe ‘sick’ was a bit of an exaggeration and Catherine didn’t exactly KNOW that Shin had to go to the ocean, but she did have a very strong feeling about it.
"Oh?" Ringmaster crossed his arms over his chest. "What makes you think that? Have you become a doctor?"
This would be the hard part, Catherine knew. Convincing ringmaster that Shin wasn't just having nightmares when Catherine wasn‘t sure of it herself. "He's not physically sick, sir, but if you could see him now you'd understand. He's just had a horrible nightmare of something chasing him through the ocean and now he's so scared that something's going to catch him."
Ringmaster sneered. "He had a nightmare? Is that what has you so worried? Gods, girl..."
"No!" Catherine clenched her fists at her sides. "You don't understand how important this is! Shin can't do any of his work in the state he's in. He has a tendency to have the same dream many times over, I told you that before, and he’ll have this one again tomorrow night. Then the night after and the night after that. It’ll go on and on and he won’t be any state to sell balloons let alone do the high flying acts with Trowa. If this continues, I'm afraid he's going to get really sick and I won't let that happen."
Ringmaster rubbed his tired eyes. "Look, Catherine, I'll call a doctor in the morning and have them take a look at him. There's probably something very natural at the bottom of all this."
Catherine glared and crossed her arms over her chest. "If he doesn't get better within the week, you are going to lose three of your people."
"What?!" She now had ringmaster's full attention again.
"I told you. I have enough money saved up for Shin, Trowa, and myself. We ARE going. If we can, we‘ll come back, but we are going."
"It can't be that bad!"
"Not now, it isn't, but Shin is sensitive and easily influenced. I won't let him become afraid of the sea he loves. I'll give this one week, but if it continues after that, we are going to Earth." With that she turned on her heel and marched out, back to find Shin had fallen back asleep with Trowa rubbing his back soothingly.
Catherine and Trowa looked at each other. "This is not like him." Trowa said quietly.
"Yeah." Catherine agreed. "I just told ringmaster if Shin keeps having nightmares like this, we're all leaving for Earth." Then she gave him a sheepish smile. "I hope you don't mind me speaking for you."
"No." Trowa replied. "I think it would be best for Shin if we did go to Earth."
It was five days later and four nights of Shin waking up screaming with the same nightmare that Catherine was looking through the mail, and stopped on a familiar handwriting. It was sloppy and looked as if someone was rushing to get though it. She smiled fondly and called out. "Shin! There's a letter from Xiu!"
"He says he's got a cousin visiting from one of the colonies, someone named Chang Wufei. He’s been there a while now, from the postmark." Shin told her as he read through the letter. Then a bright smile lit his weary face. "He says Mama Fan wants to know when we're coming for a visit."
Catherine, noticing ringmaster in the doorway and then looking back at Shin's tired, pale face. He hadn't been sleeping again and she'd found this morning a bottle of pills that were supposed to make you stay awake longer. "In two days." She announced, abruptly.
Shin looked up from his letter in surprise. "What?"
"I have the money and we can all go. You do want to see Xiu and mama Fan again, don't you?"
Ringmaster, just out of sight of Shin, turned with a sour expression and stalked away.
A day later-
"Well, I hope you're all satisfied." Ringmaster grumbled at the three younger people as they packed. "We're giving up a very profitable tour just so you can go swimming!"
The perpetually grumpy ringmaster had given in to Catherine's ultimatum, and decided that a trip to Earth instead of one of the colonies he'd been planning to visit was better than losing his two best acts. Catherine was not a liar and if she said she'd leave, taking Shin and Trowa with her, then Ringmaster had to believe her. He couldn’t be sure that they’d come back after they’d left.
Shin looked away guiltily as he packed his few belongings. "I'm sorry about this." He muttered, but Catherine put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault, Shin." She told him reassuringly before turning her glare on the Ringmaster. "Leave him alone. I‘m not forcing you to come with us. It‘s your own choice."
Ringmaster sighed and threw up his hands in defeat. He just couldn't argue logic with a protective big sister. It wasn't just Catherine, though, or even Trowa, but the whole Circus was behind Shin. Everyone loved him and would do anything for him, so it would be a rebellion if he didn't get Shin to Earth and at least try to get his mind away from the nightmares. If nothing else, Shin was falling apart in the ring now, leaving it to Trowa to do all the fancy, high flying moves. Seeing as how they were still billed as the Twin Clowns, one just wasn't good enough in the eyes of the audience, so they were starting to complain.
But, in his heart, even Ringmaster knew he should lay off Shin for a while. The boy was pale and worn looking from lack of sleep with blood shot eyes. Shin was sick, Ringmaster was sure of that now, and if nothing else, they would have to go to Earth to get a decent doctor to heal him. Ringmaster was very proud of the fact that he took care of his people, no one here ever had to worry about an injury or sickness, not if Ringmaster could afford the best. He turned and walked back to the big top to supervise the dismantling of the circus tent. They would be leaving today and arrive on Earth probably in two weeks.
Ringmaster never saw the man watching this scene from behind the moving crates. The man watched it all, focusing on Trowa who was helping to pack and letting Catherine tease him with a clown's half mask, with a star over the eye and a large red mouth. The man dashed away.
In a tavern-
Mayers was drinking heavily, not an unusual state for him, when one of his men ran into the tavern. "I found him, boss! I've seen Trowa." The man nearly shouted. It really didn't matter if anyone heard, this was not the most law-abiding place in the universe.
Mayers put his tankard down hard, sloshing the ale everywhere. "What!" He demanded roughly. "Where the Hell is that kid?!" He had been searching for Trowa for weeks now, the embarrassment of having a child beat him was too much for him reputation to bear. Not to mention that other kid who'd been with Trowa at the time. Mayers simply had to find Trowa and show him what happened when you left his mercenaries.
"In the circus, if you'd believe it. He's one of those Twin Clowns that everyone's talking about these days. I saw him put on the mask, a half mask with a star over one eye. I heard them talking and they're going to Earth, soon."
Mayers sat back and smiled at the news. Revenge wouldn't be difficult, then.