Duo stopped his tinkering on Deathscythe HELL to notice Trowa's entrance into the hangar. As usual, Trowa walked with a soft tread and didn't say a word as he walked to his gundam. Duo peered at him one more time. There was something different...

"Hey, Trowa," he called. "Why are you wearing Quatre's clothes?" Then, cheekily, "They're a little small on you."

Trowa scowled at him. "My clothes were burnt," he said curtly.

He had Duo's full attention. "Burnt?!" he yelped. "How did that happen?"

Trowa shrugged, beginning to run a routine check on Heavyarms. "Quatre and the Manguanacs decided to have a cook-out... inside."

Duo yelped again. "What?!" He started to run out the hangar to check his own things when he was stopped by laughter. In the doorway were Quatre and Rashid, laughing, standing with Wufei, also laughing. Even Heero had to crack a smile.

"April Fools," Heero smirked.

Duo glared at Trowa, who was also bearing a smirt. "Since when do you guys celebrate April Fools Day?"

"Since Rashid dug up stories about it and we decided it would be fun," Quatre explained, coming forward. He was grinning, and it was quite infectuous. Duo had to grin.

"Thanks, guys. I thought all my stuff was burnt to a cip," Duo retorted, starting to laugh.

Heero had since walked up to Wing ZERO and begun inspection. Several Manguanacs were already all over Sandrock.

"April Fools, huh?" Duo murmured to himself. "Okay, I can do that." He snickered.

Wufei was the only one in hearing range; he looked at Duo oddly. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Duo answered brightly.

Cathrine ran in at that moment (the circus was near the hangar at that time). "Trowa!" she shouted. Trowa turned around. She beckoned quickly. When he looked confused, she wordlessly ran forward, grabbed him by the arm, and bodily dragged him out of the hangar.

Everyone paused for a moment to watch.

"Master Quatre, uh.." Rashid began.

Quatre shrugged. "I have no idea, Rashid."

"Alright," Duo said to absolutely nobody. "Great. Just bring him back sometime!" he shouted out the hangar door, knowing full well Cathrine and Trowa were far off.

"She seemed in a hurry." Heero observed from atop the catwalk.

Duo scratched his head. It was only 7 in the morning and the day baffled him already. Not usually a good sign. He sighed and returned his attention to Deathscythe HELL.


Duo and Rashid always chomped down breakfast with gusto. Usually Quatre wasn't far behind, but today he turned slightly pale at the table.

"Hey, Quatre, you okay?" Duo said, the moment his mouth was clear to speak.

"Master Quatre, perhaps-" Rashid began.

Quatre cut him off. "I'm fine. Just not hungry." He pushed his bowl of oatmeal away.

Wufei glanced at him. "You don't look okay. If you're sick, lie down. If not, you should eat to keep your energy." The others nodded agreement.

Trowa talked in and immediately forestalled one of the Manguanacs' offering of a bowl. "Cathrine fed me."

There was a pause for a moment. "So what was that about?" Heero finally asked.

Trowa shrugged. "Nothing." He sat down in an empty seat. Another pause. "Doesn't matter," he added.

Quatre, meanwhile, turned a couple shades paler. This time, Duo, Trowa, and Rashid all at once began telling Quatre to go lie down.

"Please, no!" Quatre protested. "I'm okay, really!" The pilot got to his feet, backing away slightly, trying to smile and look like he was okay. He stumbled. Rashid caught him.

"Master Quatre, I have to insist-" he began.

Quatre interrupted him (again), "Do I smell smoke?"

"Funny," Duo quipped. "Thanks, I'm not falling for it again."

"No," Quatre waved at him impatiently, with the arm Rashid wasn't holding to support him. "Really. From over there," he gestured vaguely down the hell.

Everyone didn't move for a second. 3 Manguanacs were the first to bolt in that direction, closely followed by 4 Gundam pilots and the rest of the Manguanacs, minus Rashid.

Rashid settled Quatre gently on a chair. "Master Quatre, I think you're sick."

"No!" Quatre insisted. "Rashid, I don't *get* sick!"

"There's a fire!" a faint voice from down the hall called. There was a minor scuffle as everyone grabbed buckets to get water.

Quatre added petulantly, "And I don't have time to get sick, anyways."

Rashid sighed. "There's a first time for everything," he affirmed. "And sickness doesn't come at 'convenient" times."

"Stop it!" a loud female voice shrieked. "It was a *controlled* fire, couldn't you see?!"

5 minutes later, the pilots, Manguanacs, and a girl trooped back into the kitchen/dining room. Two Manguanacs were holing the girl, who was struggling.

Wearily, Trowa said to the Manguanacs, "Please let go of my cousin."

Jaws dropped, Manguanacs released the girl, who looked at them all defiantly. "It was outside one of your windows, not inside," she explained to Quatre, in a soft voice that sounded dangerous. "A small bonfire. Pretty. And then your soldiers have to come and put it ou!" she almost yelled.

"My cousin's a pyromaniac," Trowa told his fellow pilots discretely.

"Woman, you cold have burned down this building!" Wufei wasn't about to be intimidated by a girl.

"I wouldn't've," she replied coolly.

"And her name's Trissa," Trowa added.

Suddenly, Trissa smiled. "Nice to meet you guys," she rpactically bubbled. She stepped up to Quatre, leaned down, as he was sitting, to be face-to-face with him, and asked in a softer tone, "Are you okay?"

A flush creeped into Quatre's face as he blushed from the nearness of this seemingly random girl. "I - I'm fine," he muttered, looking pointedly at Rashid.

"He's *not* fine," Rashid said firmly.

"Your COUSIN!??!?" Duo finally blurted out. "Okay, April Fools, I get it. Who is she really?"

In the same moment, Rashid and Quatre did a double take at her. "I think I recognize you from somewhere," Quatre murmured.

"Very good," she replied cheekily. "I am Aetrissiana Nicolette May-Rose Skye."

"Skye Communications!" Duo and Quatre nearly yelped at the same time.

"That's my daddy," she snickered. "I'm Trowa's - he goes by Troas? Odd name - second cousin, really, but it's all the same to me," she said, shrugging a little and smiling again.

Quatre blanched and had to lean on Rashid.

"Master Quatre is going to bed," Rashid excused themselves amid more, albeit faint, protests from Quatre.

"Your father really owns Skye Communications?" Wufei asked incredulously. Duo had since returned to his oatmeal, although it was slightly cold.

"Mm-hm," she nodded.

"What's Trowa's real name?" Duo asked curiously between mouthfuls. Wufei and Heero reseated themselves and returned to eating.

Trissa glanced at Trowa, who shrugged. "He was called Sebastian Tisor Bloom," she said slowly. "Daddy always talked about how my cousin Sebastian had disappeared sa a child, and how he was never seen again, even when my father somehow believed he was still alive. And -" she added in an amused tone, "- apparently several million dollars wasn't enough to find him then. And now, I find him by accident."

"Cathrine brought her here," Trowa said calmly, forestalling more questions. This time he accepted a bowl from a Manguanac. Scooping myself some oatmeal, he began to eat.

"Want some?" Duo offered, waving at the pot of oatmeal.

Trissa peered in, then wrinkled her nose slightly. "No thanks," she said as delicately as possible. "I'm not hungry."

"Cathrine fed her too," Trowa told everyone.

There was a moment of silence as everyone continuted eating.

"So," Trissa said slightly awkwardly, steping forward to the table. "What're your names?"

"Duo," the said worthy replied, before gulping down a mug of water.

There was silence again.

"Aww, okay. They don't talk much," Duo grumbled. "That's Heero, and that's Wufei. And Quatre was the one who went to bed."

"Okay," Trissa nodded and sat down on the edge of a chair.

Trowa watched her warily.

Duo finally finished eating and leaned back, pushing his bowl away. "All right," he said to no one in particular.

Before he could say anything else, though, they heard firing outside. For a moment, everyone froze. Then the gundam pilots jerked out of their seats and headed for the hangar. Trowa paused a moment to say, "Trissa, stay here. You'll get hurt." Then he, too, bolted out the door.

Trissa waited a moment, then went to a window cautiously. There were several Mobile Suits outside, and the Manguanacs were already outside, fighting them.

As Duo strapped himself into Deathscythe HELL, he muttered to himself, "April Fools, Quatre sick, Trowa having a pyromaniac cousin, and now OZ troops. Damn, what a day!"

"Pay attention," Heero snapped as they maneuvered out of the hangar.

"Yeah, yeah," Duo answered as he knocked down the first Leo.

"Are they mobile dolls?" Wufei asked quickly, verring off to the right.

"I don't think so," Duo answered as another went down to his scythe.

Heero launched up into the air to deal with the carrieres still holding suits. All of a sudden, he heard a roar of engine beneath him. He glanced down... and immediatly swerved to the right, cursing under his breath.

Trissa - it had to be Trissa - was in a custom made mobile suit, which had been hidden on the back of a large truck. Heero heard Trowa groan the moment he saw it.

Almost before he realized what was happening, the ZERO system and his senses told Heero to duck down. A beam of fire flew by him and incinerated a mobile suit.

"You almost killed him!" Trowa shouted to his cousin. "Trissa, *what* is *that*?!"

"I call it Neko," Trissa replied, lashing out more fire. She ignored his first comment. "Daddy made it for me."

"Onna! Don't interfere in things you don't understand!" Wufei nearly screeched as more fire crisped an Aries to his left.

Trissa giggled nonchalantly and launched more firebolts.

"Trissa behind you!" Trowa yelled, too late. A bolt from an Aries knocked Neko down. In a moment, the Aries was on top of her, about to shoot again. Trissa screamed ear-piercingly. The Aries' pilot flinched and in that second's time, Duo moved over close enough to skewer the Aries.

"Watch your back," Heero snapped as he rose into the air again.

"Geez," Duo said to Trissa. "That scream of yours is a weapong in itself!"

Trissa giggled, as if completely ignoring the near-death experience she had just had. Instead, she turned and fired more fire balls in an arc, destroying 3 more Aries'.

"And that firepower of yours is pretty good," Duo added, impressed.

"Thanks. I harassed Daddy until he made me the best he could. And he knows I like playing with fire, so he equipped these with a lot of it."

"Spoiled," Wufei muttered to himself.

"Very," Trowa murmured in agreement.

"I'm sorry for you," Heero said to Trowa, before knocking down a full carrier.

The Manguanacs were holding their own with a group of Taurus' almost twice their number. Rashid had entered the battle after making sure Quatre was lying down and resting. Mobile suits were littering the area, and Trowa had to duck once as one went tumbling over him with the momentum of a blast from Trissa.

"Trissa, please be more careful!" Trowa protested.

"Sorry," she said blithely. She fired again.

When the ground was completely piled with mobile suits, and all the carriers had been shot down, Trissa came out and sat at the edge of her mobile suit's doorway. She waved to everyone, as doors began to open.

"We have to move!" Heero shouted from a couple hundred yards away. Everyone nodded agreement.

As they trooped back inside, they found Quatre leaning in the doorway, demanding to know what had happened.

"Today has been the most eventful day of my life!" Duo announced, collapsing into a comfortable chair. "After that fire business, OZ's mobile suits show up, and Trowa's cousin decides to help us fight."

Quatre nearly collapsed from surprise. "What?"

Trissa smiled sweetly. "Daddy made me a mobile suit 'cos I wanted one. I was just helping," she added, slightly petulantly, when several pilots glared at her.

"You could have hurt one of us like that," Wufei said flatly. "You're too weak to command a mobile suit; you could've killed yourself. In fact, you almost *were* killed."

"So?" Trissa retorted. "I'm not dead, am I?"

"Thanks to Duo," Heero shot back, nodding in Duo's direction.

"Woah," Duo suddenly said, bouncing up. "Don't bring me into this, guys. She did pretty good other than that." Everyone turned their glares at him. He wilted a little. "Sorry?"

Several people sighed. Quatre looked about to fall, Trissa noticed. Before he collapsed completely, she draped his arm over his shoulders and gently pulled him to a couch before he could register what had happened. "Sit down," she told him calmly, when he tried to get up. "You don't look too good at all."

"Were should we move to?" Heero said briefly.

Everyone looked at each other.

"Why are you moving?" Trissa asked.

Trowa sighed impatiently. He had met someone related to him - something he'd probably wanted for a while - and now he wished he never had. "Because they know we're here," he said, much too patiently.

"Oh."

"She's a ditz," Duo murmured to Quatre, at his left, who nodded slightly in agreement. "Pretty, but a ditz." Quatre grinned a little.

The pilots thought for a while, trying to think of another safe place.

"There's a pl-" Rashid began.

"You can come live in my house," Trissa interrupted. "Sorry," she said quickly, both for saying anything, and for interrupting Rashid, who was looking slightly peeved.

Wufei rolled his eyes and began to stalk out. "Tell me when someone comes up with a good idea," he said before he left the room.

"That's insane," Heero said flatly.

"Why?"

"How could be possibly all move into your house? You've got to have one huge house to house 40 Manguanacs and us 5 pilots, plus the gundams and suits," Duo began.

"And wouldn't someone like your father or people who work with him notice?" Heero added icily. "And tell someone? Does your father maybe work for OZ?"

"He's noncommitted," Trissa said nonchalantly. "Nobody under my father tells a soul anything. We don't take sides. At least," she said, with a grimace, "most people in my family don't. I have a tendency to be opinionated. Nobody told about *my* suit, and I've had it for a while now. I have a huge underground cavern. 40 suits and 5 gundams will fit."

"That's insane," Quatre nearly shouted.

Trissa smirked at him. "You of all people shouldn't say that," she said, smiling. "Come on, I'm sure you've got huge underground caverns, too."

Quatre flushed at the mild reproof.

Trowa, Heero, and Duo exchanged glances.

"We need to get out of here soon," Trowa said in a low voice. Heero and Duo nodded.

"Can you take on 45 extra people?" Duo asked practically.

"Mm-hm," Trissa nodded. "I have parties. My housekeeper and maids have had to deal with 200 people."

"For one night," Trowa pointed out. "We may need to stay a while."

"Be my guest," Trissa smiled. "And my parties have lasted several nights. But I don't mind you staying for however long you want." She glanced at Quatre. "And we better get him something soothing to drink. He really doesn't look good." Quatre was almost as white as a sheet now, but his cheeks were incredibly flushed. He leaned back on the couch back.