An Alliance raid on a suspected
group of rebels ended in tragedy yesterday with the death of 28 civilians. Among
the deaths were 14 of the sixteen men, women, and children in the Bloom Family
Mini-Circus. Two children, Catherine and Triton Bloom, are currently on the
missing list that also includes 15 citizens of New Paris, where the Blooms had
been performing. If anyone can offer any clues as to the location of any of the
missing people, please call 555-9867 immediately.
…
but this grew frustrating, so she decided to try and get into the entertaining
part of the circus, where she felt her skills would be more useful…
Why
I Should Be Part of the Show
People
love kid performers
I
learn quickly
I'm
strong from working behind the scenes
I
already know some tricks
I'm
cute
People
love cute kids
I'll
help draw crowds
I
do better at performing than cleaning
Wouldn't
you buy a ticket to see this face?
What
if someone needs a replacement?
I'll
be REEEAAALY good
I'll
stop bugging you
Her
attempts were successful, and she became part of her first act ever…
So
anyway, I'm a clown now. My clown name is Cindy Lu, and my big gag is that I
run around spraying unsuspecting clowns with seltzer. I wear a big
purple-and-pink wig, a beanie with a spinning flower, a long-sleeved shirt
with orange-and-yellow stripes under a lime-green sundress, and too-big
fire-engine-red work boots. My face is painted white with a big red grin
around my mouth and blue flowers around my eyes, and I also wear the round red
nose common of most clowns in big circuses before there was only the Circus
and the various mini-circuses. I get hit in the face with pies fairly
often—at least once per show—and it gets pretty frustrating, but at least
I'm part of an act now. Another gag I do is flip over the other clowns in a
silly-looking game of leapfrog. Being an acrobat is something I'm really
good at, but right now I'm stuck being a clown. I'm really starting to
hate banana cream pies.
Of
course, being a clown didn't appeal to Cathrin. She wanted to do something
impressive, not amusing…
I'm
tired of being a clown but I don't know what else to do so I keep on
squirting seltzer and getting banana cream pies in the face and I wish I could
do something else that would maybe intimidate people like throw knives like
Beth does but she'd never teach me cuz that's her act and I'm just the
little clown without any blood relatives and she's got a sister who's the
mom in the trapeze act named Mimi so why would she ever consider giving up her
spot to me but why not because maybe someday Beth won't be able to throw
knives anymore and I could learn from her now so that when she can't throw
anymore I'll be able to take over the act and keep it going and people will
keep coming to the circus to see the woman who throws knives so easily oh crud
there's another stupid pie right in the kisser oh well it's not like I'm
not used to it by now so I might as well just finish doing what I'm supposed
to do and ask Beth later about it.
A
series of events led to Cathrin getting her wish…
Dear
Diary,
June 3, A.C. 189
I still can't believe Beth is willing to teach me everything she
knows about knife throwing, and it's been three months since I started
learning. I can hit where I'm aiming four times out of five, and I'm still
getting better at it all the time. Beth says I still need to work on my stance
to make my throwing more accurate, but I can't seem to do it the way she
shows me. I lean too much to my left when I'm about to throw, and it seems
there's nothing I can do about it, but I still try my hardest to be as good
at throwing knives as Beth is. She's got this neat trick I really want to
learn where she makes the knife twirl while it's flying through the air.
It's just SO cool and I can't wait to learn it!
Sincerely,
Cathrin
"Cathrin,
what are you doing here?"
"Nobody
will tell me why there's an ambulance out front. Will you tell me, Sarah?"
"Beth
got hurt bad. She has to go to the hospital for a while."
"Oh
my God, will she be okay?! What happened?"
"Mimi
says she was looking for something and accidentally cut herself on one of the
knives. Don't you worry, though, I think Beth will be okay."
"She
better be okay! I haven't learned how to do that trick where the knife
twists yet!"
"And
we all know how important it is for you to learn that one, Cathy! C'mon,
we'll go to the hospital so we can keep track of Beth's condition."
"Okay.
But I call shotgun!"
ANDERSON, Beth. Knife thrower in the Circus. Survived by sister Mimi Robinson,
brother-in-law Andrew, nephew Jonathon and niece Rita. Private viewing at
Carter Funeral Home; funeral at Winter Cove Cemetery. Contact Circus Manager
for times and directions.
With
the untimely death of her mentor, the Circus needed someone to fill the spot
of knife-thrower, and Cathrin was perfect for the job…
By signing this contract, Cathrin
Bloom (the First Party) agrees to perform as a knife-thrower in the Circus
(the Second Party) for five years. The First Party will not hold the Second
Party responsible for any matters within her control and will not attempt to
break this contract without good reason. At the time this contract is no
longer valid, the Second Party may make a new contract with the First Party if
they so desire.
I,
Cathrin Bloom,
have read and agreed to the terms stated above.
Cathrin Bloom
I,
Ronald Black , have read and agreed to the terms stated above.
Ronald Black, Manager
Sarah
Rodriguez
Jakob Goldberg
Witness
Witness
Several years later, what would turn out to be the
second incredibly-life-altering change in Cathrin's life happened…
"You
seen the new guy yet, Cathrin?"
"Yeah,
I saw him when he got here. His name's Trowa Barton. He seems pretty
quiet."
"Is
that so? What's he going to be doing?"
"I
don't know. He was petting one of the lions earlier—like it was a cat or
something, Sarah, can you believe it?—but I think Manager's going to put
him as my new target guy."
"Well,
that's good. I don't think poor Jakob is brave enough to be your target
guy much longer. He's just not suited to danger. You think that Trowa will
last?"
"You
know, I think he will—at least longer than Jakob. There's just something
familiar about him, and I don't know why, but I think he's like no one
we've ever met."
"Where
are you going, Trowa?"
"Out."
"Where
out?"
"Just
out. I'll be back in time for the show."
"You'd
better be. This will be the fourth time this month you've taken off like
this! Are you trying to get fired or something? Because you know that's
what'll probably happen if you keep doing this."
"Don't
worry so much, Cathrin. If I don't do this, no one else will. I'll see you
later."
"At
least be careful, Trowa! If you don't come back, who will be my target
guy?"
This
boy turned out to be one of a small group of rebels from the colonies known
only as the Gundam pilots. There were only five of them, and Trowa was the
third. Cathrin came to think of him as a little brother, and despite the
protectiveness this inspired, she let him keep fighting…
We're
heading to the colonies at last after spending almost a year on Earth and I
can't wait to see the L2 cluster again it was so beautiful last time but it
made me miss Earth's uncontrollable environment it was still beautiful
though the animals are in a different shuttle from us since it would be
impossible to take off if they were in the same shuttle as all the humans who
work for the circus but they're not and Sarah's asleep in the seat next to
mine because she was up for more than twenty-four hours helping to get
organized and I was helping too but there's too much going on in my head for
me to sleep right now like the fact that I don't know where Trowa is he
could be anywhere he's like a little brother to me he went off to fight but
he said he'd come back so where is he what's that beeping noise there's
someone out in space and they're pulling him in but who is he and what's
he doing drifting in space like that what happened to him I've got a bad
feeling all of a sudden I have to see this person so I run to the front where
they pulled him in he's in the infirmary now oh God it's Trowa what
happened to him I wait until they let me in and he's awake but he doesn't
know who I am he doesn't even know who he is well I'll just have to take
care of him now I'm not letting him fight ever again.
Cathrin
did her best to keep this promise, and for a short time she was able to keep
Trowa from returning to the war. Then, one of the other Gundam pilots came…
Blond pilot: Trowa! Trowa! It's Trowa, isn't it?!
Cathrin: Who's that? Another of those Gundam
pilots?
Trowa: Who
are you?
Blond: Trowa!
Trowa: Do you know me?
Cathrin: No! He's trying to get Trowa to fight
again, I know it! I can't let Trowa fight anymore!
Blond: Trowa! Don't you recognize me?
Cathrin: Trowa! Go over there.
Please get away from him, he'll only take you from
me again!
Trowa: But, sis...
Blond: Sis?
Cathrin: Just do it! I'll feed the animals, so you go help the
ringmaster, okay?
Just do as I say! I have to protect you, Trowa!
Blond: Wait!
Cathrin: What did you come here for?! You plan to take Trowa away to
the battlefield again?!
Why couldn't you just leave us alone, he was
finally starting to be happy again!
Blond: Who are you?
Cathrin: That child is my little brother, a child of this circus!
Don't question me, just go and let us have a bit of
peace!
Blond: But, he—
Cathrin: I don't want to let him suffer any more. That child has lost
his memory. And his past is so painful, I don't want him to remember!
I don't want him to remember you so that he'll
stay here where it's safe.
Blond: It's, it's my fault. I'm sorry. Trowa sacrificed himself to make
right my mistake. It's not something I can be forgiven for just by
apologizing, but I am truly sorry.
Cathrin: If you feel that way then consider that Trowa is happy here
with us now.
Leave us alone so I don't have to worry about
losing him…
Blond: I'm sorry... Trowa...
Of course Trowa was curious…
"Cathy,
who was he?"
"A
bad person, Trowa."
"Why
do you say that? He looked like a nice guy to me."
"He's
bad because he wants you to fight in the war, Trowa. You know you're all the
family I've got, so I can't let him or anyone else put you in the middle
of that awful war!"
"The
war will be over soon, though, Cathy, so you won't have to worry about
protecting me much longer from guys like him. Right?"
"Yeah,
Trowa, you're right."
But
the blond pilot had had his affect on Trowa. Soon Cathrin was alone again, and
there was simply nothing she could do…
He's gone again. I can't
believe it. He left without even a word this time, just a note that said he
had to fight. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Why can't I just
have a little bit of family to hold on to? Why can't someone else fight? I
feel so dead inside, I can't even cry or scream or anything. I'm just an
emotionless shell, like that boy Heero that Trowa brought back from his battle
in Siberia. I don't want to be like that, though, I want to feel. I just
can't seem to, though, now that Trowa's left me all alone again. I can't
do anything anymore, just wish Trowa would come back and keep throwing knives.
He has to come back—without him, I can't make the knife spin like Beth
used to. I call that trick the Lilibet (that was Beth's nickname when they
were little girls), but there's no point if I can't do it except with a
target guy who might not even survive to see the end of the war.
During Trowa's
absence, some things occurred to Cathrin…
Trowa
Triton
Brown hair
Brown hair
Green eyes
Green eyes
Looks like my father
Looked like our father
Is generally quiet
Was quieter than most
