Firebird
by Tyria
Chapter 2: Hard to get.
Hello!! This is Tyria again. But I'm sure you figured that out. This is chapter two (or at least it will be chapter two...) Of
Firebird, the first in a trilogy of Gw fics I've got story-boarded in my mind. And no, you didn't find out why it's called Firebird
last time. And I don't think you will here, either. Anyhow.... Here it is...
I bow to the audience. I'm wearing the flashy clown outfit again. It's been quite a long time. But... Cat thought that I couldn't
just keep doing only labor, so instead I'm a clown.
There was something distracting me today. A strange, nagging feeling that something wasn't right. Now I've changed my mind.
Two some things aren't right. A girl and a boy.
The girl has one headphone on. She is sitting in the front row, with a perfect view of the sword throwing act Cat and I are about
to do. Probably for the hundredth time.
Catherine leads me over to the knife throwing area after her own plunging bow. Cat takes her stance as the first knife is shot up
into the air. She catches the plummeting blade between two fingers and in the same seamless motion tosses it violently towards
me, hitting the wood behind me with a strange chucking noise. The blade was about one and a half centimeters below my right
arm, practically in my armpit.
The boy could barely be seen. He had on a hooded light blue and sea green jacket, with the hood up. He had on gray woolen
gloves, but lots of people did. It is a cold night. Cat had been sitting under a wool blanket backstage while waiting for our turn.
The next knife plunks into the hardwood right next to my left ear. I have to look over the girl's head to see the boy.
What kind of people pay to come to a circus but not to observe it?
Two more blades smack the backing on either side of my right leg. Have they found me? There are lots of people who'd love
to get their hands on a gundam pilot like me. For the revenge of lost loved-ones, people disgruntled over the outcome of the
war, bounty-hunters being paid by those people. You have to be either extremely brave, extremely stupid, or extremely insane
to come after a gundam and expect to live.
Or be a gundam pilot yourself.
Catherine next throws three knives at once, after catching all three at once, by the blade. Lots of guys in the audience hooted
and hollered but it doesn't distract Cat, she's used to it. The entire audience cheers excitedly.
But not the boy and girl. They both watch silently, and expectant. The girl has a bulky green sweater and an indiscriminate cap.
She has brown hair. She shrinks down slightly and whispers into her sweater in a way that makes it hard for even for me to tell
she was actually speaking. The guy might just think the girl is pretty and he might be looking at her instead of the show.
But the girl...
"An admirer, Trowa?" Cat teases faintly as she begins to hook me up to the circular backing so that when it spins, I'll be
brought along with it and the seven daggers.
"There's something not right with the one girl, first row." May as well not tell her about the guy, I'm pretty sure he's just getting a
crush on the girl. Things like that happen to normal people. Normal... ha!
"You're just letting your past get to you, she probably got dragged here by her friends, or..." She grunts slightly as she tightens a
particularly stubborn rope around me. "... she's getting a crush on you or..." She brushes her hands together and smiles playfully
at me. "...who knows, maybe she fell asleep with her eyes open!"
Cat walks back over to her spot as the wheel begins to rotate.
"Hmm..." I consider her words, ohter than the eyes open part. She must be right, I'm just too suspicious. I even suspect people
in bad moods of plotting to kill me!
But still, I can't stop watching the girl. There's something not right, I just don't know what.
Am I really that out of normal life?
The girl pulls back a sleeve of her sweater to reveal a gloved hand, then immediately covers it back up. Cat throws a knife,
skillfully missing by a hair. Again.
That looked like a signal.
No, there I go again. I'm imagining ghost danger in an innocent motion. She's probably just checking her watch, which
especially makes sense if she's as bored as she looks.
The girl puts both hands on the rails blocking of the audience from the performers and flips into the ring, landing in a crouch and
stopping Cat right in the middle of the toss. The audience cheers, thinking that it's part of the act. She looks to the right and to
the left, then begins running towards Catherine and I.
"Hey!" Cat yells at her. "What do you think you're..."
A scream in the audience, followed by an audible hush from several people stops Cat in mid-sentence. I watch from several
strange angles the tent flaps being thrown open and soldiers in Oz uniforms with guns out begin to flood in as I continue to spin
slowly. One looks down and yells out. "Down there, get her!"
The girl roles as he takes two shots, each sending up spurts of dust from their impact with the ground. The soldier who looks
like he's in-charge bellows, "EVERYBODY FREEZE!!"
She takes the last sprinted stride to get behind the wheel, obviously the only cover in the ring. One final shot hits the wood,
splintering it. One fragment digs deep into my right arm.
"Hold your fire!" The captain barks.
"Everyone, remain calm." One soldiers states soothingly. A woman in the crowd faints. I notice passingly that the boy is gone...
"Tagger, surrender at once or innocents may be hurt."
"'Fraid I can't do that, boys!" She rolls out from behind the wheel and behind Catherine. She stands and wraps one arm around
Cat's neck to keep her still and brings a gun to her head. Cat yelps. The girl addresses the soldiers, "I don't want to kill the
chicka, but I will if I haveta! I'm just a gonna take this chicka and this guy, an' I'll be a leavin' ya alone after that, K?" Then she
adds in a whisper to Cat, "Listen, chicka, I won't hurt cha if ya just do what I tell ya. It ain't you I want, it's him." She tosses her
head towards me. "Now come wit' me, we're goin' for a li'l walk." She keeps the gun aimed at Cat's head but takes her arm
away from her neck. They walk closer to me. "Get him outta here. Trowa, I'm with Duo and Heero."
'Duo and Heero?' "Catherine, it's all right."
"'All right?!'" She exclaims, her voice strained, "How do you figure that?"
The soldiers were conferring amongst each other, probably deciding if they need her enough to let Cat die. This girl had better
hurry... Cat finishes untying my feet and starts on my hands next to the now still wheel.
"She's a friend."
"Nice friend." She mumbles sarcastically.
"She's just doing what is necessary. Stay calm." She finishes disentangling my wrists and I take a step towards my 'friend'.
"Ok," Our capture announces, "We gonna go know. Stay where you be, or they take the fall. By know you fellas should know
not to underestimate me. I took down three Aries, you ain't no problem." We start backing away with the woman behind us.
"We're not authorized." the captain broadcasts.
"Damn! You don't mean that hoe's gonna get away again!?"
"Ya."
"But Cap..."
"You have your orders. She can't stay lucky forever. And it's nuthi' but plain ole dumb luck.We'll get her eventually."
Right before the woman steps out of the tent, she takes her left hand, brings it to her lips and blows the officer a kiss. "Bye,
guys. It's been fun. Don't cha just love it when girls play hard to get?"
Yeah!! I finished chapter two!!!! I am so great, I am so great!!! Ok, that's enough. Bye!
Tyria