Ch2 Abandoned Again Author's Note: This chapter will appear to be totally unrelated to the first, but I promise you the two story lines will eventually intertwine. In fact, this chapter was where I originally started the story. It was going to be an AU Relena runaway story but hopefully with a different twist to it. As I wrote, I wanted to provide history for not only Relena but the circus performers as well and did not want to do it through a series of flashbacks. Therefore, I am shooting to have the chapters mostly chronological in order with alternating locations/viewpoints. So if it is confusing at first, please just bear with me, it will hopefully become clear as time goes on. If not, let me know. ^_^

Especially since this is a slightly AU from the show, some of the people might not be in character at all times even though I try to write them as I understand each of their characters to be from the show. The OOC-ness will probably be especially true for Relena since I have given her and Milliardo an altered childhood from the show, and experience does affect one's outlook on life.

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed - I still don't own Gundam Wing or its characters and most likely never will.

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Off to Join the Circus!
Chapter 2 ~ Abandoned Again
By West Wind

The fourteen year old Milliardo opened the door to find two policemen and a lady standing there. His younger sister peeked out from behind him.

"Milliardo Dorlian?" the lady asked.

"Yes," he replied cautiously.

"May we come in?"

Milliardo looked at them warily before consenting. They sat down in the living room.

"I have some bad news for you," the lady began.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. A glance at Relena showed she felt it too. The last time he heard those words was when his birth parents were killed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dorlian were in an auto accident and did not survive."

"NO!!!" screamed Relena and through herself into her brothers embrace. "Not again!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

Milliardo sat there stoically comforting his sister with his arms wrapped protectively around her. The same words his sister sobbed running in circles in his mind. He wondered if they were cursed and why they had been dealt such a lousy fate. Did they do something to deserve this.

It was bad when they lost their first set of parents, but the Dorlans had been their god-parents and had adopted them after Mr. and Mrs. Peacecraft's death. Now they only had each other. They had no other living relatives and no more god-parents. Their future looked dark and foreboding.

Relena's tears slowed and only soft sniffling come from her as she moved away from her brother. Seeing that Relena had calmed down some, the lady continued with her job.

"Records show that you have no living relatives. Is there anyone you can stay with for the time being?" she asked gingerly.

"Mrs. Smith across the road would often watch us for our parents," offered Milliardo.

"Well, we can see if she would be willing to watch you until a foster home can be found," said the lady.

Mrs. Smith did agree to keep them until something more permanent could be arranged.

~@~

The two children stood by the grave site of their second set of parents and said their farewells. The blond haired girl clung to the silver locket around her neck, treasuring its contents. Inside the silver case was a picture of Mr. & Mrs. Dorlan, Milliardo, and herself taken only six months ago on one side and a picture of her birth parents on the other.

"We will make it through this," promised Milliardo, as he looked down on his eight year old sister. "We have to be strong."

"Promise me you will never leave me," she said.

"What ever happens you will always be with me in my heart," he replied.

Relena was not fooled by her brothers attempt to slip around her request, but she was asking the impossible and knew it, for neither of them knew what the future would hold. She accepted his promise and took what reassurance she could from it. Milliardo looked down at Relena and saw the fear lurking in the depth of her eyes.

"You know if it is in my power, I will never leave you," he said trying to comfort her.

"I know," she said followed by a deep sigh. "But, sometimes things will be outside our control. Thanks for being there," she whispered as she slipped her hand in his and gave it a small squeeze.

~@~

A few days after the funeral, a lady from child services came for them. A foster home had been found. They moved in with a couple who would take them both. At first, Mr. and Mrs. Carter were very nice, and it was a pleasant place to live. That changed after a few months. Mr. and Mrs. Carter became aggressive and impatient. Mrs. Carter would grab Relena by her long hair when she thought Relena was not listening to her attentively enough. Relena started to always put her hair up in some manner so it was not an easy target to grab and if grabbed it did not hurt as much. At night, she would sneak into Milliardo's room and cry herself asleep in his arms after telling him how miserable she was here. He had to agree, for it was no better for him. Six months after moving in with the Carters, they were removed after an investigation into the Carter's abuse of other children they had fostered. And so the cycle began….

For the next few years Relena and Milliardo were bounced around from one foster home to another but they always had each other. Relena preferred when they lived at the orphanage rather than a foster home. At the orphanage she knew what was expected of her. She did not have to learn her way around and a set of new rules or get to know new people where she was the one invading their territory. When new kids came to the orphanage, they were the ones invading her territory, and she could decide to accept or reject them. Unfortunately they were never there for more than a month before being moved to another home.

It would seem that they would no more than get settled before they were moved some place else. To Relena there did not seem to be a rhyme or reason to any of it. They just traveled the mindless circles of the system.

It would never fail. The homes they really liked were the ones they were at for the shortest amount of time, and vise versa for the ones they hated. Relena began to become withdrawn and unattached/indifferent with everyone except her brother. If she did not care about the foster parents, it would not hurt when they were moved, so she would shut the world out and not allow herself to care for anyone new in her life.

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Author's Note: It just did not turn out, as well as, I had hoped, but it gets the facts across for the story line to make since further down the line. As always, I appreciate feedback.