Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Chapter 2: Raw and worn

For a while, Trowa wondered if up and disappearing was the best idea, but he covered his tracks well. He heard from Duo that Catherine was worried about him, but he had Duo send along a message of good will. He felt a little better after that, but not by much, and his guilt would nag at him endlessly.

He sold his car after a few days of driving, which gave him enough money to live well until he figured out what he wanted to do. Duo kept asking him to come and stay with them on L2, but Trowa was not ready to go back and live there again. Something about traveling on his own was liberating, and the solitude was strangely comforting.

He knew that he needed to find some security, something he could apply himself to. He had been against joining the Preventers for some time, but it seemed rather appealing when he passed by a recruiting station in one of the larger, more urban cities. He laughed to himself, realizing that he would have nothing to loose by joining. He knew that me might run into people he knew, but the idea seemed non-threatening. The girl behind the desk watched him with sharp eyes while he filled out the paperwork. She looked it over as he turned it in, and then looked at him with a smile.

"Everything is in order, please follow me," she lead him through several hallways and doors until they reached a garage with busses; several men and women were about with their belongings, "you will be heading out with this group. The bus will take you to an airfield where you will be sent to our headquarters on L2. From there you shall receive your training and assignment."

"Thank you."

"Do you have prior training?" she asked quickly.

"You could say that." He smirked in reply. She looked at him shrewdly for a moment, and chuckled.

"Just have security check your gun before you leave Earth." Trowa watched her leave, and then he found a place near the bus where he sat and relaxed. All of the other people present were very much unlike him. Most of them were middle-aged men, there were a few women in their twenties, and only a couple of teenagers. Most of them looked very worn, their features were cut and raw by hard years. Trowa wondered why none of the other Gundam pilots looked that way. Perhaps war, as terrible as it was, did not have the same effect on them. He would see that tired look on Quatre from time to time, but that made sense to him. Quatre was the only one of them who had a relatively good childhood. He had something to loose; he had innocence. Thinking on Quatre so deeply disheartened Trowa a little, so he dropped the subject in his mind.

The bus driver and the receptionist came through the doors an hour later with three other recruits. Everyone was ushered onto the bus for a three-hour ride to the airfield. Trowa's cell phone began ringing about halfway through the trip. Duo was on the other line.

"Heero wants to know where you are off to."

"Sometimes I wonder how he knows that I'm moving," Trowa was glad to hear a friendly voice, "I guess you can tell him that I am going to space."

"So you've agreed to visit?" There was excitement in his voice.

"No," Trowa let out a slight sigh, "I am joining the Preventers."

"Oh," Duo sounded a little disappointed, "well, at least I will know where you are instead of having to guess."

"Duo, you sound almost motherly."

"Shut the Hell up, Barton," Duo said indignantly, "I'd be the scariest fucking mother you've ever seen." Trowa had to bite his lip to keep from laughing loudly.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Duo sighed, "just give us a call when you get settled."

"Alright, I will, goodbye Duo."

"Goodbye." Trowa put the phone back in his pocket. He amused himself by imagining Heero and Duo as his father and mother. He knew they would kill him if they heard about his little goof on them, but it lifted his spirits.

The flight into space felt all too familiar to Trowa. There were a few passengers who had never been to space before, and he thought it was funny that they were so scared. When they arrived at the bas at L2, they were lead into a briefing room where, lo and behold, stood Lady Une and Lucrezia Noin. He watched them during the briefing, surprised by how much they had changed. Lady Une looked calm and ravishing, her face bright and her movements full of energy. Noin, on the other hand, had that raw look about her. She was still very beautiful, but she looked deadly serious and worn. When she noticed Trowa, a look of surprise came over her features. Trowa had certainly grown up; at twenty-one years old, he was still lithe and limber, but he had grown a little taller and filled out. Lucrezia found herself staring for a moment before turning away. He had the same, dauntless stance that Milliardo was all too good at.

"We will call you into the office one at a time, alphabetically by last name," Une concluded, "we will go over your paperwork and history, and then send you onto your next step as Preventers recruits." She and Noin left into an office after calling the first name. Luckily, it did not take long to get to the name Barton. He slid into the office and took a seat in front of the two women.

"I never thought I would see you here, 03." Lady Une smiled.

"Please, call me Trowa," he replied, "I don't really care for the nickname anymore."

"I'm sorry about that, Trowa."

"It's alright."

"So, why are you here?" Noin asked, "I thought you were avoiding joining."

"I need a home," he smirked, "I figured you would take in a stray." Noin's eyes narrowed until she realized that he was making fun of himself and not the organization.

"Well, I already have your assignment for you," Lady Une handed him a folder, "I am sending you over to Mars base for enforcement of the peace. I figured with your experience, you could skip the training."

"So, I'm a space-cop?" Trowa asked innocently. Noin laughed, and for a moment, Trowa saw her raw visage wash away. It made him smile.

"Sort of," Noin answered, "and it is only to start on. Besides, some of our best are in that division, so you should fit right in." Trowa was sent through all of the procedures of graduating trainees shortly afterward. He received his uniforms, suits, ID, and standard issue weaponry. He was glad that he was allowed to keep the gun Heero gave him as well. He left to the hangar where other graduates were waiting to go on their first assignments. Lady Une and Noin were there again, ready to see them off.

"It is proper procedure," Noin began, "as well as part of our telecommunications and data offices to give each new officer a code name that they shall be addressed as and identified by. As I call your name, step forward to receive your ID tags, card, and subsequent code name." Trowa's name came up quickly; he stepped forward and saluted.

"Trowa Barton," Noin smiled while handing him his ID and tags, "from this day on, you shall be known to the Preventers as Oracle." Trowa stepped back into line after another salute. He slipped the tags and their chain around his neck and tucked the card into his uniform pocket. He was not sure about the name Oracle, it made him feel uneasy as he remembered myths from ancient Greece where oracles, although important, were generally the bearers of bad news.

"More than one bullet," he mumbled to himself on the flight to Mars, "does the world really need another Oracle?"