Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters (not even Fluffy, Trowa's lion… )
Chapter 5
Great, now which way did he go. . .this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so stupid as to run right after him like I had a fire in my pants! Rachel thought to herself in annoyance. Then a thought popped in her mind. She stopped and ran up to one of the people walking down the street.
"Excuse me, but can you tell me, is there a circus in town?" She said to a mother walking with a little girl.
"Yes, it's just outside of town in the eastern meadow." The woman said, pointing down the road in the general direction.
"Thank you!" Rachel said, and took off down the road.
Ha, think you're so smart, you didn't expect me to know where you hide out, did you? Rachel thought with a grin on her face.
"Hey Trowa, what's the big hurry?" A tall young woman with curly auburn hair and blue eyes said. The young boy stopped running and looked at the girl, saying, "I thought I'd be late for practice. Sorry about the groceries, Catherine, I might have lost a few on the run over." Trowa said as he handed her a crumpled paper bag. She stared at it with wide eyes as she looked gingerly through the produce, saying, "Good grief, you'd think that someone was chasing you!" Trowa didn't respond as he walked into the big tent. Catherine turned to him and yelled, "Hey, the boss wants you suited up and ready for the next show in 30 minutes!" As Trowa entered the changing room and began to undress to put his costume on, he heard talking outside the door and quietly pressed his ear against it to listen in.
"Excuse me, are you Catherine?"
"Yes, may I help you?"
"I was looking for someone, I think he dropped this."
"OH! My celery! Thank you!"
How did she find me? Trowa thought to himself as he backed away from the door.
"He should be in here changing, let me check. knock knock Hey, Trowa, you in there?" Catherine knocked on the dressing room door and Trowa looked for a way to escape. He ran for one of the curtain walls and ducked under the bottom edge of it just as Catherine opened the door.
"Trowa? I guess he's not in here. . ." Catherine looked back and found herself alone.
Huh? Where'd she go? Catherine thought as she looked back and forth in confusion at the empty tent.
"Trowa! Wait!" Rachel ran after the fleeing boy as he took off toward the lion cages. He quickly opened the cage door and jumped in, one of the lions getting up and walking up to him. Trowa faced Rachel as she froze and stared wide-eyed at him.
"Why are you chasing me? And how in the world did you find me?" Trowa asked, sounding a little shook up as he slowly stroked the lion's mane. Taking her focus off of the ferocious looking cat, she looked Trowa in the eyes and said, "My name is Rachel and I'm a friend of the other gundam pilots. We need your help!"
"Gundam pilots? Who are they? And what's a gundam?" Trowa said, trying to play dumb with his calm voice.
"Don't act like you don't know, you very well know! You're-" She looked around and said in a hushed voice, "You're the pilot of the Heavyarms Gundam. You were recently in a full assault on an OZ base but something went terribly wrong, more so than you think. Please, you have to trust me, Trowa, I'm not a spy or secret agent or whatever you probably think I am. I'm just an ordinary girl who just happened across three nice-mostly nice-gundam pilots who are in a heck of a lot of trouble! You remember Quatre Winner, don't you? You met him once a while ago." Trowa seemed to be a bit more serious as he stepped out of the cage and closed the door. Stepping up to her, still half-dressed from earlier, he said, "And how do I know you're not lying?"
"I. . .I honestly don't have anything I could say that would convince you, other than my word. I don't know if you noticed him or not but there was a boy most likely running after me. He's one of the Gundam pilots that I'm with, his name is Duo Maxwell and he pilots the Deathscythe. We were just stopping by the city for a few repairs and a catch up on the news about the war; Quatre and another of the pilots, Heero Yuy, are back in the docking station working on our cargo planes. By now they're probably looking for me because I disappeared and, well, frankly. . .Heero would rather not let me out of his sight. You can say we didn't get off on the right foot. If you don't believe me, then go look for yourself!"
"And you expect me to just walk over there and, possibly, right into a trap? I don't think any half-minded person would fall for such an old trick." Trowa crossed his arms. With a sigh, Rachel thought, man, he's a lot more stubborn than he looks on the show! What am I gonna do?
"Fine, don't come. I guess I'll just have to tell them that you didn't want to help. Go put your little clown mask on and give a few people some thrills while you can but when those OZ soldiers come and burn this city to the ground, it won't be our fault if you can't stop them by yourself. And when you fire your last round of ammunition at them, I hope you remember this and think how STUPID it was of you to act like a stuck up brat, just before you get slaughtered by the onslaught of mobile suits heading this way. Go on; go back to your hiding! This world doesn't need people like you defending it." In a fit of rage, she turned and stormed across the field back toward the city. Trowa stared slightly wide-eyed at her back, a little set back by her speech and completely at a loss of words.
"Where could she be! Oh why did she have to go running off like that. . ." Duo said as he walked along, looking desperately around at the crowd, feeling more and more hopeless every time he passed someone who he thought was Rachel.
"Maybe she'll make her way back, I'm sure she wouldn't have gone too far in a city like this." Quatre said, searching as well.
"She's not from here, Quatre! She could be in trouble and I can't do a thing about it!" Duo yelled suddenly. Quatre blinked and looked wide-eyed at Duo's angry face. Slowly, Duo heaved a sigh and hung his head, saying, "I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. It's just that. . .I really. . .I. . ." Quatre put a hand on Duo's shoulder and said with a sympathetic smile, "I'm sure she'll turn up sometime. Maybe if we asked a few people if they saw her, we might find her a little faster."
"I guess it's worth a try." Duo said, trying to smile. They started weaving through the crowds, asking every person they could if they had seen their friend.
"Excuse me, but have you seen a girl with long brown hair, a little taller than me?"
"Hey, can you help me, mister, I'm looking for a chick with brown hair and brown eyes, she ran through here earlier. . ."
"Please, ma'am, can you tell me if you saw a pretty brown haired girl about 5 and half feet tall run by here?"
"Did you see her? A girl? Brown hair? Awe, come on!" As Duo and Quatre ran from person to person, they seemed to lose more and more hope in ever finding their friend.
"Please, I really need to find her, she's never been out on her own before and-" Duo almost felt like crying when the person he was asking pointed across the street and said, "Is that her?" He whipped his head around and screamed, "RACHEL!" he didn't even bother to thank the person as he bolted through the crowds and ran up to the furious looking girl scowling at the sidewalk. His insanely happy smile disappeared as he said, "Rachel? What happened? Are you okay?" She looked up and glared at Duo, saying, "How could he be a Gundam pilot, he doesn't care about anyone but himself."
"Rachel, you're back!" Quatre said happily as he ran up to them, his smile fading as well when he saw her expression. She looked at him next and said, "Let's just go, it's not worth it staying here. . ." She started to walk again when Duo grabbed her arm and said, "Wait, do you know where he is though? You talked to him, right?" She ripped her arm free and said, "Yes I know where he is! He's a heartless clown in the circus! Right now he's out there hiding behind his mask trying to pretend to be someone he isn't, making people gasp in awe at his AMAZING show! But that's all it is, a show! That's ALL!" She felt like crying in frustration her knuckles turning white from her fists being so tightly clenched in front of her as she looked like she was choking Trowa's neck in her mind. As she huffed and grit her teeth to hold in another outburst, Duo calmly reached up and took hold of her fists, lowering them and said, "Rachel, you have to understand, he's a gundam pilot. We're not exactly well liked superheroes that get called into the line of duty whenever a person stubs their toe. You can't blame him for not jumping up and following you, that's just not how we were trained to act in a war situation. But maybe if you take us back there he'll listen to us, after all, he's met Quatre before so he has to believe you then. Please, help us find him."
"Why, he's. . .he's a brat." She said, lowering her voice as she watched the crowds stare. Duo noticed the eyes on them as well and took Rachel around the shoulders, walking in the direction she had come from with Quatre at their side.
"Well, so's Heero but we kind of need his talent and skill to stop these OZ guys. You can understand that, can't you?"
"I guess. But. . .why did he have to be so rude. . ." Rachel pouted and she crossed her arms and frowned.
"I'm sure he'll apologize when we tell him you weren't lying, he can't be that rude." Quatre said, trying to bring some optimism to the situation. Rachel sighed and said, "Fine. But they have a show starting in 15 minutes, so we'd have to wait till afterwards."
"Great, I could use some fun before we head back out to battle. Maybe they'll have cotton candy. . ." Duo said with a grin, trying to cheer Rachel up a little.
"And now, the amazing Catherine and her assistant Trowa!" The ringmaster yelled for the entire crowd to Ooo and ah at the knife throwing. Duo stuffed popcorn in his mouth as he watched Catherine land a few close to Trowa's face.
"Wow, she almost nailed him on that one!" Duo whispered to Rachel. She wasn't smiling. While the crowd cheered on the show, she stared at Trowa's deadpan face. But something kept her interested in watching him. While everything went on around him, he seemed to almost be in another world, daydreaming. Either that or still thinking about what she said to him. That made her feel a little better. At least her speech had hit through the mask he wore in front of her. Putting a few popcorn puffs in her mouth, she boredly flicked one into the air, catching Trowa's attention. Snapping out of his trance, he glanced over at her, his eyes going a bit wide as if he hadn't expected to see her again. She sarcastically smiled and waved.
"gasp Trowa, you moved!" Catherine hissed. Just now noticing, Trowa found a knife by his cheek pinning a lock of his hair to the wall, also leaving a slice in his skin where blood was now slowly trickling out. It was the last knife so he was unlocked from his shackles and he stepped forward to bow, the crowd still gasping and murmuring about the cut. As Trowa bowed, he glanced back into the crowd to find his visitors gone. Trowa walked off the stage and behind a curtain, finding the missing audience members waiting for him by the dressing room. His eyes fell a bit and he walked over to the three teens, one of which shoved the last of his popcorn into his mouth and munched away on it.
"Nice knife show, Trowa." Duo mumbled around the half chewed popcorn mush. He stopped in front of them and scanned their faces, stopping on Rachel's. She was staring at him with a cold look in her eyes, in hatred he thought, but she said, "You cut yourself." He gently touched his cheek and said in a quiet voice, "I lost some hair on that one."
"Are you free for now or is there a show coming up soon?" Quatre asked. He looked at the blonde haired boy and said, "You're Quatre, right?"
"Yes, I see you remember me." Looking again at Rachel and wiping the blood from his cheek, he said, "Yeah I'm free, I can tell the boss I'm taking off for a while. Joe can replace me while I'm away."
"Trowa! What happened out there? Why did you move!" Catherine came running up to him and stopped by his side, then looked over at the guests.
"I have to go away for a while, tell the master to replace me with Joe. I'll be back." Trowa said in a low voice.
"What? Where are you going?" Catherine said, looking worried.
"It's alright, we'll have him back in one piece for ya in no time!" Duo said with a grin. Trowa walked toward them and Catherine said, "But Trowa!"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Trowa said to her over his shoulder in a gentle voice. She sighed and then turned to the teenagers, saying, "You better bring him back in one piece or else you'll have me to deal with!" Rachel smiled at her comment. She always acted protective of Trowa, and Rachel knew why. After a few minutes, Trowa was changed and ready to go. He said goodbye to Catherine and followed them back to the city. As they walked through the crowds, Rachel could feel Trowa's gaze on the back of her neck.
Geez, is he gonna stare at me the whole way there! Rachel thought as she got more annoyed than angry at Trowa. They entered the docking bay to find Heero sitting in Quatre and Duo's plane.
"Hey man, what are you doing over here?" Duo asked as they walked up to him. Heero looked like he was in a killing mood.
"I figured out what the engine troubles really were. The plane can't take the weight of my gundam, it's too old to carry anything more than crates." Heero said with a grunt of annoyance.
"Oh great, how do we get out of here now! We can't take the gundam out, someone will see it and get suspicious!" Duo whispered, in case anyone was listening.
"I know that, that's why I bought us another plane."
"B-bought? With what!"
"I sold them the other plane."
"Okay, that's great but. . .how do we get the gundam into the new plane without someone seeing it, genius!" Rachel stepped forward and said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, "Um, it's already in the other plane, guys."
"What?" All the guys turned and stared at her.
"Who moved it?" Quatre asked as Heero ran out to check. She shrugged and looked at the hangar ceiling. Trowa stared at her in wonder as Quatre walked into the cockpit and said, "Well, in any case, we need to go stop by wherever Trowa has his gundam stored and pick it up."
"Where'd ya stash it, T-man?" Duo asked.
"At the circus, it's hiding under the tarp on one of the transport vehicles." Trowa said, still staring at Rachel.
"Hey, Quatre, you know the way back to the circus?" Duo said as he ran into the cockpit to tell the pilot where to go. Rachel and Trowa exchanged stares for a few seconds until Trowa said in his usual calm voice, "I guess you weren't lying after all."
"I guess so." She stepped up to him and touched his cheek, saying, "That looks pretty bad." She pulled her hand away and walked into the cockpit to join the other boys. Trowa's eyes followed her as he reached up to touch his cut. He blinked in surprise.
"Huh? Where'd it go?" His hand fell and he stared blankly at the cockpit door.
Did she do that? But. . .how. . .
