A Clown's Goodbye
To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone. Suzanne Gordon
Trowa looked around the circus. It was his home and he enjoyed his being there with Catherine and the animals. He loved Catherine, he really did. She had done so much for him and she took good care of him even though they were not really brother and sister.
He stepped into the lion's cage; they had been restless that night so much so they had woken him. He sat next to the largest male at his side calmly stroking his mane. The big cat seemed to lean into the touch and the other cats began to finally settle down. Trowa looked at the night sky on the Colony of L3-XP1. The artificial sun would be rising in a few hours; there was no point in returning to his tiny trailer when he could just sleep with the cats.
"Trowa," Catherine's voice woke him from where he had been leaning against the big cat's back. "Get out of there! They could have mauled you."
"They won't," Trowa said calmly, coming into wakefulness in no time.
Catherine was not happy with him, he could tell. Trowa carefully extracted himself from the group of cats and left their enclosure. He knew that he had needlessly worried her again and he felt bad for doing so. Hopefully she would not stay upset for long.
He thought back to Sylvia's vid-call from last week. He was not quiet sure what to do about it but she was right, she needed him to be on Earth and while they were not close he respected her and wanted to help. Trowa decided to call Quatre after breakfast, Quatre would have a better idea of what to do.
"I just worry Trowa," Catherine said by way of apology as they headed back to her trailer. "I don't mean to snap at you but it scared me to see you in there asleep when any one of those cats might turn on you."
"They won't though Catherine," Trowa said. "They don't mind me."
Catherine gave him a funny look but said nothing for which he was glad. It was not that he did not like speaking with her but she had never been able to understand his willingness to go into the dangerous animals' cages and feel totally at ease with them. Even their trainers were not as confident as he was and he stayed in with them longer than everyone else.
They entered into Catherine's trailer and she pulled two plates she had been keeping warm out of the oven. Trowa's had more food on it naturally since Catherine was always saying that he was too thin. Trowa cleared his plate, even eating the toast with butter on it even though he preferred his dry or with a tiny bit of strawberry jam. He took both the plates and washed them in the sink for Catherine, leaving them in the rack to air dry.
"I'm going to call Quatre," Trowa said and he left the trailer to head to his own nearby.
His trailer was small, big enough for two people to sleep in and big enough to keep his computer and a few firearms and clothing. It was always locked when he was not in it to keep people out. He especially did not want Catherine poking around in there and finding his weapons, she would accuse him of not being able to let go of his past. That was not true, he had let go of his past even though it was a part of who he was it did not control him.
He pulled out his state of the art vid-phone, a gift from Quatre and dialed the blond Arabian's office number. He was sure that Quatre would be in the office and his guess turned out to be correct.
"Hello Quatre Winner here," Quatre's face finally popped up on screen wearing a polite business smile which quickly turned into a happy grin. "Trowa! How are you?"
"I'm well," Trowa said with a slight smile. "And you Quatre?"
"I'm good," Quatre said happily. "A lot of work just like always but I'm used to that."
Trowa merely nodded. Quatre always had a lot of work; he was the head of WEI.
"I'm thinking of relocating to Earth for a while," Trowa told the blond. "But I'm still not sure if I should."
"What aren't you sure about?" Quatre asked with a gentle frown.
"Catherine and our mutual friend," Trowa said.
"Well in the case of our mutual friend I'm sure you could just send him a key and leave plenty of ration bars and water in your trailer," Quatre suggested. "As for Catherine, you'll have to make up your own mind there. Have you told her what you're thinking about?"
"No," Trowa shook his head.
"You should tell her Trowa," Quatre said softly. "It's the right thing to do."
Trowa nodded. "I will once I make up my mind."
"If you need a place to stay you're more than welcome to stay with me," Quatre offered eagerly. "I haven't seen any of you for so long."
"That would be nice," Trowa commented.
There was a long stretch of silence. It was not in any way uncomfortable just companionable.
"I think I should go and talk with Catherine," Trowa finally spoke. "I'll be leaving tonight. Is it all right if I come there straight away?"
"Of course Trowa," Quatre said enthusiastically. "I'll warn the Maguanacs ahead of time to expect you."
"Goodbye Quatre," Trowa gave a slight smile.
"Goodbye Trowa," Quatre said with a smile.
Trowa disconnected the call. He dialed another number, one he had memorized but had never called before.
"Who the hell is it?" A sleepy voice answered.
"Shinigami," Trowa said with only a hint of amusement.
"Tro, that you?" Shinigami's face came into view, violet eyes blinking the sleep from them. "Hey man what's up?"
"I'm heading to Earth for a while," Trowa informed him. "I just thought you should know. I'll mail Troy a key to my trailer for you. I'm leaving it stocked with ration bars and water if you ever need a place to hide out. Catherine will also keep you safe."
"Are you sure she doesn't hate me?" Shinigami asked with a smile.
"Positive she doesn't," Trowa said.
Shinigami nodded and cut the call. Trowa turned off his vid-phone and left his trailer and went back to Catherine's. Quatre was right; they did need to have a talk about his plans. He did not want to worry her.
Trowa approached Catherine's trailer with a bit of trepidation. He was worried about her reaction of his choice to move to Earth for a while. He still could not define how long he would be gone and he knew that she would not take that well at all. Trowa mentally berated himself for being afraid of her reaction; he would go regardless of what she thought best, he needed to do this.
Trowa knocked on the door and silently stood waiting for her to open it and invite him in. The blue door swung open and Catherine looked expectantly at Trowa before moving back up the two stairs to give Trowa room to come inside. He shut the tiny door behind him.
"You're leaving again aren't you?" Catherine asked looking sad.
"I need to," Trowa stated softly.
"Why?" Catherine demanded. "Why can't you ever just stay in one place Trowa?"
He had no answer to that. He did not know why himself.
Catherine shook her head, auburn curls getting into her face. She angrily brushed them away again.
"So, how long will you be gone this time?" Catherine asked her anger seeping quickly away but Trowa knew it would come bounding back soon enough.
"I don't know Cathy," Trowa answered.
"How can you not know?" Catherine looked at him, her eyes flashing with anger.
"I just don't," Trowa said. "There are things I need to do but I don't know how long it will take Cathy. I need to help Dorothy and some other friends. I can't stay here any longer Catherine."
Catherine sighed and nodded. She understood even though she did not want to Trowa to go.
"Will you at least call me to let you know you're all right and doing well?" Catherine asked hopefully.
"Of course," Trowa agreed. "But there is something you can do for me Cathy, something that you can't tell anyone about. Can you do that? Not tell the Preventers or anyone else?"
"I can Trowa," Catherine stated with conviction.
Trowa believed her. Catherine was nothing if not loyal, far more than he deserved from a sister. He loved her for it.
"If you see Duo Maxwell around here hide him," Trowa said slowly and quietly. "I've sent him a key to my trailer. If he ever shows up for any reason to use it let him. Can you do that?"
He never added any words that made her feel like she would be doing this for him. He did not want her to feel forced to do it out of her love and protectiveness for him. That would make him feel even worse and he felt bad enough over leaving her for an extended period of time. Trowa could not help but worry for her and he knew that she would be doing the same for him.
"I'll do it," Catherine promised. "But can you tell me why?"
"It's really complicated Cathy," Trowa shook his head. "I don't want you involved any more than you need to be. It's too dangerous and the less you know the safer you'll be."
Catherine nodded. She could accept that. At least this time her brother was giving her something to do, letting her in on an important task. It was something he had never done before and even though she knew next to nothing she still knew more than she had the other two times Trowa had left.
"When do you leave?" Catherine asked as Trowa turned for the door.
"Tonight," Trowa told her turning back around. "I'll be staying with Quatre for a while."
Catherine nodded. She gave him a tight hug, holding him close. Trowa put his arms lightly around her. He could smell the shampoo she used as her auburn curls tickled under his nose. She smelled like flowers, always like flowers. He liked that about her, it was comforting.
Trowa went back to his own trailer. He packed a duffle bag full of clothes. He did not take much. Trowa knew Quatre well enough to know that the blond Arabian would insist on loading him down with part of a new wardrobe and whatever else he needed. He did not depend on the generosity nor did he need it but Quatre liked to do little things like that for his friends and Trowa would not deprive him of the need to feel needed. Everyone required that sometimes.
Trowa caught a cab to the shuttle port. He paid for his ticket in cash and waited around for an hour before boarding the shuttle that would take him to Earth. He was looking forward to seeing Quatre and he planned to call Sylvia once he was settled.
He leaned back in his seat, preparing for the long shuttle ride. There was a stop over briefly in South Africa before continuing on to New Capitol in what had formally been part of France and Italy. He felt safe sleeping on the shuttle. He was traveling under his circus identity of Triton Bloom and there were no pictures of the Gundam Pilots that had been released to the press.
Several long hours later he was shaken awake by a smiling stewardess.
"Excuse me Mr. Bloom," The stewardess said politely. "We're about to enter the atmosphere and land in South Africa for our stop over. Please fasten your –"
Before she could complete the standard phrase the shuttle suddenly received a violent jolt. Trowa stood like a shot and looked around the shuttle. He noticed that two of the other stewardesses up in the front were looking worriedly at the cockpit. Trowa frowned to himself. He had felt the pilot veer off course slightly and have to correct himself numerous times while he had been dozing. He could tell that whoever the pilot was they were not at all experienced.
"Mr. Bloom please remain in your seat," The stewardess looked agitated.
Trowa shook her soft hand off his arm and strode towards the cockpit. The stewardess followed demanding he go back to his seat and put on his belt. The shuttle gave another hard jerk and Trowa anchored an arm around the stewardess, planting his feet firmly. He hardly moved and then the shuttle stabilized itself.
"He's going to kill us all," Trowa said dispassionately. "His alignment for re-entry is too far off. He'll burn us during re-entry."
Several of the passengers began to panic. Trowa resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There was still time to correct the problem, if he could get himself into the cockpit and behind the pilot's chair.
"Keep them calm," Trowa instructed her.
The girl nodded, happy to have something to do. The other two stewardesses looked at him as he approached the cockpit door. He stared at the security panel that controlled the lock and wished for Shinigami to be there with his tools but Trowa had learned a few things from him.
He pried the cover off and stared hard at the multitude of wires behind it. Carefully he unplugged one of the blue wires and stripped it with his teeth stilling briefly as the shuttle gave yet another violent lurch. He then took one of the yellow wires and repeated the process and then took a red one stripping it as well. He crossed them together and heard the lock click to open the door. He pulled the cockpit door open and stared at the captain and co-pilot who were tied up and unconscious.
Trowa silently moved into the cockpit. He finally saw two armed men seated in the chairs, hard looks of concentration on their faces.
"The boss will be happy to see us," The one in the captains chair said.
"If we get there alive," The second retorted.
"We will," The first said. "I took some classes remember?"
"Classes aren't enough you moron," Trowa stated calmly.
The two turned in surprise. Trowa punched out the one flying the shuttle first. The second paled when he saw how easily his companion went down. Before he could try and deflect the same blow it landed on the side of his face. Trowa removed them both from their seats.
"Could the two of you please come here for a moment?" Trowa asked sticking his head outside the cockpit.
The two confused stewardesses stood and came timidly over. They both paled in shock when they saw the pilot and co-pilot were unconscious as were the two other men.
"I want you to find some zip-ties and bind up these two men and then one of you needs to look after the pilot and co-pilot," Trowa instructed calmly.
"But who's going to land the shuttle?" One worriedly asked. "Re-entry has already begun."
"I will," Trowa said the words softly as he turned back and placed himself in the pilot's chair.
He stared at the readings of altitude and their angle and rate of descent. He adjusted the angle and slowed their rate slightly. He held the yoke tightly in his hands. He knew that even with his corrections it was going to be a bumpy re-entry. The idiot who had been piloting the shuttle had screwed it up too badly for him to correct for a perfect landing now.
Trowa stayed calm keeping a tight hold.
"It's going to be bumpy," He called back to the stewardesses. "Secure your captain and co-pilot and make sure all the passengers are in their seats with their belts on."
The two nodded. They moved the captain and co-pilot into the deadhead seats, fastening the belts around them before leaving to check on the passengers. Trowa held the yoke as steady as he could. He did not have much margin for error. A few minutes later and the ordeal was over. He looked at his hands, they were not even clammy.
He plotted the correct course for South Africa.
"Excuse me," Trowa called out again and one of the stewardesses appeared. "What shuttle port are we supposed to land at?"
"Johannesburg," The stewardess answered.
"Thank you," Trowa nodded before adjusting a few things on the controls.
He piloted the shuttle and landed it at Johannesburg after telling the control tower what had taken place they had given him the clearance for an emergency landing. Trowa grabbed his bag from the overhead compartment above his seat. Several of the passengers cheered when they were sure the shuttle had stopped moving.
"Thank you so much Mr. Bloom," A stewardess said.
"I don't want thanks," Trowa said. "I just want to get out of here and on my way to my destination."
The stewardess looked a little shocked but she nodded, "There's an emergency ladder this way."
She took him to a food preparation area and opened the hatch for him tossing down the ladder. Trowa nodded gratefully and disappeared down it quickly. He got away before the emergency crews were all over it.
Trowa entered the shuttle port and caught his connecting flight to New Capitol. There were no problems on this flight but he wondered about the two men who had attempted to hijack the shuttle. He caught a cab to Quatre's arriving late that same night. Rashid opened the door and brought him inside.
"How are you Master Trowa?" Rashid asked. "We discovered the attempted shuttle hijacking and worried for you but you made it here in one piece."
"Trowa," Quatre yelled when he spotted the taller boy.
The blond Arabian walked up quickly and clasped his arm in a friendly gesture.
"You did a great thing with that shuttle earlier today you know," Quatre smiled. "But I understand your reluctance to avoid publicity. If I could I would probably avoid it as well. Come, I'd like you to meet some of my sisters."
Trowa followed after Quatre into a large office room. A large table with chairs stood on one side of the room. The other side held state of the art communications and electronic equipment as well as a rather large desk with plenty of filing cabinets and along with three other smaller desks. The room itself would have held a little more than fifty people.
"Trowa this is Naadira she heads WEI here on Earth for me," Quatre began introductions. "She's also the oldest of us. This is my sister Sumiya; she is vice-chairperson of WEI on Earth. Next to her is Jaffa the third eldest and family matriarch. And this is Lilah."
Trowa studied Naadira. She had black hair and tan skin but bright green eyes. Sumiya had black hair, white skin and blue eyes. Jaffa had brown hair, skin and eyes. Lilah looked quite a bit like Quatre only her hair was light brown but their eyes were almost exactly the same.
"I'm Trowa Barton," Trowa introduced himself.
Trowa looked over at Quatre who merely smiled and nodded.
"We fought in the wars together," Trowa finished.
Naadira and Jaffa both gave him gentle smiles while the other two sisters nodded in understanding.
"Now we're all here to discuss Dorothy Catalonia," Quatre said briskly taking a seat and Trowa seated himself beside the blond. "Naddira, Sumiya can WEI be used in any way to benefit her?"
"We could hire a WEI lawyer to work with her own attorney," Sumiya suggested.
"We could use the media as well," Naadira added. "A WEI spokesperson could give interviews on WEI's stance on this issue. And if you wanted Quatre we could refuse to do business with anyone who support's Dodd's cause to try Dorothy Catalonia."
"That would certainly send a strong message," Quatre said. "I think we should use that at a later date however. We'll use the media and see if Nils is receptive to receiving help from a WEI lawyer."
The two sisters nodded.
"I think perhaps we should hold a formal party at the mansion just outside New Capitol," Jaffa said. "We can weed out the socialites who are in favor of seeing this whole thing dropped and perhaps see if we can use them in any way."
"I've checked with a few businesses and old WEI contacts," Lilah added. "Bergen supports us but my inquiries haven't gotten anything else very solid yet."
"Thank you Lilah," Quatre said with a smile. "I appreciate it."
Lilah gave her brother a gentle smile. Trowa liked all of Quatre's sisters whenever he met one of them and these four were no exception.
"Quatre," Trowa said quietly. "There's someone I need to call to check in and tell them I arrived safely."
"Of course," Quatre said. "Well I guess we're done here for the evening. We'll get together and discuss things a little more over breakfast."
The four sisters nodded and left smiling shyly at Trowa. Jaffa came up and gave him a gentle clasp on the arm and said again that she was pleased to have met one of Quatre's friends. Quatre stood by the doorway and hugged and kissed each of his sisters on the cheek. After they left he shut the door and turned the lock behind them.
"Are you calling our mutual friend?" Quatre asked turning back to Trowa.
"Yes," Trowa nodded. "There was something strange about that attempted shuttle hijacking."
Quatre looked thoughtful, "The room is sound proofed and that phone on my desk is safe to use. Do you mind if I stay or would you prefer to be alone when you call our friend?"
"No you can stay Quatre," Trowa said heading over to the desk. "Let's give our friend a call."
Quatre walked over and pulled another chair around the other side of his desk and took a seat. Trowa dialed the number from memory and they both waited patiently while the call connected. After a few seconds the phone was answered by Shinigami and he was looking very much awake and agitated.
"Hey guys," Shinigami said forcing a grin on his face. "What's up?"
"I have news for you," Trowa said evenly. "I was taking a shuttle to Earth yesterday. We were to land in South Africa. As both of you know I use the name Triton Bloom for my public persona so I dosed on the shuttle ride. I noticed almost right from the beginning that the pilot didn't seem too experienced which seemed strange since re-entry can be a tricky thing. During the beginning of re-entry the shuttle began lurching and I knew that we were coming in at the wrong angle and most likely wouldn't survive it so I broke into the cockpit. Inside were two hijackers, they had drugged the captain and co-pilot. They were discussing how pleased their boss would be that they had hijacked the shuttle and people on board successfully."
"I don't know anything about that," Shinigami frowned. "I heard about the attempted hijacking of course but I had no idea it was you who foiled it Tro. You slipped away. Good for you."
"Is someone trying to start something?" Quatre asked. "I can tell you know something Shinigami."
"I was going to report it to you soon Quatre, in the regular report," Shinigami looked irritated but not at either of them. "There's something strange going on with Colony A-00132. I can't get any information on the mysterious benefactor. We've even tried getting people on the construction crew. They won't hire anyone from L2. And the two people we managed to get on from my Earth operations were killed in 'accidents' shortly after reaching the Colony."
"Keep your eye on it Shinigami," Quatre ordered. "I'll do the same from my end and we can collaborate anything we find out."
Shinigami merely nodded. Trowa did not like the sound of this one bit. He thought it was highly suspicious.
"I can go and join the construction," Trowa offered. "Infiltration is what I'm best at."
"No Tro," Shinigami shook his head. "I've got a few suspicions about this guy. And if I'm right I don't want any of you up on that Colony."
"What are you talking about?" Quatre frowned, blue eyes clouded with worry.
"Just some thoughts Q-man," Shinigami brushed the question off. "Nothing solid yet and I hope I'm wrong but I don't want to take any chances, especially not with one of us. I have a contact with the Preventers. I'll see if I can get information from them. If not I'll ask you to talk with Une and see if we can make it official."
Quatre nodded. Even Trowa could see the sense in that. They spoke a little more before disconnecting. Trowa made his way to his room and Quatre did as well.
The L3 Pilot lay awake for several hours in his bed staring into the dark and thinking about all the many things that could go wrong with the peace. Wufei was right; they had a mission to stand up as heroes. He would be damned if he would let the people forget what the Pilots had done for them this early on after Dekim Barton.