Hey-o, and welcome to my Lil' World of Weirdness!!
I state for the record that I don't own Gundam Wing, or the wonderful characters that will be gracing this story. . . I do however lay claim to Ensign Saratone *again*, and I use him here purely as a replacement for your average Nameless OZ Minion. Other Characters I lay claim to are Faye Bloom, the wizened old man, Chang Xiao Fao Lan, and the Angels.
Let's just say . . . when my writer's block breaks, it's like a dam breaking . . . [shakes head slowly and winces]
Parings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xM, 6x9, 13xUne. OdinxHelen
Okay, that's the legal stuff out the way!!
Please ENJOY AND PLEASE R&R!!! THANK YOU!!
Also, thanks to my beloved Bluegoo for her ever wonderful betareading, I thank her for the many hours that she has put in with me on this one, be it correcting my terrible grammar and spelling, or listening to me mumbling large chunks of it down the phone to her . . . You're great, Blue!! Even if you are Commander and Chief of the Apostrophe Gestapo . . . [Ducks and runs off, screaming over shoulder] GO READ AND REVIEW HER STORIES!! Also, I wanna say 'Fuma in his Leathaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!' to Cucumber Faye, and that I'll miss her while she's away, hope all goes well . . . [shrugs] what? She's going for a whole WEEEEEEEEEK!!
//Thinking//
"Speaking"
*Stress/Emphasis*
Writing/Dream sequence
~*~
For The Grace Of Knights And Angels
By Doctor Megalomania
Arch One: Bonds Made And Renewed
Part Three: Faded Memories
"Who are you?"
Her shoulders tensed at Wufei's demand, but she made no move. No threatening move. She apparently realised that she needed to keep her hands where they could clearly see them. She was tall, tanned, with thick, soft looking hair. It was a similar colour to Trowa's, and it spilled down her back. Thin gold bangles, hundreds of them, encircled her forearms. Her ears were pierced several times, simply gold hoops hanging from them. She wore a loose wire circle around her neck, which held several small gold trinkets.
She turned the page. Shifted her feet.
One ankle had a multitude of bracelets, which tinkled musically, the other bare. Both feet encased in soft looking slippers, with worn hard soles. Her skirt, or skirts – it was hard to tell in the dim light of the darkened office – were ankle length, but pulled up as she sat, she wore a shawl, and a bandana tied into her unruly hair. Trowa knew she was a performer, knew she was of the circus tradition simply by the colours she wore.
She hummed quietly, and turned. Her eyes were dark, shaded from view. Quatre reached out and touched the light switch, all poised against her. She smiled and gazed at each of them earnestly. "I owe you no harm; I wish to speak with my lost children." She stood, her top tied at the middle to reveal her mid-drift. Her accent was deeply German, but her English was perfectly clear. "I was led to find him here."
"Really?" Duo questioned slowly, and stepped closer, "Why's that?"
"I've been dead for seventeen years." She shrugged, her deep green eyes settled on Trowa. "I want to know if he can remember me."
"Who are you, honestly?" Wufei questioned, as she raised her bangled hands in a show of surrender.
"My name is Faye Bloom, I am looking for a girl who would be approximately . . ." She trailed off, an unfocused look coming over her eyes as she counted, "Twenty . . . twenty-three, twenty four now . . ." Focus came back, with a hint of sadness, Faye lowered her hands, and continued, "She is called Catherine, Catherine Bloom . . . she would be an acrobat or a knife thrower in the circus." The woman smiled, and winked, "I would hope . . . her hair would be like my husband's dark and densely curled, her eyes blue." The woman paused, swallowing. "I am also looking for my son."
She paused, and broke eye contact, looking to the window to gather herself. "He would be eighteen going on nineteen now, he is called Triton . . . tall and with the same green eyes as myself. He would have brown, unruly hair, also an acrobat or . . ." She smiled, "No, he wouldn't be able to throw the knives, we never . . ." She sat down again, "We never got the chance."
Trowa stared at the woman, and didn't return any of Quatre's questioning glances. He stepped forward, and knelt in front of her, "Are you suggesting . . ." He frowned, "That I am your son?"
She blinked, a perfect tear sliding down her cheek. "Only if . . ." She stared hard into his eyes, "You remember where you were found, what clothes you were found in . . . and if you have a burn scar or memory of a severe burn to your back . . ." She twisted, and pointed to a point just above one of her hips, "Here." Trowa's eyebrows knitted, and the woman continued, "You were found in a field, a grassy field near many cart tracks, on L3, the second colony's wheat fields. You were a toddler, a very quiet child . . . wearing a pair of satin performer's shorts, and a backward, large red t-shirt . . . it had a large yellow star on the back, therefore it would have been on your front." The woman paused, her eyes quickly scanning his face, "Short hair and a ring through your right ear."
"The burn." Trowa continued to stare at her, his emotions veiled. "Explain the burn."
Her eyes slid closed as if remembering, "The cart was moving fast . . . the mobile battle had crashed into the big tent . . . and many of our people and hundreds of our animals were dead . . . we had only our trailer carts to escape in, our larger vehicles already destroyed." She clenched her hands, "There was only one road, and the battle was following behind us . . . we had no choice but to ride as fast as we could. The cart we were in was packed, our small family were riding in the back . . ." She swallowed, "Your father was holding your sister, I was holding you. One of the mobile suits exploded near us, and debris bounced off the covers. The side nearest us was set alight."
The other pilots had long since closed the door, and were sitting nearby, trying to give their friend silent support, but at the same time, realising he needed a little space to take this in . . . if it was true.
"My skirts . . ." She lifted one side of them, "They caught fire and it burnt you. We managed to put it out but . . ." She sighed, "I can still remember the screams of your sister . . . she thought you were dying . . ."
The woman opened her eyes again, and looked at him with a true dignity.
"Well . . ." She swallowed and glanced at the others, she nodded once. Quatre felt a stab of pain from her, she was so sad and desperate and yet . . . he looked at her, her steady countenance showed only her strength.
"I am looking for my son, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy, his name is Triton Bloom. I am looking for my daughter, a woman of twenty-three or twenty four years of age, her name is Catherine Bloom." The woman held her head higher, "I don't care if this is L3 or not—"
"You don't know where you are?"
Faye Bloom shook her head; her jewellery jangling with a sweet sound, her eyes watery as she stared Quatre in the eye. "All I know is that our cart hit a land mine . . . it exploded, I saw my husband was dead, my daughter was in front of me and I . . . I . . ." The woman choked and stood, pacing to the window. Her every step like music. Her voice was quiet, as she continued, "I was trying to reach her . . . when-when we were riding . . . we'd hit a small mine . . . I-I-I lost Triton, and he landed in the mud . . ." Faye shook her head, "We couldn't go back . . . they wouldn't let me go . . . I remember this too well . . . I was trying to reach her and then . . ." She collected herself, "I open my eyes and find myself here . . . with the strongest feeling that I would find my son here and he would be able to lead me to my daughter . . ."
"You don't know why you know it, but you do . . ." Heero murmured, "Just like you know that something is coming . . .?"
Faye nodded, and turned away from the window, "Something is coming . . . a year from now . . ." She paused, almost unsure how it would sound. She stared at the five boys who stood before her, behind her the lights of the city gave her a silhouette, her dark green eyes flashing as she drew a breath and continued, "The Earth shall be destroyed, unless the living find a way to stop it."
There was silence as the boys tried to take this all in. Quatre looked at Trowa, he could feel Trowa's emotions swirling in confusion, but he couldn't tell what he was feeling. "Trowa?"
The tall boy stood, and looked at the woman calmly, "My name is Trowa Barton."
Faye closed her eyes, and nodded once. "Then my search shall continue . . ." She raised a hand to brush back a lock of hair. Weariness was making her seem a little older now, as she murmured sorrowfully, "Be it here or wherever."
She moved to walk out the room, pausing only by Trowa to reach into the deep folds of her skirts. She pulled out a short silver pipe. "Flute. You loved it so much . . ." She looked at it, then at him, "Your fingers were too small to reach the holes on mine so your father crafted one just for you . . ." Her eyes flashed with determination, "Aim, you have perfect aim, perfect balance, even as a toddler you could almost walk the tight rope as well as any performer . . ." Trowa's one visible eye widened, as she nodded decisively, "Lions . . . you loved them more than any flute . . . and you and I would spend all day with them, simply because we had no fear of them . . . your sister and father couldn't bear it . . ."
Trowa swallowed, and turned his head slightly, never taking his eyes off the woman before him, "I . . ." He paused and glanced at his friends quickly, "Can you . . .?"
Quatre took the hint, and stood to leave, "Come on Duo . . . Drinks in the officers' mess are on me . . ."
Duo was slack jawed for a moment, before Wufei smacked him lightly on the shoulder. They filed out silently, before Heero closed the door, he looked at Trowa waiting until the taller boy gave him a look of certainty. Heero nodded once and the door slid completely shut, Wufei's muted tones telling Mrs Maratha not to let anyone disturb the two inside.
Faye smiled, and raised a hand to brush Trowa's hair away from his face.
"Trowa, eh?" She smiled tearfully.
The boy standing before her snorted, and shrugged. His eyes becoming rapidly watery.
She stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him firmly; "I guess that comes off the tongue a little easier than Triton."
It was nonsense . . .
Duo scratched the back of his neck, staring into the black coffee with some degree of thought. He sighed, what was going to happen now? Was any of this true . . .? Why was it happening . . .? His brow furrowed deeply, and he found himself restraining a growl, he didn't understand any of this!
It was nonsense . . . wasn't it?
//The dead stay dead. No amount of praying to a false god could bring them back. No amount of revenge could do it either. There was nothing that could bring the dead back . . .//
"It just doesn't happen!"
Quatre looked up suddenly as Duo snapped, and slapped the table. His normally carefree friend's fury strained at his heart. The blonde didn't blame Duo at all, for some reason the idea of the dead coming back seemed to insult Duo to the highest degree. Heero raised a noncommittal eyebrow, "We will attempt to—"
"We can't attempt anything, Heero." Duo bit back, Shinigami was awakened, "Because it's not possible! The dead stay dead."
"Who is the woman in our office then?" Heero's comment was quiet, and didn't have a trace of emotion, but it set off Shinigami's fury.
"I don't know!" Duo stood suddenly, "But none of this is possible! I refuse to believe that . . ." The boy trailed off, his fury getting swept under his charmer's mask once more, "I'm gonna go see Sally for a while . . ."
The braided pilot's hair flicked and narrowly missed the top of Wufei's head, as the other spun and walked out. The three remaining Preventers stayed still for a moment before Heero got to his feet and silently went after his partner.
"Why is it hard for you to believe this?"
"Because." Duo growled back. "I want proof. I want to see her give DNA, I wanna see blood samples . . . I want to see with my own two blue eyes that she is who she is, and not some nut job . . ." He stopped by the window, the city lights twinkling brightly, Duo frowned, "I want to see that she's telling the truth . . ."
Duo stared at his reflection, the shade behind him making it look like he had dark wings. //How fitting for Shinigami!// He smiled slightly at this image, before sighing, "Heero . . ." He looked at Heero's reflection and frowned, there was a shaft of light . . . made it look like Heero had . . .
"Yeah?" Heero moved forward and touched Duo's arm, "I know what you mean Duo, just because I don't respond outwardly, it doesn't mean I don't feel the same anger."
Duo nodded numbly, he turned to Heero, who began to lead his friend back to the cafeteria. He blinked once as Heero murmured something, "What was that?"
Heero shrugged, "Nothing much . . ." He let go of Duo's arm, and sighed, "Just that your eyes aren't blue . . . they're slightly purple in colour . . ."
Duo snorted, "Really? I never noticed . . ." He smiled, "Ya think so?"
Heero nodded, and Duo found himself glancing at the window's reflections again to check this. He frowned as they passed through another shaft of light. It missed Duo, but Heero . . .
Duo began to speed up, and stopped glancing in the window.
Had to lay off the late night coffee, he told himself . . . Heero didn't have wings of an angel.
"Explorer Two, Explorer Two do you read? Repeat, do you read?"
"This is Explorer Two, we read you loud and clear, preparing take off!"
"Roger that . . . the landing bay is cleared for your departure, happy mapping."
The pilot flicked off his monitor, and glanced out the window. The take off lights dotted space, and the mapping shuttle began to take off. The mission was to map the area of L5 for future use . . . since the old Chang-Long colony blew itself up there, L5 had been robbed of, not only the fifth Gundam pilot's home, but also a prestigious resource.
He shook his head; his co-pilot was probably too young to remember the hey-day of the Chang Long families, the pride all of them felt as the two families joined together. He shook his head, at least now they were trying to regain this sense of worth. The people of L5 were going to try and rebuild the old colony, or at least build one in its former orbit.
Which was why the mappers were needed.
As he steered them on to the former orbit of the colony, he sighed and looked out to where it would be if it were still there, feeling intensely nostalgic . . .
His co-pilot glanced over as the main pilot started to make choking noises. "What? What is it?!" He followed his superior's line of sight, and gapped as a huge dark shape blotted out the stars behind it.
----------------------------
And Now It's Time to LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: [jumps up happily] WAI!!
Trowa: [wondering in] Dot. Dot. Dot.
DrM: [blinks] Ara?
Trowa: My mother?
DrM: [giggles girlishly] Hai desu!
Trowa: my *mother*?
DrM: [makes victory sign] YO! Trowa no okaasan!
Trowa: [sighs] exactly how many episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura did you watch today?
DrM: [all starry eyed] seven so far!! I'm only taking time out from them to make sure that this gets updated tonight!! [clutches face and rocks happily] Hayaannn!!!
Trowa: [shakes head] oh, dear . . . [glances at ranting Wufei and unconscious Heero, and smiling Relena] what's happening here?
DrM: they all suck as co-presenters . . . [nods decidedly] Yosh! Trowa-kun! Let's makes this the best ever A/N's!! [blinks] Trowa-kun? Trowa-Kun?
Trowa: [has wondered off again]
DrM: [frowns] Damnit! [sighs] fine then, I'll have to do it!
Grace: [pops up suddenly, is not unlike Relena] I could help!
DrM: [ignoring Grace – DrM's nasty identical twin sister, who is in actual fact DrM's other split personality] I'll need some bubblegum, and bluetack . . . and duct tape . . . and a small aubergine . . .
Grace: I could help, really I can!
DrM: [still ignoring] and I can't not call for the A-team . . . hmm . . . It would also help if the readers reviewed of course. . . [makes fist] Sugoi!! Time to work on the next chapter!! [wonders off determinedly]
Relena: [blinks] who are you? I'm Relena Darlian. I want total peace and happiness on earth . . .
Grace: [blinks sweetly] I'm Grace Megalomania, I want total peace and happiness on earth . . . and milk and cookies for all children . . . and readers to be very kind and review . . .
Relena: [wide eyes] you're scary . . .