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 . . .. Eh, heh, not that anyone reads up here, but I realised I'm giving away certain parts of my story with these!!
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!!
//Thinking//
"Speaking"
*Stress/Emphasis*
Writing/Dream sequence
~*~
For The Grace Of Knights And Angels
By Doctor Megalomania
Arch One: Bonds Made And Renewed
Chapter Four: A Real Circus Act
It was the middle of the night.
Catherine yawned as she walked away from the cab, and pulled the coat around her closer. //Sheesh, couldn't Trowa have waited a little longer . . . his call sounded urgent . . . in fact . . .// She frowned slightly, he'd even sounded emotional as she had never heard him before. His call had been full of hesitancy, and pauses. Very unlike Mr Concise And Direct.
She looked up, and stared at the headquarters of the Preventers. Many, many lights were on, which was odd for this time of night. She shrugged and walked into the foyer, she guessed there was a big case going down. She smiled at Grady as she approached the main help desk, "Hi . . ."
He smiled at her, "Looking for Commander Barton?"
Catherine yawned tiredly, and nodded, "Yep, can you tell me where I can find him?"
"I'll just phone up for you," Grady started to dial, and cradled the phone between his cheek and shoulder, "How are you, Catherine?"
She shrugged listlessly, "Tired . . ." She motioned upward, "What's going on? Some big case?"
"You could call it that!" Grady snorted, "Apparently the dead are rising from their graves and spreading tales about some sort of judgement day in a year's time . . ."
Catherine harrumphed at his tone, "Really?"
"MmmHmmm . . .!" Grady hummed, he jerked as someone on the other side of the line picked up, "Ah, yes . . . this is main reception, can you tell me where Commander Barton is? . . . Uh-huh."
Catherine looked around, the building was clean and seemed very pleasant. She didn't approve of Trowa working here; he'd done his bit in the war, and deserved to have a break from it all, besides he was only a boy! She brushed some of her hair back as Grady wrapped up his call.
"Yeah, you too Suzanne! . . . Okay, bye." He put down the phone, "They are on their way down now."
"They?"
"Mmm . . ." Grady nodded and leant forward, "According to Suzanne in the medical department, Barton's found a living relative . . ." He chuckled, "One of the supposed dead . . ."
Catherine's eyes widened, "Trowa's found a family member?"
"More like she found him, apparently she matches his DNA and everything! Appeared out of nowhere - Suzy said - and walked into their office and said I'm looking for my son . . . well, that's what Agnes Maratha told Suzy . . ."
She nodded absently as she looked at the descending elevator, "thanks Grady . . ." Catherine felt herself walk to the bay of elevators, not quite sure how she felt about this new relative. A part of her was overjoyed that Trowa would finally find his true past . . . but another felt suspicion, and sadness, at the fact that she was about to lose her adopted brother.
The shiny metal doors parted and Trowa ran out.
Catherine gasped as Trowa pulled her into a tight hug. She closed her eyes and held onto him tight, "Trowa, it's okay . . . What happened?! What happened?!"
He pulled back, and held onto her hand. Catherine felt confusion as she followed Trowa's line of sight, his friends and Doctor Po started to file out. She glanced at her adopted brother, his lips were parted and she noticed that his eyes were slightly puffy, "Trowa?"
He nodded, and motioned the lift.
Skirts swished, bracelets tinkled against each other.
A sound she hadn't heard in years, a way of motion, a sight she never believed she'd ever see again drew her attention.
"Mama . . .?"
Her mother held her hands in front of her, standing very still. She was unchanged since the day she had died, almost as if she had never died. In fact, as Catherine looked closer, her face had a few laugh lines, a few more wrinkles than her 6 year-old's memory held, but still the clothes, the bangles . . .
"Mama?!"
Catherine cried out in shock, tears spilling out rapidly. "Mama! It can't be!! Mama!!" Catherine's free hand flew to her mouth, as she sobbed out loud, shaking her head in denial. "Mama!!"
Sally Po reached out, and grabbed her shoulder, "Miss Bloom . . . Miss Bloom!" Catherine looked at her, "I know this is so hard . . . very hard . . . but believe me . . . I've run every test I could . . . and I am willing to test your DNA against hers as well . . ." The doctor turned, "But this woman is Trowa's mother."
"Trowa's mother . . ." Catherine choked out with disbelief, "But if she's my . . . Trowa . . ."
Her other hand was squeezed and she turned to see Trowa smiling slightly. Catherine whimpered, and raised her free hand to touch his face, his shoulder as if seeing him for the first time, "But my brother fell out the cart . . . my mother died when it exploded . . ."
"I burnt my back too . . ." Trowa whispered, "When mother's skirts caught fire . . ."
Catherine cried out softly, and pressed her face against his shoulder.
The officers' mess was relatively quiet.
Wufei placed the tray down as gently as he could, handing out the warm mugs of drinks. He slid into his seat and looked over at Trowa, and his newly reformed family. Catherine had become a little too emotional, and had started to hyperventilate, and was taken to the medical department. When she had awoken again, it was early morning, and tests were still being run. But Trowa seemed to accept this.
The tall green-eyed boy appeared totally calm and professional, but to his friends the telltale signs of how much this was affecting him was clear. Gone were sarcastic, and quick-witted observations, replaced with small smiles, and puffy red eyes. Now he was sat holding his mother's hand, unaware but tightly, as if for fear of loosing her again.
Wufei smiled around his mug, as he blew to cool it. If the dead was truly rising from the grave, and some evil was going to befall them, at least some good was coming from it. The brief thought of his own family passed through his mind, would it be possible . . . He glanced Duo and Quatre, their wide-eyed look of surprise - when the results ran through - hadn't quite left them yet, and both seemed more than a little willing to make Faye comfortable. He glanced at Heero, who for once was without his laptop, and gently questioning every so often, just asking this Faye Bloom to repeat parts of her story.
Catherine was speechless, she sat by her newly found brother and mother, and stared at them, as if she couldn't even begin to comprehend it. "How . . ." She blinked and started again, "Why are you here, mama?"
Faye blinked, her eyes tearing up again, "I don't know . . . I . . ." She reached out and touched Catherine's hair lovingly, "I've been given a second chance . . ."
"Papa?" Trowa questioned quietly, "What about papa?"
Faye shrugged, her bare shoulder rising slowly, "I don't think he's come back . . ." Her eyes unfocused for a moment, as she began to recite from some deep buried memory, "Only those murdered, or died unjustly . . . or before their appointed time . . ." Focus returned to her deep green eyes, and she nodded, "Every time I ask myself why me and not your father, that answer comes to the fore front."
"What do you mean?" The messy haired boy, Heero, asked quietly. She stared at him for a moment, thinking how to phrase it.
"I don't know exactly . . . but it's like there's a part of my mind that sort of knows the answer . . . the dead that have been brought back have a reason to be angry . . . they . . ." She licked her lips, and thought again, "They died before they were supposed to . . . or were doing something . . ." She shook her head, "They have a reason, a right to be angry . . . which will make it easier to turn them into this thing's servants . . . but those with the will to fight it, those who can forgive . . . or believed that they died for a good reason . . . They are the ones who can fight it, those are the ones who can return, and be as they were before . . ."
Quatre nodded, his expression sincere and thoughtful, "The dead that return can be either themselves, or become this thing's soldiers . . . It depends on if they can let go of their hate and anger . . .?"
Faye nodded as Duo muttered, "Sounds something out of a pre-colony film . . . Don't join the dark side of the force, Luke!"
"Explorer Two . . . We've received your message . . . We ask for confirmation; you must be wrong, please send some sort of confirmation!"
The static on the line amplified as Explorer Two's agitated pilot swore again, "For crying out loud, I'm sending out sensor readouts, plus a live feed . . . You cannot fail to believe your own eyes!!"
The co-ordinator stared at the screen, his glasses reflecting the images and numbers, "Holy mother of Jesus . . ." He blinked and grabbed his assistant's shoulder, "That's . . . That's . . . Holy mother of Jesus . . . send a message to the Preventers . . ."
"Sir?"
"Do it, do it *NOW*!!"
Rashid poured a drink, and offered the bottle to the frail looking woman, she was so like *him* in every way as she laughed gently and refused it. "We . . ." His throat dried again, he sipped his own drink and looked at the front of truck, Ahmad was looking back with open shock, Auda was reading the map, and Abdul was driving as fast as he dared. It made the truck bumpy, but the woman didn't seem to mind.
"We . . . will be there soon," Rashid finished, he coughed and stared hard at her, "There we will make *tests* . . . we have a decent medical base . . ."
"Don't worry . . ." The woman smiled, and brushed a lock of hair back off her face, "I'll submit to any and all tests as necessary."
Rashid nodded, "May I ask what you were doing in the middle of the desert . . . in the middle of our training zone?"
The woman smiled, raising Rashid's hackles even further as he recognised it, she stared at him with her light blue eyes, "Because it would be the best way to get to him . . ."
"I throw knives, and I do a little of acrobatics . . . I don't do any of the animal things . . ."
Catherine laughed a little and added, "Yes, mama . . . lions still creep me out . . ." She leant forward and drank a little, "Trowa's still the only one who can bear playing with those things . . ." She laughed again, and looked to his friends, "You should have seen him when he was a little, little boy . . . my god, I swear I still have nightmares from when he'd run with his little naked tush into a den of sleeping lions!"
Trowa coughed, as his mother laughed out loud - actually throwing back her head and laughing hard. He blushed even further when Duo cooed, "Aww . . . Little Trowa and his little naked tush!"
Quatre laughed and slapped the table, "Finally . . . I'm not the only one with embarrassing sisters anymore!!"
This provoked another round of laughter, and even Trowa chuckled a little. He looked up at Catherine and his mother, still a little wary, but knowing that this was his living family for now. He silently thanked Lady Une and Noin for allowing them the time off, for him to get used to his new family, and for his friends to be there just in case. He stared at Catherine as she drank a bit more and swallowed, "I remember this one time . . . I think he was still crawling . . ." She snickered, "You have to remember he talked more when he was a baby!" Duo snorted, and Quatre laughed musically, his mother squeezed Trowa's hand as Catherine continued, "All you'd ever hear from him before he went racing off, was OOOOOOOHH!!!" She squealed high-pitchedly, Wufei chuckled, "And Zooooooom!! Off he went!"
"Most of the time naked as the day he was born!" Chipped in his mother, she smiled at Catherine, "You'd run after him with one of your tee shirts . . . yelling after him, Triton! Triiiii-Ton!" She glanced at Trowa's friends, "Always with the emphasis on the 'Tri' . . ."
"He'd go crawling off into the elephants' pen," Catherine looked up as she ticked things off with her fingers, Heero raised an eyebrow and glanced at his long time friend, trying to imagine it, "Into the lions, into the tigers, and the monkeys, and one time I found him doing the doggy paddle with the seals, and—"
"Excuse me?"
The small group turned to find an ensign nervously standing nearby, "Uh . . . Commander Winner?"
Quatre smiled, "Yes?"
"Uh . . ." The ensign glanced at Trowa's mother nervously. Word had spread, and few of the recently un-dead had been actually seen and many were expecting to see four-year-old corpses, he swallowed nervously and concentrated on relaying the message. "Captain Rashid of the Maganac Corps is on his way here; the Maganac Corps will be here in their entirety within the next few days, but the Captain and three of his subordinates will be here by tonight at the earliest, tomorrow morning at the latest . . ."
Quatre stood, all amusement replaced with pure business, "Did he say why?"
"He said that they had found someone in the desert, looking for you." The other former Gundam pilots glanced at each other as Commander Winner's eyes stayed locked with the ensign's, "He said that they were bringing her here."
"Anything else? Did he say anything else?" Commander Winner asked quickly, a frown beginning to knit on his brow, "Who is she?"
"No sir, just that they ran some tests, and they are assured of her identity."
"And nothing else?"
"Not a word, sir."
Commander Winner glanced back at his fellow officers, then to the ensign, "Thank you, ensign . . . dismissed."
The ensign bobbed a quick salute and disappeared as quietly as he had appeared. Quatre sank down into his seat, "If it was my sister Iria . . ." He shook his head, "I don't know who it could be . . ."
"She's coming for you."
He looked at Faye Bloom, the woman was looking at him with a dead certainty, she placed her hand over her heart and stared at him, almost as if she wasn't aware of herself, "She's coming for—"
"-- You, just wait a little longer . . . I'm coming for you, Quatre . . ."
Rashid glanced over at the woman; she was sat, still wrapped in the coarse brown cloak. Her clothes under it were unsuited to the desert. A flowing white skirt, under a light blue and silver Arabian wrap. Her white gold, corkscrew hair tied to one side with a soft silk ribbon, pooling in the hood of the cloak. Her hand shuffled under the cloak, and pressed against her heart as she stared out the window, and murmured again, "I'm coming for you."
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And Now It's Time to LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: [bows] Konnichiwa!! How are you today?!
Catherine: [raises eyebrow] DrM . . . you suck.
DrM: [not really listening, reading Gundam Wing: Episode Zero] Why thank you, I'd love a cuppa.
Cathy: [Continuing] I don't want to be in this story . . .
DrM: [nods] uh huh, and some cookies would be nice . . .
Cathy: [frowns] are you even listening to me?!
DrM: [claps hand against cheek] Aw, really? Some cake for me?! well, I shouldn't but it's between you, me and the Duck.
Cathy: [raises knives, and turns to the readers] Go review, you don't want to see this . . . [pulls door closed] it's not going to be pretty . . .
[door closes, and readers hear a muffled. . .]
DrM: [howls in pain] OOOOOOWWWWWW!!! CATHY!! WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THOSE THINGS!! CATHY STOP! NO! CAAAAAAAAAAAAATHY!!!!