Author's Note: Hope y'all had a good Christmas, got some nice stuff and all. Well, back to TMP, shall we? Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

Winds of Earthly Rage

It was quiet now.

Slowly but warily, Relena and Heero poked their heads out of their last minute hiding place. It had been an incredible stroke of luck that the two had ended up in the same spot but both were not concerned about that but more about their surroundings.

The circus, or what was left of it, was a mess, a disaster zone to be precise. There was metal, wood, uprooted roots, burned patches of earth, pools of blood, and torn up ground everywhere. It could not be said a tornado did it because even a tornado could only do so much. It seemed more like a bomb went off, a powerful one of course. In the end though, none of it matter as they were the only two still around, alive at least, and there was no sign of anybody else. Not any of the circus workers or the circus goers, no sign of Solo and Duo anywhere, even Dorothy was missing, much to Relena's sorrow. Already she had lost her home and family but now her best friend as well? It was almost too much for the gentle girl.

Heero could see all of that as well and he knew that what he needed to do was get Relena as far away from this place as he possibly could. There was a town nearby; maybe they could get some sort of transportation there and finished the journey to Las Vegas and meet up with his parents. It was the only logical choice of action to be done, so Heero felt. His first priority was Relena now and he was not about to let her get hurt in this thing, whatever it was.

It had all begun nearly four days ago and Heero was ruing the decision to go back home and not sticking with Relena and Dorothy while they went shopping. Whether or not it would have made any difference, he did not know but one thing was for sure he wished he had never met up with those two long haired strangers. They only brought trouble wherever they went and look at where they were now.

Damn it, there was no time for reflecting now. Now was the time to do something and get the hell out of there as soon as possible. While he was a bit sore at not going to search for Dorothy, he was not at all concerned about the whereabouts of the other two.

Thank goodness for that and good riddance.

As they hobbled away from ground zero, both of them ignored the gentle breeze that brushed up against their skins.

---

It was like one large graveyard, a deadland where nothing stirred. The wind blew through the destroyed circus, disturbing nothing as if it was looking for something or someone. Up in the large, tree-like structure that had once held up the malevolent Ferris wheel of doom, the wind began to collect at the highest point, a rounded part of the trunk that looked swollen as if something was inside of it.

The top of this wooden structure was smoldering from flames that had once consumed it, the coals within brightening as the errant wind blew over them, bringing them back to a quasi-life of sorts. The wind began to focus more on the section below it though, the swollen section in fact. The wind churned around it, picking up speed with every second, becoming more and more powerful until it began ripping the bark off, peeling the living wood away until a burst of air exploded from within, splinters and chunks of wood flying in all directions.

Slowly, the wind calmed down but it didn't disappear entirely as it supported the form that had once been cooped up in the swollen section. This form was none other that a boy with black hair that had white tips, his thin frame trembling either from anger or something else. His normally blue eyes with natural streaks of green in them were now a complete solid green, even though they were only cracked open as a hand was pressed up against his temple.

It was enough to say that Jason, the Master of the Wind, had a hangover the likes of which he had never experienced before. It felt as if his head was in a nutcracker or something because a throb of pain pounded in his head as his body sought to reestablish the equilibrium that had been upsetted by his previous alcohol consumption. As he forced himself to open his eyes more, he found that he was in someplace that he didn't recognize at all. How did he get here?

All that he could remember was Mobias being friendlier than usual and giving him something to drink and after that it was a blank… Damn his nonexistent alcohol tolerance! Mobias must have gotten him drunk again before they left that bar. That little bastard was going to pay for that once he got his hands on him. Whatever pain Solo had given him would be nothing compared to what he would do.

The wind swept around him and expanded in an ever increasing sphere, encompassing the entirety of the demolished circus grounds, searching for any sort of life. From that, Jason learned that all of his backup was dead but where was…there he was!

The wind picked up around him again, this time breaking off some last pieces of tree trunk off him and picking him up, steadying him as he lowered himself down towards the center of what used to have been the Ferris wheel. Despite his hangover, he extended his hands out, the wind forming two massive hands that fell upon the metal mess and unceremoniously began throwing it away, searching for a soon-to-be-dead man.

And there he was, crumpled underneath it all but still alive. Mobias. Just the thought of that name made Jason seethe as he extended his wind hands down to grab him roughly and bring the living corpse to him. Mobias cracked his eyes and Jason could see the regret in doing such an action. There was no hope for him now.

"I should tear you apart," Jason growled at the other boy, jostling him with his wind. "In fact, that's what I'm going to do," Jason continued. "But first…"

He extended his awareness through the air, sending out little tendrils in all directions, searching for something, ultimately finding the RV in which their escaping prey was in. Getting a general direction from his senses, he brought his awareness back and swept his hand through the air, a wave of wind forming over the barren plains of the desert, picking up granules of sand as it did so, and going after the two traitors. That should stall them for a bit; now to take care of some more personal business.

He heard Mobias swallow in dread as his green-glowing eyes drifted back towards him. Jason grinned wickedly, imagining all the torments he could impose on the helpless fire wielder when an unexpected source of light flashed on both of them, illuminating not just them but the surrounding area. Jason blinked in surprise, finding that the two of them were surrounded by familiar vans and vehicles, a large man with black hair in a ponytail approaching the two with an emotionless expression on his face.

Gesturing with his tazer for Jason to come down, the large man waited as Jason reluctantly obeyed, his feet settling unsteadily on the ground.

Speaking in a dispassionate manner, the man said, "Mr. Xavien would like to have a word with both of you."

---

They weren't exactly burning rubber but Trowa was sure that they were close to it. The RV wasn't precisely new but it wasn't old and beat-up either. For sure, what it was was reliable. Still, Trowa would have felt more secure if the RV could go faster so that they could put more distance between them and what was left of the circus. Ever since he had put the vehicle into drive, the nearby plants had been screaming at him, taking away the precious concentration he needed to drive. Still, there was hardly anybody, if there was anybody out, around so it was probably all right that his driving wasn't up to respectable standards.

But at least part of the mystery concerning Solo and Duo had been answered, somewhat. Just focusing on that managed to make the mental fuzz in his mind more bearable. There were others who were like them, it seemed. Cursed with abilities forced upon them by, at this he shuddered, men in white coats who seemed to delight in torturing them with electrical shocks and a mysterious liquid that was injected into their bodies. The thought that he wasn't alone in this world lifted his spirits up a bit.

However, that still begged the question of why. Why would these people do such things to them? It was an answer that had eluded him for years, ever since his first waking moment when he found himself strapped to that cold, metal table.

"Hey watch it!"

The voice jerked Trowa out of his memories and he found that he had almost driven off the road. After a sharp correction, he had the RV back on track in the correct lane as well.

"Damn it, I thought you'd be better than that Chinese guy at drivin'," he heard Solo complain somewhere back in the RV. "But he's Japanese," he heard a more innocent Duo pipe up followed by Solo replying, "Same difference."

Yeah, that had been a bit of a shock. Duo having multiple personalities had been the last thing that Trowa would have expected but he had to admit that in his life, he should have expected the unexpected. After all, he had been made a human guinea pig all those years ago…

Glancing at the left sideview mirror, he frowned at how dark it was behind him. As he glanced back through the windshield, he could see the sun slowly rising up, telling the unibanged man that it was morning so what was…?

Sharp screams from the passing vegetation, or at least what could be seen in a desert, along with the salient warnings the earth was sending to him alerted him that something was definitely wrong, that the darkness behind them was not right. Taking the chance, he rolled the window down and poked his head out to look back behind them, pulling back in immediately and rolling the window back up.

"Sandstorm!" he hollered back at the others. "Hold on to something!"

"What da hell's a—" Solo's voice was cut off as Trowa slammed the pedal to the metal, the RV speeding up to as fast as it could go.

Now, normally Trowa wouldn't have been worried about such a thing as a sandstorm but the second he had poked his head out the car window, foolishly, he had been bombarded by the cries of plants shrieking at him that this was no ordinary storm. In fact, it was the kind of storm that required people to take shelter and wait it out but Trowa thought to try and out run the thing instead.

He had overestimated the speed the RV could go and underestimated how fast the storm was. The sandstorm itself was catching up pretty quickly, much to Trowa's chagrin.

"Is this really necessary, Trowa?" Catherine asked him, pulling herself up into the passenger's seat.

Hearing the sound of sand scrapping harshly against back of the RV quieted the female for a few seconds. Taking a look out the sideview mirror, she paled but managed to keep her composure, even as the unusually harsh winds started to make Trowa lose some control he had at the wheel, the wheel in question tugging at his hands. The RV was being forced side to side, even as Trowa urged it to go faster, the sandstorm behind it about to pounce and throw the RV off the road, burying it under promised tons of sand.

Looking back at the other passengers who were looking back at him with apprehension, he turned back towards the road, his mouth opening to speak but the words on his tongue died as something in the distance caught his eye. Was that a building? No, his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, it was a building, a big one at that too. Perhaps they could hole up in there until the storm passed…

And at that moment, Trowa lost control, the steering wheel breaking free from his grip.

"Hold on!" he yelled as he applied the brakes as best as he could while directing the RV towards the potential building as best as he could. The shriek of tires on the pavement was audible, even as the sandstorm roared over them. The steering wheel jerked out of Trowa's grasp and the RV began to spin before toppling over on to a side and rolling.

---

Trowa cracked his emerald eyes open, his mind just surfacing from the murkiness of unconsciousness. Uhg, what happened? Why was everything tilted?

Hearing the wind outside along with an odd yet familiar scraping noise, memories of what had occurred maybe minutes (hours?) ago flashed in his mind. Oh shit, they had wrecked…Cathy!!!

Turning his head to a side as best as his sore neck would allow, he could see Catherine unconscious against the passenger side window, her face swelling from bruises. At least she was still breathing but she definitely needed to get some medical attention and soon. Turning slowly to the others, he could see only Solo was still conscious and completely unharmed from the accident. Hmm, Trowa was going to have to ask about that but he'd have to do that later. Right now there were more important things to worry about.

"Solo?" he croaked out.

Snapping his head towards Trowa, Solo heaved a sigh of relief. "It's about time somebody woke up," he grumbled.

"Is everybody all right back there?" Trowa asked, ignoring Solo.

"Yeah, Duo's okay. Lucky bastard froze time but wasn't able ta hold it too long," Solo said. "Good thing I crashed right next ta him when he did lose control."

"What about Dorothy?" Trowa pressed.

"Who? Oh, the bitch with da eyebrows. She's knocked out."

Trowa frowned at this blatant disregard but pushed it back in his mind for another time. First thing was first, get out of here and into that building. Explaining his plan to the blond, Solo nodded but muttered something about crazy people with only one eye. Unbuckling himself from the driver's seat, Trowa made his way to Catherine and scooped her up into his arms after he figured out that the RV was seated on the passenger side, making sure not to jostle her too much. There wasn't enough room for him to do anything acrobatic so he had to contend himself with climbing down to the unconscious woman.

After that, he crept up to Solo who had Duo and Dorothy balanced on his shoulders like they were nothing but dead weight. "Ready?" the blond asked.

Trowa nodded and added, "I believe the building was that way," nodding his head towards what had once been the roof of the RV.

Nodding, Solo stuck his hand through the roof like it was butter and tore a hole in it. Immediately sand began entering RV but Solo and Trowa were ready to start a mad dash towards their only hope for survival. Sand stung Trowa's skin as he ran as fast as he could, the building much closer than he had anticipated. However, the doors were locked, providing one last obstacle to the two boys.

Noticing a symbolic cross on the doors, Trowa pounded at the door, crying out "Sanctuary!" as loud as he could. Solo could have busted the doors down, yes, but Trowa would have preferred that the doors remained standing, especially since this was a church of all places.

The storm began to worsen before the doors unlocked and opened, the two boys falling in to the safety beyond.