Firebird

by Tyria

Chapter 4: Going to the Circus

Well, here's chapter four, and no, the title still makes no sense.
I'm trying to keep my fic/a/day promise alive, so today, since I finished so
early, I'm gonna try and catch up on the two I missed More typing for me.
Can anyone explain how I cut myself on the back of my finger on a keyboard?
*Sigh* My intelligence has severly dropped over the break, I'm all ready
back to injuring myself in impossible ways. Enough, on with the fic...
(Focus!!)

"Remind me again, Master Quatra of why we travelled all the way to the
Ivory Coast?" One of my Maguanacs asks me.

I sigh. "The circus. We are going to see the circus."

"But Master Quatra, there are circuses in Arabia, why come all this way?"

"Abdul,..."

"Master Quatra has his reasons. It is not our job to question his
decisions. If he wants us to go to the circus in the Ivory Coast, then we go
see a circus in the Ivory Coast.'

"Of course, I wasn't implying.... No, that's not what I meant. I was just
curious, this seems so odd." Abdul comments.

"Abdul, Rashid, everybody, it's not the circus exactly, it's someone _in_
the circus."

"Master Quatra, we've reached the co-ordinates."

"Thank you. Land please."

The Maguanac lands the carrier. It's a mobile suit carrier, remolded to
carry mass amounts of people instead of a suit.

Rashid walks out and I follow him. The rest of the Maguanac Core exits th
carrier after me. We stand in shock, looking down the ridge, to where the
main tent lay in a heap, burning. Animals were scattered widly along the
plain and so were people. The people were running from... Oz soldiers!
The soldiers were spanning out wide, obviously searching for someone or
something.

"What happened here?"

"Look, up the ridge. There's a trailor, and it has it's lights on."
"Rashid, you come with me, we'll check on the trailor. everyone else, set
off in groups of three or four and try to secure the area. They must be
after Trowa."

"Right!" They all chorus, The core splits up into groups and spread out.
Rashid and I begin our way to the trailor. Rashid hands me a pistol.

"Rashid..."

"Master Quatra, it is my duty to protect you, and you will be better
protected if you are armed. I know you don't like it."

"We shouldn't have to fight anymore. The war is over! Where did all these
soldiers come from? Who's organising them? What could there be to gain from
another war?"

Our way is blocked by a large clump of bushes, so we are forced to go into
the tree-line. We stop and look out to a clearing where there is a soldier.
I walk out with my gun raised and catch him by surprise. Rashid goes up
behind him and knocks him out.

"When we finally arrive at the trailor, I knock on the door. Rashid looks
at me funny. "I wouldn't want to just intrude. It could be a girl's
trailor."

"Of course, Master Quatra, how thou..."

The door opens a crack. One green eye looks out through the crack. The door
opens quietly. Trowa pulls Rashid and I inside, then closes the door behind
us. Rashid has to stoop so as not to hit his head on the low ceiling.

"Shh. Do you have the whole core here?"

"Yes, but..."

"Rashid, get the core and spread them out near here. We need to wait until
they get back."

Rashid looks to me. I nod and he leaves quickly. "Trowa, what's happening?
Who are we waiting for?"

A female voice fromt he trailor's bedroom asks, "Trowa, what's happening?"

"More friends, Catherin, come to help."

"Trowa, was that Catherin?"

"Yah. This is her trailor. I'm staying here with Catherin. You go help the
Maguanacs."

"Trowa?"

"Just go, we have to keep the Oz soldiers away."

I nod. So, they _are_ Oz, but how? What's happening her? What happened to
the tent, and who are we waiting for? I walk out of the trailor, closing the
door quietly behind me.

So, after my conversation with Trowa, which left me with more questions
than answers, I organised the Maguanacs and ended up by myself in a
relativly small clearing which has only one feature, the rock I'm sitting
on.

Almost as much conversation possibilities as Heero and Trowa together.
Then, a rustling in a bush, followed by complete silence. I look towards
the bush. I don't see anything, just the natural colours of the woods around
me: brown and green, trees and bushes. It's staring to get dark out, too.

A twig snaps behind me and I twirl to look, but there's nothing there. Calm
down, Quatra, there's nothing there. You're getting jumpy.

A click and cold metal pressedf against my right temple.

A pretty female voice hisses, "Nice reflexes, blondie, but not _quite_ nice
'nuff." I try to get a look at my capture, but she presses the gun nozzle
into my temple as a reminder of its presence. "I don't think so, blondie.
Not like I blame ya, though. I am quite a looker."

Arrogant. That might help me escape. She's distracting herself with her own
chatter.

"Oh, and don't go gettin' cocky 'bout bein' alive, ozie. If I didn't have a
use for you, you'd all ready be rotting in hell, we clear on that?"

"I'm not an Oz soldier!" Imagine me, a gundam pilot, dying because
some....lunatic thought I was in Oz!

"Don't think you can pullthat on me just cuz you don't got a uni on. You
guys 've been plyin' that one fer months, now. I ain't gonna buy..."

A clatter of dishes breaking against each other and the ground, combined
with a shocked gasp from behind us. Catherin says, "Shareena...!"

The pressure of the gun lessens against my head slightly. Just enough...
In a blur of instinctive movement, I twirl and grab hold of the nozzel of
the gun. I use her hold on it to flip her on the groung, all without really
looking at her.

Her impact with the ground jars the gun from her grasp, leaving it in my
sole posestion. I level it at my attacker.

She was lying on her belly, probably winded by my move. She had boots which
looked like a flight suits and gloves to match, but normal looking clothes.

She has dark blue jeans and a humongous green sweater. Her hair is brown
with green streaks.

I debate silently wether to shoot her or not. She didn't work for Oz,
but... The gun clicks into place, ready to do its job if I so decide.

She pushes part of the way off the ground and turns her head to see me but
ends up looking straight into the gun. "Fuck."

"Don't shoot her!" Catherin runs in between the stranger and I. I blink
down at Cat. "She's who we've been waiting for!"

I lower the gun. Sahreena rolls over onto her back and sits up using her
left hand to brace her head. "Go wonder-chika and her super circus-freak
powers! By the way, WHAT IN BLOODY _HELL'S_ GOIN' ON HERE!!!!!!"

"Calm down Sahr, he's a friend of Trowa."

"Another one? And I s'pose he'll hafta come too! This just isn't my day."

Sahreena stands up, walks around Cat and stands infront of me. She grabs her
pistol out of my hand. "Gimme that...." She studies it, making sure it's all
right. "Swaer ta god, man. I'm tired, my trigger finger fricken hurts, I'm
bitchy.... so be it that's everyday, and my stomach hurts, thanks to the
blondie."

She's with Trowa? Great, I just attacked an ally. I hope she'll forgive me.

"I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't be such a wimp, it was self-freakin-defense. Besides, as usual, I
started it. Anyway, hey, chika, where's Trowa at?"

"he's out here somewhere."

"Oh, now that's _useful_. I'll just add it to the list of things that have
made this such a _wonderful_ day. Shit, I have bad luck!"

"I'm right here."

"Wha?" We all turnh around. Trowa stands up from a crouch, the reminants of
the dishes Catherin had broken heaped in one hand.

"Jeepers creepers, don't fucking do that ever again! Fuck! I am very
unhappy today. Bad 'nuff havin' Ozies followin' me around, but I got allies
playin' hide-and-go-scare-Shareena! Frick! Hey, why didn't you say
anything?"

Trowa shrugs.

"Oh, thanks." Shareena shakes her head. "I give freakin' up! Someone just
shoot me fucking now! But don't, that would hurt." She turns to be, and I
can see her deep brown eyes even from where I stand. "Clown-boy, the
wonder-chika an' I have to be going. Check ya later!" She turns to leave.

"Wait, I can help you!" I have to make it up to her... Y'know, she wasn't
kidding when she said she was pretty...

"An' how'd ya p'pose ta do that, blondie?"

"Shareena, he's a Gundam Pilot too." Trowa states. "Meet pilot 04."

"She looks at him and points to me with her thumb, the rest of her hand in
a fist. "This blondie? A gundam pilot? Sweet! Now I can still say it'd have
ta be a GUndam pilot to get me down. That'r Milliardo, Treize, Noin...just
to name a few. Y'know, the lead player-ish peoples. Ya."

"Finally, someone talkative other than Duo, although I don't like the way
she acts. She turns back to me. "I _guess_ you cna come... but any trouble
and your ass'll be kicked before you can say 'please don't hurrrt me,
please, I'll do anything you want!.'! Speakin' o' trouble, I'm gonna be in
so much SHIT when I get back. Go after three peoples, come back with five
ain't usually acceptable perimters."

"Well, I should go talk to Rashid then."

"Rashid?"

And the Maguanacs."

"The Magua-whatever-he-said? No... How many?"

"40, exactly."

"No. N. O. No. Nadda. Un uhn. I don't think so. Un uh. No way. No. N o way
in bloody Hell's NAME! NO! Do ya hear me. That ain't gonna happen. No. You
come now or you don't come at all."

"But Rashid and the others..."

She turns to Trowa, almost pleading, and explains through clenched teeth.

"Heero and Duo are waiting, and they're not the most patient peoples in the
world."

Heero and Duo are here too? Wow, now I'm really glad I came. But I still
don't know what's happening.

"Right. Where...?" Trowa asks. Shareena starts walking and motions for us
all to follow.

"We didn't wanna land here with all the Ozies round-about so they went
ahead and I came back to get Clown-boy and the Wonder-Chika."

We walk through the wooded area.

Well, there it is (was? Arrgh.) Next time, is the introduction of a new
chara, and thus there is absolutely no relvence between this chap. and the
next. Also, once again, I need help. Anyone who's heard of Miidi Une, I need
to know what she looks like, cuz if not, I'll have to make up a discription
for her. *Sigh* Using other peoples chara's is strange enough as is without
having to make up what they look like and what their personality is like,
but I really want Midii in my story. She doesn't get enough publicity,
although she practically gave Trowa his personality. *Sigh*
Ta for now!

Tyria