"Tightrope To Darkness" by shinchansgirl

Fandom: Gundam Wing
Pairings: none
Rating: PG






Thunk.

He had shown up out of nowhere, just mysteriously appearing with his huge truck, a truck that he didn't let anyone look inside. He said that it was better if they didn't know.

Thunk.

No one was quite sure where he came from, but, as the daggers flew so close to his face he would bleed should he dare to move, they knew that they wanted him to stay.

Thunk.

He had quickly been declared the saddest clown. He was so quiet, so withdrawn, that the mystery surrounding him drew people in like moths to the flame.

And Trowa was, certainly, a flame.

Thunk. Applause.

No one knew where he came from, and no one knew where he was going, but everyone knew where they wanted him to stay. He pulled away from the wooden target board, deftly avoiding knives that would have split the skin of one less agile. He gave a bow as the spotlight shifted from the woman named Catherine - the one who had thrown the blades - to him. She retreated off the stage as the lions were released, calm as could be, and surrounded their favorite clown.

He climbed to the tightrope, doing acrobatics at a deadly height as the felines below him were agitated into a climatic frenzy.

The audiences weren't the only ones holding their breath. It was a toss-up amongst the performers as to whether or not that boy was looking for a quick end.

He followed a second tightrope off-stage as the audience became enthralled with the lions below him, disappearing into the darkness.

It was the darkness of his soul, it seemed, that he always returned to. Sometimes he didn't return from it for hours, days, weeks maybe. He could be right in front of them and not be with them, and sometimes he would just be gone...somewhere.

But he always came back, and that gave them some hope. Perhaps it was the hope that he wouldn't leave without telling them, or the hope that, if he did get hurt, it would be there, with them. They may not have spoken to him often, or cared for him like Catherine did, they may have not understood him, or not cared to, but they did care�even if it was only for the sake of the circus, all of them cared.

It was something that they all knew Trowa Barton could not yet understand, but they hoped that, one day, he would.


THE END

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