"You're an old-timer if you can remember when setting the world on fire was a figure of speech."
-Franklin P. Jones
The two pilots walked down the road, not speaking. Duo kicked a rock, it went skidding down the sidewalk and bounced off a telephone poll. Something caught the Reaper's eye. He scrutinized the posters tacked to the post, as Heero nonchalantly walked past him.
"Hey, Heero!"
"Hn." came his reply, complete with a full force death glare as the Perfect Soldier turned around to face the Shinigami.
"Hey, Trowa's circus was in town!! Hey, I betcha he might know summin'!! What was that you said 'bout a lion?"
"I think we tried to buy one of Trowa's pets."
The boys showed up at the scene, dumbfounded at the sight of the remnants of the circus, which just happened to be nothing more than a still smoldering circus tent.
"Wha-?" Duo choked out, and Heero had nothing to reply.
Cautiously, they tiptoed around back, where none other than Trowa was, squatting in the grass in his clown suit, stroking a lion as if it were nothing than a mere domesticated kitten.
"T-Trowa. . . . ?" Duo breathed, not sure of what to say or where to start.
Trowa turned slowly around, his eyes widening and bottom lip trembling slightly at the site of the two fellow gundam pilots. He instinctively put his arms around the giant cat, as if guarding it from them.
"What do you guys want?!" the clown said a little to loudly, his voice high pitched and cracking.
"Trowa, we just came to see if you knew what happened last night?"
"How could I forget?! Get away from here, haven't you caused us enough pain?!"
"Jigga what?" Duo asked, confused as ever. What the hell had they done to everyone?
"Just g-go." Trowa whispered, starting to shake.
Back at the hotel the very perplexed Duo and Heero rummaged through the mess of their room, trying to piece together just what really did happen last night.
A stuffed animal of a polar bear, stung up by sausages, a butcher knife in its head. An 8x10 glossy of Treize Khushrenada, with candles encircling it, dog food placed in an expensive-looking crystal dish, as if an offering. Feathers, from ripped apart pillows scattered all over the floor, amongst other debris.
What had transpired in that hotel room last night? Why all this rage, as easy observable in these peculiar acts of violence and destruction?
Could the other debris cast about account for all of this obscene behavior? The empty and broken bottles of beer, the crushed remnants of beer cans, empty bags of pot, still smelling of skunk, a crack pipe, powdery residues of now forgotten Sunshine acid lay scattered haphazardly about the soggy carpet. These were the testaments that they in fact had not dreamt the entire episode. Get a grip, man.
"Yeah, welcome to the happy place." Trowa said, staring down into his mug of beer.
The clown had been talking to two of his friends, none other than Heero and Duo, who seemed to be acting quite odd today. Heero sat next to Trowa at the bar in the circus, listening intently save the occasional twitch. Duo on the other hand, had taken hanging around the wolverine's cage, poking it when Trowa turned his back.
"The owner always wanted to run away and join the circus when he was a little kid." Trowa said, continuing his story, "Now the sombitch owns the circus."
He sighed, and ran his fingers through the length of his bangs.
"Straight up, tell me, what's the price for that lion?" Heero suddenly asked out of no where.
Trowa laughed a little, thinking he was just joking.
"How much ya' got?"
" Let me make this short and simple: I wanna buy that lion."
"What?"
"Hold on here, man. We'll be right back. I know just the man to suit all our cash needs. You just hold onto the lion for us. Don't let the lady in the mink coat by it, she'll eat it, man. Do you understand me?" Heero said as he grabbed Trowa by his lapel and pointed to the bearded fat woman.
"Uh. . ."
"Right! That's a good boy. You just wait here, man. We'll be right back."
Heero shook his head, as if trying to dispel the horrible memory. Christ what else had they done? He couldn't remember, and perhaps that was the best thing. It was probably better if he didn't remember, but still. . . curiosity may have killed the cat, but the Perfect Soldier certainly couldn't die from it, could he?
"Heero!" Duo screamed from the living room, and Heero raced from the mess that had once been a bedroom (or so he thought, it was hard to tell now what room it had been), and into the living room where the Shinigami stood in front of the television set, blue eyes transfixed upon the screen, the infamous Fluffy Whip canister in one hand.
Heero followed the Reaper's line of sight and stared at the local news correspondent. He was at Trowa's circus, reporting a follow up.
". . . I stand here today at the traveling circus that raised the spirits of many soldiers during the war, and our own hearts just yesterday during the After Eve War Celebration Bash that this colony was selected to host. But, grim news for the spirits of these poor carnies may never be lifted again. Just a day after the fire that obliterated their circus. . ."
Heero zoned out after he heard the word "fire."
Fire. . . Quatre's bangs. . . the circus tent. . . Trowa's pets. . .
Slowly, memories came flooding back.
"QQQQQQQUUUUUUUAAAAAAATTTTTRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!!!"
"Ow, not so loud, man, damn." Heero remembered hearing himself say, followed by a few hemp-induced giggles.
Shinigami once again banged on the door, and Quatre answered, bangs and all.
"Hiya, you guys!" he said cheerfully, flashing an adorable smile, "Wanna come in, I was celebrating our victory with the Maganacs."
"Now listen here, man.", Heero started with a quick snort, passing a joint to Duo who immediately began puffing away, "We need some cash, and we need it fast, man. We need to spring a friend from his own personal Hell of being locked in a cage for a living. I swear, if Trowa rides him one last time. . ."
"T-Trowa?" Quatre choked out, not being able to believe what Heero said. Who was Trowa "riding"? And what did he even mean by "riding"?
"Come quick, we'll show you, man."
"O-okay. . ."
The next bit was a blur, but out of the fog can another gloomy memory. . .
He remembered showing up at the circus, Trowa was on, Duo made a complete jackass of himself. . .
"Yo, Trowa!! We got the man with the cash, right here!! Give us our lion, man!!!"
Trowa was on the tight rope at the time, and Duo's penetrating scream proved to be a fatal enough distraction-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
-and he screamed, he actually screamed as the young clown held on for dear life. . .
"Trowa!" Quatre screeched, rushing to his aid, unfortunately the stoner twins were in his way, and as he went to run, he tripped over Duo, who had begun puffing away on new reefer-
-and as he stumbled over himself he managed to smack the joint out of the Shinigami's mouth, and together they collided into the circus tent, made of highly flammable material-
-and all of a sudden, FWOOSH!! The flames licked high up the fabric, dangerously close to Quatre's face-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-and then the Winner family's only boy shrieked in horror and pain as his bangs caught fire, thrashing his arms about.
"Hold on, man I got it!" the God of Death announced, going for his jeans and starting to unbutton them. Auspiciously for dear Quatre, though, Heero pushed Duo to the floor before anymore emotional damage could be exacted on the screaming boy, and luckily enough, Trowa had recovered and darted to Quatre's side with a large bucket of water.
The tent wasn't so prosperous, however. . .
Heero was aroused from his thoughts by the fffffffsssssttt sound of the Fluffy Whip can as Shinigami stuffed his face.
"Whamp?" he asked, mouthful of the fluffy whipped cream. Heero shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, walking towards the door.
"I'm goin' out for a bit. See you in a while."