Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Of Princesses and Harems ❯ Repression ( Chapter 1 )

Of Princesses and Harems

Author: Mara202 (nanashi202@yahoo.co.uk)

Archive: ff.net, my own website (see profile page)

Category: Drama?

Warnings/classifications: angst, AU, bastardised Relena, implied NCS, shonen-ai

Pairings: 1plus2plus1, the other pairings are a surprise

Disclaimer: To own or not to own, that's the question. As for me, the answer is 'not to own'… Too bad… -.-;

Summary: About half a year after the Revolution, Duo and Heero are contemplating their past lives as… members of a certain person's harem?!?

Author's notes: This fic was a challenge from Evyl (ff.net under Din Maxwell): "Write a fic in which Relena is queen of the world, Heero her betrothed and in which Heero and Duo have a secret relationship" and well… here is the result. It's a bit ::cough::understatement::cough:: weird I guess, but well… never mind ::insert smilie:: I guess it's a bit annoyingly written, since the story's constantly switching between flashback and reality, but… I felt like writing it this way, sooooo…. :P

Whoa, this is my longest chapter ever! Actually I didn't plan on uploading (part of) it before I'd finished it, but well… I'm not very consistent ::grins sheepishly:: One or two more parts to go I think… I have about 2000 words of the next part already so it shouldn't take long to finish that one.

Hmmm… maybe I should explain something about the world this story takes place in. It takes place in this world, but in the far future, when the greenhouse effect and some other stupid actions (nuclear weapons, something like that) have caused a large part of the world to disappear in the water. Terrible storms ravaged the world, and only a small part of the world's inhabitants survived. After a time of chaos, one Mrs Peacecraft took over control, and divided the world into ten large 'countries', each divided into ten 'districts'. The countries and districts have no names, only numbers (like 'the Tenth Country' or 'the First District of the Third Country'), with the First District of the First Country being the richest and most important and being the residence of the queen. The thrown passes over to the eldest daughter of the queen, when she is fifteen. Surnames also pass over through the female line. They don't have any technology, except for some lamps and some other stuff that uses electricity, but only some people know how these things work and how to repair them. Don't ask me where I got the idea for this, because I have no idea… -.-

"blah" talking

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Part 1: Repression

Two boys, probably about the age of nineteen, were sitting in the sun, leaning against a tree-trunk. When one saw them, no one would think that these two guys had witnessed the downfall of an empire that had been reigning for hundreds of years, nor that they had played an important role in this.

Now, almost half a year after the Revolution, as the downfall of the Empire had been dubbed, they were free at last. But the years of horror, which seemed like an eternity ago now, had left their marks on them. They were technically speaking free, but mentally they had yet to overcome their pasts.

One of the boys, with long, brown hair in a braid, and almost violet-coloured eyes, grabbed the hand of the other and squeezed it gently. The short-haired boy was staring at something, seemingly not noticing the boy next to him. He still hadn't forgotten what had happened the last months.

"Heero," the violet-eyed boy said softly.

The other blinked and refocused his eyes. He turned towards the boy who had spoken, and asked: "What is it, Duo?"

The braided one hesitated. "You know, I've been thinking. Maybe we should talk about what happened to us, so we can give it a place and go on with our lives."

Heero nodded slowly. "You're probably right."

Duo tilted his head a bit. "But?"

The blue-eyed boy shook his head. "No buts. You're right, we can't let her ruin our lives, especially now she isn't around anymore."

Duo closed his eyes and leaned back against the tree. Neither of them spoke, both were lost in their own thoughts for a while. Then Duo spoke: "I still remember the day that I was chosen to represent our district as if it happened yesterday… At that time I had no idea what was going to happen, although I knew it wouldn't be pretty…"

------

"You have a son of the age of ten, right, madam?" the tall soldier asked on a tone that didn't leave any illusions about the fact that he already knew that the answer was yes, and that he wouldn't allow any opposition from the woman, who stood in the hallway with a young, blond kid behind her, clasping her dress.

"Y-yes, sir. He's in his room, I'll bring him here immediately," she said, and turned to get her son. Why him? Why did he have to be born in that year, the same year that the future queen of the world had been born? Now a terrible fate was awaiting him, and there was nothing she could do about it. Yes, she could try to get him out of the house, but would a life on the streets, fighting to stay alive, be better than what would happen to him now? And maybe… just maybe, he would come out of this alright. Not every boy was sent to the Palace, only one from every district was chosen to represent the country, and only one boy from every country was chosen by the princess herself. But when she opened the door of her little son's room, and saw him sleep on his bed, exhausted after a day of playing with his friends, she knew that her boy would be chosen. His angelic features would enchant everyone, probably including the princess.

"Duo," she said, shaking the boy softly when he didn't wake up at her call.

The boy, still clad in his normal clothes, for he had been too tired to change, stirred a bit in his sleep, then opened his eyes, blinking. "What is it, mom?" he asked sleepily.

She couldn't take it anymore and let out a tortured sob. "I'm so sorry, Duo… I'm so sorry…"

He looked at here, confused. "Sorry about what, mom?"

His mother sobbed again, and pulled him into an embrace. "There is a man at the door, who wants you to come with him. There is a chance that you will represent our district at the Palace."

Duo blinked again. At school the teacher had told him that it was a huge honour to be chosen as representative of the district, and now his mother was… crying? "I… I don't understand…"

He jumped up when someone shouted from the direction of the door: "Hey, we don't have all day! Please hurry up, madam!" He didn't like that voice, and suddenly he understood his mother's fear. He started to tremble slightly. "Mom… I don't wanna go…" he said, as his mother pulled him on his feet.

She swallowed. "I… I don't want you to go either, but… we don't have a choice. Be brave, and don't let them bring you down, you understand me, Duo? And remember, I'll always love you."

They had reached the door, where the soldier was still waiting. The armoured man tried to smile friendly, but only managed to look even more severe and frightening. "So, you're Duo, right? I'm going to take you to the village green, there are other boys your age, so you won't be alone. There's nothing to be afraid of."

And after one last look at his mother, who now let her tears flow freely, he let the soldier take him away.

When they arrived at the village green, Duo saw that the soldier hadn't been exaggerating. All boys from the village who were about his age, which were only a few, and quite a lot of boys he didn't know, had been gathered at the green. Some of them seemed to see this as an exciting event - they probably believed what everyone had taught them about this being an honour -, but most of the young boys had a look of fear, in different gradations in their eyes. He recognised a few of them, and walked towards a group of four boys.

"Hi, Solo," he tried to say in his usual cheerful tone, but due to the tension that was all around, he failed miserably. "Hi Jack, hi Lance, hi Kai," he greeted the other three boys. They had all been in the same class, and often played together after school-time. The school they had attended to, consisted of only one, albeit large, room, where all kids from the village were having their lessons at the same time. That way they didn't learn very much, since the teacher, an elderly woman with grey hair, had to divide her attention among pupils from the age of six to the age of twelve. Those were the disadvantages of a poor district.

The other boys were just as nervous as he was, so they were just waiting in silence, for the inevitable to happen. On the green, it wasn't quiet though. Lots of people from the village were standing in the shadows of the buildings, talking about what was happening. Then, after almost half an hour, in which two other boys had been brought to the green, a soldier of high rank announced that the boys had to line up, so they could chose the one who would represent their district and, together with the representatives from the other districts of the Tenth Country, would be sent to the Palace.

A woman emerged from the group of soldiers. She was clad in expensive-looking clothes, probably someone of high status. She walked past the boys, and looked at them all, one by one, intently. It was unnerving, the way she was scrutinising them. Duo was shuffling nervously on his feet.

When the woman had passed them about three times, she said in loud voice: "I have made my decision." Then she pointed at Duo: "You, come here. You will represent this district."

Duo was frozen on the spot. He wasn't able to move, even if he had wanted to. He only got out of his shock when Solo shook his shoulders softly, saying: "I think she wants you to go there. Be strong."

The next moment, the silence was broken by the sound of a whip, accompanied by a loud voice: "He is property of the Palace now, you are not allowed to touch him!"

When Duo was over the initial shock and looked next to him, where Solo had been standing, he saw his best friend lying on the ground, blood on his clothes, and rolling into a foetal position. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do anything, one of the soldiers grabbed his coat and dragged him towards the woman…

------

"Solo… he got beaten up for just being friendly," Duo sighed.

Heero, who was lying on the grass now, staring at the sky, hned and said: "In my district the elections went completely different, only a bit less violent. In the First District of the First country, the princess had the opportunity to choose whomever she wanted, and since she always had this thing with me, ever since I went with my father to the Palace when he was summoned to repair some things, she immediately picked me, without even looking at the other boys."

------

"Daddy!" the seven-year old boy ran towards his father, who had just come home after a long day of work. He was one of the few in the district who knew something about the mysterious objects from the past, which worked on something called 'electricity'. Heero had always found those 'mechanical' things, as his father called them, fascinating.

"Hi, Heero," his father said, a smile on his face. "Would you like to go with me tomorrow, when I'll repair some lamps at the Palace? It's Saturday tomorrow, so you won't miss school."

The small boy looked at his father in delight. "That would be so cool, dad! I'd love to go!"

It was always fun to assist his father when he had to work, but being able to see the Palace from the inside, that was great! No one from his class had ever seen that, and he was sure that everyone would be dying to know what it was like there.

So when the next day arrived, Heero went with his father to the Palace. He regretted only having two eyes, because that surely was not enough to see everything he walked past. The amount of 'mechanical' stuff also awed him, he had never seen so many lamps in one place! At home they didn't even have one of them! It was almost magical, seeing how these things started emitting light after simply pushing a button.

"The next room we'll visit, is the room of princess Relena," his father whispered to him, not wanting to distort the silence in the Palace.

The room was huge and had large windows at two sides of it. But what really caught his eye, was the fact that everything was… pink. From the curtains to the carpet, everything was pink, in different shades. The room was so pink it almost hurt his eyes. He could see that his father also didn't really appreciate the choice of colours in this room, but professional as he was, he just got to work and didn't say a thing about it.

When the princess herself entered the room, Heero didn't notice her at first, because she blended in so perfectly with her pink surroundings. The girl was dressed in pink, a light pink shawl covering her neck, and pink shoes gracing her feet. So when she spoke up, Heero started.

"Who are you?" she asked haughtily. "And what are you doing here, in my room?"

His father got up quickly from where he had been working on a lamp. "Your Highness," he said, bowing, "I'm the one who was asked to come and take a look at the mechanical objects in the Palace. And this," he nodded in Heero's direction, "is my son."

The princess looked at them, first at his father, shortly, and then, for a longer while, at Heero, her eyes scrutinising every bit of him. The boy began to feel uncomfortable and looked at the ground. Fortunately for him, his father broke the tense silence. "Do you want us to leave, your Highness?"

The pink-wearing girl seemed to be thinking about this for a moment, but eventually shook her head. "No, you can stay." Then she turned to Heero and continued: "I like you. I'll ask my mother if you can come to the Palace more often."

This was the beginning of Heero's torture. At least once a week, a messenger from the princess came to his house and asked his parents if it was alright if Heero would come with him to the Palace, because princess Relena wanted to see him. No one in the right mind denied the princess something, because everyone who did was immediately punished, often with death. Heero's parents, although very reluctant, had no choice but to let their son go, and since he, young as he was, knew what was good for him, didn't struggle, but obediently followed the messenger to the Palace. The happy young boy that Heero had been, slowly turned into a quiet guy, hiding behind a stony expression, never truly happy anymore.

The worst part came, when he was ten years old. Princess Relena had just turned ten as well, and that was the age on which the boys who would form her harem would be chosen. As inhabitant of the First District of the First Country, Relena herself would pick the one who would represent the district.

"But Relena! You have to see all of the candidates first, before choosing! That's the tradition!" the queen exclaimed.

Relena sighed dramatically and said: "But mom! What's the use of wasting my time on those fools if I already know whom I'll choose?"

The queen resigned. This was logic she couldn't refute. "Well, do as you wish, my daughter. But I ask you to remember that this is your own choice."

The princess smiled triumphantly as she walked away. "I'll call some guards and then I'm gonna tell Heero personally that he'll represent this district."

------

"That must have been terrible, that pink…" Duo wanted to say a nasty word, but decided against it, "thing at your door telling you that you'd probably have to stay the rest of your life in the Palace."

"It was, kind of. But at that time, I didn't really know what was awaiting me," Heero answered. "Although that probably was a good thing," he added thoughtfully.

Duo nodded, still leaning against the big tree. It was quiet for a while, the two boys lost in their own, dark thoughts. Then the braided one broke the silence: "The first five years weren't really bad, actually. I mean," he added, "they weren't the best years of my life, but I certainly have been unhappier."

Heero snorted. "Yeah, like the year after these five years… No, compared to that, those first years were like living in paradise."

"Ah yes, you remember when we first arrived there? That creepy lady?"

------

The elections were finished; from each country, one boy had been chosen to be a part of princess Relena's personal group of servants. It was no surprise who she had chosen for the First Country, she hadn't even taken a look at the other nine candidates. This was unheard of, and the people who had come to see the spectacle were very busy gossiping. Relena hadn't done more then briefly walking past the candidates from the other countries and then just picking one of them. That also was a source of rumours.

As soon as the elections had been over, the chosen ten-year old boys had been brought to the palace, escorted by some impressive-looking guards from the Royal Guard. Those soldiers were always dressed in black, with a black cape which was secured with a golden brooch-like thing. Every single civilian respected the Royal Guard and didn't even think about putting the slightest obstacle in their way.

When the boys reached the Palace, which wasn't far away from the place where the elections had been held, they were immediately sent to a severe-looking woman, dressed in a military uniform. Any illusion the boys might have had about living at the Palace was gone when the woman started to speak: "Boys, the princess herself has chosen you to become her personal servants. This is an enormous honour, and you shall show yourselves worthy of this honour!"

The woman looked at them all, one by one, intently. "The next five years, you will be trained to be able to serve Relena in the way she deserves. You will be trained by me and I will not tolerate disobedience, in whatever form it might be. You will do exactly as I say, if not…" she added a meaningful pause, "then I will make you regret it. You can address me as Lady Une."

After these terrifying words, the boys were brought to a dormitory. The ten boys were all very quiet, unnaturally quiet for boys their age. It wasn't until the lady had left the room and didn't seem to be returning anytime soon, that one of them opened his mouth to speak.

"Hi, I'm Duo, who are you?" a boy with amazing, almost violet eyes asked.

The others were still somewhat reluctant to speak, as if they were afraid they were being watched, although they all had seen the lady leave the room, and had all heard her footsteps fade away. But after exchanging some nervous glances, one of the other boys, someone with short, black hair and green eyes, spoke: "I'm Kenneth, I'm from the Third Country."

Now that two of them had introduced themselves, the others followed. Except for one. The dark-haired boy was sitting in a corner of the large room, his arms folded around his knees. His eyes were open, but there was no sign that he was actually looking at something.

Duo was intrigued by the way the boy was just sitting there, and he walked towards the silent boy. "Hey, what's up?" he asked.

The boy didn't answer. In fact, there was nothing that indicated that he'd heard Duo's question. He was still staring blankly at the wall. Very uncharacteristically, but maybe because of the new environment, Duo didn't push him and kept silent, though still waiting for an answer.

Eventually, after minutes of silence - the other boys hadn't spoken either - the dark-haired boy spoke. "That damned bitch! I hate her!" he muttered, so softly that Duo could barely hear it.

"Who?"

That short question seemed to get the boy out of his apathy. He blinked, as if he suddenly remembered where he was, and with whom: nine boys he didn't know. He turned a bit, so that he faced Duo and the other boys. Then he said: "I'm Heero, nice to meet you."

Duo smiled brightly at him. "Nice to meet you too, Heero!" He sat down next to the other boy, cross-legged. "So, where're ya from?"

------

"Those first years were actually kinda fun," Duo said, but when he saw the odd look Heero gave him, he quickly added: "I mean, sure it wasn't funny to learn all those things, like how to behave at formal dinners, that nonsense with the different knives and forks and stuff, but our little group was nice, the other boys were good friends, don't you agree?"

"True. It was also nice that we didn't see much of Relena. But after her fifteenth birthday…"

"Yes, after that the horror truly began," the braided one finished the sentence.

"You know, it still kind of surprises me that no one really knew what was going on between the walls of the Palace. No one had ever told me what happened there, what the use was of the boys that were chosen every time when the crown princess reached the age of ten," Heero said after a thoughtful silence.

"Yeah… would they really not have known? Or… would the Palace have paid for their silence?"

------

"Boys, today is princess Relena's fifteenth birthday, which means that your play-time is over. From now on you'll be part of princess Relena's harem, and you will follow her every order. If you don't…" she looked at them all, an expression of sadistic enjoyment on her face, "ah well, you know the drill. As I was saying, you will do exactly what princess Relena tells you to, whether you like it or not." She grinned evilly. "Yes, some of you will definitely like this, but then again, some of you might not. And to those few I'd like to repeat: do as you are told."

But she didn't tell the boys what kind of things they could be told to do.

That same evening, the boys were summoned to the main hall. The queen, dressed in an extravagant blue robe, was sitting on a throne, placed on a raised platform. Next to her was Relena, wearing a dark-red dress which left nothing to the imagination. The rest of the giant hall was empty, save for some soldiers.

The queen clapped her hands, smiling. "So, Relena, which one do you choose, your first night as fifteen-year old?"

Relena smiled arrogantly, and let her eyes wander over the boys in front of her. "I choose him," she said, pointing at Heero.

The boys had heard the story about Heero and Relena; how they had met, and how Relena had become obsessed with the poor boy, so this turn of event wasn't much of a surprise. And yet a sigh of relief was audible, every boy knew that what was about to happen, wasn't something they'd like to experience themselves. If the sadistic grin of their instructor hadn't told them that, then Relena's expression would have done the trick.

The queen rose and walked towards the blue-eyed boy. She looked at him, scrutinising, then nodded appreciatively. "I should have known that when you chose him, all these years ago, without so much as looking at the other candidates, that you had made the right choice. He has absolutely become a handsome young man."

Relena had risen from her chair as well, and was now watching everything from the platform, a haughty smirk on her face. "Of course I made the right choice. Have I ever made the wrong choice?"

The queen smiled sweetly at her daughter. "Of course, my dear Relena. Well, I'm going to my room. Have fun, dear!" she added with a wink, that made the boys, especially Heero, shiver in fear. Somehow this 'fun' didn't sound like something they would consider 'fun'.

Relena motioned for some soldiers, who had been standing in the shadows of the hall, to bring nine of the boys to their dormitory. Then she smirked predatorily at the last remaining one. "So, Heero. After all these years, I finally have my opportunity. Follow me."

The boy looked at the ground and followed her silently. There still were more than enough soldiers around to make any attempt on escaping futile, and he didn't question Lady Une's words that something very unpleasant would happen to him if he didn't obey. But then again, would anything she could do, be worse then that what was awaiting him? He quickly looked around, trying to find a way out. He found none. Every possible exit was guarded by soldiers. His shoulders slumped as he still followed Relena.

Relena halted when they reached a door, the door to her room, as Heero remembered from that day that he had accompanied his father. He couldn't help but think how it would've been had he never done that. Would he still be living with his parents, happy like he used to be? Or would he have been chosen anyway? But there was no time for this kind of thinking, for Relena demanded his attention.

"And, do you remember my room? I recall that you aren't extremely fond of my choice of colours?" She smirked again. "Sooooo… I have a nice surprise for you."

Heero looked at her, a mixed expression of defiance and confusion on his face.

"I bet you'd love to know what that surprise is, don't you, Heero?" As he didn't reply her voice changed from extremely sweet to angry. "Well, have it your way." A maniacal gleam entered her eyes. "Undress. Now."

------

A pained expression was on Heero's face when he spoke of that day, or rather night. "And there was nothing I could do except following her orders. She'd threatened to kill my father if I didn't. I didn't care what she did to me, but I couldn't let her hurt other people, that would've been wrong."

"You did the right thing," Duo said, while throwing his arm around Heero's shoulders in a comforting gesture. "And I hate to say it, but I have to admit that the other boys and I were pretty happy that we didn't have the dubious 'honour' of being the first one chosen by Relena."

Heero shrugged a bit. "Well, I never had any illusions about Relena. When she started to stalk me all those years ago, I knew this was going to happen. So I guess I'd raised pretty high defences."

Duo snickered. "Yeah, you can say that again. It took me quite a while to take those defences down again."

"Hey, this was your idea, right?" Heero said, punching the braided boy playfully. "Let's go on with our 'therapeutic talk', shan't we?"

"You seem pretty anxious to talk about it; are you sure you didn't like what Relena wanted you to do?" Duo said, ducking away to escape Heero's wrath. But what he hadn't expected… was that the blue-eyes boy was going to use the infamous tickle-attack! Within a time-span of only seconds, Duo was reduced to a mercy-begging heap of jelly. "No fair! Stop! AAAAHHHH!"

When both boys had recovered their breath, Heero smirked and said: "Well, you don't seem to have incurred a big trauma out of all this either."

Duo pouted. "It's not as if I liked what she did to me, it's just that I… well, I think I hid myself behind a huge wall as well. I can't even remember what happened most of the times that she summoned me to her room."

Heero nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, there was this period when she almost every time asked for you. She got bored of me after a while, fortunately for me, and then she wanted something new, someone new. Not really a surprise that she chose you."

The other boy tilted his head a bit to the side and asked mischievously: "Oh, and why is that?"

"Fishing for compliments, aren't we?" Heero said, while leaning in Duo's direction. "Well, your beautiful hair could have been a reason, or maybe…" He leaned even more towards Duo and kissed him. "…those perfect, kissable lips, or… should I go on?"

Duo blushed and mumbled something incomprehensible.

------

"Relena, darling, what's wrong?" the dark-haired girl, who was one of Relena's best friends, asked tentatively.

The princess opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, and then finally spoke. "It's just so disappointing! I waited all these years for him, and now that I finally have him…" her voice trailed off.

"Sometimes the dream of something is better than the reality," a blond girl, who was filing her nails, said without looking. "Fortunately you still have nine other cuties to keep you company at night." The other girls chuckled.

"Or maybe my brother wouldn't mind to… help you out," a girl with brown, curly hair, spoke.

"O Cathy, get real! You don't expect me to believe you still don't know that he swings the other way, do you?" the blonde cuttingly remarked. "Have you ever seen the way he looks at that blond guard? No?" She snorted. "Well, that would explain your stupidity."

"Dorothy…" the princess said on a menacing tone. Then her mood brightened. "You're right though, about what you said. I think I'm gonna take a look at the other boys of my… harem." She smirked. "Oh, how I like that word…"

She turned around and pointed at the dark-haired girl. "Hilde, please let someone tell the boys I want them in my quarters in fifteen minutes."

The girl nodded. "I'm on my way, princess."

Dorothy finally decided that her nails were perfect, and threw away the nail file in a bored manner. "And, my princess, who are you going to choose? I'd say it's a pretty hard choice, all ten of them are kinda cute. Although…" She was quiet, thinking for a while. "The braided one is really cute," she finally said. "If I had to choose, I'd choose him I think."

Relena nodded, as always a bit overrun by the blond girl, who had been her friend since they were young children. "Hmmmm… I might just do that."

About ten minutes later, the ten boys of her harem arrived at her quarters. The princess motioned them to line up, then walked a couple of times past them, looking at them one by one, her unemotional gaze making them at least slightly uncomfortable. Eventually she halted and asked: "You, with the braid: what's your name?"

The boy looked at her defiantly, not at all impressed by her rank or behaviour. " Duo Maxwell, at your service, ma'am," he answered, mock saluting.

Relena smirked. So he wanted to play hard-to-get? Well, if that was what he wanted, she didn't mind playing along. "So… Duo," she said, a sadistic smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "you will have the honour to spend the night at my room. I want you to be there at exactly ten o'clock, not a second later."

The other boys gaped at her in shock. They were so used to the fact that Relena always chose Heero, that her choosing someone else was something they had difficulties digesting. The shock quickly turned into fear, fear that they too would have to warm the princess's bed some night.

One of them wasn't shocked, nor afraid. He had seen this coming, for he had been the one that had been summoned to Relena's room night after night. He knew she wasn't satisfied with the way he fulfilled his 'duty' - just doing as she said, but lacking every kind of emotion, not even showing hate or disgust - and was very disappointed. He knew that the princess got a kick out of giving orders, and even more so, if the one she was ordering didn't obey at once. His just doing as she said had thus immensely frustrated her, to the point of not calling him to her bed anymore.

Well, he couldn't care less. He was glad he didn't have to be in the same room as the pink-loving princess anymore. At least, not alone. What he did care about, behind his emotionless façade, was the fact that now the other boys had to endure the same torture as he had. And especially the braided boy, who he had come to consider a friend. Would Relena manage to break his spirit? Kill the cheerfulness that had kept Heero going on when everything had been just too much to handle? He couldn't let that happen. Even though he knew Duo was strong, stronger than his physical appearance might suggest, he made a mental note to himself that he had to help the boy in whatever way possible.

End of part 1

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Well, what do you think? Please review if you liked it! (Or if you didn't, but in that case, please keep it polite! ::insert smilie:: ) Thanks!

::runs off to write the next part of Fighting Demons::