Unchained

by Jonouchi Katsuya

This is a Wallshipping for the YGO Summer Contest. AU Set in 1850-1853. Permanent Hiatus.

Holy hell. It was hot.

That was the singular thought running through Odion's mind as he lugged the massive plow through the dirt, furrowing a shallow groove in it. Biting his lip, he quickly reached up to wipe the sweat off his forehead with the back of his right hand. Continuing to drag the metal tool through the dirt behind him, he looked around at the expansive dirt field surrounding him. Dozens of other dark-skinned men working in the same field, tugging other plows. He wondered for a moment if the others even registered just how hot it was. They had known nothing else for as long as any of them could remember. It was just part of life for them.

He banished the thought from his mind, fighting to keep the plow moving through the dirt as quickly as possible. His fastest was faster than anyone else's fastest, just like it always was. Not that it was a competition, or at least not one he had any interest in winning, but Odion was always the best at just about anything and everything a slave could do.

Well, just about.

"Alright!" A short man slowly trotted around the dirt, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of dark-skinned workers, holding a two foot long metal pole. "The Master is going to need a particularly superb harvest this season, and believe me when I say you will all be the ones who suffer if he's not satisfied!"

Odion grumbled to himself. As if he hadn't been busting his ass the last two seasons, like he had something else to give.

"This morning, guests arrived, and the Master will be hosting them for the next week! Among them is a woman he hopes to court! None of you are to speak to these guests unless prompted to directly, nor are any of you to make eye contact with them! Any slave who makes our guests feel the slightest bit uncomfortable with their presence will be going down into the cellar and will not be coming out!" The man spun the rod around in his hands a couple times.

Odion gritted his teeth. The frustrating part was how short and small this man was. Odion had no doubt he could squash his head into a pulp with either one of his hands given the opportunity. He felt that if he picked him up and threw him, he'd fly a good twenty feet in the air before landing. Some days, he felt like doing it, willing to take the pain and death that would follow. When he was sixteen, he 'accidentally' dropped a stone onto a slave-master's foot and spent the next three days being whipped, beaten, and burned. Hardly worth it. But to actually kill a slave-master...his sense of satisfaction would be worth any tortures that would follow. But he couldn't die. Not yet.

"The Master fully expects his property to look in peak condition for his guests! If any of his slaves reflect poorly on him in any way in front of his guests, I can't even imagine how furious he'll be! I don't wanna deal with that, and you don't wanna deal with that! So as far as you're all concerned, making the Master look as good as possible in front of his guests is a matter of life and death!"

Odion glanced behind him at the groove he had created, releasing the plow and rubbing his hands on his chest, both parts of his body glistening with sweat. No. He wasn't ready to die yet. Pain would go away with time, he was willing to take any amount of pain...but he still had things to take care of here.

Cracking his neck to the left and right, Odion picked the tool behind him back up again and made to turn around, preparing to cut another groove into the dirt. As he turned, he looked up at the massive mansion where his master, Devlin, resided. He snorted. Guests or not, the structure was far bigger than it ever needed to be. He could only assume that his slimy owner was compensating for something.

.

"Serenity, you don't get many chances like this."

The room was like nothing either of them had seen before. The ceiling must have been a good twenty-five feet above the floor, an assortment of expensive and attractive decorations cascading down all four walls and a mural on the ceiling of what appeared to be the last supper. The four-poster bed was large enough to hold five people comfortably, an expensive silk blanket and feathered comforter laying on top of it. A massive window was on the wall opposite the door, nine panels showing the scene outside, dozens of large colored men working in the fields, plowing the dirt. A bookshelf against the right wall, leather-bound books with gold lettering on the spines. The carpet, a thick shag, dark red, a joy to walk across barefoot. They had been nowhere as nice as this.

"What's that supposed to mean, Joseph?"

Serenity was seated in the middle of the bed, legs crossed in front of her, wearing her white cotton nightgown. Joseph sat on a chair a few feet away from the right of the bed, leaning over with his elbows on his knees, looking at his younger sister.

"You saw the size of Devlin's plantations when we rode in. You saw how many slaves he had. There aren't twenty people in this country worth more than him." Joseph nodded slowly. "He sold his harvests last year for a grand total of just over a million dollars, according to local rumor. That's a one, followed by six zeroes."

Serenity placed her hands on her knees, looking up at the mural on the ceiling, an impressive piece of work by whoever painted it.

"That's a thousand thousands-"

"I know how much a million is!" Serenity snapped.

"Don't speak to me that way. " Joseph chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"I apologize, I'll give him a chance, big brother. I wouldn't have gone all the way out here if I wasn't prepared for that. But this Mister Devlin strikes me as very slimy, and local rumor also has it he's not much for monogamous relationships."

Joseph blinked a few times, slowly opening his mouth. Serenity rolled her eyes.

"He has never proven to be serious about marriage my dear brother."

"If he doesn't marry you, I will personally see to it that he pays."

"I'm not a piece of meat!" Serenity snarled but quickly composed herself and became a lady once more. "I'll do what I can to impress him. But if I do not, last I checked, we are not doing so bad ourselves. It would not be too much of a disgrace, would it, if he did not take me as his wife after a stroll?" Serenity looked down thinking of the possibility. "If he were to... to..."

Joseph stood up, scratching the back of his head. "Serenity, you're a real pretty girl, and a lot of young men would be more than happy to marry you. But you don't get many chances to hitch up to a guy like this. He is of high class and is seen well in the community, say the rumors. I can't make you do anything, but keep it in mind. I would never let him take your honor. I would fight for your honor. I assure you that. Father really seems to like him. Do not tell father of my murmurs, but when it comes to this man, I may agree with you. Obey father. Trust father. He knows what is best. Not I."

With that, he turned towards the door. "Lunch'll be up soon, why don't you come on down? And throw on something nice."

She uncrossed her legs and scooted off the bed, quickly crossing the distance between the bed and the wardrobe doors across the room. She threw the white double doors open, revealing a single golden rod running across the top of the small chamber, bearing a few dozen hangers with assorted dresses on them.

"W-what..." She parted several of them with her hands. "What are these? Where are mine?"

Joseph shrugged. "Maybe he wants you to wear one of those. They look nice."

She pulled one of the necks open and looked at the tiny writing on the back. "They're two inches too small at the waist for me," she responded, repeating the process with a few others. "All of them!"

Joseph opened the bedroom door, stepping out. "I guess he wants you to lose some weight."

Serenity scowled, turning just in time to see Joseph shut the door behind him.

.

Serenity slowly moved through the crowd of people, feeling the hard squeeze of the corset that was insisted upon, feeling the pinch of the tight clothing around her lower torso. The discomfort made her think she could hardly fathom wearing this for the rest of the day. She could feel herself become light headed every third step. It would have been bad enough had she simply been left alone, but everyone here seemed to have something to say to her or something to ask her.

Soft violin music floated through the air, just enough to provide a pleasant background without becoming distracting. The room's ceiling reached up about forty feet from the ground, stark white pillars on either side of both entrances to the room. Massive portraits, mostly of Duke himself, covered the walls, with another pair of large bookshelves and assorted wall ornaments completing the picture of a truly magnificent lounge room. Perhaps twenty people were mingling back and forth.

Serenity leaned up against the wall next to an ornately carved wooden chair, hands at her waist, grumbling to herself.

"Devlin's outdone himself yet again, I see."

Serenity looked up to see a tall, well-built man approaching, wearing a fine white sack coat. She forced a small smile up at him.

"I hope you understand that Devlin has a habit of throwing his fish back in the lake after he catches them."

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to have the most beautiful fins of them all." Serenity stood up, straining against the corset that was killing her ribs. Otherwise, she had to admit, it did make her look more attractive in the gown. It was a pale rose with a deep v with the sleeves coming just off the shoulder.

"That's the spirit. And I dare say you have a good chance at that. Tristan Taylor. Father's a banker."

"And I assure you, I make in two months what he makes in a year."

Serenity felt a pair of hands clasp on her shoulders and spun her head around. There he was. The star of the whole show. Duke Devlin, large green eyes and fashioned long black hair, respectively kept neat in a ponytail and he, much taller than Serenity. Like Tristan, he wore a sack coat, though his was black and had a golden trim to boast his extravagance.

"You wouldn't be trying to seduce her, would you?" Duke asked, eyes gleaming, a small smile on his face as he glared at Tristan.

"Don't be silly, Duke," Tristan replied, glancing up at one of the portraits on the wall opposite him. "We all know that's a battle you'd win."

"So, Serenity, I've been dying to ask you...which one is your favorite?" He looked up at another of his portraits on the wall. "Personally, I've always had a special place in my heart for this one right here."

Serenity glanced around the room at all of them again, wrinkling her nose. "Well, to be entirely honest, I...rather thought they were all the same picture."

"Subtle differences make all the difference, my dear," Duke insisted. "I'll have to show you what I mean one of these days; each picture is actually completely different."

"I'm sure-" Serenity felt him grab her right hand and tug her to the other side of the room.

"It's good to see you fit in those dresses," he said, maneuvering through a sea of bodies.

"Barely," Serenity remarked. "In fact, I had been meaning to ask, I brought some dresses with me that I can't seem to find-"

"I'm sure they'll turn up," Duke said dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about it too much though; the dresses in your room are the finest money can buy."

"But I-"

Duke tugged her into a small circle of people. Her brother and father.

"Well, looks like we're all here," Duke said smoothly. "I hope my esteemed guests are enjoying the proceedings?"

"Say, Mr. Devlin." Joseph gestured with his head towards one member of the crowd. A noticeably tall woman with curled blonde hair down to her shoulders. "Who's she? I'd like to get to know her."

"You have a fine taste in women, Joseph. And call me Duke." He looked over at the blonde. "Unfortunately, the man standing next to her isn't her brother, if you catch my drift." He pointed towards the man with large brown hair standing next to her. "She is Mai Valentine, and she is taken."

"Pity." Joseph put his hands in his pockets. "Now that's a woman, right there."

"Miss Valentine has known the inside of my horse carriage. But she's a woman of radical notions, and I could never satisfy her." Duke shrugged. "Speaking of which, I wanted to inform all of you that I believe it's time Serenity sees this carriage of mine."

Her father gave a broad smile. "Mister Devlin! You've reached your decision very quickly! This pleases me!"

Serenity squinted her eyes, looking back and forth between Devlin and her father. She had arrived no less than 24 hours ago, and had exchanged no more than a few minutes of dialogue with this man.

"Well, your daughter is just so lovely, it was a very easy decision. And I'd like the wedding to happen as soon as possible, next week in fact. I see no reason to delay it any more than absolutely necessary."

Serenity opened her mouth, but Duke continued to talk. He said these things so casually and quickly, the real impact of his words weren't even registering to her. He could have been talking about the seasonings on a steak.

"This is of course, pending the arrangement I mentioned earlier, Mister Wheeler." Duke looked at the elder Wheeler expectantly.

"Of course," he replied, nodding. "Once the marriage is made official, the ownership of my fishing business will be transferred over to you."

Serenity's eyes shot open at this. "What?" She spat out.

"Sweetie, please don't be rude," her father said quickly, eyes still on Devlin.

"B-but, father, you've worked most of your life for that business," Serenity continued, looking at her mother and brother, who seemed entirely unsurprised by this. "And things were going so well for you, you just bought that third boat, I-"

"Darling, let me worry about the business! Me and your fiancee have written out a wonderful proposal that greatly benefits both of us, and will see my company grow in size manifold in his reliable hands," he insisted, eyes still on Duke.

Serenity glared up at Duke, a gesture he didn't spot as his eyes were on her father.

"I'm sure you have friends from your hometown, and I have a private line at the post office that will see any invitations you wish to send at your town in less than a day," Duke continued. "Now, please, enjoy the rest of my party."

Duke turned to walk away, Serenity still gaping at his back, trying to find the right combination of words that would convey how she felt. But nothing came, and in the next instance, her brother was placing his hand on her right shoulder.

"Congratulations, Serenity. This should be the happiest day of your life. Well, aside from the wedding of course," Joseph said, smiling. "Things are about to get a lot better for the Wheeler family, Serenity."

"I...I didn't do anything..." she said quietly, looking down at the tops of her black and blue shoes. "I..."

"Don't say anything. No need. Just go and be happy." Joseph patted her on the back.

Serenity gave a small sigh and slowly trudged off back into the sparse crowd, mind on how she was going to shed those two inches before her new dresses suffocated her.

.

Odion slowly trotted around the grounds, carrying a lantern with a flame flickering within. The sun had just gone down, and all the slaves had retired for the night. Odion's job was to survey the grounds every night before turning in, make sure everything was in order. Useless task, there was never anything wrong. What exactly could be wrong anyway? It was just something to waste his time. And it took near an hour to check out everything.

He sighed, looking up at the dirt that stretched on as far as his vision could see in front of him. He was about thirty yards from the border between the property line of Devlin's plantation and the dirt road. Any second now, a patrolman would walk by, bearing a rifle, eyeballing Odion to make sure he didn't try to make a break for it. He had done this enough times to know the routine. Any second now...any second...

Silence. Nothing. Not a stir. Odion glanced around slowly. Nobody was around. Just him and a whole lot of dirt. He glanced back behind him, seeing only darkness and the faint outline of the mansion. Slowly, he started to walk forward, closer to the border. Still nothing. His heart started to race. He was now about twenty yards from crossing the forbidden line. There wasn't anyone around that he could detect. Sure, he might not make it very far, but if he could just get to the property line without hearing anyone, he could make a break for the nearest town under cover of darkness, find a place to hide, and figure out where to go from there. Sure, it wasn't a dream scenario, but he wasn't going to be choosy right now. It wasn't often Devlin's patrolmen were this lax about their rounds.

Five yards...two yards...he was one step away from crossing it, and-

Click.

Odion's heart fell as he slowly rose his hands up by his head. Of course.

"Don't move, and don't make a sound. Please."

Odion's forehead furrowed. The voice, heavily accented, not from anywhere around here. And to his knowledge Devlin only hired Americans from the south to ensure no chance of sympathy towards slaves.

The man was pretty tall, but not taller than himself. He had long strawberry blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. His outfit seemed to identify himself as wealthy. Odion would have to turn back.

"I just turn back now, and we forget this." Odion turned around and started to walk all the way back.

"Curious. An obedient slave would have gone running for his master as soon as he realized the guards weren't there," he said, still pointing a large revolver at Odion's head. Odion froze.

"And a southern-raised white man would never use the word 'please' when talking to a slave," Odion responded as the man slowly stepped out of the darkness and into the radius of light generated by the lantern, allowing his features to become more prominent.

"You already know more about me than most people who I point a gun at. Consider yourself lucky." He took a sideways step, crossing his left leg behind his right. "So, what's a field slave doing so close to his master's property line?"

Odion mentally shrugged. He was in for it, one way or another. No sense in trying to worm out of it. There wasn't any hiding the color of his skin.

"I was rather hoping to make a break for it." He turned to square up with the tall, strangely dressed man. "But I suppose you'll be fixing to collect a ten dollar reward from my master for returning me, so that won't be happening."

The man held still for a second, then lowered his gun and placed it into a leather holster at his belt. "Your master can keep his ten dollars. For the moment, at least. Siegfried, bounty hunter, from a land far away from here that you've surely never heard of."

"Based on the accent, I'd actually guess you do not originate in America or England," Odion replied, putting his hands back at his sides.

Siegfried raised an eyebrow. "Check out the big brain on you! You're pretty smart for a slave. That's right, Germany to be precise."

"You speak English good for a foreigner," Odion added, smiling slightly. He hadn't engaged in a conversation like this in years. It felt like his brain was finally getting the chance to stretch it's legs.

"And you as well, for a...well...yes," Siegfried trailed off, surveying Odion's face tattoos. "That's quite an impressive ink job you have there."

"There's a story behind that, which I'm afraid I have no time to tell you." Odion looked around. "Any second now, the rest of the patrolmen will realize some of their number have been killed, and then this whole area will be swarming with officers."

"How many total patrolmen does Devlin have?"

"Twenty-five. Each armed with a rifle, pistol, and six-inch knife," Odion recited.

"Twenty-five." Siegfried bit his lower lip, fingers flicking back and forth as he thought to himself. "I think we're good."

"You mean to tell me, that you just killed twenty-five fully armed and trained patrolmen, without an alarm being raised, or anything being seen?" Odion said, glancing around skeptically.

"I don't mean to tell you anything. But that's what happened." Siegfried nodded proudly. "My job isn't easy, but I'm very good at it if I do say so myself. So, what else can you tell me about the Devlin property that might be worth knowing?"

"What are you doing here? What do you want?" Odion still had his ears perked up for any sound of danger, not convinced the area was patrol-free.

"I only cross the pond for one reason. A whole lot of money, and I've been offered such in exchange for ending the womanizing reign of your master. I'm here to kill Duke Devlin, and collect the bounty on his head." Siegfried looked in the direction of the mansion.

"Well Mr. Siegfried, I suppose that makes you my new best friend."

"Not much of a social butterfly myself, so...I do believe I return that sentiment. Now, how are you gonna make my job easier?" Siegfried went up to Odion, just standing a few feet from him now. "And do you have a name?"

"Odion, but I haven't been called that in close to ten years." He nodded. "As for what I can tell you...well, if I'm not back at the slave quarters in about forty minutes, the slave-master is going to start wondering where I am, that's for starters."

"Your master will be dead in forty minutes." Siegfried dropped down to the ground, taking a seat on the dirt, patting the ground next to him. Odion complied, sitting down next to the bounty hunter.

"Why does a man like Duke Devlin have a bounty on his head?" Odion asked, smiling again. It had been so long since he had honest human interaction.

"Some months ago, he was visiting my home country. He met with a very wealthy and powerful property and business owner named Schmitt over the course of a few days. Devlin kissed the man's daughter and refused to marry her. Schmitt insisted that they duel so he could reclaim her honor, but your master fled for his home country, thinking that maybe the boat ride would be too tough on him. And I suppose he was right because he sent me in his place. Schmitt is now my client, and I'm being paid a lot of money to put him in the ground," Siegfried explained. "About twenty-five thousand of your American dollars."

"That just figures. Of course he'd get himself in trouble over something like that." Odion rubbed his chin. "The slaves sleep underground. A few dozen meters west of the mansion there's a small shed. You open it and there's a staircase down into the ground. About fifteen steps down you got a room with a whole bunch of cots and not much else. Two hundred slaves, counting me, and the slave-master. None of them are as unloyal as me, and I suspect each and every last one of them would fight to defend their master. And why not? After all, he feeds us and houses us," he finished sarcastically.

"What's the room made out of?" Siegfried asked, hands feeling around inside his coat.

"Wood."

"What else? Anything else worth knowing?" Siegfried tapped the grip of the gun on his belt.

"Devlin has guests. Four of them. Some girl he hopes to marry and her family. Man, his wife, son, daughter."

"Well, bad as I feel for them, they're getting put six feet under too. Can't have witnesses running around. You've been a real help, Odion. Not often you meet a random person willing to lend a hand to a bounty hunter." Siegfried jumped to his feet. "I suppose you should get to putting some distance between you and here now. I'll get to work."

"Wait." Odion stood up too. "I'd like to help more, if I can."

Siegfried paused, looking Odion up and down. "I appreciate the offer. But it's a good six hundred miles to the Mason-Dixon line, and if you want any chance of remaining free, you're gonna have to cross that line. You should get moving. Besides, I'm sure I can handle myself."

"I'm not going north, Siegfried. And I'm going to need more than what I have to do what I need to do." Odion folded his arms over his chest.

Siegfried eyed Odion suspiciously. "I already have plans for that money. Setting you free and killing your master is the best I can do to help you. I don't share bounties in situations where I don't feel I need to."

"I don't want your bounty. Look, we need to get moving now, before the slave-master gets suspicious. Just let me help you. I'll explain everything after we're done. There are one hundred and ninety nine slaves on this plantation, I think you could use a second man here."

Siegfried shrugged. "Well, now I'm curious." He reached around behind his back with his right hand, grabbing another large six-shooter and presenting it to Odion, handle-first. "You know how to use a gun?"

"Never done it before. Seems simple enough." Odion took the handle in his massive hand, closing his fingers around the grip.

"Point and squeeze. You get six shots. Pull back the tab on the back before every shot." Siegfried pulled his own gun from the front of his belt. "Now, here's what I have in mind."

.

Serenity started awake, trying to give off a yelp of surprise, but it was muffled by the strong hand clasped over her mouth. She felt something pressing against her neck as well. Her eyes had flown open, and after adjusting to the darkness, the moonlight revealed a tall man with the small glimmer of light provided, seemingly red hair in the dark, leaning over her.

"Cooperate, and you might survive the night. Understand?" He said in a thick accent, barely a whisper.

She gave a tiny nod, pupils dilating in fear, heart kicking into overdrive.

"Rule number one. You make a sound, I start breaking fingers. I run out of fingers, I start breaking toes. And if I run out of toes, you don't want to know what happens next," he rasped, still pressing what she guessed was some form of blade against her neck. "There are over two hundred bones in your body, and they all break." He pulled back slightly, releasing the hold on her mouth and pulling the knife from her neck. "Now, here's what we're going to do. You're going to get out of bed, and we're going to go over to the room where your brother sleeps, and you're going to wake him up. You're going to tell him you need him, and lead him out into the hall." He pulled the large revolver from his belt and pointed it at her. "You try to run, you try to warn him, you do anything I don't like, and I blow a hole in your brother's chest and spend the rest of the evening trying to see how many times I can make you scream."

She nodded, slowly inching out from under the covers and swinging her feet down to the carpet.

Taking a deep breath, she settled herself, then began a slow walk towards her bedroom door. Her stomach was churning like it never had before, sweat beginning to bead on her skin. Tiptoeing, she slipped through the already-open door and went across the hallway. Grabbing the silver carved knob in her right hand, she twisted it open, revealing a room much like hers. However, to her surprise, the massive bed was unoccupied. She looked around the room, finding no sign of Joseph, then turned to nervously face her captor.

"H-he was staying in here, I'm positive!" she sputtered, eyeing the massive gun with fear-filled eyes. "I swear he was sleeping here!"

"And I suppose he just disappeared?" The man scowled. "Don't think your brother can save you from me. Lie and it'll just mean less functioning fingers and toes for you later on."

"I'm telling you the truth! I swear!" Serenity said in a low whisper. "I-I don't know where he went! P-please, believe me! I don't know where he went!"

"Fine, then." He stepped to the side and pointed down the hall. "Your parents. Get them both out of bed and into the hall."

Obediently, she marched out of the room and down the hall, feeling the man following her. Her hands were shaking now, she was so terrified. A couple dozen steps later, she was in front of the door to her father's room, hands shaking so much she could barely manage to twist the doorknob.

She gave both of her parents, sleeping together on a similar massive bed, a quick nudge with her hands. "Wake up," she whispered. "Father, please."

"H...Huh? Sweetie, what's the matter? What time is it?" Her father mumbled.

"I...father, I think something's wrong, I need both of you to come with me, right now! Please, I'll explain later!" she said desperately. Her tears began to choke her, "Come, I need to show you something!"

Her father could see the shine of the moonlight in Serenity's tears. Snapping out of his slumber, her father twisted out of bed and jumped to his feet, following Serenity's hurried footsteps out into the hall. The glimmer of candle light ebbed toward the end of the hall. She turned and hurried towards the main room, her father quickly took the lead to protect her. On the table was the lit candle. Serenity, looked alarmed, but not for the reason her father thought. Just about as he was about to grab the candle, Serenity's father could feel the cold barrel on the back of his neck.

"That's far enough, you two," he said in a low voice. "Now if you would all kindly sit, slowly, on the chairs, this can be handled quietly. And you'd all do well to not make any sudden moves."

.

The two family members were facing each other, all looking at each other from the dining room seats they had been tied to. Both had had their hands placed behind the backrests and bound together, rope binding their torso to the backrest, and further rope tying their ankles to the chair legs. The two pairs of eyes flew back and forth, looking at each other, fear lacing their expressions. They were afraid to so much as breathe, as the strange man had promised a lot of pain to anyone who made so much as a peep while he was gone.

Light footsteps came down the hall. The three froze, turning their heads to look.

"I have twenty-five armed and trained men patrolling this plantation," Duke's voice sounded. "Do you really believe you'll have a chance in hell of making it out of here? Think about what you're doing."

"I've spent many weeks thinking about what I'm doing." The man with the accent. "I don't need your help, thank you. Your patrolmen are all dead, and I must say you Americans have a very loose definition of the word 'trained'."

Duke emerged into the dining room, hands behind his head and fingers interlocked together, a large frown on his face. The man came just a step behind, holding his large gun in his right hand and pointing it right at the back of Duke's head.

"I am Duke Devlin, among the richest men in this country! You don't understand who you're messing with. Surrender now and I'll see to it the judge goes easy on you."

"On the chair, pretty boy!" The man interrupted, pointing at a fourth chair that had been pulled away from the table. Groaning, Duke complied. "Now, hands together behind the backrest."

Duke did as he was told, allowing the man to loop some rope around his wrists and tie them together behind the chair.

"I'm trying to help you! Listen to me! If you do this, they're going to catch you and cut you in to little pieces while you're still breathing! Let me help you, you can still get out of this with your life." Duke continued as the man began to loop rope around his chest and torso.

"It seems that the tongue of Duke Devlin is constantly working, one way or another," the man noted, smirking as he finished the knots. "Do you even know who I am, or why I'm here?"

"L-look, I have two hundred slaves stationed here! Do you really think you'll be able to get through them on your way out? Do you think they're not going to hear what's going on and come up to avenge their master?" Duke continued, getting more and more nervous as the knots around his ankles were finished.

"Ah yes, your slaves. You are quite right, I'm carrying less than two hundred bullets. However..." he pointed his revolver towards the front door and fired off a single shot, the sound echoing sharply through the air, joined by the crashing sound of the bullet shattering the small windowpane on the top half of the door.

.

A few dozen meters away, Odion heard the shot. Standing right next to the small shed that lead down to the slaves, he ripped the door open and looked down the staircase. Completely dark, he couldn't see down to the bottom, but he had been in the room more than enough times to know it. Casually, he began to walk down the steps. In his left hand, he held a rod about a foot long and an inch wide inside a metal brace that rather looked like metal jaws. A small metal tab stuck out the left end.

He heard a few murmurs from the room as he got to the base of the stairs and turned to look into the room. He couldn't see anything. It was pitch black, not a single light. Wasting no more time, he ripped the metal tab out of the device and hurled it into the room. As soon as the device left his hand, he turned and sprinted back up the wooden steps, hearing a few panicked cries as he leaped out of the shed and slammed the door shut behind him.

Seconds later, a massive explosion sounded, vibrations sent through the ground as the cries of hundreds of slaves were heard. The ground right above the slave room trembled before beginning to collapse downward, forming a large crater in the ground. Odion watched the crevice form before his very eyes, hearing a few final yells come from the chamber below.

Finally, the explosion's aftershocks died down, and there were no more screams. Satisfied with his work, Odion brushed himself off and jogged over to the mansion's front door.

.

"Concentrated nitroglycerin placed in a tube. A most wonderful invention by my friends back at the...ah...well, my friends," the man explained, Duke looking around in wonder, confused by the ripping explosion. "I'm afraid your workforce has just been reduced to nothing in a single blast, Devlin."

"S-...some must have survived!" Duke said, sounding entirely unconvinced himself.

"Pity those more than the ones already dead!" he countered, smiling. "Any who survived the explosion now have only suffocation to look forward to, buried alive and injured like that."

"O-okay." Duke took in a deep breath. "Okay. You've killed all my guards, you've killed all my slaves, you've damaged my plantation, you've set me back hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bravo. You did it. Now let me go!"

"Are you really so foolish?" The man cleared his throat. "Has the fact that I have a heavy German accent done nothing to help you solve this mystery? How does such a dim-witted man become so rich, I wonder?"

"G-...German?" Duke muttered to himself, eyes on the floor in thought. "German... GERMAN?" He looked up at the man and he could tell by the look in his eyes he was serious. "L-look, there's been a misunderstanding! She came on to me! I would never-"

"My name is Siegfried, the man who chased you halfway across the world to make sure you never take a young girl's honor again."

At that moment, the front door opened. Duke's eyes opened wide and a smile broke from his lips as Odion strolled in.

"H-ha! I knew it! You, slave! Get him!" Duke shouted.

Duke's face fell as Odion simply walked right past Siegfried, eyes boaring into Duke's forehead, taking large strides right towards him.

"No, no, you idiot! The guy behind you! Get him!" Duke yelled, recoiling back against the chair as much as he could. Odion ignored the continued babbling, opting instead to walk right up to his former master and give him a vicious right hook to his left cheek.

Duke grunted, head rotating to take the blow.

"I don't take orders anymore," Odion growled.

Duke gave his head a small shake, then turned back to face the massive man. "Slave. Listen to me very carefully. You are my property. My slave. I paid eighty dollars for you, more than I've ever paid for any slave. What's more, I've fed you, clothed you, and housed you for the past three years. So when I tell you to do something, you do it. Now, you turn right around, and you do whatever you have to do to kill the man standing behind you, and I might just forget about that punch."

"You don't understand," Odion said as he grabbed the backrest of Duke's chair and lifted him up, striding over to the wall to his left. "That man's here to kill you. I'm just here to make sure that when he does, the hell you get sent to will seem like heaven after what you're gonna go through tonight."

With that, he lifted the chair up and began to slam Duke's head into the wall, each blow drawing a grunt of anguish from Duke.

"Now, now, Odion, don't kill him yet," Siegfried admonished, watching the streams of blood pour out of Duke's nose as his face continued to get to know the wall intimately. "Now..." he turned to face to Mr. Wheeler.

"I...I didn't do anything to you! There's no bounty on my head! Please, let us go, you gain nothing by-"

"I understand that. You're right, under normal circumstances I'd have no reason to kill you. Makes it a real shame you had to be here tonight. I can't have witnesses so close to my handiwork. Now, if you wanna make it easy on yourself, and your wife and daughter, you can make my job easier. Quid pro queball, or something like that." He leaned forward, grabbing the backrest of his chair with his left hand. "Your son's not where your daughter thought he would be. Where is he?"

"P-please, they're just children, you-"

In a motion too quick to register, Siegfried brought the pistol down from above his head, striking Wheeler's cheek with the grip.

"Where's your son? If you tell me where it is, I can at least make your death as painless as I know how to make it, if you help me out here." Siegfried looked over at Odion, who was now hammering Duke in the gut, driving the air from his lungs. "So, where'd he go?"

"I...I don't know! I-if he's not in his bedroom, I don't know, I swear!" He glanced over at his wife, who returned a shrug of her own. "We don't know! He should have been in there!"

"Well, that's too bad for you. Now I'm gonna have to find him. And when I do, I'm gonna make him suffer as much as you and your wife and daughter are about to. It's only fair." Siegfried took the opportunity to bring the butt of his pistol down on the top of his head this time, a dull thunk ringing through the air on contact.

"P-please. None of us will speak a word of this to anyone, I swear to the Lord, just...if you go to my room, and open the top drawer on the little table next to the bed, I have a couple hundred dollars in there, it's all yours, just let us go."

Siegfried gave a small smile. "Odion, I'm gonna strip the place down real quick, be back in a moment. You got this under control?"

Odion had Duke laying on his back, stomping on his chest with all of his weight. "Course."

Siegfried nodded and walked down the hallway, footsteps just barely audible.

"So, Duke, how does it feel to be on the other side?" Odion asked, lifting him up by the collar and putting him back in a sitting position. His face was bloodied and his eyes were beginning to swell shut. He was panting heavily.

"You seem unhappy with your current arrangement," Duke wheezed. "Maybe you'd be interested in becoming an indoor slave?"

At this, Odion slugged him right in the forehead with his right fist, knocking his head back, leaving a fist imprint right above his eyes.

"Okay, okay! I'll let you go. You'll be free! Just get me out of this! You don't understand, I'm trying to help you! If you do this, if you kill me, they're going to catch you and flay the skin off your body while you're still alive! I'm trying to save you! Get me out of this and I'll let you go, I swear!" Duke panted, fearfully eyeing Odion's fist.

"I'm already free, and I'm enjoying it immensely." Odion smirked, this time socking Duke right square on his already broken nose.

"I'll get you to the north! J-just let me out of here, give me a chance, and I swear to the Lord I'll get you to the north! Please, you'll never make it without help! J-j-just let me live, I'll get you there!"

Odion noted with satisfaction that his former master had started to cry, tears streaming out of his bloated swollen eyes and down his bloody cheeks. "I'm not going north. And I don't need your help."

Odion raised his hand to punch Duke once more-

"STOP!" Serenity suddenly screamed, glaring at Odion with fearful eyes, lip quivering.

Odion couldn't help but return the glare. He raised an eyebrow at the girl. He said nothing. He was stunned that she... she would even talk to him.

"Stop," she repeated, much more quietly and reserved.

The flame from the nearby candle flickered in the pupils of her eyes.

Serenity went red, turning away, looking down at the ground. She dare not look at him again.

Eyes entranced by the small girl, he stopped. He was done. Besides, he had bigger fish to fry. Odion turned from her.

"There's no money like found money," Siegfried said, walking back into the main room amist further cries of pain, a wad of assorted paper bills in his hand. "Found about two hundred in the guest room drawer, another three hundred in Devlin's. Not a bad haul for a few minute-long raid."

"Look, look! The rest of my money is in banks. If you just let me go into town in the morning, I can make a withdrawal! Whatever my bounty is, I can triple it! Quadruple it!" Duke babbled through the wad of blood in his mouth. "A fortune! Name your price, j-just p-p-please don't kill me!"

"I'd rather keep my clients happy," Siegfried countered, shoving the money into his left pants' pocket and pulling the revolver out of his holster. "As a fellow businessman, I'm sure you can understand. Now, my orders were to do whatever I had to do to kill you, but I was asked to do one thing in particular if the opportunity presented itself." Siegfried turned to Odion. "If you would be so kind as to take the nice lady out of this home, we could spare her the nightmares." He then looked over at Serenity and sighed. "Darling, he wasn't going to marry you, so don't be too sad. This is protecting your honor as well." Siegfried smiled and waved them to go.

Serenity hesitated to leave her father behind. "Can't I bring my father?"

"No," Siegfried said, the gravel in his voice might make one believe him to care. But everyone knew he was the grim reaper. A devil of sorts.

Tears flew off her face. She embraced her father for the last time. He buried his face into her auburn hair. "Go. As long as you and Joseph are safe... " It was the first time Serenity had seen her father cry. Her brother had told her that their father hadn't even cried when mom died. He drank more, but no tears, because men don't cry. Serenity couldn't recall a single time when a man did... and now, and now she is witnessing two who have reached the end of their life. She knew she couldn't stop the wishes of any man. "... Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

"I love you, father."

Siegfried glared at Mr. Wheeler.

"Now go, Serenity!" Her father ordered, eyeing Siegfried defiantly.

She turned and walked out the door, Odion following a respectful distance behind.

"And don't even think about running, sweetheart!" Siegfried yelled out the door after Odion disappeared onto the balcony. "You're not wearing shoes and Odion's strides are three times longer than yours! I don't want to leash you, but I will if I must!"

With this, Siegfried pointed the revolver at Duke's crotch, clicking the hammer back as Duke's mouth fell open in horror.

"Now, say auf wiedersehen to your American balls."

.

Outside, Serenity stopped and turned towards the large house. Tears streamed down her face. She stared hopelessly at the house. Her hands intertwined and she began to pray.

Odion sighed. "Miss. We must get going." He pointed at the smoke that flowed from the window into the the night sky. He looked at her sympathetically. Thought for a moment about going in to save her father. He did nothing.

Serenity's eyes widened in horror. She saw the flames flickering out the window. Serenity turned from the house and ran to the nearest body for support. Odion wasn't sure what to do.

Siegfried ran out of the house. He smashed the one of the two whale oil lamps in his hands on the deck, which spread the fire further. "What are you guys doing just standing there? Let's get going."

"I'm not going anywhere with you-you murderers! I am going to save my father!" She began to weakly run back towards the house. Her breath shortening with each stride. The corset refusing to release her, allow her to breath properly in this muggy night. She stopped to catch her breath... staring into the fire on the porch. Wondering just how she would get her large dress through all that without catching on fire herself and perishing.

"Your father was no more a good man than that Duke fella he was trying to marry you off to. Just think about that." he paused to think for a moment, "It was quick, I promise you. His deed was not as lewd. He was dead before I set the fire." Siegfried turned to the open field. "You have two choices, miss. We can take you with us, kicking and screaming, bound and gagged, as a prisoner. Or you can come with us as a companion, treated respectfully."

Serenity looked down trying to stifle her tears a bit. She looked over her shoulder at the house engulfed in flames. Finally, taking a deep breath, she composed herself and stood up straight.

"You and this slave-" she pointed at Odion for emphasis, "-are both vile, disgusting human beings, and it makes me sick to even be a member of the same species as you, so do not take what I am about to say as a sign of respect!" She again huffed in a deep breath, then expelled it. "You offer me no choice...I will come willingly. Treat me with respect, treat me like the lady that I am, and I swear to God I won't try to run away."

Siegfried nodded. "Treat you like a lady best I can. And I promise you'll make it out of this alive if you play your part."

"Two things," Serenity said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Joseph. If we find him, or he finds us, you don't kill him. He's all the family I have left."

Siegfried shrugged. "I can only promise that I will do everything I can to not kill him if the opportunity allows it. If it's me or him, I'm afraid that's no choice at all for me."

"Second..." she glared daggers over at Odion, who almost took a step back from the force of the glare. "I'm not dealing with him!" She pointed at Odion again with her right hand's index finger. "I don't care that we're travelling together, I will have nothing to do with this disobedient field slave! I'm not talking to him, and if he knows what's good for him, he won't talk to me!" At this, she stomped past Siegfried and Odion, refusing to even look at the latter as she walked by.

"Damn man." Siegfried scratched the top of his head. "I thought she was in to you. Playing hard to get."

Suddenly, Serenity's march slowed and she fell to her knees. She turned around. In the light of the lantern in Siegfried's hand, they could just make out her eyelids fluttering.

"W...W..." she mumbled, drooping over onto the ground.

"Adrenaline," Siegfried laughed. "It's all that kept you running ever since I got you up, and looks like you're fresh out."

Odion marched up to her in a few large strides, grabbing her waist and hefting her over his shoulder. Too tired to protest, Serenity simply fell to sleep, utterly out of energy.

.

"I'm sure Duke thought it was a wonderful idea to build his house so far away from the town," Siegfried said, looking behind him, noting with satisfaction that the flames were starting to become visible from the outside. "Funny how that works out." He continued to shine the light from his lantern in front of them, illuminating a few meters in all directions in the open field.

"What about the son?" Odion asked, still carrying Serenity, now in a deep sleep, over his shoulder.

"I don't think he was in the house. My guess is he ran off into town to go have fun, in which case he's not really a witness," Siegfried answered. "Alright, I left my wagon right around here."

Sure enough, a medium-sized covered wagon was sitting there, drawn to two massive black horses, right by a fence that marked the beginning of someone's territory. The two had walked off onto the dirt road and gone down several houses to an open field.

"So...sate my curiosity." Siegfried turned expectantly to Odion as he set his lantern down on the small platform sticking out the back of the wagon.

Odion roughly threw Serenity inside the wagon. She remained unconscious, laying there like a doll, the up-and-down motions of her chest assuring them she was still alive.

"I need to get to Georgia," Odion said simply. "I have unfinished business there."

"The negro in Mississippi wants to get to Georgia?" Siegfried said bemusedly. "That's rather like the ice block in the frying pan wanting to get into the fire. Forget the business, make for the north." He whipped the wad of bills from his pants' pocket, holding it up. "You got five hundred dollars and a white female hostage to work with. You'll need a lot of luck, but you might just make it, and have a chance at a decent life."

"I wasn't always Duke's slave." Odion sat on the wooden ledge on the back of the wagon, looking up into the sky. "I was captured and sent here as one when I was ten. My whole family except my father. My first owner was in Georgia. A man named Gozaburo Kaiba. I personally became much better acquainted with his son, Seth Kaiba. He acted as a slave-master for the Kaiba plantation when I was there. You know of this family?"

"Of course." Siegfried nodded. "The richest family in America. Gozaburo died years ago and Seth inherited everything. We speak poorly of him in my country, to say the least."

"Why's that?"

Siegfried shrugged. "A man like that...they say he is worth a hundred million American dollars. I don't know how much math you know, but that's a very big number. Yet, every single day, all he seems to think of is how he can make more. We read stories about his 'revolutionary' ways to...cut costs and increase profit. It seems to be all he thinks about. We read of the brutal ways he squeezes every little bit of work possible from his slaves, how he corners markets and raises prices to obscene heights, how he avoids paying taxes and fees...a hundred million dollars, and all he seems to think about is how to get to two hundred million. We in Germany fear he's trying to buy everything. Buy this whole country, own it like it's a business. Turn everyone into a worker or soldier. Try to take over the entire world, it's an honest fear back in Germany. Over-exaggeration, perhaps, but a man like that is bad news for the whole world. But enough about my country, continue."

"He was brutal." Odion bit his lower lip. "Gozaburo bought all of us. The worst owner I've had, and it's not close. But nothing compared to Seth as a slave-master. My brother was...not like me. Small, scrawny, weak. Clearly an indoor slave. But Seth had no use for an indoor slave at the time, and my brother was told to either work out in the fields or die trying. Well, he wasn't much good for anything out there, and after a few weeks Seto decided to make an example out of him. Set up a public execution, right in the middle of the fields. Peeled the skin off his bones until blood loss got him."

Siegfried slowly patted Odion on his shoulder. "I...I see."

"Course, my mother snapped and rushed in there, trying to untie him. Suicide mission. They stopped her and she got the same. Same afternoon, I had to watch my brother and mother suffer and die. Nothing I could do, they had me chained to an oak to watch."

"I'm sorry for that. But if you intend to kill Kaiba for revenge, I'm afraid it's a suicide mission. And killing Kaiba wouldn't bring your mother and brother back. The best revenge will be to live well." Siegfried jumped up into the back of the wagon, bending over so he could enter it.

"I can't bring them back. But I can bring back my sister." Odion turned to look at Siegfried, who spun around to look back at the newly escaped slave.

"Sister?" Siegfried repeated.

"I had a sister too. Kaiba took a...personal liking to her." Odion shivered. "She was still alive when Kaiba sold me. I have to get her back. I refuse to cross to the north without her."

"Odion, I understand your emotions. But think about it. Kaiba has plantations in four states. His Georgia plantation alone has a thousand slaves. Your sister might be in any one of those states. He could have sold her, or killed her, we could never find her."

"No." Odion shook his head. "Like I said...Kaiba took a special liking to her. He'd keep her close, and he wouldn't kill her. I'm sure we'll find her at the Kaiba mansion, probably in the...bedroom area." He winced. "I'm going to save my sister. And if good fortune gives me the opportunity to kill Seto Kaiba, well, I'll gladly take it."

"And you hope to enlist my help for such craziness?" Siegfried said, opening up one of the long, thin wooden boxes in the wagon, revealing a long line of assorted revolvers and revolver parts.

"I'm doing it with or without your help. But without, it will be harder."

Siegfried began to open more boxes, revealing a collection of rifles, more tubes of nitroglycerin, canisters of oil, knifes, and equipment that Odion couldn't identify.

"You showing off?" Odion asked, looking over the stacks of boxed bounty hunting equipment.

"As you can see, Odion, no man on this planet is more well equipped than me for such a task. And even still, I think you'd have to be mad to try it. Kaiba is as smart as he is bastardly, he knows a man such as he will be targeted by assassins. He protects himself well. I think you'd have a better chance assassinating your President Fillmore."

"I don't know who this Fillmore is, but he doesn't have my sister held captive," Odion countered. "So, what's it going to be?"

"Even if I had the entire German armed forces at my disposal, I wouldn't try this. You give me an escaped slave and a spoiled teenage girl." Siegfried raised an eyebrow, smirking inspite of himself.

"Look. If the answer is no, just say it so I can move on."

Siegfried licked his lips, looking down at the floor of his wagon. "Alright. Odion, here's what I'm thinking." He pointed at himself. "Michelangelo." He then pointed at Odion. "You bring me the Sistine Chapel."

Odion looked dumbly at Siegfried, blinking dully.

"It means I'll do it," Siegfried said. He stuck his right hand out towards Odion. Odion gave a small smile and stuck his own hand out, shaking hands with his new partner. "Maybe along the way I'll get to take a bite out of that hundred million dollar pie. Let's move! It's a good seven hundred miles to Georgia."

Odion sat down in the back of the wagon as Siegfried stepped through the flaps at the front, jumping out into the driver seat. Giving the two horses a slap with his whip, they started up with a snort and began trotting along.

.

Joseph watched the wagon pull away, heart beating fast, mind racing. He looked around in a panic, but there was nothing around that could help him. Just a big, open field.

"Damn...Serenity!" he said, recalling the events of the last hour. He had snuck out of bed to go to the stables. He wanted to really look at the horses, see if they were truly cut from a different stock than the ones he had known. He had spent some time investigating them, marvelling at their thick build and size, when he began to hear screams from the house. The stables were some distance away from the house, so only the loudest of screams could possibly reach his ears. By the time he got to the house, it was going up in flames, his parents and soon-to-be brother-in-law were dead, and two large men were walking away from the house with his sister in tow. He had followed, forced to stay back due to the flat and open nature of the area. He longed to rush them and pummel both to death for their crimes, but he saw that they had guns and he only had fists.

He had been crouching there for some time, a short distance from the wagon, just out of range of the lantern, listening. His body almost ached from being pulled so many different directions. Run to town and get the authorities...rush them...sneak in and take his sister...and now, they had pulled away.

"Georgia..." he muttered. "Shit. Georgia." He couldn't go to the authorities. They wouldn't be good here. They wouldn't understand what they were dealing with. No, this was on him. His father was dead, he had to avenge him. His sister was captive, he had to save her. This was a family matter. It was up to him, and only him.

"Serenity, I'm coming," Joseph said under his breath, taking off in a sprint after the wagon.

.

Richard took in several large gasps of air, face drenched with water that was dripping down onto his body.

"I'll ask you again. What good is a rifle that doesn't fire properly?" Seth Kaiba asked, standing next to the wooden basin of water. He held a three-foot long rifle in his hands, the barrel pointed into the ground. Richard was being forced to kneel in front of that basin by two strong men, who were grabbing and pressing down onto his shoulders. "Perhaps you misheard me, and made me a fancy hammer instead? A club? Is this just a fancy club?"

"Sir...it was a mistake, the barrel didn't get fitted right-" Richard sputtered out.

"The first one worked, didn't it?" Kaiba asked, tapping the barrel against the dirt ground slowly. "I seem to recall the first one worked fine."

"Well...yes, yes it did, but-"

"Logically, if the first one worked, and all the ones after it were made exactly like the first one, they'd all work. That seems like a reasonable logical inference," Kaiba continued. "So, why are the guns being made differently than the first one, if the first one worked?"

"Sir, much of the process is done by hand, such a process is going to be subject to human error-"

Kaiba swung the faulty rifle around in his hands, smacking the back of Richard's head with the butt, sending his head into the water basin, drawing a small splash of water from it.

"Richard. I don't know which bleeding-heart yankee got to you, but let me make one thing perfectly clear. Those sacks of flesh, blood and bone you're in charge of are not human," Kaiba said slowly, through gritted teeth.

"O-of course, sir. I'm sorry."

"They're not human. They're stepping stones, designed to lift the truly exceptional among us to great heights. They exist solely to follow the orders of true humans, so that we might advance ourselves." Kaiba motioned at the two men at Richard's shoulders, and they released him and moved back.

"Of course."

"They're not capable of doing anything beyond what you tell them to do. They follow orders and are motivated by the most basic of desires. Provide enough motivation, give good enough orders, and they'll do anything. So, when I see some of the rifles aren't working, I know it's not really their fault. They're stupid. It's not them; it's you." Kaiba spun the rifle around on the ground, barrel tip digging into the ground.

"I'll...I'll see to it that it doesn't happen again. My unit won't produce another faulty rifle, I'll see to it." Richard nodded. "I'm very sorry, sir."

Kaiba pointed towards the door behind Richard, which he took as his cue to jump to his feet and leave. Kaiba watched him dash out of the small room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"That's how you manage," Kaiba grunted, turning around to look at his younger brother, seated behind him on a stool. "I can promise you, he'll be my best slave-master for the next couple months."

Mokuba nodded, a ledger on his lap and pen in his right hand. "I don't understand why you're wasting your time with weapon production. There's no money in it, it's the only thing you do that isn't worth it."

"Have I ever made a wrong decision before, Mokuba?" Seth stood up to his full height of six feet six inches, tossing the rifle to the ground. "I've built a nine-figure empire because I always make the right decision."

"Seth, this isn't about decisions. The numbers are numbers." He pointed down at the ledger. "We're spending a mint on making weapons and sticking them in warehouses to collect dust. Every month we're spending more and more on making them, and nobody's buying. You want the numbers?" He opened up the red ledger, flipping through the pages.

"I know the numbers better than you," Seth insisted, smirking. "I'm what they call a forward thinker, Mokuba. I see the future, and I make sure I'm in position to capitalize. I see where things are headed. Wipe the disappointing numbers from our weapons department from your mind, brother. They'll be a thing of the past soon."

Mokuba shrugged. "Not my money." He reached underneath the ledger and pulled a scrap of paper off his lap. "Oh, you're not going to believe this. Devlin died last night. Mansion burned to the ground."

"Devlin? He always did know how to throw a party. Stupid bastard." Kaiba clasped his hands behind his back. "We don't have operations in Mississippi yet, do we? Get in contact with Jefferson Davis, I want to make a move on his plantations while they're in flux, get them cheap. You can handle that, I'm sure? Davis was always one to accept a bribe."

Mokuba's eyes scanned the piece of paper. "According to the report, all the slaves were killed in a cave-in, so you'd have to-"

"Rumor was Devlin made a million dollars off that plantation last year," Seth countered patiently. "If that dumb womanizer can make one million off that land, I can make three. Do whatever it takes, get me the Devlin plantations."

Mokuba stood up from the stool. "Yes, big brother! You'll have them within the week!"

Seth smiled. "Alright. Show's over." He turned towards the door, stretching his arms up into the air. "Everything seems square, I think I'll turn in."

.

Odion couldn't help but find this whole experience thrilling. All he had known for years was either the plantations' of his owners or the caged wagons he was transported in as he was moving from one owner to another. Now, here he was on a wagon, with a rich foreigner, free. And it had all happened so suddenly. They had gone miles through grassy plains before reaching a forest, which they were now some distance in. Every mundane sight that crossed his vision seemed more extraordinary than it ever had before. For the first time in close to as long as he could remember, he was free.

Near a small creek, in the middle of the thick woods, Siegfried finally decided to rest the horses.

"Ox would have been more compatible for this journey," Serenity muttered under her breath from her seat under the covered wagon.

"Since when does a lady know about such matters?" Siegfried retorted. Serenity looked surprised. "Oh, you thought I didn't hear you mutter under your breath? You be carry on like this and lightning will strike you."
Siegfried kneeled down by the creek, putting his fingers in the flow of the water.

"If you want us to treat you like a lady, I hope we can expect you to at least act like it. Now, I'm going to have a quick look around." He stood up, pulling the large revolver from his hip and bringing it up to bear. "Gotta know which way to go if you get ambushed."

Odion dug a hole with a shovel from the back of the wagon, creating a divot in the ground with amazing speed, Serenity glaring at him the entire time.

Animal.

He sat himself in the hole. The coolness of the dirt eased him. The day was hotter than it normally was.

Serenity fanned herself with her right hand.

"You're just makin' yourself hotter when you do that, ma'am."

Serenity said nothing, staring intently down at the ground.

"We're going to Georgia, you know. Pretty long trip. Five hundred miles or so." Odion continued. "Whole way we're gonna be hunted by just about everyone."

Serenity started to frown, but didn't open her mouth.

"Do you really think you're gonna make it that whole way without talking to me? It's either me or him, there ain't anyone else." Odion laid down so only his head was above ground level. "I don't think you can do it."

Serenity dropped down from the ledge on the back of the wagon, hissing in pain as soon as her feet touched the ground. Jumping back up to sit on the wagon, she scowled at Odion.

"Indoor girl?" Odion commented wryly. "Y'know, really, it's me in charge of this expedition when you think about it. So, I could make up rules. Like, you don't get any food unless you ask me politely. What would you do then?"

Serenity's face started to go red. Her reactions only seemed to further amuse Odion, which further frustrated her. With a huff, she turned around and climbed into the back of the wagon. Odion could hear her grumbling and moving around amongst the supplies Siegfried had. Slowly, he stood up, brushed the dirt off his sides, and walked over to the wagon.

"I hope you're not trying to figure out how to work one of his guns," Odion called out. "You'll be riding all the way to Georgia in a hog-tie if I-"

He pushed the flap of the wagon back, revealing Serenity with her hands underneath her dress on her back, fiddling with the two pieces of twine that tied her corset together. She gasped and frowned at Odion.

"That'll be a week-long project right there," Odion pointed at the interlaced strings. "If you don't want to ask me to help you take that off, you're only punishing yourself."

Serenity continued to scowl, looking from Odion to the floor of the wagon, the gears turning in her head. Finally, she cleared her throat.

"Someone really should help me out of this corset," she said loudly, making sure to keep her eyes in front of her, towards the front of the wagon as she said it. "N-not that I'm asking anyone in particular, of course, but someone really should."

Odion's shoulders sagged and he rolled his eyes. "You're lucky I'm in such a good mood, ma'am. Why the hell were you sleeping in that thing anyway?" He knocked the lid off one of the wooden boxes to his left and pulled an eighteen inch steel knife from it. Serenity gasped, but Odion merely reached forward and grabbed the back of her dress.

"Don't move," he ordered, sliding the thin blade down the back of her dress, neatly slicing the pieces of twine that held the corset around her torso as it moved down.

Serenity froze, trying to decide whether or not she should scold him for trying to give her an order or continue to maintain her silence. All further thought was pushed from her mind, however, when the final bands on the corset snapped and her midsection was released. She felt herself expand a couple inches, blood rushing through all the veins that had previously been constricted. It was a mind-blowing experience. She had forgotten what it had been like to be free of the stupid thing. She groaned and keeled over as the sensation struck her entire body.

"Let me guess. Devlin told you to sleep in it, trying to mold your body to the shape he wanted you to have." Odion looked down at the panting Serenity, who gave her head a vicious shake to try to clear the haze. "Trying to shape your body to suit what he liked. At great pain to you."

Serenity took in several lungfuls of air. Oh, that felt amazing too! Something so simple, denied her for a short period of time, suddenly became an orgasmic experience when given back! It felt so good...for a split second, she almost thought of thanking the animal for setting her free.

"Really nice guy," Odion commented before ducking back out of the wagon, leaving Serenity there to enjoy her new-found freedom alone.