A/N: OK y'all. I just sort of thought of this a few months ago and I have absolutely no idea whether I should keep it up or not. So please review and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Septimus Heap or any other characters that you recognize; I do however own my hormones, which may have created this story.

In the Young Army camp

"412?" A young boy whispered from a lower bunk.

"Yeah 409," another boy sat up and leaned over the side of his bed, looking at the first. The boy called 412 was small and whatever hair you could see was a dirty blonde, but you couldn't see much as it had been cut short. His eyes were a grey color that shone through the darkness. The light brown eyes of 409 looked back at him through the darkness. He had tan skin and his hair, also cut short, was a dark brown.

"Is your back alright?" Earlier that day 412 had received 10 lashes for…something, either not performing perfectly or talking back.

"It'll be fine, it always is."

"Can I come up there with you?"

"You know you always can." 409 clambered up the ladder to the top bunk and sat next to 412. He flipped up the back of 412's shirt and ran his fingers over the slowly healing cuts. 412 shivered as 409 leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his back.

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In the Forest

The young army boys were in the forest on one of their 'Do or Die' assignments. They had to make their way to the coal warmers and build camp there for the night. 412 wandered quietly through the forest. He stopped and looked around a tree as he heard a twig snapped. He stayed still for a moment before silently continuing through the forest. He froze again as he heard something prowling toward him, this time though he saw bright eyes staring at him. Surrounding him was a pack of wolves, slowly circling around. Coldness spread through his limbs and he couldn't move, his fear had frozen him in place. His brain urged him to move and he tried to make his limbs work, but he just couldn't.

409 had been wandering in the same direction. He stopped behind a tree and peered around it looking out for anything in the way. What he saw next froze him in place. His best friend, only friend…and possibly more was being surrounded by werewolves. Said best friend, only friend and possibly more was also not moving! He gnawed on his lower lip trying to decide what to do. As the last couple of wolves were beginning to close the circle however he made a split second decision. He yelled. The wolves froze distracted by the sound and he dove into the middle of their circle. He grabbed 412 and dragged him out. 412 came out of his shock and both proceeded to climb the nearest tree, praying to God that it wasn't carnivorous.

Up in the tree 409 turned to 412 and placed spontaneous butterfly kisses all over his face before pulling away and asking him,

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am. Thanks to you! Are you all right? 412 replied sounding a little breathless.

"Yes, but you can't imagine how it felt…just seeing you being surrounded by wolves. I was- it was…" This time it was 412 who silenced him with and gentle kiss. That night they slept in the tree together.

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On the River

The young army boys were heading down the river on an overcrowded boat and it was storming. They scurried around trying to make the boat sail straight and not lose anybody. 409 scurried along the side of the boat, just as a huge gust of wind came and everybody on the boat stumbled to the side. And 409 fell into the rushing river.

"No!" 412 called out his voice breaking. "409! 409!" He could feel the tears running down his face mixing with the rain. He ran over to the chief cadet. "Sir, we have to go back for him! We could still save him, he just fell over!" He was pushed away roughly and laughed at.

"Go back for him? No! Remember the 'Do or Die' exercises weed out the stupid. He was just the first to go. Now get back to work!" He began to walk down the ship towards a cabin. 412 ran to the side of the ship and tried to jump over after his friend, his love. The chief cadet was quick though and pulled him back before hitting him in the back of the head. Then everything went black for 412.

409 peered around a tree the morning after he had fallen in. He spied where the ship had stopped at some point in the night and clambered up a tree to see into the ship. His heart wrenched at what he saw. 412 was on the deck, with a large bump and some blood on the back of his friend. Everybody was working on the deck, just walking around him, ignoring the fact he was injured. He held his breath as 412 stirred and woke up. Then let it out in three simple numbers as the chief cadet immediately put him back to work.

"412," his number was a simple whisper on the wind, but carried so much meaning now. 409 knew that he was free, free from all the torture of the Young Army. He also knew that if he ran down there maybe they could both be free. But his fear held him in place, a selfish fear. He could get caught again if he went down there. He spent so much time contemplating what to do that when he looked up again it was too late. All he could see was the tail end of the ship. 412 was gone.

A/N: There's the prologue! Review and tell me if its worth keeping up.