Me: I do not own Yugioh GX! I own only my OC!

Chapter 1

The heavy oak doors slammed open and a small girl on the floor, dressed in rags, looked up, frightened, from the rag in her hands.

Her master, Yohan, king of the western empire, grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to her feet, dragging her down the hallway to her room, tossing her onto the floor.

"On your hands and knees." He hissed at her.

The young girl, tears on her face, did as she was told, wincing and letting him do as he wished with her. She no longer felt the pain of being rapped, her mind blocked it out. When he was done with her, he pushed her back onto the floor, stood, and left.

"Maybe that'll teach you you little slut." Yohan hissed, slamming the heavy door shut and locking it behind him.

The only things inside the room were a small bed, an old fireplace, and a rickety table. And the girl. She had long bluish white hair that went down to her knees, alabaster pale skin, and pale gray eyes. Her name was Ren Truesdale, former princess Ren Truesdale to be exact. She had been kidnapped from her kingdom, taken from her family, and made into a slave to the king of the western empire, Yohan Anderson.

She was clothed in a dirty brown dress, her fair skin was marred with bruises, and her beautiful eyes held an endless supply of tears that ran in twin streams down her face.

Outside the door, after Yohan had disappeared, his brother Jesse, who was far more kind to the princess, unlocked the door and slipped inside silently.

"Ren? Ren?" Jesse whispered in the darkness.

Ren looked up to see Jesse kneeling beside her, helping her sit up.

Ren wiped her cheeks on her arm and Jesse sighed, looking to the window and taking a rope ladder out of his back pack.

"Here, take my cloak." He said, putting the dark green heavy cloak on her shoulders and wrapping her in it.

Ren thanked him and watched as Jesse threw the ladder out the window. He picked her up gently and slowly, as she clung to his back, climbed down the ladder to the ground twenty feet below.

"Quickly, before someone finds us." He said.

Ren nodded and followed him to the stables. After a few minutes, Jesse grabbed his horse, the strongest and the gentlest, and hoisted Ren up, handing her an envelope.

"Ride as fast as you can to the next kingdom. My friend Prince Jaden will be waiting at the gates. Don't stop and don't look back." Jesse said.

Ren nodded, tucking the envelope into her dress and handing him his cloak. Jesse smiled and pushed it back at her. "You keep it Ren. It's a long journey. There's food and water in the saddlebags."

Jesse reached into his jacket pocket and handed her two things, a bright red rose and a small pouch of gold coins.

"Godspeed Ren." He said before slapping the rear of the chestnut mare and watching until the horse was out of sight.

Ren looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Thank you Jesse…..thank you for my freedom."

It was a three day ride and never once did she look back. She rode hard and fast and made it to the gates of the kingdom where an old friend of hers were waiting.

"J-Jaden?" she asked.

"I know that voice…Ren?" Jaden turned from the two horses to see Ren climbing off the horse, somewhat shakily and looking at him.

Jaden gasped, looking into her eyes. He knew those eyes, knew that voice, and even thought it was covered in dirt, he knew that face. It had last been seen clean and smiling at a party, his brother's party to be exact.

The music was loud and happy, the laughter of the many guests tinkling in the air like bells. Jaden was chatting happily with his best friend Prince Syrus and Syrus' sister, Ren. Ren was smiling, giggling happily and trying, in vain, to get Haou, the new king of the Eastern Kingdom, to smile at her jokes.

But all too soon the atmosphere was shattered, like the window nearest their table. The room was filled with smoke and screams of pain.

"Cover your eyes! The smoke will make you go blind!" Haou ordered, covering Jaden's eyes with his cloak.

There was a loud high pitched scream that everyone recognized as Princess Ren and, when the smoke cleared, Haou looked around then looked at Syrus and Zane "They took Ren."

That had been four years ago. Ren was no longer a laughing child, she was a serious woman, forced to mature well before her time. She had been twelve when Yohan and his men attacked the palace and kidnapped her. She was sixteen now. So many years had passed and they had all given her up for dead. All except Haou, Jaden, Syrus, and Zane. Syrus, Jaden, and Zane lit candles for her at the festival of the dead, said prayers for her soul, and, somewhere inside, had started giving up. But Haou….Haou was the one who had never given up. He still sent one messenger a month to the empires, searching for information about the lost princess.

Every messenger had returned with nothing, if they returned at all. The ones that went to the western empire never returned and Haou had long since believed that Yohan had her and had been planning to attack the king to get her back.

"Jaden…Is that really you?" she asked.

Jaden walked up to her and took her face in his hands. "Ren…it really is you. You're alive."

Ren's lower lip trembled and she threw her arms around Jaden. Jaden hugged her back happily before helping her onto the other horse and tethering the exhausted one to his own horse before beginning a slow trot back to the palace.

"Just wait until Haou hears about this! He's going to flip! He's looked so hard for you all these years and now that you're back…maybe he'll go back to being his old self again."

"Old self? He's changed?"

"Yeah. After you…..well vanished Haou put everything he had into finding you. He lost sleep over it and never gave up, even though most of us were starting to. He'll be so happy to see you again."

Ren sighed and rubbed her lower back. All she wanted right now was a hot bath and a soft mattress but that could wait. The trot to the palace was slow and Jaden made sure both horses were well cared for before leading Ren through the palace. She remembered so much that he hardly needed to guide her through the candle lit hallways. They stopped outside a pair of large oak doors. Jaden cracked them open and peaked in, smiling and beckoned Ren to follow him in.

Inside was a library and, after silently shutting the door behind them, Jaden called out, loudly, "HAOU! I BROUGHT SOMEONE TO MEET YOU!"

Ren winced at the loud noise and hid behind Jaden, shaking lightly an attempting to fix her hair and wipe some of the dirt from her face.

"Jaden this had better be important! I was in the middle of- Who is that?" Haou's voice echoed with anger and underlying curiosity.

Jaden moved to reveal Ren, her head ducked to the floor, unable to meet the eyes of her long time crush. The only thing that had kept her alive all those years of rape and torture and fear, had been believing that Haou would come to rescue her. Her feelings for him had never wavered once and Yohan made sure to punish her for them.

"Haou….I don't know if you recognize her but…this is Ren." Jaden said, putting his hands on Ren's shoulders. Ren cringed and instantly backed away away from the touch.

"That's new…." Jaden thought. "What did Yohan do to her?"

"Prove it. Prove to me that she's Ren." Haou said, unwilling to believe even thought his heart screamed that it was the girl he loved for so many years.

"On my fifth birthday you took the present you made me and smashed it into the cake because you were mad that I hadn't spoken to you all day." Ren said, her voice strong with confidence but small in volume.

Haou stayed silent.

"Your favorite song is "Living Our Love Song" by Jason Michele Carroll."

Again silence.

"You kissed me on the cheek under the mistletoe and we danced all night long to your favorite song."

No answer.

Ren bowed her head and softly began to sing.

"On the wind

Across the sea

Hear this song and

Remember.

Soon you'll be

Home with me.

Once upon a December."

Haou's head shot up in recognition to see Ren's eyes staring back at him, pleading him to remember her.

"Ren…"

Ren smiled a bit but it wasn't the full smile of her childhood days. It was a broken smile from a broken spirit. Jaden smiled and left the library, leaving the two alone in the library.

"You've changed." Haou said.

"Five years in hell can change a person." Ren said.

Haou walked up to her and gently eased his hands onto her shoulders. She stiffened but he rubbed them gently. "I'm not going to hurt you Ren. I'm not him."

Ren looked into Haou's eyes and the floodgates opened. She rushed into his arms, sobbing so hard her shoulders shook and she had to gulp in air with each breath. Haou allowed a frown to cross his face and he pulled her deep into a loving embrace. He noticed the shock cross her face for a moment before she continued to sob into his chest and he just held her there until her sobs turned into mere whimpers. Eventually, Ren pulled away and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry for ruining your shirt…" she said, wiping her eyes.

Haou shook his head and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "It's no problem at all."

Ren looked up at Haou in shock, her tears still fresh on her face. Had he just kissed her forehead? Had that really just happened? Her heart thundered in her chest and she could hear it in her ears. In that small moment when Haou's lips had been pressed against her flesh, she had felt more loved in that one second than she ever had in her life.

Haou lead them over to a couch where he sat and beckoned for her to sit with him.

"Five years….five years I searched for you….I never thought you'd come to me." He said.

Ren looked at her feet, not able to find anything to say.

"What did he do to you Ren? What could turn that happy laughing child into a serious woman?"

"Rape, torture, fear, many things. If it weren't for Jesse I wouldn't be here." She said.

"Jesse?"

"Master's younger brother."

"Master?"

"Oh no….I did it again."

"Did what again?"

"If I didn't call him master he beat me…if I didn't come when he called he beat me, if things weren't clean enough he beat me, if I didn't speak when spoken to he-"

"Beat you?"

Ren nodded again, tearfully.

"Please don't cry Ren." Haou pleaded. He hated seeing her pain, hated knowing that she was hurting but having no way to make the pain go away.

"I…I dreamed of you finding me….I wanted it to happen, wanted you to rescue me…like when we were little and played princesses and dragons."

Haou smiled lightly at the memory. Princesses and dragons had been a game he, Ren, Syrus, Zane, and Jaden had played when they were younger. Zane was the dragon, Ren was the princess trapped in a tower, normally a tree, Syrus and Jaden were the brave knights who killed the dragon and Haou was the prince who climbed the tower and saved the princess.

Haou hugged her tightly, fighting back tears. She was alive. The girl he had loved for so many years was alive.

Ren looked up and cupped his face in her hands. "You're crying."

Haou touched his cheek. He was crying, for the first time in five years. Ren wrapped "I missed you too."

They held each other for a few minutes before pulling away. Then they realized how close they were.

"H-Haou…I…I feel like I should kiss you…." Ren whispered.

Haou was shocked and watched as Ren turned bright red. He smiled and tilted her head up with a finger, gently bringing his lips to hers as she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He licked her bottom lip and soon their tongues tangoed while Haou pulled Ren into his lap. When they parted for air, Ren looked at Haou through hazy half-lidded eyes with a smile. "That was the first real kiss that has never been forced on me."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for you having to go through all of that. I should have found you sooner."

"Haou don't blame yourself for what happened to me. Sure I'm a little more mature, I might brood a little more, I might think a little clearer but I'm still me."

"You're still the girl I love."

"I love you too Haou-kun."

She pressed her lips to his again, in a sweet closed lip kiss and they parted again. Haou smiled and they both stood.

Haou walked her to his room, where she would be staying too, and offered to run her a bath. She eagerly nodded and waited patiently while Haou ran the water and got the tub ready. He came back with wet sleeves but he was happy.

Ren smiled and slipped into the bathroom for her privacy and in a few minutes she was relaxing in the tub of hot water, letting it adsorb five years of hate and sorrow. She got out when the water was too dirty to sit in anymore and let it drain. Haou must've gotten her a night gown from his mother's old things because it was folded neatly on the sink and she smiled.

After dressing and letting a servant brush her hair and braid it, she yawned and came back into the bedroom. Haou was already dressed and in bed. He patted the spot next to him and she climbed under the red silk covers and cuddled up next to him, reading the book in his hands.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

"Utopia."

"Wow. A man with taste. That's a rare thing to come by. I guess I'm lucky."

"You most certainly are. Now," Haou took his reading glasses off and set them down on the nightstand beside him along with the book. "It's late and you've probably had a hard day. Get some sleep."

Ren nodded and Haou turned off the light. Ren, had she been lying next to Yohan as she normally would have, would have scooted to the farthest spot on the mattress. But, in the light of the candle at her bed side, she could see Haou looking at her, his hand light on her cheek, silently reassuring her that he wasn't going to let anything hurt her.

Ren smiled and kissed Haou's nose. "I love you." She whispered as she closed her eyes.

Haou smiled and stroked her cheek. "I love you too."

It wasn't long before both of them were fast asleep, side by side, just as they had dreamed to be for so many years.