Disclaimer: I don't owe gundam wing TT and I don't earn any profit from this fic…. However, the story is mine!
Okay, I apologize for any grammar mistakes I have made in the other chapters and I am very sorry about that. I have changed the mistakes in the previous chapters. I hoped they are better now. By the way, the slavers are not supposed to be educated so I use weird grammar.
Big thanks to those who have reviewed! I really appreciate them! They encourage me to continue writing! Thanks!
Okay, enough talking. On with the story…
I am hurting.
Those eyes. He remembered himself having those eyes.
"Am I just a tool? I am just needed to be your heir?"
"So what? Why do you think I need you?"
No, it's over! It happened long time ago! I have already told myself it is not important! Not important! Heero screamed in his mind, but why?
Somehow, Heero managed to pull his eyes away from the violet eyes. He glared at the back of his horse, trying to forget what his thoughts earlier. However, he could not stop wondering about the slave. Somehow, he knew he had to keep the slave himself. He felt an overwhelming protectiveness towards the boy younger than he was.
He doesn't deserve to have those eyes. They are filled with so much pain, Heero thought as he contemplated what to do with his slave. Not mine since Trezie was the one who paid but well, Trezie would not care, would he?
As Heero was thinking of how to get the slave from Trezie since Trezie was the one who paid thus the master of the two slaves, someone else was thinking along the same line too.
"What's your name?" Trowa asked the trembling boy leaning against him on the horse after a few minutes of staring at him, "You're safe."
The slave just turned and smiled timidly at him as he said softly, "I'm Quatre, master."
The smile made Trowa lost his bearing for a minute. The boy's smile was beautiful. He had not seen anyone with that smile before. So innocent. So pure. Like an angel's smile. The one he saw in the temple of the seer before. Something told him that he should protect the smile on the younger boy's face.
"Are you in pain?" Trowa asked, noticing that the slave was still trembling.
"Cold, master," Quatre said simply.
It was then Trowa noticed that the boy was only wearing a simple dirty short-sleeved long tunic that reached his knees. That was all. No wonder he was cold. Judging from the boy's looks, he did not think the boy was a local.
"Where are you from?" Trowa asked curiously.
However, there was no reply. Trowa looked down and smiled gently as he noticed that Quatre had dozed off. He held him a bit tighter to prevent him from falling down the horse. Well, maybe he could keep him.
Behind the two princes, Trezie and Wufei were studying the two boys' expression. Wufei was feeling better now and his attention was now focused on the two slaves. His unpleasant flashbacks were forgotten quickly as he caught sight of Heero's expression to the slave with the braid. For a moment, he thought that he saw angst in Heero's eyes but it was gone quickly and replaced with a glare of determination.
"Wufei," Trezie called softly and gestured Wufei to look at Trowa.
To Wufei's surprise, he could see a gentle smile on Trowa's face. Trowa rarely smiled that. Knowing Trowa's training, he could understand why Trowa always kept to himself.
"Well, maybe those six thousands golds really worth it, don't you think?" Trezie smiled.
"Well, maybe I do not need to do the change personality spell after all," Wufei, grinned as the group continued into the palace with thoughts on their mind.
palace of gundam
Heero put the sleeping boy on his bed, facedown as he ordered the maid, Hilde to get some food. He figured that the boy would be hungry.
"My slave," Heero mumbled to himself as he looked at the figure on the bed.
Trezie had been generous to give the two slaves to the two princes respectively. Somehow, Heero felt embarrassed at the smirk that Trezie wore when he told them that. Moreover, Wufei's knowing glint in his eyes did not help Heero feel better either.
Heero sat down besides the young boy. The boy had fallen asleep during the ride back to the palace. Heero put the boy's braid neatly across his chest. Though the braid was dirty, it was long and beautiful. Heero had never seen someone with such long hair other than the Colonel Zechs. Yet, Zechs's hair was blonde and he never tied it. He often wondered how Zechs could stand the heat.
The boy moved slightly. Heero looked at the boy's closed eyelids. Those eyes. The beautiful yet anguish eyes. He was glad he was not looking at them now. However, he could remember the beautiful color of violet.
Heero walked to the wardrobe to find some clothes for his slave. Slave. He did not like this word. He did not want to call the boy by the word "slave". However, he did not know the name of the boy. It was strange now that he thought about it. He had not heard the boy utter any sound even before he was awake. He did not make any sound even when he was hit. He knew the other slave did. Quatre. Trowa had said that was the name of the boy.
A knock broke his thoughts. He pulled a long clean tunic and long pants out of the closet as he grunted. He put the clothes besides the boy and waited.
The door opened immediately by the healer, Sally. Sally put a box she was carrying before she approached Heero and his new slave.
"How is he?" Sally asked, "What's his name?"
"Sleeping. I don't know his name," Heero said in a monotone.
"I see. Well, let's see to his injuries and we can see what to do with him," Sally said cheerfully as she noticed the gentle stare Heero was giving the boy.
Heero nodded as Sally sat besides the boy. Sally started to examine the boy as Heero helped her to take off the boy's dirty clothes or rather the only tunic. Both of them gasped as they saw the scars on the boy. However, as a healer, she started to examine the slave's injuries closely.
"It is not good, Heero," Sally said after a while as she covered the boy with a thin blanket.
"Hn," Heero grunted.
Sally took it as a sign of agreement and she continued, "I need something for the welts. Some of them are already infected. I will have to stitch the wounds. However, I can't do it now. I need to go back and get the things ready first. Do you think you want to move him to the slave quarters? I am sure I can get one of the guys to help."
"No. I want him here," Heero said in a monotone but his eyes showed a glint of protectiveness.
Surprised, Sally took a moment before she argued gently, "Prince Heero, you have to understand that this boy is sick and unable to do anything. If you keep him here, you will have to take care of him."
"Then I will," Heero said in a determined tone, "I don't like him in the slaves' quarter. Anything can happen there."
Sally was stunned for a moment before she smiled brightly, "then I will make sure that he recovers quickly. First, I will have to give him potions for his wounds. He is malnourished and beaten repeatedly from what I can tell. He is too quiet in his sleep. I don't like it."
"He does not even make a sound," Heero said quietly.
"Well, I will go back and make the potions after I check out Trowa's slave," Sally promised as she took out a packet of potion and handed it to Heero.
"Ask Hilde to brew this and make sure that the boy drinks this. This should numb the pain and I will make more potions for him to drink later. Let him sleep as much as possible," Sally continued.
Heero nodded, "thanks, Sally."
"Well, it's my job," Sally smiled as she moved towards the door, "just take care of the boy, prince Heero?"
Just as Heero was about to reply, there was a knock. Sally opened the door to find Trowa standing outside the door, hand raised in midair.
"That was fast," Trowa commented.
"Why are you here?" Heero asked bluntly, "I thought you are looking after Quatre?"
"I am. But Quatre told me something that you need to know," Trowa said simply, "something Sally should know as well."
"What?" Heero snapped, not liking the fact that he did not know something he needed to know.
"I promised Quatre that you will not mistreat your slave even when you learn this fact about him," Trowa said as he looked at Heero.
"I will not mistreat another human being!" Heero snapped angrily, "I thought you know me better than that!"
"I do," Trowa replied calmly as he met Heero's glare, "I am only saying."
"What is it then?" Heero demanded. He hated people who tested his patience.
"Your slave does not talk," Trowa said simply though a hint of worry was in the gaze he leveled on Heero.
"Why?" Heero asked softly but both Trowa and Sally could see that he was upset.
"He doesn't know," Trowa said calmly as he looked at Sally for help.
"It should be psychological since I did not find any damage to his throat when I examined him earlier," Sally said simply, "we have to wait till he is awake to find out more."
Just then, Heero and Sally heard a gasp from Trowa. Surprised, the two of them followed Trowa's line of sight. Sally gasped slightly at the violet orbs staring at her. Those eyes looked so sad and … so dead.
Those eyes… I have seen them before… on Heero… Trowa thought as he looked over at Heero.
"Hey, boy," Heero said softly as he turned the slave's attention to himself, "are you feeling better?"
The slave just looked at Heero blankly then nodded slightly. He seemed to understand what Heero was saying.
"I am your new master," Heero continued, noticing that the boy wore no expression.
However, at his words, the boy struggled to get out of the bed. Having no idea what the boy wanted to do, Heero went to stand in front of him and tried to stop him.
"No! You are not to get out of the bed!" Heero snapped as he tried to push the boy back to the bed.
The boy stopped for a moment before he started to retreat to a corner of the bed, away from Heero. His eyes gazed at Heero timidly before the boy curled into a fetal position. It was as if he was preparing himself for a beating.
"Heero, don't shout at him," Trowa warned as Heero was about to yell at his new slave in anger.
"What?" Heero demanded, "he was not supposed to move! Now, he most likely makes his injuries worse!"
"I know you are worried, Heero but please! You are scaring him," Sally said calmly as she approached the boy trembling on Heero's bed slowly.
"Sally is right, Heero. I think I know what the boy had been trying to do. Quatre tried to do the same thing before I could stop him," Trowa said calmly.
"What is he trying to do then?" Heero answered, trying to keep his frustration under calmness. After all, he was a calm person.
"Well, I was told that a slave is not allowed in their master's bed unless with permission. One is supposed to kneel behind his master at all times unless with specific instructions. And that a slave is always punished when he disobeys his master or when the master feels like it," Trowa said with a disgusted look.
"Are you telling me that there are people who treat others in such a way?" Heero said angrily as he watched Sally trying to calm his new slave down.
"Yes and I don't like it," Trowa said simply.
Heero turned to his slave to find him still in the corner, trembling. He thought of what Trowa had just said. How could people treat others like that? He sat on his bed, a few steps from his slave.
"Sally, let me," Heero said simply as he held a hand to touch his slave's trembling form.
Sally retreated to stand next to Trowa as the two watched Heero trying to calm his slave.
"Hey," Heero called gently, "I am your master but I am not going to hurt you. You are safe here. Lie on the bed and get rest? Sally, the healer will try to heal you later, okay?"
Heero continued to talk as he pulled the frightened boy into his arms. He rocked him gently while telling the boy that it was safe. Soon, the boy seemed to doze off and Heero tucked him properly on his bed.
To say that Sally and Trowa were shocked, was an understatement. Never once had they seen Heero so kind to another person. It seemed that the young fearful slave had brought out the more humane side of the stoic prince without even trying.
"I'll see to Trowa's slave and see to this boy again later," Sally said as she watched Heero staring gently at the young slave.
Heero only nodded absentmindedly as Sally and Trowa left the boy.
"Well, I dare say that the boy is good for Heero," Sally said with a smile as the two of them stepped into the hallway.
Trowa nodded but something seemed to be on his mind.
"Let's hope that your slave is good for you, prince Trowa," Sally smiled.
"Quatre," Trowa said simply, "I don't like people calling him a slave."
"Well, I see," Sally replied with a smile. It seemed that Trowa had already taken a liking to his own slave, Quatre.
Together, the two of them walked towards Trowa's room as they were each absorbed in their own thinking.
The boy must be suffering, Trowa thought, those eyes… I had seen it before... on Heero… when he refused to say anything a few years back…
Trowa could not help wondering about what had happened to Heero's slave. It must be traumatic.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he reached his room. He had to focus on Quatre. He was sick but not as bad as Heero's slave. Just as Sally was about to open his door, Trowa heard a loud scream.
"No!"
Well how was it? Please review! Who screamed? I hope it is longer now. I have tried hard and I hope there are not many grammar mistakes this time. Thanks a lot for reading!
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