The girls were in a large expensive department store, going through the racks of beautiful gowns. Midii was holding up a midnight blue evening gown for Catherine's opinion, Hildy had just slipped into the ladies dressing room with a form fitting red dress, and Relena stood alone at a rack looking at a black glittery evening gown. She plucked it from the rack and held it up to see the whole thing. It was formfitting velvet, the glitter cascading down from the right shoulder at scatter along the full length. The princess found the tag and flipped it over, a reasonable price.
As she stood admiring the dress she started feeling dizzy. She gasped as the dress she was holding transformed into a drab, tattered brown potato sac. It was cut into a crude dress shape, a length of rope tied around the waist. Dark red stains appeared along with holes. Relena stared at it in horror, she looked up and the department store was changing as well, into a Nazi death camp. The blond slumped to the floor as everything blurred out of focus. The last thing she saw of her world was Midii and Cathy running to her….
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Lena whipped the sweat from her brow on her bare arm. Removing her sore hands form the rickety shovel she was using to dig the mass grave, she whipped the blood and puss off on to her rags. A burly woman saw her not working and was making her way to the blond when a girl a few feet away collapsed. The guard snarled at Lena, then grabbed the fallen girl in one hand and dragged her off.
Lena smirked at her good fortune. Hirdy shot her an amused glance, as did Milly and Kat. The girls leaned over their shovels and dug until the guards weren't looking, then they slowly stood upright at stretched. Only once have they been caught slacking off, they were hauled off and beaten. They learned a valuable lesson that day…never get caught.
A high-pitched whistle stopped all other sounds in the camp. Without thinking of the consequences the prisoners rushed to the fence to find the source of the whistle. The faint sound of marching grew closer. Around the corner marched a large group of soldiers. By the looks on their faces they were not thrilled to be fighting.
In the three months Lena had been at the camp many groups of soldiers had stopped to rest and eat out side the chain-link fences, but she had yet to see a group so unhappy. "Non-German draftees," commented Milly.
Hirdy nodded in agreement, then pointed at a tall, violet-eyed soldier. "He's a cute one. I bet he'd look good with long hair," she added with a giggle.
"I'm looking at this one," said Milly, pointing to a taller boy with long brown bangs.
"He's not that bad looking." Kat referred to a blond soldier. "What do you think Lena?"
"They're soldiers, I think nothing good of any of them." As Lena finished her thoughts a general on horse back stopped the reluctant fighters and held out an arm.
"Hail Hitler!" The soldiers echoed his shout without enthusiasm, all accept one. A strong boy with unruly brown hair and wild blue eyes stood emotionless. The general dismounted his horse and walked up to the boy, stopping in front of him. Again the general did his solute and again the boy did nothing.
A slap resonated through the grounds. The soldier turned his head so he was again facing his superior. His right cheek was a bright red, but he showed no pain. "What is you're name boy?" the general barked at the soldier.
"Odin," came the answer in monotone.
"Well Odin, my friend, you've just cost your friends a three mile run," he sneered in the unwavering face of Odin. "Everyone! Get ready to run!" The man turned on his heel and walked off, satisfied with his problem solving tactics.
Once the general had gone some of the soldiers groaned and dropped to their knees. A rather large boy marched up to Odin and snarled.
"Now D, don't be rash," said the boy Hirdy had commented on earlier as he stepped between the two boys. D snarled and raised his hand to push the boy out of the way when the blond soldier grabbed his arm. The fighter Milly pointed out shoved his fist into the large man's gut causing him to double over in pain.
D's head snapped up and he glared at the four with a murderous spark in his black eyes. He flew at them in a blind rage throwing three of the soldiers out of the way to get to Odin, whom he grabbed by the throat and socked in the face. The three would-be heroes jumped on D's muscular back knocking him flat on his face and sending Odin flying. The silent warrior slammed into the chain link fence where the girls stood gapping.
Lena stood with her fingers entangled in the fence. The soldier was leaning on the fence with his head down. He squeezed his eyes shut and let the blood trickle down the side of his face. The young girl looked down at the boy, compassion taking over her judgment. Slowly she stooped down and reached a small hand through the links of the fence. Lena whipped the blood from his cheek with her calloused fingers, then whispered into his ear, "Get up." Odin's hand reached up and enveloped hers. His eyes flashed open meeting the sea green orbs of his savior behind the fence.
"Get up and fight," Lena stated again, in a voice that was harsh yet comforting. Odin gave a quick nod and stood on wobbly legs and turned to D. The mammoth boy glared down at the silent warrior, trying to predict his next move.
"Get back to work!" Bellowed the large guard at the gawking girls. Lena ignored the woman's threats as she silently rooted for Odin from behind her prison walls.
Odin looked up from the mass on the ground that was D at the wire fence where his benefactor stood. He let out a sharp gasp as he watched the guard woman's club fall upon the girl's head, and her body fall to the dust.
