Lilac Princess part 8
The Lilac Princess

Part 8

By Lady Dante

Thursday's Child...

It took him three hours to find them. Captain Damon now stood looking down at the tiny sleeping forms, reminding himself that sending the girl away was the right thing. Seeing those tear-stained faces did nothing to convince the man that he was taking the proper course of action. The children were huddled together in a corner of the maze, the very last place Damon looked. He had returned to his office briefly and noticed the window-- the one that overlooked the East Garden--was open. The Maze. A perfect place for Milli and Luie to hide from the malicious grownups trying to separate them. A perfect place to hide from him. The kids probably hated him…and he didn't blame them one bit. He sighed and rubbed his head. This is the right thing. This IS the right thing.

Damon took a deep breath before bending down to pick up the children and carry them back to the mansion. He carefully untangled their limbs and started to pick up the girl. As gentle as the captain was, he still managed to jostle Milli, waking him. Upon seeing the captain holding his friend, the little boy snapped to and started screaming, "NO! You can't take her! NO, NO, NO! Let her GO! Let her GO, LET HER GO, LET HER GO!" He grabbed Damon's arm and pushed at the man frantically. Milliardo's screams woke Lucretzia who started flailing her arms and legs wildly, trying to escape from Damon's grasp. The young man tried in vain to calm the hysterical children. In the end, he could only pull them into his arms and try to keep them from accidentally hurting themselves as they thrashed about.

The commotion alerted the other guards as well as the distraught queen. The group rushed to the maze and Katrina grabbed her son, trying to calm him down. "Milli! Calm down! Dearest... Milliardo!" She seized the boy's face between her hands and made him look at her. "Milliardo," she said in an even tone, "calm down. Damon is not going to hurt Lucretzia."

"He wants to send her away!"

"No, he does not..."

"Yes he DOES! I HEARD HIM! You're gonna send her away to a bad place!"

"Milliardo," the queen, still holding Milli's face, tried to reason with the boy, "Luie is not being sent to a bad place. Yes, she is going away, but only to the orphanage. I would never," Katrina looked her son in the eye, "NEVER send her to a place I thought was bad."

Milli, calmer now but still angry, pushed away from his mother and went to his friend. Luie, who had stopped struggling with Damon, was standing near the captain with her hands over her ears. Her head was tilted down and eyes clamped shut, as though she could block out the whole event. Milli took her hand. She couldn't go back.  She had told him about the other place. The angry people. He promised her she wouldn't go back. No, no, no…

"Milli, Luie. Come here and let me speak to you." Katrina held out her arms, but the children stayed put. Milli ignored the hurt look on his mother's face and  gripped Luie's hand tighter. Katrina closed her eyes for a moment before speaking. "Children, I know it is difficult to understand, " she began quietly, "Lucretzia must go to the orphanage… but not today. She will stay with us until the day after tomorrow. Then, Damon and I ," she looked at Milli, "and you will take her to meet Sister Marguerite. Lucretzia, you will be living there from now on, but you and Milliardo will still attend classes together, just as we all talked about. You will be able to see each other often, all right?" Still no response from either child. The prince merely glared at his mother, while Luie kept her head down and eyes closed. "Well then," Katrina took a deep breath, "I suppose we can discuss this later. Why don't we go inside?"

On the way back to the mansion, Milliardo resisted every attempt to carry him or hold his hand. When anyone, including his mother, approached Lucretzia, he stepped in front of her protectively. The little girl, thoroughly defeated, would not look up. She just allowed Milli to lead her along, through the house, to his room. Neither child spoke a word to anyone else for the rest of the evening. They only spoke again after everyone went to bed, when they were certain they were alone.

"Noin? You awake?"

The little girl sniffed before answering. "Yeah…" she said softly, sniffing again.

"You crying?"

"No." Sniff.

"Noin…where was the other place?"

"I'm not sure. It was far away…on the other side of the woods…it was bad, Zechs…" Noin's voice trailed off and Milli heard her crying again. He sat up and looked over at his friend. It wasn't fair. He finally had a real friend, one he could talk to. One that didn't treat him like he was strange just because he was a prince or because he was smart. She was smart, too. Milli could talk to Noin about stuff other kids didn't understand. She didn't think he was silly because he liked to pretend she was a fairy, she thought it was fun. Now, she had to go away. It wasn't fair. She was scared about it and there wasn't anything he could do.

"I'm sorry I couldn't think of anything."

"It's not your fault."

"I guess," he started skeptically, "but I promised…I don't understand grownups sometimes…most of the time."

Milli got out of bed and padded across to Noin. He leaned on the bed and watched her.  Noin was trying to wipe away her tears, but they were rolling down her face too fast for her to catch them all. Milli tried to think of some way to help her stop crying. What worked with Rena?  Mama sang to her. He didn't want to talk to his mama right now. Maybe he could sing to her, maybe Noin's song…but …he couldn't remember it. He fell asleep half way through.  He thought it over for awhile before an idea occurred to him. The boy went to his closet and pulled out a large box. He rummaged through the contents, under his old baby blanket and other such items, until he located what he was looking for. The prince pulled out a small stuffed teddy bear, only slightly larger than his hand. The soft blue bear was worn and missing an ear. Boo-Bear had been his favorite toy to sleep with when he was a baby.

He went back to Noin's bedside and walked the teddy bear along the edge. Stopping at Noin's side he said in a silly voice, "Miss Noi-in…don't cry Miss Noin, me and Zechs wanna play." Noin looked up, wiping away more tears. Milli turned the bear towards himself. "Hey, Your High-ney, you gonna introduce us?" Reverting to his natural voice he replied to Boo-Bear's question with one of his own. "What makes you think Miss Noin wants to talk to you?" Noin sniffed away the last of her tears as she looked on. "Cuz, I'm cute and blue and so is she." Noin smiled. "Well, I guess I could introduce you as long as you promise not to embarrass me in front of my friend." Noin grinned. "Ima pur-fecto gent! We bears knows our eddy kit!" Noin giggled. "Miss Noin, may I present Mr. Boo-Bear Fuzzytummy III. He's an old friend of the family." Milli made the bear bow. "Plee-zed to knows you, Miss Noi-in!" The little girl giggled again and said, "Me, too, Mr. Boo-Bear." 

They giggled and talked for quite a while, unaware that Queen Katrina was listening at the door, crying silently. The woman dabbed at her eyes one last time before slowly pushing  the door open. At the sound, Milli leapt back in bed. He and Luie both pulled the covers over their heads and pretended to be asleep. Katrina entered the room, breathing deeply to prevent more tears. "Milli?" she said quietly, "Luie?" Both children stayed under the covers. "Children, I know you are upset with me. I am sorry that Luie has to go away…but it really can't be helped…Luie, dear, I would never send you to a bad place, you know that…don't you, cara?" When neither child responded, Katrina became upset again and put her hand over her face.

Milli peeked out from underneath his blanket to see if his mother had gone and found instead that she was crying. He looked over at Luie, also peeking out, and back to his mama. He didn't like making his mama cry, it made him feel bad, even if it wasn't his fault this time. He sat up and watched her for a minute. He was still mad at the grownups, but he was beginning to think that they didn't have a choice either. Maybe it wasn't his mama's fault. After all, it was Captain Damon who said Luie had to go away.  The boy looked back to the little girl and nodded his head towards Katrina. They both crept out of bed and walked to the queen.

"Mama?" Katrina hastily swiped at her eyes, and looked down. "Don't cry, Mama, it's not your fault." The woman, a look of relief washing over her face, knelt and embraced the children. "We're not mad at you anymore, are we Luie?"  The girl shook her head. "It's Captain Damon's fault anyway…" At that the queen sat back on her heels and looked at the children. "Milliardo, I understand that you are upset, but you can not blame Captain Damon. He is only doing his job." Milli frowned at that, but didn't say anything. As far as he was concerned at the moment, the captain's job was to be mean and spoil Milli's fun.  Katrina, seemed to read the boy's thoughts as she continued, "Milliardo, it is a very complicated time. Damon is doing the best he can to protect us AND Luie. I know it is difficult, but I want the two of you to try and understand." The children nodded reluctantly. They didn't want to understand. "And I want you both to be nice to Damon. He feels terrible about all of this."  She pushed Milli's hair out of his eyes. "You hurt his feelings today when you said those things, Milliardo." The boy frowned. He didn't really care if he hurt Damon's feelings…did he?  He remembered how pale Captain Damon's face got when he yelled at him. The captain did look sad…Damon always said they were pals and pals weren't supposed to make each other feel bad…

"Well," sighed Katrina, "I think you two should get some sleep. We will talk more tomorrow." She put the two back to bed and left. When she closed the door, Milli scrambled out of bed and hurried back to Luie. "Here," he said handing over Boo-Bear, "You can keep him from now on so you won't feel like crying anymore." The little girl gratefully accepted the gift and impulsively threw her arms around her friend.

"Oof! Noin…you're choking me!"

"Sorry," she giggled.

"That's all right…you still scared?"

"A little."

"Well…why don't you teach me your lullaby and I can sing so you won't be scared."

"All right!"  They sat on the edge of the bed and the little girl sang the song softly in a clear sweet voice. She then patiently attempted to teach the song to her friend. Milliardo Peacecraft inherited a great deal from his mother—her gestures, sense of humor, kind heart—but most definitely not his mama's voice.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next morning, Milliardo, Katrina and Lucretzia sat down and had a long talk. The queen explained as much as she could and tried to ease the children's fears. This was no easy task considering how incredibly stubborn her son could be, especially when it came to standing up for someone he thought needed protection. It was one of  his best traits. Something, Katrina believed,  he inherited from his father. After they finished discussing the situation, Katrina agreed to let Milli out of his regular lessons and allowed the children a day alone to play. But, first the children were sent to reconcile with Captain Damon.

Damon was sitting at his desk, hunched over a stack of papers when he heard a soft knock on the door. "Enter," he commanded without looking up from his work. "Captain Damon?" The man's head popped up at the sound of Milli's voice. He stood, a bit nervously, and addressed the prince more formally than he ever had. "Your Highness," he greeted as he bowed, "what can I do for you?"

"Mama said we had to come talk to you." He didn't sound pleased by this.

"Yes, Your Highness, I wanted to talk to you and Miss Lucretzia." Luie stepped behind Milliardo. Damon felt his chest tighten. "I wanted to try and explain what's going on here…"

"Mama explained it," the prince stated flatly.

"Oh," Damon ran his hand through his hair. "Well…I also wanted to ask you how you managed to get into the passage." The children quickly exchanged glances, Milli looking worried and Luie looking scared. "You're not in trouble for that, guys, but I need to know how you got in there." Milli frowned and said, "I broke the lock."

"You broke it."

"Yeah. I've broken locks before. You're always complaining about that to Mama."

"Yes, Your Highness, but those were key locks. This was computerized. Why didn't the alarm go off when you messed with it?"  He was certain the prince was covering for Lucretzia, but didn't want to accuse him of lying outright. Milliardo shrugged. "Maybe it doesn't work." Damon looked at the two for a second. That was their story and they were sticking to it. The children were definitely not going to tell him anything today. They were still upset with him. The captain decided to let the matter drop. "Well, that's all I needed…" They didn't wait for him to finish before dashing out. "…see ya later…" he mumbled. Damon sat down heavily and went back to work.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The children decided to spend the day in the tower, as far away from the adults as they could manage under the circumstances. They spent the day reading comic books and coloring. Ingrid brought their lunch up and they ate sitting at a small table Katrina sent up with a couple of small chairs. Cook made their favorite sandwiches and deserts with a special treat, milk shakes. All things considered, it was a relatively pleasant day.

Late that afternoon, Katrina came up to fetch Milliardo so that he could speak to his father over the vidphone. Lucretzia remained behind, too absorbed in what she was doing to leave. Damon decided to take the opportunity to speak to the little girl alone, hoping he could make her feel better about leaving.

She was sitting at the table drawing pictures. The child was hunched over her work, so intent on the task at hand that to notice Captain Damon walk up behind her. The young man peered over her shoulder at the crayon drawings and commented, "Hey, not bad sweetie…" The unexpected sound of Damon's voice startled the girl terribly and she nearly fell out of the chair as she scrambled to gather her sketches.

"Whoa there, Luie," Damon said as he caught the girl and set her back in her seat, "Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to scare you." Lucretzia looked up at him with wide eyes, clutching her papers protectively. The young captain mentally kicked himself for having startled the youngster so. He should have known better than to walk up behind her like that. At her age, he had been just as jumpy and pretty much for the same reasons. Damon knelt by the girl's chair trying to calm her.

"It's O.K., Lucretzia," he said, putting his hand on her head. The little girl relaxed a bit as her heart slowed down, but she still clutched her drawings. Damon didn't quite know what to make of that. "Those sure were pretty drawings. Can I see some more?" He smiled at her as he spoke hoping to convince her of his good intentions. Luie frowned up at the man and clutched her papers tighter. Whatever those drawings meant, it was obviously very important to her.

"Is it a secret? You know I'm good with secrets. Why don't you let me see some of those..." He reached forward but didn't take the sketches. Instead, he waited for her to hand them over. Luie looked at Damon with some uneasiness before relaxing her grip on the drawings. She looked from the papers to the captain once and laid the sketches on the small table. At first glance, they were exactly the type of childish pictures one would expect from a 5 year old. Upon closer inspection, Damon noticed a few odd things. Some pictures showed a dark haired child, Damon presumed it was Lucretzia, in a box of some sort. Most of the pictures depicted several people lying on the ground. Lucretzia had used quite a bit of red on those. He decided to skip the red pictures for the time being.

"Well now, lemme see...Wow, these are really good, Luie." He picked up one of a small house. "This looks like a nice house. Is this where you used to live?" The little girl looked up at him nervously.

"No...I slept there before."

"Before?" Instead of elaborating, the little girl just nodded. "O.K.," Damon continued, picking up a picture of a child with long brown hair also inside what appeared to be a box. "What about this one? Who's this?"

The little girl frowned a bit before quietly responding. "The boy."

"What boy?" Damon tried to talk as gently as he could. He knew it wasn't pleasant for her to remember, but there was no other way. He had to know where she came from. He had a gut feeling that there was something big going on and he needed to know what.

"The other boy." She rubbed her head. Damon knew she wasn't trying to be evasive and continued to press her for information, keeping his tone soothing and quiet. "What other boy?" He stroked her hair a bit, hoping to calm her. Lucretzia squeezed her eyes shut momentarily and rubbed her head again.

"From before." She paused and Damon gave her a moment before asking what she meant.

"Before I came here. The place where I woke up." She was starting to sound frustrated.

Damon decided to try a different angle. "Is he your brother, sweetie?"

She cocked her head as though that were a new idea to her. "I don't know...maybe. We're both noin."

"You mean he's got a bracelet like yours?"

Luie nodded. She looked down again and said quietly, "He wouldn't wake up. I tried to wake him up, but..." her voice trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes. "I didn't mean to lie to Mrs. Katrina!" She said frantically. "It hurt to remember and she kept asking questions and I didn't want the headaches to come back. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie! Don't tell Mrs. Katrina, please? I don't want her to think I'm bad! I know you think I'm bad because I broke the lock. I'm sorry! I didn't know that was bad...I just thought it was fun and I'm sorry for being bad!" The child was in tears now, clutching Damon's shirt, desperately pleading. The young man hugged the small girl and tried to calm her.

"Shhh. It's all right, Luie. I don't think you're bad. Nobody thinks your bad."

"Then why do I have to go away?" she sobbed.

There it was. How was he supposed to make her understand? Damon hugged her gently, patting her back. He took a deep breath and tried to explain as best he could. "Sweetheart, you didn't do anything wrong. O.K.? You're not going to the orphanage because you were bad. You're a very good girl and if it was possible, we'd all want you to stay."

"Then why can't I?" Lucretzia asked sadly.

Damon swallowed hard before answering, "Well... sometimes grownups have to do things that seem silly or stupid. I know it's hard to understand right now, but it's better for you and Milli both if you go live at the orphanage. At least for now. One day you'll be grown and it'll make more sense. Nobody wants you to go away." Damon spoke quickly, trying to convince himself as much as the child. "You and Milli are gonna see each other at school and Mrs. Katrina visits the orphanage every Sunday after church. You'll see them all the time! Please don't cry, honey...I know you're scared, but the orphanage is not a bad place. There're a lot of other kids there to play with and the nuns are really nice ladies." He tried to make it sound as pleasant as possible. "Luie, please don't cry.." Please, please, please stop crying. It had been a long time since Damon felt this rotten about anything. He kept reminding himself that this was necessary. It was his duty. His first priority was to protect the Peacecraft family. "Fai il tuo dovere, e lascia il resto al Signore."

"Do your duty and leave the rest to God," translated Lucretzia, sniffing back her tears. Damon was a bit startled, he didn't realize he said that out loud. He tucked a lock of hair behind the little girl's ear and smiled, "That's right. Sometimes you just have to leave things to God. It's called 'faith.'"

"They gonna teach me that stuff at the orphanage?" She was swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Yeah," replied Damon as he dug around for a handkerchief. Mrs. Katrina was always after him to carry a clean handkerchief. He was relieved to find he actually had one with him. "Here, sweetie," he said, wiping the girl's eyes. He put the cloth over the girl's nose and she blew. "You call that blowin' your nose? Come on, Luie. You can do better than that!" Lucretzia took a deep breath and blew her nose so hard her ears popped. "Good one!" congratulated Damon. The little girl tried her best to smile.

"I get to see Zechs...I mean Milli...at school?"

"Sure do."

 "And Mrs. Katrina will visit on Sunday?"

"All day."

"What about Miss Ingrid and Rena?"

"Well, they go to church with Mrs. Katrina, so you'll see them there."

"When do I get to see you?"

"You want to see me?" 

She nodded emphatically. "I like you. Besides, you still gotta teach me how to blink one eye."

"Wink."

"That, too."

Damon grinned at the child, rather relieved that she didn't think him a big old meany. "I'll see you when I escort Prince Milli to school and I can visit on Sundays sometimes too." Luie smiled and wrapped her little arms around the man's neck.  The Captain returned the child's embrace, wishing he could figure out a way to let her stay with the Peacecrafts. He decided the best way was to figure out the girl's identity and where she came from.

"Hey, mind if I keep your drawings?"

Lucretzia frowned at him a moment before asking, "You're not gonna show anybody, are you?"

"No, I won't. Scouts Honor." Lucretzia looked at him, puzzled. "That means I promise."

"Well," she said a little suspiciously, "All right...as long as you don't tell anybody about before...especially the other boy. I don't want to talk about him anymore."

"All right, Luie," Damon agreed, carefully folding the drawings and putting them his jacket, "but if you want to talk about him sometime, I'll listen."

Luie nodded. "Wanna color with me?"

"Sure! I love to color…got any purple?" They settled down at the table, Damon sitting on the floor because he was too big for the chair. Luie thought that was hilarious.

When Queen Katrina and Prince Milliardo returned, they found the Captain of the Guard sprawled on the floor sharing a coloring book with Lucretzia and arguing over what color the sky should be. With a little persuasion from his mother, Milli joined them (siding with Luie as to what color the sky should be) and eventually forgot he was trying to be mad at Damon.

That night, after Ingrid put them to bed, Luie and Milli lay awake thinking about the trip to the orphanage the next day. The moment Ingrid closed the door, both sat up in their beds and listened for grownups. When they were sure no one was coming back, Milli flipped back the covers and waved Luie over. The little girl shot across the room and dove in. They pulled the covers over their heads so they could talk undisturbed.

"Zechs?"

"Yeah?"

 "Your mama said the orphanage wasn't bad."

"It's not." He didn't say it with much conviction. Every time he visited the orphanage, the other children treated him like he was weird, but he didn't tell Noin that. She was nervous enough.

"What're nuns?"

"The ladies who take care of the kids at the orphanage."

"Are they nice?"

"Yeah, I guess...but they're kinda serious, like the Iggies...and they wear uniforms, too."

"Oh…Zechs, when I go, does that mean we can't be friends anymore?"

"Nope. I don't care what anybody says, you're my best friend. Always. Pinkie swear."

"What's a pinkie swear?"

"Hold out your little finger." Noin complied. Zechs hooked his little finger with hers and said, "I promise to be your best friend, always. Pinkie swear."

Noin giggled. "I promise to be your best friend, always. Pinkie swear."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Katrina let the children sleep a bit longer than usual that morning. It was going to be a very long day for them as it was and she knew they stayed up late the previous evening talking. When she finally went in to wake them, she found the pair rummaging through Milli's closet and toy chest.

"Here, you can take this coat. I'm too big for it now, but I think it'll fit you…and you'll need something to read…here, take this comic book and we can go get the ones we left in the tower…umm…here it is," Milli pulled out a small flashlight, "You can use this to read under the covers when they make you go to bed."

"What am I gonna carry my stuff in?"

"Hmm, I didn't think of that…maybe I got a bag under my bed." The two proceeded to dive under the bed, only their feet showing from underneath. Katrina watched with amusement for a few minutes before interrupting. "Children…" She heard two muffled thuds and saw the feet disappear beneath the bed. A moment later, two faces appeared on the other side of the bed.

"Hi, Mrs. Katrina."

"Hi, Mama…were picking out stuff for Luie to take with her to the orphanage."

"Wonderful idea. May I see what you selected?"

The children led the queen to a pile of loot in the middle of the room. "Well, Milli gave me some comic books and coloring books and a box of crayons and lots of  stuff…" Katrina looked the items over and discovered a small stuffed bear in the middle of the pile.

"Boo-Bear?"

"Yeah, Milli gave him to me so I wouldn't cry anymore."

"Did it work?" The girl nodded happily and Katrina smiled at her son. He was obviously giving his friend some of his prized possessions. "Milli…I think it is wonderful that you want to give Luie so much, but I'm afraid the clothes will have to stay."

"But what's she gonna wear?"

"They have uniforms at the orphanage, don't you remember? Sister Marguerite sent one over for Luie to wear today." She patted the small bundle of clothing she held on her lap. "But I think the other things you have put together are fine. You will need a suitcase, though…I'll be back in a moment." The queen went to her suite and retrieved a small valise from her luggage set. Before returning, she stopped in her powder room to fetch a small bottle of lilac scent and a wooden box. "Here we are." She opened the valise and neatly stacked Luie's possessions inside.

"Mama, can she at least take some of my pajamas?"

"Well, I don't see the harm in that. Go pick out a set."  While Milli sifted through his dresser, Luie asked, "Mrs. Katrina, do I have to wear a uniform." It was more than a whiney protest from a small child. Something about uniforms bothered the girl. "I suppose you could wear some of Milli's clothes, just for today, but you will have to wear this tomorrow." Luie nodded as Katrina added the clothing to the valise. "However, now that we have a pair of shoes that will fit, you can wear those today." Luie grimaced. She did not like shoes. They felt weird, even now that her feet were healed.

Mrs. Katrina and Ingrid dressed the children and finished packing a few items for Lucretzia to take with her. Katrina brushed the little girl's hair and lightly stroked on some lilac cologne. It was part of Luie's routine now. "Mrs. Katrina, who's gonna put lilac smell in my hair now?"

The queen smiled. She had already thought of that. "I spoke to Sister Marguerite. She or one of the other nuns will do that after your bath."

The little girl smiled. "They got lilac water there?"

"No, but I am giving you this bottle to take with you," she said as she closed the ornate bottle. "and I have something else for you." Katrina picked up the wooden box and handed it to the child. She unfastened the latch and raised the finely carved lid. "This is a treasure box for you to keep your favorite things in."

"Like what?" Luie ran a finger over the delicate lines engraved on the box. She hadn't seen anything so pretty.

"Oh, what ever you think is worth keeping safe." Katrina smiled as the little girl first placed the bottle of cologne in the box and then pulled Boo-Bear out of the valise and laid the toy carefully in the box. It fit perfectly. The queen closed the lid and showed Lucretzia how to latch it properly. The little girl hugged the woman and gave her a kiss, "Thank you Mrs. Katrina."

"You are very welcome, cara mia."

They finished packing for Lucretzia and Milliardo took her around the house to say goodbye to everyone. Cook gave her a paper bag with a special treat in it and the Iggies saluted for her. Saying goodbye to Ingrid and Rena was the most difficult. Ingrid gathered the little girl into her soft embrace, promising to visit as soon as she could. The baby, not really understanding, assumed that Luie was just going away for a little while. She gave the older girl a childish squeeze and sloppy kiss before giggling a 'bye-bye,' and running off.

Katrina, Milliardo, and Lucretzia all piled into the backseat of the family car and Damon rode in the front passenger seat, yelling "Dibs on shotgun!" before climbing in. As they started off, Milli made a request.

"Can we sing that song you taught me, Captain Damon?"

"But that's a Christmas song, your Highness."

"I know. Can we sing it anyway? Luie's never heard it."

"O.K. On three. One...Two...Three..."

"Jingle bells,

 Batman smells,

 Robin laid an egg,

 Batmobile lost a wheel,

 And the Joker got awaaa-AY!"

They sang the song until they reached the orphanage...15 renditions later.

+++++++++++++++++++++ end part 7 ++++++++++++++++++++++

THAT is why I made Captain Damon an American. So Milliardo Peacecraft could plausibly know all the words to "Batman Smells." It's his punishment for the whole White Fang thing. I ALMOST made it the "Great Green Gobs" song, but I didn't think "mutilated monkey meat" fit the Peacecraft family's pacifist stance.  It was so sad earlier, that I felt the need to end on an incredibly SILLY note.

Thank you for all of the nice reviews! I really, REALLY love reading those. It perks me right up when I hit a writing roadblock. I plan on taking the story up through the fall of Cinq and the events immediately following, so there will be a few more chapters.

Well, hopefully, I brought out a hint of Zechs/Milliardo's trademark steeliness (if that's not a word, it is now) in his reaction to Noin leaving. Can't you just see him being stubborn and refusing to speak to the adults for the rest of the day? Just glaring at them instead?  And that stuff with Boo-Bear? My brother used to do that routine to get me to stop crying. Before you say "awww," he was usually the one who made me cry in the first place…brothers…[rolls eyes and shrugs]

Anyway, as always, please review. Please? Your comments give me ideas for subsequent chapters.

Disclaimer: One day, when I capture that leprechaun I've been chasing, I will have enough gold to BUY Gundam Wing. Until then, I have to content myself with writing stories using my favorite characters. I don't own them or the show. I just kidnap the poor wretches occasionally and make them do my evil bidding. I do, however, own Captain Damon and his big blue eyes. He's mine, mine, mine. [Damon runs away screaming like a girl.] Hey! Get back here! I'm not finished with the story yet!