Standard Disclaimers Apply.



This is the story of the bravest girl to grace her world,
and the trials of her life.

Based very loosely upon the story of Mulan, a true heroine
in her own right.



Heroine
A Serena and Darien Alternate Reality Fic

by Moni-chan

monichan@telus.net




Chapter 3



"Gently, now. Easy on him."

"Ouch. That looks really painful."

"Ren, do you have to be so strong-willed? You know we
should have shared the punishment."

"Yeah, what gave you the idea that you were the only person
to blame, anyway?"

"Well, who on earth poisoned the food? At least one of us
was always there!"

"Whoa, I think he's trying to talk."

"Water!"

A glass of water was hurriedly brought.

Serena felt like her body was painfully on fire. She knew
that those lashes were lighter than they should have been;
perhaps the person delivering the punishment had felt sorry
for her. She could only lie face down; Serena knew that
her entire backside must be bloody and torn.

"It was my fault." She struggled to ignore the pain. "When
we were ... watching Darien ..."

"Not everything is your responsibility, Ren." Malachite was
frustrated. "It was as much my fault then as it was yours,
since I was the one who called you out."

"Why?"

All heads turned towards the motionless body lying on the
bed.

"Why would anyone want to poison our soldiers? And why
didn't he fatally poison us? They could have easily done
so." Serena's mind puzzled through her thoughts. "What did
he have to gain?"

"True," Jadeite mused. "Maybe it was Diamond trying to get
back at you after so long."

Nephrite spoke up. "It's possible, but Diamond is more of
the type who would rather fight face to face rather than
subtly try to get Ren in trouble."

"Maybe it was someone trying to play a prank ..."

"Some prank."

Serena couldn't listen to them anymore. Her mind was
spinning ...


No one except high ranking officers are allowed into camp
during daytime or nighttime. Those that come in, need to
show their identification cards. The camp had high walls
surrounding it, and it would be impossible to scale it and
climb down the wall without several guards noticing.

There was only one way in besides the grand entrance, and
that would be from the exit to the large forest. Even so,
it would take ten minutes of walking in plain view to reach
the kitchen. Surely, one of the many guards or men would
have noticed the intruder ... unless ...

spinning ....

The intruder was either one of the soldiers or had contact
with one of them.


"It must be," Serena whispered to herself.

It would explain how the intruder would be familiar enough
with the surroundings to slip in and out of the kitchen and
disappear within a few minutes. It would explain why no
soldier or guard had seen any mysterious personas.

"The enemy." she whispered with a dawning horror. The enemy
who had already infiltrated their training grounds.

spinning ....

He must have poisoned the camp so he could accomplish
something. That night, everyone was in their cabins, sick,
and she and her friends were with Darien. Even many of the
guards had been feeling unwell.

He could have easily snuck out of the camp into the forest
and come back without being noticed.

"But, why?" In her rationalizations, Serena needed a motive.

He couldn't have stolen anything from Darien's cabin that
night, since she and her friends had been there most of the
night. He couldn't have wanted to steal money, since no one
had reported any loss of possessions.

What could he have wanted? Perhaps, he was only
communicating about the current state of training within the
camp to a higher boss.

Serena's mind was set. This was the only conclusion she
could come to. She hoped she was right. There really was
no one she could talk to. Her 'brothers' wouldn't really
understand, and Darien wouldn't listen to her as usual. She
didn't trust anyone in her cabin, and she definitely didn't
trust Diamond.

Until she found proof, Serena prayed that nothing bad would
happen to their camp.

"Ren! Ren!"

Serena was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud Jadeite.

"Yes, Jed?"

"We've spent the last ten minutes calling your name. We
thought you passed out or something."

"Yeah." Nephrite chimed in. "We want to thank you Ren, for
taking the punishment for us. You are a true friend."

"Uh huh. You didn't have to though."

"Mal, shut up! We're supposed to make her feel better!"

"Don't 'shut up' me. I would rather have taken some blows
myself than to see Ren in this much pain."

Serena giggled to herself. These boys really were hilarious
at times. Sometimes, she was almost thankful that she had
been assigned kitchen duty, or else she would never have met
such wonderful people.

"Speaking of pain and feeling better," Zoicyte piped up, "I
have some great skin medicine that I brought from home for
injuries and heavy cuts. I'll go get it from my room.
We'll rub it on your back for you, and you'll be better in
no time!"

Back? Rub it on her skin? That would mean taking off her
clothes.

"NO!"

Four pairs of eyes stared at her incredulously.

She toned down her voice, "Umm ... my skin is just really
sensitive guys, .... I can't use any skin medicine ...
because .... uhh ..... it umm ... GIVES ME RASH! Yeah,
that's it. I get all itchy after that.

Please, she prayed, please let it work.

It didn't.

"This is really good medicine. I wasn't studying to be a
doctor for nothing, you know." Zoicyte was offended. "I'll
be right back. We'll try a little bit, and then you can
see."

"WAIT!"

Four pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly.

Serena was panicking. She had to prevent this. "I just
don't like taking medicine, OK?"

Mal smirked. "Ren. You're not afraid of one hundred
whiplashes, but you're afraid of taking skin medicine.
You're not even going to be drinking it."

"Don't worry," said Jed, "nothing's going to happen to you."

"NO! I can't!" Serena was almost in tears.

"Is something wrong, Ren? You can always tell us you know."

She decided to use their caring nature to her full
advantage. She felt guilty, but this was a dire case. If
she were found out, they might not tell, but they would
treat her differently, and then others would notice. And
she had to figure out who the enemy was first before
anything ...

Ok, Serena, she told herself, play up on the tears.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I just, I just have a bad history with,
with all kinds of medicine ... bad .... medicine ...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

The sound of Serena shrieking could be heard even outside
the camp.

The four men in the room covered their ears in pain. When
she finally stopped screaming, Zoicyte timidly offered,

"Maybe lets forget about medicine then ..."

Malachite was slowly inching towards the doorway.

"Yeah ... Ren, just relax, and ummm ... we'll go get you
some hot soup!"

"BYE!" Four voices chorused as they scrambled out of the
door as fast as they could.

Serena really had tears now, but this time from laughing so
hard.

"I guess my all those singing lessons mom made me take were
really useful. Man, I didn't know I could scream that loud
either. "


The entire camp had heard that scream. Darien included.

He had winced, wondering if the person delivering the
punishment had still been too rough on Ren. Poor guy, he
thought. One hundred whiplashes must be hurting pretty bad.

He felt guilty, for some reason.

"Darien, watch yourself." he scolded himself mentally. "Ren
deserved what he got. He asked for the full punishment
himself. You've never felt so bad about delivering
punishment before."

But he couldn't stop the picture of a laughing Ren in the
snow from playing in his mind. What was with him? He felt
as though Ren was only meant to be happy, but why on earth
would he think that way?

He'd have to watch the boy more closely the next few days.
"This time, when Ren disappears again, I'll know where he
goes."

He paused, trying to reason with himself. "I'm not
intruding on his personal business. Ren is a soldier of
mine, and I have to take care of him. Besides, it's
forbidden to leave camp grounds. Ren should know that,
shouldn't he?"




--------



It was Diamond. Serena couldn't believe it, but it was late
at night when she heard some rustling in her cabin.
Pretending to be asleep, she saw one of the soldiers from
her group stealthily dress himself in black, a color that
wasn't allowed in camp.

Why else would anyone dress themselves in such a color?

Serena knew she had to follow him. Thankful that lightness
and agility were to her advantage, she waited until he left
the cabin before she got up and followed him.

Almost to her expectations, she saw him head towards the
forest. Diamond was a good fighter, and she felt the
fluttering of fear in her stomach, yet she had to know what
he was up to.

Darien had always been a late sleeper, so he did see the man
clothed in black creep slowly by. And he also saw Ren.

He swore. What was Ren thinking, chasing after an enemy
warrior. There was no way Ren could beat him by himself.
Quickly he raced to the nearest cabin, and woke the soldiers
up.

The groggy soldiers were lazy.

"GET UP! This is a matter of life or death; if our enemy
has managed to draw plans of our camp, then we could be dead
within a matter of days!"

That woke them up.

The cabin was in a frenzy, and Darien paid them no heed as
he rushed out to follow the two, who had by now, disappeared
into the forest.



--------



The feeling of fear had increased by now. Serena's heart
thudded loudly as she ventured deeper into the forest. It
was dark and musty and she knew she must have made a few
sounds to give herself away by now. Diamond was a
perceptive person. She expected him to have noticed her by
now.

But he hadn't.

He was just continuing on his way, now walking quickly.

Her suspicions hung in the air, unanswered. She prayed that
he really hadn't noticed her. Otherwise ... she would be
walking straight into a ....

TRAP!

She watched as Diamond suddenly turned around, a wicked grin
on his face. She watched as twenty soldiers dressed in the
same black uniforms as Diamond slowly stand up from behind
the bushes.

They were everywhere. Treetops, underground, surrounding
her.


Shit.


You really got yourself in trouble this time, Serena. There
is no one coming to save you. You will die, and even then,
no one would be able to find you.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here." Diamond gloated.
"Ren. It's such a pity, really. You are quite talented for
your young age."

She looked around, trying to size up her situation.

"Oh no use running." Diamond was indeed observant. "We've
got you surrounded."

She should have known. Diamond had heard her following him
all the time; yet he led her on. He was really such a
sneak! But she had been stupid to fall for it.

She glared up at the him, his silver-hair and pale skin
contrasting with his black uniform, giving him a ghostly,
sickly look.

"Oh go ahead," he laughed. "Hate me. I love it when you
hate me ..."

He turned and addressed his men. "This boy really can fight
a little, don't go easy on him."

Serena closed her eyes, tensed her muscles, and readied
herself for the inevitable fight.


A figure whirled into the midst, quickly grabbing her and
wheeling them both away. Serena was surprised at the
interruption, the sudden warmth, and turned to thank her
savior before she realized that he had already left.

With horror, she realized that he had returned to fight the
other men.

With surprise, she realized that he was Darien.

"Darien!" she whispered.

It was him; she recognized his fighting style: the smooth
fluid movements of his body, the quick slashes of his sword.
He was good, but he couldn't possibly last against twenty
men as skilled as Diamond. She was immobilized in her
hiding position for a moment, just watching. He was risking
his life to save hers?

Somehow, she knew there was more to it than that, that there
was more at stake here than just her life. And she knew
that she would fight with him.

With a tremendous battle cry, she emerged from hiding and
charged at the men nearest Darien. One was about to strike
him in the back, but suddenly had his sword kicked away.
Before that man knew it, one sharp sword had pierced his
heart, and he cried in pain, falling to the ground.

"Ren!" Darien's voice cried out through the fray. "What are
you doing? Run back!"

"NO! I'm fighting with you Darien." she said in a
determined tone.

"REN! Don't be stupid!"

But Serena was busy battling Diamond. He was much better
than he had seemed in camp. She realized that he'd been
holding back the entire time. There was no way she was even
close to his skill level. His sword clashed with hers, and
she struggled to prevent the point from reaching her neck
...

"Darien." she whispered.

And he was there, in one swift move he had intercepted, and
was fighting with Diamond. They were about equal in
ability, but there were other men still around. They closed
in, and Darien was forced to turn his attention away from
Diamond.

It was a mistake with grave consequences. It gave Diamond
the chance to disarm him; gave him and all the men a chance
to latch on to his arms and legs until they had held him
down.

Serena wanted to cry. There was so much death. She could
smell the stench of fresh blood, could feel the nausea
rising in her throat. She could feel herself starting to
faint.

She could feel arms grab her brutally and hold her in place.

Dimly she registered the sound of feet stomping on the
ground.

"REN!"

Their soldiers were coming. About fifteen of them,
Malachite, Zoicyte, Jedite, and Nephrite among them.

But she and Darien were already held by four strong men;
they could only stare helplessly at the coming soldiers,
knowing that they were only a few minutes too late.

"REN!" She could see the alarm in Malachite's eyes.

"Well look who's here," Diamond stepped out.

"Diamond Black!" Zoicyte gasped. "You're with the enemy
aren't you?"

"He's not Diamond Black." Darien's voice.

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"Very intelligent, Chiba. You're more intelligent than I
thought." The man who called himself Diamond turned a sneer
towards the two captives. "But you're too late now! You
two are coming with me."

The strong men lifted Serena and Darien up in the air.

Malachite rushed forward, drawing out his sword. "You can't
take them!"

Diamond never spoke a word. With one quick slash of his
sword he had pierced through Malachite's armor.

"MAL!" Four anguished screams could be heard, including
Serena's. Malachite had always been the sharpest-tongued,
but had always been well-meaning. He was intensely loyal,
as he had just proven. She watched as the other three bent
over him, trying to stop the blood flow.

Mal ....

She turned; saw Darien looking at her with something akin to
sympathy.


She wanted to run to her friend.




But she had no more time.



Something sweet was placed under her nose, and she slumped
over, unconscious.




--------

[note: I was going to end it there, but that would have
been kinda cruel :]




Darien studied the boy lying unconscious next to him. Long
blond lashes, cracked and dried lips, bruises all over. Yet
there was a softness about the boy when asleep; something
about the way he breathed, the way his face held such a
serene expression. To his surprise, he found it intensely
intriguing.

He wondered for the umpteenth time why Ren had come out of
hiding and helped him fight. After all, he had been free to
wait for the right moment and sneak away. Darien knew that
had Ren not helped him, he would have been far outnumbered
and captured much sooner.

But either way, it was futile. Neither he nor Ren would be
able to leave this nightmare alive. They were in enemy
territory, after all, both locked up.

He was cold.

He was hungry.

But he would never convey his fear to Ren. For both of
their sake, he had to be strong. The boy didn't deserve to
be locked up. After all, the enemy only wanted information
about war plans and Ren wouldn't know any of that
information.

Suddenly there was movement next to him. "NO! NO! PLEASE
DON'T!" Ren thrashed about, arms and legs flying, face
scrunched in pain, caught in his own nightmare.

"No .... " Tears ran down pale cheeks.

"Ren, wake up." Darien tried to shake him as gently as
possible. "Ren."

Long lashes fluttered open, and Darien saw unguarded eyes of
ocean blue. His breath caught; he was lost in the
vulnerability that those eyes showed. Ren was afraid; of
what, he did not know. But there was the look of a lost
child, and Darien's heart felt it.

All the toughness Ren displayed during training, all the
stubbornness, had been the only things Darien had seen. But
now, he knew that underneath it all, Ren was just as scared
of war as the next person. It relieved him immensely to
find that the boy in front of him wasn't a rude, brash, and
violent person, because, to Darien's surprise, he wanted to
like this kid. He wanted to get to know Ren and become
friends.

Serena felt the aftershocks of her nightmare. In her dream,
she had been found out. Someone had revealed her true
identity; that she was a girl. It had taken place at her
trial. She was found guilty, and sentenced to death along
with her family. But the most lasting impression was the
looks on the faces of her parents: resignment, sadness, and
disappointment in her. They were to be executed first as
she watched.

Her family name was disgraced. Her mother and father were
going to die.

"NO! Please don't!" she had screamed.

She saw the executioner walk up with the large sword.
She saw him place it at her father's neck.
Saw him reach back.
Saw him swing.
And saw ....

She woke up, sweating and breathing heavily. She'd first
thought that she'd died, but after a moment, she saw Darien
and she remembered what had happened.

Darien was sitting next to her, staring at her in a way that
made her feel quite uncomfortable.

"Ummm .. Darien." her voice was but a whisper. "Where are
we, exactly?"

"We've been captured." His voice sounded emotionless, even
to his own ears.

Serena flinched at his tone ... was he angry at her for
their capture? She should have fought better. Then,
perhaps, they wouldn't have been captured so quickly, and
the other soldiers would have had time to fight and rescue
them.

And Malachite ...

Poor Malachite ...

Malachite who had been the most realistic of them all. He'd
always been blunt with words, but he was one of her dearest
friends.

It was all her fault.

Serena hung her head. "I ... I'm sorry, Captain Chiba."

Darien's head flew up. Ren was blaming himself? "Sorry for
what?"

"It was my fault we've been captured. It was my fault Mal
is ..." She tried to say the word 'dead' but she just
couldn't bring herself to do so without crying.

She waited for him to agree with her.

Darien was amazed. How could Ren blame himself?

"Ren," he said in a voice surprisingly gentle, "none of this
is your fault. You tried to trail an enemy, that shows your
loyalty to your country. You should have notified me, but
there was no time to do so, and as we weren't on great
terms, I understand your actions. Then, after I rescued
you, you came back and helped me fight. That act shows your
kindness. You wouldn't let anyone be captured because he
was saving you."

"Ren," he continued. "Look at me."

Serena looked up into his eyes. They seemed surprisingly
kind and gentle. He was smiling at her in an encouraging
way. And it made her feel warm and safe inside.

"Ren, tell me that it wasn't your fault."

She looked away.

"I ... I should have fought better."

Darien couldn't believe how much responsibility this boy
carried in his mind. He couldn't have been older than
eighteen. Darien could remember how reckless he was at that
age. He'd been a nice person, but didn't have any worries
in the world.

"It was NOT your fault." He emphasized the word 'not.'

He put his hands on Ren's shoulders, brought Ren's head up
to look into his eyes.

"You fought bravely out there, Ren." he said. "You were
excellent both in technique and in concentration. You saved
my life as well."

Serena couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He was so close to
her.

"Always remember that, Ren. When times are dark, YOU were a
hero out there."

And with those encouraging words echoing in her mind, Serena
burst into tears and cried into Darien's shoulder.

She cried for all the mean things she had ever thought about
him. He was such a wonderful person in reality, and she
felt even more guilty for ever being angry at him.

She cried for Darien, who would die for sure, here. He
didn't deserve to die. He was a great person, someone who
could lead their country to win the war.

She cried for Malachite, a true friend in bleak times. He
didn't deserve to have died, either. She still remembered
that day when he had come up to her for help, asking humbly
for her to train him. He had improved the most out of the
four brothers, with his hard work and determination.
Already, she missed him.

She cried for her family: her father and her mother, who
would learn of her death. She knew they would be
heartbroken inside. She was their only child, there would
be no one else to comfort them.

She cried for herself, for she knew she would not be able to
live a life where she could accomplish everything she wanted
to accomplish. She was a sacrifice; and Serena hoped that
with her sacrifice, her country could win this war.

A little late, she remembered that she was supposed to be a
boy, and that boys shouldn't cry.

But Darien was there, soothing her, calming her,
understanding her. "It's alright to cry once in a while,
Ren. It helps, you know, to let it go."

And Darien held her close as she cried until she could not
cry anymore.



--------


"What were you dreaming about anyway, Ren? It seemed pretty
nasty."

It was a few hours later, and Darien and Serena were
lounging rather 'un'comfortably on the prison floor.

Serena blushed and racked her brains for an answer. She
couldn't exactly tell him that in her dream, she had been
scared because they'd found out she was a girl.

"I .. uh .. don't really remember ..."

"Really?" Darien looked at her perceptively.

She nodded very emphatically. "Really."

He didn't believe her at all. But perhaps it was private,
and Ren wasn't ready to share it with him. After all,
they'd only technically been friends for about three hours.

"So then," he said. "Tell me about your family. I thought
that Ken Tsukino only had a daughter or something. What was
her name again?"

"Serena." Serena was feeling rather uncomfortable with this
topic.

"Right. So, how's your family doing?"

"OK." Her voice was strained.

"Ren, we're at the last hours of our lives here. I just
want to know a little bit more about you."

Well, Serena thought. It really was the last hours of their
lives. She didn't have to be so cautious. So she told him
little white lies about her family, praying that she
wouldn't stumble over her own words and ideas.

"Serena's my older sister."

"Well, what does she look like then?"

"Hmm ... she has blonde hair down to mid-back. She has blue
eyes, and I guess, she really looks like me."

Darien contemplated this. Actually he stared at Ren, and
found that Ren would make a rather beautiful girl. As a
guy, he was probably considered beautiful by the female
population already, tall and lanky, but the extra-long
lashes and the high cheekbones were definitely feminine,
despite their current bruises.

"Do you think I'd like her?"

Serena was shocked. "You want to know if you'd like her?
Why would you want to know that?"

"Ren, I'm 22." He sighed. "I'm pretty close to marrying
age, and my parents are on my case about it. We're rather
well-off, so they want me to find a girl from a respected
family. You're family seems to all be of nice character and
it is a very famous name, so I thought that your sister
would be a nice person as well... I just thought maybe if
we liked each other, it could be a potential match."

She couldn't stop blushing. Darien, consider marrying her?
She'd never thought of him in a romantic sense before.
Well, not really. But he was talking about the 'real' her.

"I don't know if you'd like her type. I really look up to
her, though."

"Really? Why? You like how she cooks?" Darien sounded
surprised. In their time, men didn't usually look up to
women, perhaps because women mainly stayed at home and
cooked and cleaned.

"Don't be so stereotypical!" Darien was taken aback by
Ren's tone. He could tell that this was a topic that Ren
felt strongly about.

"My sister can fight as well as I." she said proudly.

"A girl? Fight?" Darien shuddered. "She must be pretty
tough then."

Serena could tell he didn't mean it as a compliment. She
saw him shudder. That was what he would think of her if she
told him she was really a girl. He would think her 'tough.'
That, of course, translated to un-feminine and un-proper.
If he knew the real Serena, he would never want to marry
her. And for reasons unknown to Serena herself, she felt
rather disappointed.

"Well, I think it's noble of her." Serena was indignant.

Darien caught the slightly dangerous tone in Ren's voice.
Wisely, he decided to not judge Ren's sister until he heard
everything about her. He had a feeling that Ren really did
admire a girl who wasn't conventional.

She continued. "She should have gone to school, just like
she wanted to, but that stupid Prince of our country made
some stupid rule that girls aren't allowed to go to school.
Maybe it was the King who made the rule. But it was still a
stupid rule."

"Ren," Darien sounded rather nervous. "The rule was put
there so that men would be able to go home after a long
day's work and have a proper wife who would take care of
them, cook meals for them, and look after their children for
them."

"That's absolutely silly," she retorted. "Who says a woman
can't work as well?"

Darien was more amused now, than anything. "So when you get
married, you want your wife to do all the work, and you'd
rather do all the chores at home?" He laughed uproariously
at the mental image of Ren washing dishes. "Somehow, I
can't see you like that ... "

Serena looked at him in embarrassment. Somewhere through
the argument she had gotten a little carried away. She
didn't want him to think of her as Ren to be weak.

"I'm not ... I'm just ..."

"Ah, I see." Darien drawled lazily. "You just want to slack
off when you get married and do all the easy work while your
wife does the real work."

That fired her up again.

"Girls' chores are not so easy. My mom put me through
enough of it to appreciate how difficult it really is. You
have no idea how much trouble it is to cook, or to wash
clothes, or ..."

Darien held up his hands. "Sorry. No offense intended.
I've never done any of it before, so I can't really be a
fair judge of what's difficult."

"So," he continued teasing. "You're mom made you do
chores?"

Blush.

"Umm ... yeah." She was stuttering. "She thought it would
be ... educational."

Phew, quick save there, she told herself.

"So," she said, eager to change the subject, "what is YOUR
dream girl like?"

"Hmm." Darien thought for a minute. "My dream girl is
beautiful inside and out. She would be caring, kind, and
sweet, a wonderful mother who would take care of our
children. She would love me for me, not for me being
handsome or being high-ranking. She'd be very proper, too,
able to cook a nice hot meal so that I could relax with her
and the children when I return home after work ..."

He trailed off, eyes drifting shut.

Serena watched him. He must have been dead tired, after all
this time. She could see the dark circles under his eyes,
the tiredness of his stance.

"He'd never want to marry me if he knew Serena was me," she
whispered miserably to herself. "I'm kind, but Darien
wouldn't know that from the way I act in camp. Oh, I'm not
terribly beautiful, and I'm not proper at all."

But why did she care? She didn't like Darien, did she?

Resolutely deciding not the think on the confusing subject
anymore, Serena closed her eyes and fell asleep.



-------



It was the interruption that woke them up.


"Get up, you two."

They got up, slowly and mechanically, aching bodies
protesting the movement.

Two guards grabbed Darien and another two grabbed Serena.

"Ouch!" she cried. They were so rough, and she had bruises
all over.

Darien and Serena were marched towards a huge ceremonial
looking door at the end of a large hallway. They shared a
final glance before steeling their gazes and walking through
the doorway.

The room was eerie and intense. It was huge; as large as at
least ten of their soccer training fields back at camp. The
entire room was black, with splashes of white, providing
shocking contrasts.

There were hundreds of men, standing throughout the room.
They wore robes of black and their faces were covered by
hoods. It seemed also as if they weren't there, as there
was no distinction between where the color black started and
ended.

At the very center, stood the leader, clothed in pure white,
as if he were sacred. His face was hidden by a hood as
well.

Serena felt terrified. She had never come in such close
contact with the enemy before. They were the people who
lived in the country next to theirs. So far as her father
had told her, these men had never stopped trying to overtake
them within the past one hundred years, and there was a long
history of blood between the two countries.

Their kingdom was smaller, Serena mused, remembering her
private geography lessons from her father. However, their
men were born naturally tall, and muscular, easily several
inches taller than the average male in her country.. They
were veritable giants and that was why it was so hard to
defeat them.

She could feel the eyes of the men boring holes through her
and Darien. She had never been more scared in her life. A
quick glance at Darien both calmed her and worried her. He
had absolutely no expression in his face. He neither seemed
scared nor worried, but rather seemed like he hadn't a care
in the world. He spoke in a casual tone.

"Wiseman."

The man in white seemed to nod. He spoke in a voice rich
and resonant. "Yes, Darien. You are right. I am The
Wiseman."

"These," he swept his hands over the people, "are but a few
of my wisemen."

Darien's voice again. "What did you do with the real
Diamond Black?"

Serena gasped. All this time, she'd forgotten about
Diamond, and the confusing scene that had occurred in the
woods.

~~

"Diamond Black!" Zoicyte gasped. "You're with the
enemy aren't you?"

"He's not Diamond Black." Darien's voice.


~~

His words echoed in her head. Was the Diamond who fought
her and bullied her at the beginning the real Diamond? Did
Diamond start being nicer to her after a while because there
was a switch that took place? She felt her head whirling.

"Oh he's .... safe." Mocking tones sounded loud and raucous
in her ears.

With a sweep of his arms, the two prisoners were lead to a
small room. It also black, but in it, Serena could discern
several torture devices hanging on the walls.

There were only three people present. Her, Darien, and "The
Wiseman."

"You know what I want, Chiba." His voice had now become
sharp and flinty.

Darien smiled. "Oh really." he drawled lazily. "Because I
don't know what you want."

SMACK.

Darien's face was flung to one side by a powerful slap to
his face. "Don't be impertinent with me. I want to know
about your war plans."

The hood wavered closer to them. Whispering.

"If you tell me what you know, I'll make it worth your
while."

"And if we don't?" Serena's voice was loud and strong.
Darien looked at her in surprise. He could have sworn he
thought Ren was scared. Perhaps he was just trying to act
brave?

"If you don't, well, we'll have to resort to more extreme
measures to make you tell ..."

"I'm not telling you anything, you evil maniac!" Serena
wasn't feeling quite as brave as she sounded, but she tried
just the same to keep up the act. She knew it was confusing
the hooded man. "You're just going to kill us anyway."

But the man just laughed his evil laugh.

"Shall we start with you then, boy?"

He walked over to the wall and contemplated. After a
minute, in which all members in the room waited with baited
breath, he picked up a curious type of whip.

Oh. My. God. Thought Serena.

That whip had spikes like thorns all over it. He was going
to use that on her?!?

"Take of his clothes."

Serena panicked. Take off her clothes? She'd have to
endure more embarrassment than just torture. They'd know
she was a girl, and then who knows what they would do to her
then. Her fate would be much worse than dying.

"It's useless to try and get information out of him, you
know." Darien's sounded amused.

"Huh?" Serena and the Wiseman turned to look at him.

"Ren doesn't know anything. You should know that Wiseman.
You should know that Ren had kitchen duty through most of
the training. What would he know about war plans? After
all, you were there as Diamond, weren't you?"

A gasp. Serena couldn't think straight. This man, this
foreboding creature in the white gown and hood was the man
posing as Diamond? But this man seemed so much more
powerful.

The man in the hood chuckled.

"Very good, Darien. Very good. Once again, I applaud your
sense of judgement. You sure you don't want to join our
side?"

He continued.

"You and Ren have been enemies since the beginning of
training. I can only punish one of you, and leave the other
to gloat. Then you'll be even worse enemies. HA ha ha .."

"Well, Darien. You've got it coming to you know."

Darien pretended to look dismayed by the turn of events.

And the whip descended.

With wide eyes, Serena watched, unable to tear herself away
from the brutal image of Darien being tortured. She saw the
blood, the bruises, and she wanted to vomit.

Darien had done that for her. He'd purposely taken the
punishment solely onto himself, for her sake. This was the
second time he had risked his own life to save hers, to save
the life of a measly, unimportant soldier.

She winced as she watched Wiseman kick him hard in the ribs.

Poor, poor, Darien. She didn't deserve to have a friend as
wonderful as him. She wanted to scream his pain out for
him, she wanted to let him be saved while she took some of
the beatings for him.

She watched as hooded man demanded more information, and
watched as Darien never spoke a word.

She watched him shut his eyes and clench his teeth in an
effort not to scream, because screaming would show the
Wiseman that he was afraid of pain.

She watched as he never made a sound.



-------



"Ouch!"

"Don't move around so much!"

"That hurts like hell."

"Stay still! I'm trying to help!"

Darien clenched his teeth as Serena helped him with his
wounds. It had been a long day of torture, and they had
been dumped unceremoniously back into their uncomfortable
prison.

His arms and chest were a bloodied pulp, and at least one of
his ribs was broken. Serena couldn't even fathom how to
begin to help him.

"You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I know."

"Thank you." She bowed her head. "But why did you ... ?"

"Why did I take your punishment?" His voice was laced with
pain. "It was for the same reason you took the punishment
for your four friends that day with the poisoned food. You
knew they were innocent."

"I did it because you are my friend, and I know that you
don't know anything that they wanted to know, anyway."

Darien must really have been in agony to not be able to
phrase words properly.

Serena felt her cheeks suffuse with red. Darien considered
her a true friend?

"That day with the poisoned food," she mused aloud.
"Perhaps Wiseman was the one who ...?"

She returned to

Darien nodded painfully. "Yes, it must have been related to
him." He paused. "I'm sorry, Ren, for blaming it on you."

"It's alright. I can tell why you would think so." She
paused. "What do you think will happen to us?"

He thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure." He sighed. "But, I doubt we'll be able to
leave this mess alive."

"I do." Serena's voice was unusually bright.

"Hmm?" Darien looked at her.

"I think that no matter how bad the situation, there's
always a little ray of hope. Nothing's impossible. Perhaps
this entire prison will catch on fire and snap the lock and
burn everything and then suddenly stop and then we'll go
free!"

"Or maybe, all our enemies will turn into pigs, and then we
could get through those bars .. umm .. eventually!"

Darien smiled, amused by the display of enthusiasm. He knew
than Ren thought the situation was hopeless as well. But he
had to hand it to the boy for being optimistic. It was
something Darien himself needed to learn: optimism.

He opened his mouth to commend Ren, but

"You two! Get up!"

Guards.

"You're coming with us!"

They followed the guards into a luxurious room, covered in
red with gold highlights. It looked like a room for a king.

Serena's eyes widened as she saw a table full of delicious
looking food in the middle of the room. Was that going to
be another form of torture? Watching these people eat while
they starved?

"That's for you two to enjoy! Enjoy it while you can! Ha
ha ha ha"

And the guards left.

"Darien?" she asked. "What does this mean?"

"Hmm?" he snapped out of his thoughts. "The food's for us."

"Really?" Serena practically squealed, forgetting to use her
fake voice. She scrambled towards the table and picked up
the chopsticks, putting the nearest thing she could find in
her mouth.

Darien looked at her, grinning. "But it also means that it
is our last meal, for we will be executed tomorrow morning."

"WHAT?!?" She choked on the meat she was eating. Darien
helped her cough it out with a glass of water. It was hard
considering how hard Darien was laughing.

They sobered up quickly.

"What do you mean, we're going to be executed tomorrow? How
do you know?"

He sighed. "It's customary for prisoners to get a good meal
the night before they are to be executed. This is, much
better than normal treatment, but then, we will probably be
executed in a much 'better' than normal way.

"Eww..... So, we're going to die tomorrow morning?" she
asked in a small voice.

"Yup, I guess so." Darien waited for a reaction. Probably
Ren would lose his appetite, and day dream for the rest of
the night, hoping to grasp whatever time he had left in this
world.

"Well, then, Let's EAT! We might as well make the most of
what we've got!"

"Wha .." that really took Darien by surprise.

"Come on, Darien. Eat! How on earth are you going to have
the energy to run away tomorrow if you don't fill yourself
up tonight and rest to heal your wounds?"

"We're going to wha ..?"

"Run away, silly. Now," she pulled him towards the table.
"Let's eat, I am so starved it's not funny."

He was surprised, but Ren had been full of surprises lately.
This Ren reminded Darien of the joyful person that played in
the snow many months ago. It was the Ren that Darien felt
he liked the most. There was this aura about him, this
attitude to embrace life and look brightly forward, that was
stronger in Ren than in any other man he'd ever known. To
play along, he tried to pick up his chopsticks, but his arms
screamed at him in pain for the effort, his fingers found it
hard to move nimbly.

Serena noticed this.

"I'm so sorry!" She had forgotten that he couldn't do too
much by himself.

"Darien. I know you'll get much better if you eat nice and
full tonight, so, here." She picked up her pair of
chopsticks and fed him some food. Every once in a while,
she paused to give him a sip of water or wine.

He felt like crying as she fed him. This young boy was so,
so sweet. For such a young person, he understood others; he
understood how to care for them; he understood how to make
them feel brighter.

It was a while before he could finish eating, but that whole
time, Serena never ate a morsel herself, just fed him
slowly.

It was only after he'd fallen asleep from being pleasantly
full and from being exhausted, before Serena started eating.



----------



Morning came, and by noon, Serena and Darien found
themselves standing outside on a platform, with an enormous
audience of hooded men. It was the platform they would be
executed on, but they did not show fear.

The Wiseman came foreward. "Do you still refuse to say
anything?"

Darien and Serena simultaneously spat in his face and looked
away.

"UGH! He wiped the face that couldn't been seen discreetly,
and turned around to address the crowd.

"These are our enemies. They shall not die easy deaths."

He turned back to Darien.

"We have lots of torture devices here. Why don't we tell
you which one we've picked for you? Hmm?"

"For you, Chiba, we're going to use a straight forward
approach. You're friend will take longer to die, so you'll
get to watch him scream for a while before you get yours."

A large contraption was wheeled onto the stage. It looked
like a metal bed with a canopy frame, but hanging from the
top was a long axe.

"This is for you, Ren. You like it? Do you want to know
what will happen to you?"

Serena repressed a shudder.

The Wiseman walked closer to her, brought out a finger and
stroked her chin.

"It's a pity to let such fine skin go to waste, but we'll
have to. You will lie on the bed, my dear boy." He grinned
evilly. "That metal axe will stop just above your stomach
and start swinging. It will only cut you a little, let out
a little blood. But then every hour, it will descend a
little bit. It will cut you a little more each time until
if fully slices you in half. Your going to take a day to
die ... ha ha ha." [note: this really is a torture device in
real life. I've seen one in a museum before, and it scared
the heck out of me]

It was harder for Serena to hide her horror now. Was that
what fate had planned for her? It had been so easy to talk
of escaping yesterday, but there hadn't been any chances to
do so. It didn't seem like there would be any more chances
any more.

But she knew Darien would get a worse punishment.

The Wiseman turned to walk to Darien.

"Your punishment might be quicker, but it will also be more
painful. I want to have the pleasure of killing you
myself."

Darien yawned.

It angered the hooded men.

"I'm going to have fun with you, Chiba. First I'm going to
cut off your left hand. Then after a while, I'll cut off
your right. Before I'm through with you, you'll lose one
limb at a time. But not before I scoop out your eyes from
their sockets and pull out all your hair with my bare
hands.... hahhaaa"

Darien yawned again. "Ho hum. Is that all you can do?" he
asked in a bored tone.

The Wiseman looked at him angrily. "You may be brave now,
Chiba, but after a few chops of the axe, I don't think
you'll be quite so cocky."

Serena wallowed in despair. She had to think of something,
fast, but what? There was no way out for either of them
with all these men around. Even if they escaped from this
platform, there would be a chase, and they weren't healthy
enough to run away.

They were going to die.


--------


That was rather long (for me anyway).

Oooh ... they're going to die! I'm not giving any hints.
It's probably even more cruel to end it here than where I
was going to end it before.

Whether they'll die or not ... the story's far from over.
They still have some pretty wacky situations to be in before
this is over!

That second part of this story was sooo hard to write, I
have no idea why ^.^ I really slaved away at 3 in the
morning, when I should have been studying :) So if you
liked it, please review it!

I despise proofreading! Is there anyone up for beta-reading
my stuff? You can e-mail me or ICQ me at 36917838 ^.^
Thanks a lot!

What I love hearing is what direction you think this story
is going in. For example, do you think they'll die and go
to heaven and the story will continue that way? Or do you
think they'll be saved? Or what?

'Till next time, =)

Moni-chan