Chapter 2
Of course, Trowa had to make that dare with Lucrezia. He just had to drag his friend Quatre into it as well. Trowa had sneered when Lucrezia said she could raid just as well as they could; now everything was a mess. The leader found out and was furious, Lucrezia still wasn't back, Natria was sneering at them right now and Heero was in a bad mood once again. Quatre always hoped he would lighten up, but there was no chance of that happening.
"The people responsible for daring Lucrezia were responsible for arranging the search and rescue. Of course, Hilde made fun of Trowa and Quatre as they stood before the leader and she automatically was volunteered to help them by the leader. At the moment, Trowa, Quatre, and Hilde sat around a campfire, making out a plan. Lucrezia had been captured and they had to get her back. Who knows what the barbarians would do to her. Suddenly two more people came and sat down as well.
"We were told to help you bring back Lucrezia," stated Heero grudgingly. Natria sat down slowly.
"The leader forced you, didn't he," stated Trowa. Heero glared down at the fire.
"He actually tried to get Heero in a headlock," smiled Natria with amusement. "Of course, being Heero's father, the leader's the only one who can beat him." The others chuckled a little.
"Has your father stopped bothering you about finding a girl?" joked Quatre.
"Yeah right! That would be the ultimate torture for anyone to be in the same room for five minutes!" yelled Hilde laughing. Heero sent her a dead on glare.
"I think we won't mention it for a while. He's too worried about the tribe we've located. They don't seem too friendly."
"We aren't in danger are we?" asked Trowa.
"I don't think so. They're moving more south."
"The White Banshee tribe." Heero nodded slowly. "That's why we must hurry and retrieve Lucrezia." No one responded.
Lucrezia knew she was not going to be let loose to return home. The leader made that very clear. She wasn't mistreated though. The Peacecraft family treated her kindly, nursing her, except for the eldest, Milliardo, also known as Zechs. He treated her like an infidel. He sneered at her mistakes and glared when she laughed with his family. He had gotten descent over the last day, but he still threw her nasty looks every once in a while.
"She knew her tribe was going to come after her, but she didn't know how long it would take though. The Peacecraft's protected her from the rest of the tribe. One time, a group of young men surrounded her and Relena as they were walking back with some water. They were making jibes at Lucrezia. Suddenly Wufei and Duo stepped out from nearby and leaned against trees. Cathy and Dorothy appeared on the other side.
"Back off," stated Cathy. One boy came closer to her and reached up and began to touch her cheek in an intimidating kind of way. Her hand came up and shoved his hand aside.
"What? You're defending a barbarian?" scowled the young man. Duo's small smirk seemed to make the others nervous.
"I'd say the barbarians are the people who insist on picking on defenseless young women. Lucrezia and Relena both looked rather insulted and threw each other a look that described a later torture session for Duo.
"You're traitors. All of you," growled the other young man.
"Tashi, you're the biggest ass, it's almost funny," commented Dorothy. "Really, you belong on the funny farm." Tashi glared over at her in fury. Dorothy merely shrugged it off and smiled a little.
"Watch it Dee… you'll regret it later," he whispered to her. She looked decently weary, but that look vanished quickly.
"It's not a matter of who is a traitor and who is the barbarian," began Wufei. "It's more like, who is the animal, and who is the real man."
"What are you insinuating?" hissed the man standing next to Cathy.
"Nothing, Matsuya, he's just stating the truth. You're an animal, simple as that," commented Cathy. "All you can think about is eating and making sure your balls are still in function, but I heard from Junko the other day that you're not as great in bed as it seems." All other laughed at this comment. Even Tashi smirked a little. Grumbling, Matsuya punched Tashi in the shoulder and they both turned their backs and walked away, growling something about traitors.
"Won't you have troubles with the leader now?" asked Lucrezia. Wufei shrugged.
"They don't have the brains and balls to actually get involved with the leader," stated Cathy coldly. Lucrezia smiled.
"Honey, I think we'll get along better than you think." Cathy sniffed and walked away. Lucrezia continued to smile. They were all beginning to level out.
Lucrezia sitting in the shade with Relena discussing Earth's wonderful philosophies over the generations and centuries when they hit. No one was given enough warning. The lookouts were killed so there was no way they could know. Red face paint covered their faces. They carried torches and rode the rare horses. It was horrible. They also managed to find guns as well. The White Banshee's knives and spears were nothing compared to their guns and speed. Lucrezia climbed up into a tree and reached down for Relena so she could climb up as well, but a warrior came riding up at full speed, with the intent of grabbing Relena. She saw it coming and ran for it, leaving Lucrezia calling after her. The horse was gaining on her fast, but Relena kept going.
Lucrezia jumped down and began to run after as well to help, but it was impossible. Another horse came running up after her. She cried out, but someone grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out of the way. She landed hard, but safely. Once her eyes cleared, she turned to her rescuer and found… Milliardo!
"Zechs!" she cried. He didn't look at her. He only stood up and glared at the oncoming enemy, drawing his sword. The oncoming warrior grinned down at her.
"My, that's a lovely girl there, I think I might take her for myself," he said in an evil voice. Zech's eyes narrowed.
"You'll have to go through me first." Lucrezia's eyes widened in shocked at Zech's passion filled statement.
Cathy stared in shock as her hut began to burn. Her baby brother was inside. She cried out her brothers name and plummeted herself into the house. Her parents were somewhere in the chaos. Her brother! She had to get to him! The roof was burning in this terrible heat.
"Joshua!" she screamed. She heard the infants screaming as the flames licked at his cradle. She lunged for the cradle. She snatched up her brother and screamed as a part of the roof caved in. She was suddenly pulled away from the danger. Then she was being dragged out of the house with amazing strength. Her eyes were teary with the smoke that was strangling her. She quickly looked down on her little brother to check on him. He was screaming, but alive. She breathed a small sigh of relief. That's when she saw the tattoo on the man's right arm. Her eyes widened. A skull!
Wufei spun around and saw the horse charging towards him, and he held his ground with his father. His mother stood behind them, also prepared to fight. Wufei bared his teeth as he let out a battle cry. With strength of five men, he swept out the horses hooves, tripping it up and making the rider fall. His father quickly disposed of the enemy with a few blows. He sensed it as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and saw a charging warrior too late. The sword was coming down quickly. He raised his arms to block the blow, but suddenly an arrow flew straight through the man's arm and he went into shock. Wufei knocked off the man and jumped up in the man's place, taking off to help save some more of the tribe.
"Come on!" screamed Duo as he held up a sturdy spear. Two horsemen circled him with taunting smiles. Suddenly, they threw ropes, which wrapped themselves around his wrists, and shoulders and the horses took off, dragging Duo behind. The two men smiled evilly as Duo struggled to loose himself. He turned, as his shoulders tore and screamed in pain. He let out a strengthening cry as he grabbed the ropes around his wrists and yanked hard, throwing the men off balance, pulling them down to the ground. The struggled to recover and stood up slowly, rubbing their arms or limping on a leg. Duo wasn't in much better shape. He prepared to fight them. One threw a punch and the other kicked out. The kick got through; making him loose his air the other took the opportunity to plow his fist into his side. Duo gasped in pain, but suddenly, the beating stopped. A cast stone in their direction distracted them.
Duo needed only that time to use his elbow, foot, and knuckles to kill the men. After a moment, he swayed slowly and fainted with the roaring pain in his ribs. He barely felt himself being dragged into the shelter of some trees.
Guarding herself with only a staff, Dorothy sneered at the oncoming warriors. They jumped down off their galloping horses and landed in front of her. She looked for an opening and made the first move.
"AAAAAAAH!" she screamed as she attacked the warriors. She made several blows, but soon, they had wrestled the staff from her and pinning her down to the ground. She knew what was to come next. She squirmed and screamed her heart out. Suddenly, she was released. Her eyes were shut tight. She heard shouting and struggling and suddenly, her eyes opened to find a blond angel standing before her. Then her eyes saw the tattoo and her reaction was only to promptly faint.
It was too late. The attack had already started and Heero had cursed terribly when they saw the smoke rising over the horizon. They quickly headed in that direction. They had found the bodies of the lookouts in a bunch of rotting bushes. When they got there, they split up to look for Lucrezia. Heero hid in the shadows of a growth of trees. He saw Lucrezia immediately. She was climbing a tree and trying to help a White Banshee tribe member! She was his age it looked and the terror on her face was evident. Lucrezia looked desperate.
"Come on Relena! Come on! Just a little further!" she cried. Heero's eyes narrowed when he saw a blond man see this from the other side of the settlement. His eyes widened at something and Heero turned to see what he was looking at. It was a warrior. He was heading straight for the girl.
"Relena!" screamed Lucrezia as the girl ran in terror. She was fast, Heero even had to admit that. Lucrezia jumped down and Heero cursed again. That idiot should have stayed put! Then that blond man leapt forward to defend her. The warrior that threatened was cut down quickly and Heero knew that Lucrezia was going to be okay. That's when his attention turned back around to look at that earlier girl named… Relena? He glared after the warrior. They were getting so far away. He almost couldn't see where they were going. Heero quickly left his cover and ran off after them as well. It was obvious the warrior's intents were not to cut Relena down. Much worse and Relena seemed to know this as well. By the time Heero caught up with them, he saw the man had Relena in a strangling grip. He was letting his hands wander all over her and she was struggling wildly to get away.
"Let me go," she ordered coldly. Heero was surprised by her attitude. She would have been sobbing. Any normal person would have been sobbing at this point. She was ordering this man, who was two times bigger than her, to put her down. The man ripped at her cloths. Which was the proper attire now. An animal skin top and jean pants.
She kneed him in the groin and the man leaned over in pain. Relena made a break for it, but she didn't make it a few steps when the man grabbed her flowing hair. He swung her around and grinned cruelly and then Heero saw the fear in Relena's eyes. His own eyes narrowed. The man pulled back his hand and drove his fist into Relena's gut and than back handed her in a single instant. Before she could even hit the ground he pulled her up and backhanded her again. Blood trickled down her chin. Heero ran forward, knocking the other warrior off his feet and flying several feet. Heero caught the nearly unconscious girl as she fell and gently laid her down on the ground. He stood up quickly and faced the warrior who recovered by now and prepared to make a kill.
"Ah, it's a knight to kill the evil villain," said the man icily. He smiled a little and looked down at Relena.
"Is she yours?" he asked. "You're a damn lucky man. She tasted really good." Heero felt unnecessary rage towards this man and he pulled up his wrist and pointed it at the man. A knife was contained on it and a flick of the wrist; the small dagger went flying and lodged itself in the man's throat. He gargled for a long moment. The rage passed after a moment and Heero turned back around to face the girl. She was struggling to get up. She stared around her and saw Heero. She began to glare and back up quickly. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her. She struggled for as little strength as she had.
"Let me go!" she screamed. "I'd rather die than this!"
"Don't tempt me," growled Heero harshly. Relena pulled out a knife and swiped at him but he dodged skillfully. She managed to release herself from his grip. She tried to pull back the knife to plunge it into her heart, but Heero was too fast. He knocked her knife out of her hand.
"Would you hold still!" he yelled. Something in his Prussian eyes forced her to settle. "I'm only here to retrieve Lucrezia." The girl seemed confused.
"Then… why did you come here to me?" Now Heero was confused. Why had he? He continued to glare down at her; suddenly he spun around and began to walk away. Relena quickly stumbled up and ran after him.
"Hey wait!" He stopped, but didn't turn. Relena gasped at the pain running along in her sides.
"How are you planning on taking Lucrezia? The leader is stubborn."
"If he cares for the rest of his tribe to survive, he'll see it our way." Relena's eyes widened.
Of course, Trowa had to make that dare with Lucrezia. He just had to drag his friend Quatre into it as well. Trowa had sneered when Lucrezia said she could raid just as well as they could; now everything was a mess. The leader found out and was furious, Lucrezia still wasn't back, Natria was sneering at them right now and Heero was in a bad mood once again. Quatre always hoped he would lighten up, but there was no chance of that happening.
"The people responsible for daring Lucrezia were responsible for arranging the search and rescue. Of course, Hilde made fun of Trowa and Quatre as they stood before the leader and she automatically was volunteered to help them by the leader. At the moment, Trowa, Quatre, and Hilde sat around a campfire, making out a plan. Lucrezia had been captured and they had to get her back. Who knows what the barbarians would do to her. Suddenly two more people came and sat down as well.
"We were told to help you bring back Lucrezia," stated Heero grudgingly. Natria sat down slowly.
"The leader forced you, didn't he," stated Trowa. Heero glared down at the fire.
"He actually tried to get Heero in a headlock," smiled Natria with amusement. "Of course, being Heero's father, the leader's the only one who can beat him." The others chuckled a little.
"Has your father stopped bothering you about finding a girl?" joked Quatre.
"Yeah right! That would be the ultimate torture for anyone to be in the same room for five minutes!" yelled Hilde laughing. Heero sent her a dead on glare.
"I think we won't mention it for a while. He's too worried about the tribe we've located. They don't seem too friendly."
"We aren't in danger are we?" asked Trowa.
"I don't think so. They're moving more south."
"The White Banshee tribe." Heero nodded slowly. "That's why we must hurry and retrieve Lucrezia." No one responded.
Lucrezia knew she was not going to be let loose to return home. The leader made that very clear. She wasn't mistreated though. The Peacecraft family treated her kindly, nursing her, except for the eldest, Milliardo, also known as Zechs. He treated her like an infidel. He sneered at her mistakes and glared when she laughed with his family. He had gotten descent over the last day, but he still threw her nasty looks every once in a while.
"She knew her tribe was going to come after her, but she didn't know how long it would take though. The Peacecraft's protected her from the rest of the tribe. One time, a group of young men surrounded her and Relena as they were walking back with some water. They were making jibes at Lucrezia. Suddenly Wufei and Duo stepped out from nearby and leaned against trees. Cathy and Dorothy appeared on the other side.
"Back off," stated Cathy. One boy came closer to her and reached up and began to touch her cheek in an intimidating kind of way. Her hand came up and shoved his hand aside.
"What? You're defending a barbarian?" scowled the young man. Duo's small smirk seemed to make the others nervous.
"I'd say the barbarians are the people who insist on picking on defenseless young women. Lucrezia and Relena both looked rather insulted and threw each other a look that described a later torture session for Duo.
"You're traitors. All of you," growled the other young man.
"Tashi, you're the biggest ass, it's almost funny," commented Dorothy. "Really, you belong on the funny farm." Tashi glared over at her in fury. Dorothy merely shrugged it off and smiled a little.
"Watch it Dee… you'll regret it later," he whispered to her. She looked decently weary, but that look vanished quickly.
"It's not a matter of who is a traitor and who is the barbarian," began Wufei. "It's more like, who is the animal, and who is the real man."
"What are you insinuating?" hissed the man standing next to Cathy.
"Nothing, Matsuya, he's just stating the truth. You're an animal, simple as that," commented Cathy. "All you can think about is eating and making sure your balls are still in function, but I heard from Junko the other day that you're not as great in bed as it seems." All other laughed at this comment. Even Tashi smirked a little. Grumbling, Matsuya punched Tashi in the shoulder and they both turned their backs and walked away, growling something about traitors.
"Won't you have troubles with the leader now?" asked Lucrezia. Wufei shrugged.
"They don't have the brains and balls to actually get involved with the leader," stated Cathy coldly. Lucrezia smiled.
"Honey, I think we'll get along better than you think." Cathy sniffed and walked away. Lucrezia continued to smile. They were all beginning to level out.
Lucrezia sitting in the shade with Relena discussing Earth's wonderful philosophies over the generations and centuries when they hit. No one was given enough warning. The lookouts were killed so there was no way they could know. Red face paint covered their faces. They carried torches and rode the rare horses. It was horrible. They also managed to find guns as well. The White Banshee's knives and spears were nothing compared to their guns and speed. Lucrezia climbed up into a tree and reached down for Relena so she could climb up as well, but a warrior came riding up at full speed, with the intent of grabbing Relena. She saw it coming and ran for it, leaving Lucrezia calling after her. The horse was gaining on her fast, but Relena kept going.
Lucrezia jumped down and began to run after as well to help, but it was impossible. Another horse came running up after her. She cried out, but someone grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out of the way. She landed hard, but safely. Once her eyes cleared, she turned to her rescuer and found… Milliardo!
"Zechs!" she cried. He didn't look at her. He only stood up and glared at the oncoming enemy, drawing his sword. The oncoming warrior grinned down at her.
"My, that's a lovely girl there, I think I might take her for myself," he said in an evil voice. Zech's eyes narrowed.
"You'll have to go through me first." Lucrezia's eyes widened in shocked at Zech's passion filled statement.
Cathy stared in shock as her hut began to burn. Her baby brother was inside. She cried out her brothers name and plummeted herself into the house. Her parents were somewhere in the chaos. Her brother! She had to get to him! The roof was burning in this terrible heat.
"Joshua!" she screamed. She heard the infants screaming as the flames licked at his cradle. She lunged for the cradle. She snatched up her brother and screamed as a part of the roof caved in. She was suddenly pulled away from the danger. Then she was being dragged out of the house with amazing strength. Her eyes were teary with the smoke that was strangling her. She quickly looked down on her little brother to check on him. He was screaming, but alive. She breathed a small sigh of relief. That's when she saw the tattoo on the man's right arm. Her eyes widened. A skull!
Wufei spun around and saw the horse charging towards him, and he held his ground with his father. His mother stood behind them, also prepared to fight. Wufei bared his teeth as he let out a battle cry. With strength of five men, he swept out the horses hooves, tripping it up and making the rider fall. His father quickly disposed of the enemy with a few blows. He sensed it as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and saw a charging warrior too late. The sword was coming down quickly. He raised his arms to block the blow, but suddenly an arrow flew straight through the man's arm and he went into shock. Wufei knocked off the man and jumped up in the man's place, taking off to help save some more of the tribe.
"Come on!" screamed Duo as he held up a sturdy spear. Two horsemen circled him with taunting smiles. Suddenly, they threw ropes, which wrapped themselves around his wrists, and shoulders and the horses took off, dragging Duo behind. The two men smiled evilly as Duo struggled to loose himself. He turned, as his shoulders tore and screamed in pain. He let out a strengthening cry as he grabbed the ropes around his wrists and yanked hard, throwing the men off balance, pulling them down to the ground. The struggled to recover and stood up slowly, rubbing their arms or limping on a leg. Duo wasn't in much better shape. He prepared to fight them. One threw a punch and the other kicked out. The kick got through; making him loose his air the other took the opportunity to plow his fist into his side. Duo gasped in pain, but suddenly, the beating stopped. A cast stone in their direction distracted them.
Duo needed only that time to use his elbow, foot, and knuckles to kill the men. After a moment, he swayed slowly and fainted with the roaring pain in his ribs. He barely felt himself being dragged into the shelter of some trees.
Guarding herself with only a staff, Dorothy sneered at the oncoming warriors. They jumped down off their galloping horses and landed in front of her. She looked for an opening and made the first move.
"AAAAAAAH!" she screamed as she attacked the warriors. She made several blows, but soon, they had wrestled the staff from her and pinning her down to the ground. She knew what was to come next. She squirmed and screamed her heart out. Suddenly, she was released. Her eyes were shut tight. She heard shouting and struggling and suddenly, her eyes opened to find a blond angel standing before her. Then her eyes saw the tattoo and her reaction was only to promptly faint.
It was too late. The attack had already started and Heero had cursed terribly when they saw the smoke rising over the horizon. They quickly headed in that direction. They had found the bodies of the lookouts in a bunch of rotting bushes. When they got there, they split up to look for Lucrezia. Heero hid in the shadows of a growth of trees. He saw Lucrezia immediately. She was climbing a tree and trying to help a White Banshee tribe member! She was his age it looked and the terror on her face was evident. Lucrezia looked desperate.
"Come on Relena! Come on! Just a little further!" she cried. Heero's eyes narrowed when he saw a blond man see this from the other side of the settlement. His eyes widened at something and Heero turned to see what he was looking at. It was a warrior. He was heading straight for the girl.
"Relena!" screamed Lucrezia as the girl ran in terror. She was fast, Heero even had to admit that. Lucrezia jumped down and Heero cursed again. That idiot should have stayed put! Then that blond man leapt forward to defend her. The warrior that threatened was cut down quickly and Heero knew that Lucrezia was going to be okay. That's when his attention turned back around to look at that earlier girl named… Relena? He glared after the warrior. They were getting so far away. He almost couldn't see where they were going. Heero quickly left his cover and ran off after them as well. It was obvious the warrior's intents were not to cut Relena down. Much worse and Relena seemed to know this as well. By the time Heero caught up with them, he saw the man had Relena in a strangling grip. He was letting his hands wander all over her and she was struggling wildly to get away.
"Let me go," she ordered coldly. Heero was surprised by her attitude. She would have been sobbing. Any normal person would have been sobbing at this point. She was ordering this man, who was two times bigger than her, to put her down. The man ripped at her cloths. Which was the proper attire now. An animal skin top and jean pants.
She kneed him in the groin and the man leaned over in pain. Relena made a break for it, but she didn't make it a few steps when the man grabbed her flowing hair. He swung her around and grinned cruelly and then Heero saw the fear in Relena's eyes. His own eyes narrowed. The man pulled back his hand and drove his fist into Relena's gut and than back handed her in a single instant. Before she could even hit the ground he pulled her up and backhanded her again. Blood trickled down her chin. Heero ran forward, knocking the other warrior off his feet and flying several feet. Heero caught the nearly unconscious girl as she fell and gently laid her down on the ground. He stood up quickly and faced the warrior who recovered by now and prepared to make a kill.
"Ah, it's a knight to kill the evil villain," said the man icily. He smiled a little and looked down at Relena.
"Is she yours?" he asked. "You're a damn lucky man. She tasted really good." Heero felt unnecessary rage towards this man and he pulled up his wrist and pointed it at the man. A knife was contained on it and a flick of the wrist; the small dagger went flying and lodged itself in the man's throat. He gargled for a long moment. The rage passed after a moment and Heero turned back around to face the girl. She was struggling to get up. She stared around her and saw Heero. She began to glare and back up quickly. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her. She struggled for as little strength as she had.
"Let me go!" she screamed. "I'd rather die than this!"
"Don't tempt me," growled Heero harshly. Relena pulled out a knife and swiped at him but he dodged skillfully. She managed to release herself from his grip. She tried to pull back the knife to plunge it into her heart, but Heero was too fast. He knocked her knife out of her hand.
"Would you hold still!" he yelled. Something in his Prussian eyes forced her to settle. "I'm only here to retrieve Lucrezia." The girl seemed confused.
"Then… why did you come here to me?" Now Heero was confused. Why had he? He continued to glare down at her; suddenly he spun around and began to walk away. Relena quickly stumbled up and ran after him.
"Hey wait!" He stopped, but didn't turn. Relena gasped at the pain running along in her sides.
"How are you planning on taking Lucrezia? The leader is stubborn."
"If he cares for the rest of his tribe to survive, he'll see it our way." Relena's eyes widened.