Growing Hearts
By: Lady DeathAngel
Disclaimer: don't own them, don't sue me.
Warnings: violence and slight language and gore
A/N: Well, here's another chapter. I'm trying really hard to get the order of my chapters straight. But I'm so busy and it's late. I'm seeing things . . . j/k. Anyway, read, enjoy and review!
"You three! Find the princess and keep her safe, we'll stay here."
Hilde, Duo, and Solo nodded, and backed away from the battle, their swords still at the ready.
It was a grisly sight that lay before them. Men were dead and dying everywhere. The women and children who had been curious as to the commotion in the entry hall and had investigated regretted it. It didn't just smell of blood and carnage. It reeked of it.
The king and his small army, if it could even be considered such a thing, were outnumbered, and all they could hope to do was fend them off long enough to get the royal family to safety. That plan wasn't an impossible one however, because the OZ soldiers weren't nearly as skilled as the king's, and more OZ soldiers lay dead than did the king's.
"Where d'you think she went?" Solo asked as they sprinted down the halls.
"I don't know. But we have to find her before something happens . . ."
There was a loud scream just then. It stopped all three of them in their tracks and sent shivers down their spines.
"Mother!" The same voice cried. "No!"
"It's her." Hilde said. "Come on."
They all started sprinting again, faster than before. The followed the anguished cries to a large bedchamber. The sight that greeted them made Hilde's stomach turn.
"Oh gods." She said, holding a fist to her mouth.
They'd found Relena all right. And they'd found the queen. Or what was left of her anyway. It appeared that she had been carved nearly to ribbons. Hilde really couldn't tell though. Her entire body, nearly every inch of skin, was covered in bright, red blood.
Relena was laying across her body sobbing and screaming still. Duo and Solo both glanced at each other. They wanted to help, Hilde could tell. She glanced behind her and then turned to them.
"Go get her." She breathed. "Be gentle with her. I'll stand watch."
They both nodded and moved to Relena as soon as Hilde turned around. She searched the shadows of the halls for anyone who might have been an enemy. Anyone at all actually.
She didn't see anything, but she felt something evil in their midst. Something even more evil than the presence of Death that permeated the air they all breathed. Something that had to have come from the most evil of all gods.
She glanced behind her again, to see Duo coming toward her, Relena in his arms and Solo at his side, his sword drawn, his face set into uncharacteristically hard lines.
"Let's go." He told Hilde.
She nodded and started out of the door. They jogged down the hall, all senses alert and waiting for any sound. Any smell. Any sighting of anything suspicious.
Solo stopped suddenly, his eyes wide. "Go back." He whispered.
They stared at him quizzically.
"Go back now!" He yelled.
But it was too late. There was a loud, sinister, chuckle and then Hilde couldn't hear anything but a whirring sound in her ears. It sounded like a really strong wind. It lifted and tugged at her short hair viciously. She cried out and clutched at her head with one hand and shielded her eyes with the other.
She got her eyes open just enough to see something that looked silver and shiny come at her face. She tried to make it out, but it was coming to fast. She dodged it, but she couldn't dodge the next one. It sliced open her cheek. She could feel the blood trickling out of her wound and then it was whipped back by the wind.
She cried out as more glinting, razor sharp products of the wind sliced through her thin tunic and the breeches she wore. She heard Duo curse and remembered that he had the princess. She felt herself pushed backward and found herself staring at Solo's back.
He said a few words she didn't understand and then there was a flash and the wind stopped blowing and the razors stopped flying. Her hair settled again, and the blood started to fall toward the ground. She glanced over Solo's shoulder and saw that he'd erected a magical shield.
"Solo?" She breathed.
She could see his mouth turn up in a grim grin. "Didn't know I could do that, did ya?"
She shook her had before resting her forehead against his shoulder for a second. "Thank you." She whispered.
Just then the winds stopped altogether.
"Oh how touching." A mocking voice said. "Really, it's just beautiful."
Solo allowed the shield to drop and Hilde glared at the man that suddenly materialized before them.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the resident rat, come to pay a visit." She said with a glare.
"I wouldn't sound so smug if I was you, boy. I've already accomplished what I've set out to do. Well, nearly anyway. After I kill the little princess back there, I'll have fulfilled my goal."
"You aren't going to get her." Duo hissed. "Not now. Not ever."
"Oh really? And I suppose you three think you'll stop me?" He laughed. "Such childish fantasies and delusions will only have you laying dead at my feet sooner. It's better if you just hand the girl over so that I can kill her before I kill you."
"No. If we're going to die either way, we're going to die protecting her." Solo said.
"Hmm. Well, have it your way." He put his right hand in front of his body, curled in his thumb and ring finger, and whispered a few words.
Within seconds his fingertips were all lighted with small balls of fire that he shot at them. They all jumped out of the way just as the fireballs hit the ground where they had been standing. The entire floor shook with the power of the orbs of flames.
Hilde turned her head slightly in Duo's direction. "Get her out of here!" She yelled. "And hurry!"
He nodded and turned to run down the hall, but the man had suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Oh no, no, no. *This* most certainly will not do."
Duo backed away quickly, Relena held securely in his arms. The man reached out a hand for Duo, a large ball of fire in his palm.
"Let's see what can make this situation a little better shall we? Well, killing both you and the princess would be a good start. And then I'll kill your magically inclined friend. And lastly I'll cut out that insolent whelp's tongue and make him regret every brassy word he's ever said to me. But, you two are dying first." His grin was sick and twisted. "Say hello to the god of death for me."
Of course Duo could only stare wide eyed at the flames that threatened to envelope him. He couldn't jump out of the way quickly enough. Not with Relena being a burden in his arms. He didn't need to jump though. Solo ran forward, pushed them both out of the way, and took the blast himself.
Something strange happened though. Instead of being burned completely to cinders, Solo absorbed most of the fire. He didn't look burned too badly, but the force of what did hit him sent him flying backward. His body hit the wall, his head flying back to connect with the stone. The sickening crack that resulted caused Hilde's stomach to turn over and Duo to wince.
They all watched as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slowly fell to the ground. Duo sprinted toward his fallen friend, and Hilde lifted her sword and blocked the path to Solo and Duo. She raised the sword and pointed it at the man who'd dared insult her and try to kill the people who meant the most to her.
"You," She said her eyes narrowing. "Are a worthless, rotten, cur of a human. If you even are human. Gods know you aren't a man anyway. You're stained with blood and your own disgusting qualities. Before this night is through, you will be no more. But I challenge you, here and now, to face me like the man you'll never be. Fight me with a sword and not your demon like powers. Will you?"
"For one so young," he started. "You have the sharpest tongue I've ever encountered. I'll gladly face you with a sword, if only with the hopes of removing the thing from your head!"
"Fine then." Hilde said. "We start now."
She charged at him, forcing him to yank out his sword and parry her blows. She didn't allow him to get his footing after his first stumbles. He was pressed into a defensive state of attack. He wouldn't win that way. And they both knew it.
Which was why, when he shot ice arrows at Hilde from his free hand in a desperate attempt to survive, it made sense. That didn't, however, mean that Hilde wasn't upset about it. Because she was. She was mighty upset about it.
Problem was, those ice arrows hadn't missed their mark, and within minutes Hilde's body began to slow down. Her blood turned cold and sluggish in her veins.
The man laughed. "I see you are enjoying the effects of the ice arrows are you not? They act as a sort of paralyzing poison. Pretty soon you won't be able to draw breath. Your brain will cease functioning. Your heart will stop beating. But most importantly, your tongue, that pretty little muscle of yours, won't be able to illicit a sound." He laughed again, and Hilde brought her sword up, trying to slice him in half from the bottom up.
It didn't work. He simply blocked and brought his own sword up in the same fashion. She backed away quickly, and the blade did naught but cut her tunic in half. Unfortunately that action revealed the binding she used to hide her breasts from everyone.
The man's eyes widened in disbelief as color flooded Hilde's face.
"A girl? I was being bested by a *girl*? You're a liar! That's treason!"
She wanted to retort that it was really only a small crime compared to what he'd done, but her tongue had stopped working. Her mind was slowing down as well, and though her body was still quick, she needed to be much quicker to keep this up.
He came at her suddenly, waving his sword around like a maniac. "You're a good pretender girl." He said as his sword sliced through the binding, the exposure of skin followed downward by a ribbon of blood. "You talk like a man. Walk like one. Your voice, hair, skin, nothing reminds one in the least of a woman. But now that I look at you, you are very pretty. A waste, really, of what would have made a good whore. Might still make one. What do you say?"
Hilde's nostrils flared. Her? A whore? Never. She'd rather die. An action she made evident as she brought down her sword in a wide, sweeping arc.
"I guess that's a no." He said. "Too bad." And then he started attacking again.
But Hilde saw her opening. And she took it. His sword was knocked out of his grasp and flew across the darkened hallway. Hilde bore him down, the point of her sword even with his chest.
She forced her mouth to form words. "Say hello to the god of death for me." She said softly.
In that moment, the man was sure he saw an angel in her. An avenging angel with short dark hair and blazing sapphire eyes, her lips turned down in a ferocious frown. And the sight frightened him. Too bad he didn't like what he was seeing. It was the last thing he ever saw, except for the glinting scythe the god of death used to decapitate him.
~*~
That night became a blood bath that was forever etched in history as the Sanq Massacre. Many men died, as did innocent women and children. The king died in battle while his queen was dying alone in her bed. Their son and his friend Treize disappeared, although they were rumored to be dead as well.
The town healer, one Sally Po, was called to look after the wounded. Both Solo and Hilde recovered, although Sally's strength was nearly snuffed out as she worked her healing magic on the two of them.
It took many days to clean up the horrid mess made. The stone floors and walls in the entry hall were stained crimson, and upon reentering her castle, Relena thought it fitting. At least then those who entered would never forget those lost. They would never forget who the real enemy was. And they would never forget that chances could never be taken when many lives were at risk.
Chances like those her father took in allowing the disguised OZ soldiers into their home.
~*~
"Are you sure you can't remain in my castle?"
Hilde, Duo, and Solo shook their heads. "No. We need to return to Neron to see what can be done about our being knighted in four years, now that our knights are . . . gone." Duo answered.
"And you? Will you continue to disguise yourself as a man?" Relena asked Hilde.
She nodded. "It's the only way I'll ever become a knight."
Relena nodded. "I understand. And you needn't worry about me sharing the truth about your identity with anyone, Deux."
Hilde bowed. "Thank you, Your Highness." She said softly.
"And you Solo. Thank you so much for protecting both Duo and I from that man's magical attacks. It was very dangerous, I knew that then and so did you, I suspect. I'll be forever grateful. To all of you. Thank you so much. As the new queen of the Sanq kingdom I'll remember your good deeds forever and the entire kingdom will welcome you back home with open arms, when you wish to return."
They nodded.
"It's a knight's duty, Princess. We were just doing what we're supposed to." Duo said with a wink.
She offered him a small smile. "I'm glad you felt compelled to do your duty. Now, I've said my goodbyes. I assume you'll be leaving after the ceremony?"
They nodded. She bowed her head. "Good. I hope to see you again."
They watched her leave with heavy hearts.
"She'll never be the same, will she?" Hilde said softly.
"None of us will." Duo replied.
"We're all in this now. Deeper than before." Solo added.
Hilde and Duo nodded in agreement. "Do you really think we'll be back?" Solo asked after a moment of silence.
"I think it's inevitable. She'll need good knights someday. She does have a whole army to rebuild you know." Duo answered.
"And hopefully, we'll be good enough for her." Hilde said.
"Yeah. Well, let's go to the great hall. She should be giving her speech soon."
"Right. Let's get going."
And so they left the room that Relena had called them to to say farewell and headed to the great hall to hear her first speech as the Queen of the Sanq kingdom. And then, they were going to leave Sanq in pursuit of knighthood.
~*~
"Excuse me, Your Highness, I need to speak with you a moment."
Relena turned to see her head advisor coming toward her.
"Yes, Lord Landau?"
"There is someone here you need to meet."
Relena frowned but nodded. "All right."
He nodded as well and turned to walk into a seemingly empty room. It was made apparent that it wasn't empty, however, when a young man stood up and turned to face them.
Relena's breath caught in her throat as she found herself gazing into a pair of eyes so deep and intense she wondered if maybe he wasn't seeing her soul, assessing her mind and heart.
"Queen Relena Peacecraft of the Sanq Kingdom, I present to you Heero Yuy, your new bodyguard."
Relena knew that maybe a few months ago she would have argued the need for a bodyguard, if for no other reason than to argue with Lord Landau. But she knew that it was important she live long enough to marry and produce an heir to throne. And this man would help ensure she stayed alive.
He inclined his head in a bow and Relena's knees sank into a curtsy.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted." Lord Landau said. "I'll send for you when you are needed for your speech."
Relena nodded. "Very good." She said and then watched as he left the room.
She faced Heero. "So, you're my bodyguard? Where are you from?"
"The Far East." He answered. "I know Quatre and he thought I'd make a good bodyguard for you."
"Oh? Why was he so sure of you?"
"I have a reputation." He answered, his voice the epitome of cool efficiency. "I'm called the Perfect Soldier by many from the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern countries."
"Well, being the Perfect Soldier must mean that you're very skilled . . ."
"Yes."
" . . . Professional . . ."
"Right again."
" . . . Completely aloof with no emotional attachments to anyone or anything whatsoever?"
"Yes. Why?"
Relena smiled, an emotionless upward turn of her lips. "Because, I think I'm a lot like you now. Skilled in politics, professional to the point of being a perfectionist, and completely aloof. With no emotional attachments to anyone or anything whatsoever."
"We should get along well then." He said.
"Well, we'll see won't we?"
He nodded at her, holding her eyes with his own for long moments. Relena felt as if they were both looking for something. What she didn't know. All she did know was that the longer her eyes remained locked with his, the stranger she felt. Her stomach hollowed and her palms began to sweat. She didn't like it. Not one bit. It resembled what could become an emotional attachment. And that just wouldn't do.
"Your Highness, it's time."
Relena turned abruptly to face her new handmaiden, Nana, thankful for the excuse to tear her eyes away from Heero Yuy's.
"Right. Let's go then." She said, the last three words directed at Heero.
He followed her dutifully, standing to the side of her throne as she stood in front of it, ready to make her speech.
She waited for the crowd to quiet before she spoke.
"Just a fortnight ago this kingdom was a very prosperous one. We had wonderful allies in the East and West, we were training many capable young men to become capable young knights. We had many intelligent artists flourishing in our many villages and towns. We had many successful businesses and men and women very competent when it came to handling said businesses.
"And then the worst imaginable thing happened. OZ attacked us. We weren't the first on their list of kingdoms to conquer. And I'm almost certain we aren't the last. But the damage done to us at the time we were OZ's target was widespread and horrific.
"Many men, women, and children died. Crops were burned, churches attacked, homes terrorized. Our own castle was invaded due to a traitor with our walls. Our king, queen, and prince were killed, leaving me to take over in their stead.
"I'm not going to lie and say that everything will be all right. Because it won't. We will all continue to grieve. As long as the Maxwell church in Dartslun remains a pile of singed wood, as long as the women of Rina are weeping for their lost sons and husbands and brothers, as long as blood stains the stones in that entry hall crimson we will grieve our losses.
"But grieving often becomes something that we do unconsciously and in the deepest recesses of our hearts, allowing the rest of our bodies, minds, souls, and hearts to move on. And we will move on. We will rebuild all that was lost. We will plant again, where wheat and fruit and vegetables were destroyed.
"We will train more capable soldiers and more competent men and women will start businesses. We will regain a sense of normalcy that will ensure our children are not born into a kingdom that refuses to regain its footing. They will not grow up with fear in their hearts and on their minds.
"And with this rebirth of our once beautiful kingdom into an even more gorgeous one, we will learn from our mistakes. Take nothing for granted. Take no chances. Act responsibly and intelligently. That will be our new code. That will be what those in charge of military actions here at the castle will repeat in their minds. That will be written on the scrolls given to those who serve this kingdom. That will be the mantra I repeat every day for the rest of my life.
"We will fight to keep such a thing from happening again. We will continue to grieve. We will move on. We will rebuild. But most of all, a year from now, I want to be able to walk through the streets of the many villages here and see smiling men and women and happy children.
"OZ may have brought us to our knees for a time, but we will stand up again. We won't let their evil invade our hearts, our homes, or our kingdom. We will not live in fear of them. And we will refuse to concede to them. That, people of Sanq, will be our day of victory. When we can stand again. Stand and know that we did the exact opposite of what OZ wanted us to do.
"We won't give up. We will grow, instead, in heart, strength, and intelligence. And we will conquer the feelings of fear, doubt, sadness, and hatred that they brought with them here. We will overpower any remnants of evil that they may have left. We will be more victorious on the day we stand again, than they will ever be."
