Disclaimer: is it really necessary for me to admit, in every single chapter of every story, that I DO NOT own Digimon?

~3 years later~

"Slave! Get over here now!" a voice bellowed.

The 11-year-old blonde slave hurried over, head down, and kneeled in front of his master.

"You insolent little bastard!" King Priam yelled, backhanding the boy and sending him to the floor. "My son tells me that you, a worthless slave, have dared to speak back to him."

Takeru didn't reply. He knew that it wasn't true, but he also knew that denying it would make the punishment much worse.

"You may have been a prince once," the king continued, "But that was a long time ago. You are a worthless slave now, lower than dirt, so you had better start acting like it! Guard!" he called, "Take this slave and remind him of his place."

"Yessir," the guard answered before roughly dragging Takeru out to the stables. He removed the boy's shirt and began using a cat-o'-nine tails on his bare back.

Takeru bit his lip; he had learned early on that crying out resulted in more beatings. King Priam was neither a nice, nor a fair man. That much was clear to Takeru his first day there.

~flashback~

TK had been riding with the horseman for many hours and had given up struggling long before. Even if he could have gotten free, he would have been completely lost.

In the distance he saw the Kingdom of Shiasta.

"Get a good look kid. This is probably the last place you'll ever see." the soldier sneered as the rode to the center of the city.

When they reached the castle the soldier got off the horse and pulled Takeru down with him. He dragged Takeru into a large chamber. A fierce looking man sat in a throne at the far end of the room. A boy Takeru's age stood next to him.

When they were in front of the throne the soldier pushed Takeru down before kneeling down himself.

"Here he is, majesty."

"Very good. You're dismissed."

The soldier nodded, got up, and left.

The King spoke again. "Well little Takeru, we finally meet. I can tell that once we break your spirit you'll be the perfect slave.

"No! My daddy will come get me and you'll be sorry!"

The King backhanded Takeru. "Never speak to your master that way!" he bellowed, "Your pathetic excuse for a father could never stand against me. Face it, you now belong to me."

"You're lying," Takeru snapped, "And you're NOT my master!"

The King looked down at Takeru and sneered. "If you want to live you'll do well to remember the basics. First, never ever look at your master, or anyone else with a higher rank than you. Second, never speak unless commanded to. Third, you will always end your sentences with the proper addressment, be it sir, madam, miss, or majesty. Do you understand?"

Takeru said nothing, but he defiantly stared the King in the face.

King Priam smirked. "You may be stubborn, but even you can only last so long." He clapped his hands and a guard appeared behind Takeru.

"Yessir?"

"Take young Takeru and teach him what it means to be a slave."

"Yessir." the guard dragged Takeru out to the stables and gave him his first whipping.

~end flashback~

As Takeru was recalling his first day the guard was whipping him with extreme ferocity. Suddenly, he stopped. Takeru did not relax though, because he knew the worst was yet to come.

The guard left but returned shortly with a bucket. He did not need to look to know that the bucket was filled with salty seawater. Takeru hissed as the water was poured onto his fresh wounds. It felt like it was eating away at his skin, but he knew better than to express his pain.

Once this was finished Takeru was allowed to put his shirt back on before being taken to another building. It wasn't really a building per say, as it only consisted of 3 walls with several 4-foot dividers inside. In the back of each makeshift room was a pair of manacles attached to the wall about halfway up by short chains.

This was where the "difficult" slaves spent their nights. Takeru knelt down and allowed himself to be secured by these manacles. Takeru had spent almost every night for the first year and a half chained up; and he had the scars on his wrists to prove it. After that he had given up fighting as much and now, three years after being taken, he was almost a perfectly obedient slave.

However, thanks mainly to Prince Johan, Takeru still spent many nights chained up. The prince had inherited his father's cruelness and had taken an immediate dislike to Takeru. He used every possible opportunity to get him punished.

Even after all that he had been put through, Takeru still couldn't find it in his heart to hate any of the Shiastaian people. At night, when he was alone, he would often wonder why that was. He did not know. He had every reason, and then some, to hate these people; but he just couldn't. As he thought about this he fell into a light troubled sleep.

Takeru was woken up in the morning by a guard coming to fetch him. He was surprised because he was usually left chained until at least midday. He was not sure if the guard getting him early was a good or a bad thing.

When the manacles were unlocked Takeru stood up stiffly, wincing as some of his wounds from the previous night reopened. He followed the guard into the castle keeping his head down the entire time, as he was expected to do.

He was led to a small room inside which the king sat. Takeru immediately dropped into a kneeling position.

"I trust you have learned your lesson slave?" the King asked cruelly. "For you sake you had better have. Now ready the carriage. We are going on a peace mission to the Ishida Kingdom."

Takeru started at the name of his homeland, but did not hesitate; hesitation meant whippings. "Yessir." he replied quietly.

"Oh, and make sure you wear your crest on top of your shirt." the king sneered. "I want to make sure that they recognize you."

Takeru nodded sadly before going to ready the carriage. The only item he was able to keep from his old life was his crest. It was King Priam's cruel way of reminding him of what he used to be, compared to what he was now.

6 hours of painful walking later, the Ishida Kingdom was in Takeru's sight. He noticed that they had rebuilt what was destroyed and the Kingdom looked more beautiful than ever. He wondered how his family was and how they had changed.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hard whip on his shoulder.

"Head down slave!" the soldier snapped.

Takeru noticed that he had unconsciously raised his head to get a better look at the city. He quickly looked back down as they continued their trek.

When they entered the city, Takeru noticed that all of the people were staying in their houses and just looking out through their windows. He couldn't blame them, after all many had lost family and/or friends the last time the Shiastaians had come.

When he was sure he wasn't being watched Takeru dared a glance up. He found himself looking into his brother's eyes.