Prisoners of War

By Dixxy

Chapter Two

Serge sighed. Not long after Glenn had kissed him, they had been interrupted by a pair of Mystic guards who had dragged them out of their cell, and much to their displeasure, in opposite directions. Serge could still remember the somber, disappointing look on Glenn's face. Unless they were simply being taken to different places to suffer the same fate, he knew he was probably in for it worse than Serge was and was not looking forward to it. Still, he had mouthed words of good luck to his. . . well. . . Serge wasn't exactly sure what to call Glenn now, but he none the less returned the gesture before they were out of sight from each other.

Serge had been tossed into a large room with several other prisoners, none of whom he recognized as Dragoons. Because of this, Serge reasoned that any military personnel who had been captured were going to be brought somewhere else to be questioned about the General's plans and secrets. Passwords, battle strategies, and even weaknesses in Viper Manor itself could be revealed (though Serge allowed himself a snicker when he realized they would've been better off with him if they wanted to know how to get into Viper Manor).

He did, however, notice that at least some of the other prisoners were from El Nido. Some of them he didn't really know, but had seen walking around Termina on the occasions he went to the port town. Others he had briefly spoken to during his adventure just a few months earlier. He didn't see anyone else from Arni, and he hoped that meant that they were all able to escape. The alternative was grim, and Serge shuddered at the thought. So many people he cared about were from Arni- his mother, Leena, Radius, and even Poshul could've been in danger. Serge closed his eyes briefly and said a quick prayer for their safety.

There were, however, a few that people he actually knew.

For one, he saw Korcha and Mel. The younger of the siblings was curled up in a corner with her brother sitting nearby, keeping a close watch on her. Neither looked seriously hurt, but Mel looked like she had been crying and Korcha was sporting a black eye. This didn't surprise Serge too much- Korcha did have a tendency to mouth off to authority figures, especially if he thought they were wrong about something. And he reasoned that the Mystics wouldn't like someone like Korcha.

Deciding it would be better to not isolate himself, Serge went over to the siblings. After all, misery loves company, and Serge felt pretty miserably right about then. He almost snorted at what had happened. Village attacked. Captured. Then fall in love with another boy. Fun. Just great.

Korcha regarded him with a slight nod and Mel looked up briefly to give him a shy smile. She stood, hugged Serge, and went back to her corner. Serge slowly slid to the ground next to Korcha to find out how they had been caught. The Guldovian slapped Serge on the shoulder in greeting.

"I don't know if they went after Guldove, but they sure hit Termina pretty bad. ButCHA probably know that already," Korcha explained. "Ma sent me and Mel out to run some errands in Termina. We tried to get out of there before anything bad happened, but I think thatCHA can see how successful we were," he said with a nervous laugh. He placed his hand on Mel's shoulder. "Don'tCHA worry, Mel- Serge's here! He'll think of something!"

"Then why is he still here?" Mel asked.

"Sorry, Korcha, I don't have any ideas as to how we're going to get out of here," Serge admitted. Korcha swore loudly, getting the attention of an old woman who hushed him. The Guldovian fisherman swore back at her and the woman waved her cane in his direction. Korcha flipped her the bird and chose to ignore her after that.

"DidCHA see anyone else?" Korcha asked. He scanned the people in the bunker, sighed, and shook his head. Mel sniffled and looked at her brother in question. "The room here's so damn crowded. . . CHA couldn't tell if your own ma was here with ya! Good thing Mel and I were able to stick together or else I would've lost her! If she was in another bunker-"

Serge's eyes widened. "There are more bunkers!?"
"Of course there are more bunkers! Apparently the Mystics have been bothering Choras for a while now, and a lot of the people in here alone are from there," said Korcha. "I don't know about the remnants of Truce or even Porre, butCHA can bet that the Mystics are at least contemplating the idea. I doubt they'll go after Porre- that'd be suicide- but if they went after the Dragoons and El Nido they might be preparing for that."

"I saw Glenn earlier, but we were in a smaller cell," said Serge. His heart sank as he thought about what happened to his newfound lover. "I don't think they brought him to one of the normal bunkers. Since he's a Dragoon, so they might've brought him to be interrogated or something." He hung his head. "I hope he's okay."

"I heard a man talking about it a little earlier. Those small cells are used when they aren't sure what to do withCHA," said Mel. She shrugged. "Kind of like a temporary holding place. Then they decide were to putCHA from there. But that usually only happens if they aren't sure where there's space in the bunkers."

"Glenn? He'll be fine. That guy's not a push-over," said Korcha. He grinned. "Lucky bastard- the chicks in Termina seem to like him. That scar of his is a girl magnet- he could have any girl he chooses but I don't think he's figured that out yet." He pulled at his vest. "But of course I don't need something like that to attract girls, what with my natural good looks and animal attraction."

"Korcha, if you had that then why does Kid keep turning you down?" Mel asked.

Korcha grumbled. "She's just stubborn, that's all. She REALLY loves me, don'tCHA know, she just doesn't know it yet. Yeah! She's just playing hard to get, that's all! Right, Serge? I bet she talks about me all the when I'm not around? Right? I bet I'm all she can think about!"

Well, you're half right, Korcha- you ARE on her mind a lot, but not because she's head over heels in love with you, Serge thought to himself. Speaking of Kid, where was she? Even if he didn't have interest in the fairer sex, Kid was still his friend (they'd saved each other's lives so many times he'd practically lost count) and he did worry about her every so often, especially considering that Kid got into trouble on a normal basis. He doubted that she had been captured by the Mystics- that was one kind of trouble she could probably squirm her way out of- but it made him wonder anyways.

"Serge! What has happened? Where are we?"

Serge looked up to see Guile hovering over towards him, looking a little disheveled and untidy, but not hurt in any way. That took him by surprise- for what he knew of Guile, he wasn't one to go down without a fight. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, smelled what he recognized as Guile's favorite ale, and sighed. From the looks of it Guile had been drunk during the attack and had been simply taken without a fight. Chances were he has passed out or tricked by the Mystics. But now, aside from the aroma of alcohol, Guile seemed pretty sober. Confused and a little hung-over, but sober none the less.

The Guldovian boatman looked a little disgruntled by Guile's question. As it was he had a short fuse, and dealing with a drunk was probably one of the many things that could set it off. "We're at war with the Mystics, you stupid drunk!" Korcha snapped. "This is a stupid prisoner of war camp or something! They've captured people from at LEAST Termina and Arni and guess what? They'll probably take more under the whole island chain is under Mystic rule!"

Guile seemed to pale. "Is that true?"

"YOU STUPID DRUNK! WHAT PART OF WE'RE AT WAR WITH THE-?!"

"I don't see a reason to yell."

Serge and Mel watched in exasperation and embarrassment as Korcha lunged at Guile (who, from the sounds of it, might've been a little less sober than Serge initially thought). The ten year old yelled at her brother for acting like an idiot during a time of crisis while the only male not involved in the argument found himself mildly interested in the fight. Not that he was attracted to Korcha or Guile, but still. . . he wondered if Glenn would be up for a cat fight if they both made it through the war alive.

Mel, however, had had enough of the fight and was ready to end it. "HEY! YOU STUPID DORK! LAY OFF!" Mel screeched, getting the attention of every last prisoner in the holding area. Korcha and Guile stopped their brawl, looked around, flushed, and quietly sat down, remaining silent for several minutes. Little by little, people turned back to whatever quiet, worried conversation they had been engaged in before Mel's interruption.

Serge couldn't help but be amazed at how the people had reacted to their imprisonment. Small clusters of friends and family members were huddled together, hugging and talking with each other. Some gave pep talks about how General Viper (or some man named Lord Sogen- who this was Serge didn't know) would come and rescue them. Others were talking about other things that ranged from trends with the wine trade to a concert the Magical Dreamers had recently performed in Guldove. Some weren't talking at all- simply embracing or staying near each other. They're sticking together and trying to keep themselves in good spirits- that's a good sign.

Serge's group was different, however. Korcha and Guile weren't speaking, though Mel seemed to be calming down a bit. Perhaps seeing her brother acting like himself had made her feel better about the situation, even if she had yelled at him. Serge didn't have any siblings, but from watching Leena and Una, he knew that siblings could reenact the Mystic Wars all by themselves. He reasoned that, if they were fighting, Mel probably saw this a norm and clung to it, as odd as it seemed.

Soon, Korcha and Guile started to talk again, much to Serge's relief- he could feel the negative vibes the two had been sending at each other, and the civil conversation was certainly helping ease the tension. Mel jumped in soon after, and eventually the Chrono Trigger was discussing what would've happened if the Viper Festival had still gone on. And, for what felt like too short a time, they, too, forgot about where they were.

~

Later that night, Serge was staring at the ceiling. Once night had fallen, the group of prisoners had been moved into smaller holding areas with bunk beds and access to bathrooms with showers and baths. Korcha, Guile, and Mel were not in his area, though he did run into Greco and Van. The wrestler had been nursing a horribly dislocated shoulder while Van didn't seem injured- yet. He was missing his glasses and Serge was discovering that without them, the youngest artist was blind as a bat.

Serge sat up, careful not to smack his head against the ceiling. He carefully placed his hand against his forehead, feeling a slight headache coming. He wasn't sure where it was from, but words like "stress" and "worry" entered his trouble mind. Seeing that it was an extremely logical explanation, Serge accepted that and tried to think about something else.

Like Glenn.

Where was he, anyways? Was he all right, or had the Mystics done something that had hurt him or possibly killed him? While Serge still didn't know what had befallen his- well, he STILL wasn't sure what to call Glenn- "friend", he had a few ideas and none of them sat well with him.

Serge laid back down and tried to go to sleep. If you don't sleep, Serge, then you won't be in any shape to do anything. Just sleep. . . he tried to convince himself. He hugged the pillow he was using tightly, trying to pretend it was Glenn. Serge sighed happily at the thought. Maybe after this was all over and done with then he would get a chance to fall asleep with the REAL Glenn, not some stupid pillow.

~

"No. . . please. . . I don't know anything. . ."

"Quit beating around the bush and get to it!"

CRACK!

"AHH! Stop it, I beg of you!"

CRACK!

"No. . . please. . . help me. . ."

"No one's going to help you now, Dragoon- you belong to Medina!"

"SERGE!!!"

~

"GLENN!!!"

Serge sat straight up in his bunk, smacked his head against the ceiling, and swore loudly. From the sounds of other people in the room, he guessed that his scream and swears had awoken everyone else. He blushed profusely, slid out of his bunk, and lowered his head as he walked towards a small corner of the room. Right now he only wanted to be left alone.

Once he felt he was being properly ignored, and, therefore, was at ease, Serge started to think. His dreams, he had learned, weren't always normal. Ever since he was little, he had experienced dreams that told of things that were to come or of vivid memories. . .though not always his memories. At first he hadn't thought much about them- for the most part they were minuscule and didn't mean anything, and the memories he brushed off as strange coincidences.

But after he'd dreamt of Kid's stabbing in Fort Dragonia, he'd begun to think different about them. They weren't normal after all. How could he have possibly seen himself, Kid, and Glenn traveling through Fort Dragonia, only to reach the top in tragedy? And then when he'd first gazed into the Dragon Tear, he saw Chronopolis.

His eyes widening with a gasp, Serge curled tighter into a ball and clenched his eyes shut. Am I some sort of a clairvoyant? Can I really see into the future and the past with my dreams? But, but that's ludicrous! People can't see into the past or future with their dreams! Am I going crazy?!

Oh? And I suppose traveling to distant worlds, ghost ships, switching bodies, the Masamune, the Dead Sea, fighting the Dragon Gods, fighting FATE, AND rescuing Schala are all ludicrous, a small voice in the back of his head countered. Serge grimaced at the idea. It was enough to just be a teenager, never mind a teenager who has to set out on some long, tiresome journey with everyone from a not-so-common thief to General Viper himself. Being a teenager who went on a journey who can see into the future? Serge didn't like that idea.

But. . . if that's true. . . then. . .

"Please be all right, Glenn. Please. . ."

~

Yeah, I know, I wrote Korcha and didn't maim him. Weird, huh? Course I made him a disrespectful little snot but oh well. Hey, put some pants on him and I might even like him a little bit.

Yeah, Guile likes to tip the bottle a little. You DO find him a bar, do you not?

The name "Sogen" was taken from the Yu-Gi-Oh! field effect card that boosts the attack power of warrior and beast-warrior cards. I'm a bigger fan of the actual card game as opposed to the video game (I watch casually- Joey, Yami, and Tristan are my favorites).

Uftaki: Glenn/Serge is your second favorite? Huh. Actually, I also like Norris/Glenn and Karsh/Norris. Karsh/Glenn is good, too. Wonder what this other pairing is? Yeah, Glenn/Serge is sweet. Hmm, haven't decided that yet, but as we can see other characters are coming into this, as are other countries. Haven't decided if the Mystics are going to bug Porre yet, though. As far as the Memories universe, I'm not sure. In the normal universe, Glenn is paired with Leena and he admits he isn't gay ("Strange. I don't feel. . . homosexual. . ."). Thick as Thieves does whatever the hell Thick as Thieves wants to do, and who knows what pairings will come out of it? Actually, there will be some cannon stuff (Dario/Riddel is the only one I'll reveal) and a whole slew of unorthodox pairings. There may be a few original character pairings but I still haven't decided on that yet. *coughs* Getting back on track, no, they need to be different people in TaT. But nice try.

Silver Fox: Where in the game does it say he's straight? And who the hell says homosexuality is a bad thing? Gay people- unless they are lesbians hitting on me that I don't want hitting on me- don't bother me. When I was little, one of my mom's best friends was a gay man- and at that, he's one of those flamboyant gays who has the whole feminine accent thing going on. One of the nicest guys I know. Of course I didn't learn this until years later, but as a wee Chibi Dixxy he was one of my favorite baby-sitters. So that's my opinion on gays. Thanks for the compliments. And no, shonen-ai IS boy/boy love. There are four main homosexual fanfic terms I know and my interpretations of them:

Yaoi: hardcore male/male love

Yuri: hardcore girl/girl love.

Shonen-ai: mild boy/boy love

Shoujo-ai (this is probably what you were thinking of): mild girl/girl love

Shonen means boy. Shoujo means girl. My interpretation of "yaoi" and "yuri" is a boy/boy or girl/girl citrus, lime, or lemon. But I'd say they're probably different ends of a spectrum of content, so to speak.

Alba: Yes, I agree, although a Van pairing would probably fit into an innocent catergory if he was paired with Serge or Glenn, or MAYBE Norris. What the hell is this mystery pairing?! Indulge me! And no, reviewing again doesn't work- I need new reviewers. But nice try.

Bakuralover: You know, I never really liked Bakura, though I like most of the rest of the male cast of Yu-Gi-Oh! Heck, Yugi's Grampa is pretty funny during the Dungeon Dice Monsters episode and he falls in love with the giant TVs as opposed to the pretty girls on the TVs *cracks up*. Well, I wasn't born a good writer. I think of stuff that I did as recent as three or four years ago and I cringe. Writing, like anything else, takes practice. Is it for everyone? No. But if it's something you enjoy doing then knock yourself out, listen to your critics (as long as they give constructive criticism and don't use badly spelled version of "you suck" or the like) and just have fun with it. Ronin Warriors is an under-rated Anime. It's got a lot of continuity (it flows in a similar way to MKR, though not nearly as many plot twists and a less fantasy-esque plot) and it's one of the better dubs out there. Quite frankly, my friend, Pathfinder, and I think that the English voice actor for the main bad guy did a lot better than the Japanese guy. The English guy sounds evil and intimidating, kinda like a crabby teacher that you didn't do homework for. The Japanese guy sounds not nearly as evil- he kinda sucked. But of course the sub (entitled Yoroiden Samurai Troopers) is very good as well. And don't worry, I will!

Tami: Rushed? *shrugs* It's my first committed attempt at shonen-ai, so no, I don't expect this to be the best thing I'll ever write- I'm really just experimenting with the genre to see what does and doesn't work. And, well, eh, the idea is that they get separated, but, as I learned from Marooned, you can only go so far with two people stuck in a small space. And, since there's even less in the cell than there was on Hermit's Hideaway, you can see why they admitted every "so fast". In actuality they were with each other for several hours before Glenn kissed Serge- they just didn't do much during those hours. Also, they were friends beforehand so some emotions already existed. Me? Stressed out? I like having a billion things going on at once on some days (I even have two more CC fics in mind- one that's a sort of companion to Thick as Thieves, the other of which sends Kid to a world more like our own). That's not even counting all the Ronin Warriors and Lunar *dodges flaming arrows, bullets, and nukes from her Lunar readers* I have. This also gives me some flexibility- if I run out of ideas for one fic I always have something else to work on to make sure I don't get rusty with my skills. And I may start doing MKR fics (F/F rocks, man- WHEEE!!! I LOVE FUU AND FERIO! I LOVE FUU AND FERIO! THE BEST PAIRING IN THE WORLD!!! YAY!!! And I like the idea of Umi/Ascot as well ^__^). Yes, I do overload myself and I'm damn proud of it.

~Dixxy