It was hot; the kind of muggy heat that clings to everything and leaves the barest trace of an unpleasant aftertaste in the back of your mouth and makes it hard to breathe. It was exactly the kind of heat Quatre hated. At least during the dry season in Arabia, a person didn't feel as if he were suffocating every time he inhaled. At least in Arabia, water could ease the discomfort to an appreciable degree. At least in Arabia, he could sit in the shade of the palace's trees and rest for a while.

Instead, Quatre had to be as far from his familiar homeland as it got, off the map completely, being held hostage by some insane brunette woman who referred to herself in broken tradespeech as 'Relena Queen.'

"Here." A small wooden bowl was thrust into Quatre's view, held between a pair of dirty, sun-browned hands. "I'm afraid it won't help much, your highness, but it's something at least."

"Thank you." Quatre said with a polite smile, managing not to snatch the bowl. It might have been lukewarm, but it was cooler than he was, and it was water. Therefore, he didn't really give a damn.

"Slowly, your highness." His savior, a tiny slave girl named Mariemaia who spoke flawless tradespeech, cautioned, leaning gently against the warm wooden bars of Quatre's cage. "If you drink too fast, you'll upset your stomach."

Quatre obediently slowed down, smiling behind the bowl. After all, it wasn't every day a prince let himself be ordered around by a slave child. He finished the water, silently wondering what Mariemaia was doing outside at this time of day as he handed back the bowl. The whole village usually rested at noon, slaves included.

"I can't thank you enough, Mariemaia." He said gratefully.

"If I can get you out of here, you can thank me by taking me with you." She offered with a small smile.

"W-what?!"

"I have a key to this thing, and no one else will be up for an hour at least, your highness!" Mariemaia hissed, motioning for him to lower his voice. "You have to take me home! You just have to!"

Quatre hesitated, not sure if taking the girl would help or hinder his escape. One the one hand, she definitely knew the area better than him, was stronger than him, and she knew how to survive in this human hellhole. On the other hand-

"Queen Relena is going to make you marry her tomorrow night."

"You can come."

"Thought you'd see it my way."


"I'm afraid our only choice now is to assume that his highness has been kidnapped, your majesties." Heero said in his customary monotone, although his deep blue eyes were icy with concern. "Kidnapped or dead."

"He is not dead!" Queen Silvia yelled, slamming her delicate fist onto the middle arm of the double throne on which she sat. "I would know if my son were dead!"

King Rashid placed his own hand on top of his wife's, and the small, pale blond calmed almost immediately, dabbing gracefully at her eyes with a handkerchief she produced from nowhere.

"I'm so sorry, Heero," she apologized with a small smile, "you know I don't mean to yell, but this is my baby we're talking about. I… I just…"

"It's all right, your Majesty." Heero said calmly, used to the queen's emotional outbursts after most of his life serving her. "I understand. I should have chosen my words more carefully."

"Being diplomatic was never your strong suit, Heero." King Rashid said evenly. "We gave you this mission because we trust you to do it, not because you have a way with words."

"Hn." Heero replied. "Incidentally, we recently received word that Princess Mariemaia of the Romefeller kingdom went missing three months ago, two weeks before Prince Quatre disappeared. There may be a connection."

"Perhaps…" Rashid agreed thoughtfully. "Continue with your mission and inform us of developments as you see fit."

"Yes, your Majesty." Heero said, bowing before turning to leave.

"And Heero?" Queen Silvia said, replacing her handkerchief wherever she'd pulled it from.

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"Be safe. For me."

"Yes, your Majesty," Heero assured her, unbending enough to smile.


"We have to hurry, your highness," Mariemaia whispered, holding back a thick tree branch for him. "The village is probably waking up about now, and it won't take long before they discover we're gone,"

"Please, Mariemaia, call me Quatre." He said, working his way through the dense underbrush between them. "Out here, you outrank me. Perhaps I should call you your highness…"

"You do, and I'll leave you out here to fend for yourself!" Mariemaia gasped. "The mere thought of a royal prince referring to me with any kind of respect is… is…"

"Horrifying?" Quatre supplied, smiling. "Absurd? Sinful? Revolting? Unnatural?"

"Unnatural sounds about right,"

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"Would I do that, your highness?"

"Yes,"


"I just don't get what kind of connection there could be," Duo said, playing with the end of his long brown braid. "I mean, sure, they're both heirs, and they disappeared within a month of each other, but so what?"

"You'll call me paranoid again," Heero warned, glancing at Duo out of the corner of his eye. When Duo just looked at him expectantly, he sighed and elaborated. "We've established that Prince Quatre is not dead. The queen said she would know, and she would. Quatre just isn't the kind of person who would inconvenience his parents by leaving like this. That leaves kidnapping, right?"

"I guess…" Duo conceded uncertainly, wondering just where the hell this was going.

"Well, if someone can kidnap one heir, why not two?"

"You're paranoid."

"I told you you would say that. But it makes sense."

"Conspiracy theorist," Duo accused flatly. "Who the hell would want to kidnap two screaming spoiled brats? It's not for ransom, since we haven't heard a peep in that quarter."

"Who knows?"

"You obviously don't,"

"Shut up, Duo."


Damn, all my chapters are getting short. I hope you liked this. Review for it. I need reviews, or I'll waste away to nothing overnight, and never write again. I mean it.