I put off talking to master for another couple of hours. Master decided that, if Heero and Duo were going shopping, there would have to be at least two escorts with him, so that Duo didn't get out of control. Wufei was chosen to go, and I managed to convince Trowa to go as well, though I didn't really have to beg much. Trowa and I had grown really close in the short amount of time we had known each other. So close, in fact, in such a short time that it scared me. Slaves weren't allowed to fall in love, and I was terrified to admit that I was doing just that. More than that, it seemed that Trowa was falling for me as well. And, as much as I liked Trowa, I wasn't ready to give up the life master had allowed me by breaking a rule that could get both Trowa and myself sold separately. I got so scared sometimes that it was hard to breath, but Trowa was always there to calm me. His mind was so pure, clear, and free of malice that it was like a soothing balm to my own.

I wished, as I watched Master reading on the couch, that I had Trowa's soft presence with me now. But I knew that had he been there, I never would have been able to face master. No, this was something I had to do on my own.

Clutching the almost empty bottle of pills to my chest, I approached and stood in front of master. After only a moment, he looked up, then closed his book and set it aside.

"Do you need something?" he asked.

I tried to form the words I had been rehearsing for the past hour, but nothing would come out. My mouth was frozen shut. So, instead, I merely handed him the bottle, hoping he would understand what I could not say. He reached out and took the bottle, frowning as he read it. When he finished, he looked up at me, then back down at the bottle, then back to me.

"I don't understand," he said simply. "What is this? I mean, I know what these are for, but why are you taking them? Or are you? Is it one of the other boys? It's Duo, isn't it? Not that I'm surprised..."

"No!" I gasped, jumping in before the lie could get away. The last thing I wanted was to get someone else in trouble for my problems. "Duo hasn't done anything. These pills... they're mine. I've been taking them."

"I see," he said slowly, rolling the bottle between his fingers. "Come sit with me," he said suddenly, moving to make room for me. I went to sit stiffly beside him, but he pulled me into his lap instead, tucking my head under his chin. Instantly I felt better. This was the master I knew.

"Now," he said once I was settled, "Tell me everything."

"I..." I trailed, my mind going blank. "I don't know where to start," I admitted.

"Why don't you tell me where you got these pills, and why you need them?"

"The doctor gave them to me when my back got infected. He... I told him about my... problem, and he gave me the pills to stop it."

"Problem?" he asked, shifting me closer. I could almost feel the concern radiating from him. It relaxed me, and I was able to continue without fear.

"I'm empathic. I can feel the emotions of others. And in a place like this..." I trailed off. There was so much pain in Collar, that it was a constant struggle to tune it out. I had felt like the weight of the worked rested on my shoulders, and it was crushing me.

"An empath?" master said, startled. I could understand why, for there were very few true empaths. But if I wasn't an empath, then I was living in a psychotic hell, for that was how my days at Collar felt. "How do you know for sure?"

"My father had me tested for empathic abilities when I was very little. They proved scientifically that my brain was sensitive enough to pick up on the brainwaves of others."

"Father? Doctors?" master wondered. "But those kinds of tests cost millions. I thought... as a slave..." he trailed, looking confused. I could tell that he didn't want to insult me y referencing my past or the fact that I was now a slave. I was almost glad he hadn't asked, for the past was very painful to me, but I knew that I had to tell him. Master had a right to know.

"I wasn't always a slave," I told him softly, curling close and resting my cheek against his chest for comfort. He held me closer and leaned back into the couch. I wished I could go to sleep, but I had a story to tell. "I was born into a very rich household. If I tell you the name now, you might not believe me, so I won't say it yet. My father had many, many daughters, but only one son. I was the youngest, the baby of the family. My sisters ranged in age from nearly forty to only a few years older than I was. There were several that I couldn't recognize, because they lived far away. I think there were 29, total."

Master whistled appreciatively.

"I only have one sister, and that's bad enough," he told me, nuzzling my head gently and attempting to lighten the mood. I smiled for him, but could not hold it long. Too many negative feelings inside me for smiling.

"They weren't bad, most of them. A lot of them really cared about me, I think. The older ones always doted on me when the came home for visits, and the ones that were closer to my age would play with me when I wasn't being trained to take over the family business. Unfortunately, my father believed that I would have to be prepared for my position at any time, and had me working almost ceaselessly with tutors and teachers. My teachers never really gave me any trouble, but my older sisters who lived with us were always saying how dumb I must be to need so much schooling. Some of them went to school, but not many. Most of them shopped and... well, that was about it. When they didn't think I was listening, they would talk about how unfair it was that I was inheriting the business, and how much more freedom they would have if father's money were split up equally. I knew they were jealous, but I didn't think it would ever come to anything. I mean, they were my sisters!"

"It's alright," master said, rubbing my back. I only realized then how upset I was getting. It hurt to think about the memories, but I felt I needed to continue.

"Maudia was always the smartest. If she wasn't, no one dared to do any better. Sometimes I think the others just went along with her because she was so mean. She had her favorites, a few of my sisters who were always with her, but no one ever went against her. She was one of the first ten to be born, so she was older than all my other sisters who stayed at home. It made her seem wise, if bitter and angry. Made her seem mature instead of old. Whatever the case, she never liked me. I think that she had wanted to be head of the family after father died, and whenever I was born her dreams were crushed. Many of my other sisters were relieved by this, because no one wanted to live under Maudia, but no one told her."

I stopped for a minute and took a deep breath. Master waited patiently for me to continue.

"When I was taken, I didn't even think that someone I knew could be involved. Rich people get kidnapped all the time, right? In retrospect, I realized that no kidnapper could get past our security without help, but by then it was too late. I didn't believe that I was going to be a slave. I thought it was all a trick. The person who broke me for Master Marcel had to prove it to me... painfully. Really, I held out hope of a rescue, or a ransom, or anything right up until the time that Master Marcel... claimed me. After that, I just went numb."

I stopped again, remembering the ice that had encased my heart. I hadn't been alive. I acted like a walking corpse. The only thing that told me I was alive was the constant pain my empathy pushed on me. But even that could barely reach me.

"Seeing my father's funeral on TV brought me out of it. I was being taken by my master at the time, and he was watching TV while he did it. When I saw it... something broke. I knew I would have to get myself out of this mess, because father could not. I waited until he was done, and then late that night I spliced the wires of the phone and managed to make a call. I had been tutored in electronics as a child and, though I never understood why it was something I would need to know, I was grateful now. I prayed that the call wouldn't be intercepted, for I knew the kind of punishments given to slaves who tried to escape. Luckily, the call wasn't noticed, and one of my sisters picked up the call. At the time, I didn't even think about the fact that she was one of Maudia's girls. I was just so relieved to see my family again, to be assured that I was not in some parallel universe. That this wasn't hell."

I stopped again. The next part was the most painful, no matter what else had happened. Master pulled me closer, rubbing my back. Perhaps he knew what would happen next. Only I had been blind to the signs. Had I truly been so naive? So trusting that I could overlook even the serpent of evil hiding in my home? Was it wrong of me, not to want to believe that my own family could be so cruel.

"It happened so quickly after I hung up the phone. It couldn't have been ten minutes later. There was a call to the room. My heart jumped to my throat. The ringing woke Master Marcel, and he got up to answer the phone himself. I heard Maudia's voice on the other line. I couldn't believe it! I thought, for an instant, that she had called to demand my release, and simply didn't realize the danger she had put me in. But she wasn't calling for me to be sent home, instead she was yelling at Marcel for losing control of me! She said something about a deal and threatened him. He was shaking with rage, red in the face, as she ranted, but went pale when she said she had already called the Collar board, and that they would be taking steps against him."

I realized that I hadn't been breathing, and stopped my story. I took several deep breaths, hoping to calm myself, but my chest still felt unexplainably tight. Master stroked my back, patiently, but I was anxious to finish. If I didn't tell the whole thing now, I wasn't sure I would be able to. "Master Marcel was never very creative with his punishments. He put me on starvation rations, gave me all the chores in the house, made me sleep on the kitchen floor, and had me beaten at least once a day for two weeks. It wouldn't have mattered, though, because my soul was already broken. He never gave me a mark, probably because he still wanted me to be worth something, but my beauty faded anyway. My eyes, which had always been one of my best features, were dulled with pain and constantly full of tears. I cried almost all the time, but for a pain I couldn't really feel. For a long time I wasn't even sure if it was my pain, or the pain of those around me that made me cry. Eventually I found that I didn't care. I couldn't smile, and I couldn't find pleasure in anything, even sex. I was dead."

I stopped again, because I realized that my voice had lost all emotion, and was almost the same as in those days. I shivered and decided to change the story's direction. "Master Marcel was fined for nearly losing a slave, but it wasn't an insane amount. He couldn't buy a few of the slaves he wanted, though, so he drove me extra hard because of it. He never killed me, though. I wondered about that for a long time. Slaves were usually killed for trying to escape, and wouldn't it be easier for my sister to just kill me and get it over with?" I wondered, really looking at Master for the first time since I had started.

"One would think so," he ventured, as though afraid to halt my story be speaking too much.

"I finally figured it out, months after the incident happened. As the oldest child in the household, Maudia was the one that would run things until I came of age, or in my absence if I didn't decree otherwise. If I turned up dead somehow, Maudia wouldn't be the head of the household. It would fall instead to one of my uncles, none of which were overly fond of Maudia. However, if I ran away or simply disappeared, Maudia would hold the title of head of the household until I returned. And what better to do to an upstart younger brother than turn him into a slave? I was such a fool!" I blurted, my voice bitter with old pain.

"You weren't a fool," Master said, brushing the hair from my eyes. "No family should behave that way. You trusted your sisters, and couldn't imagine them hurting you so much. If I had been in your place, I would have done the same thing."

"No, you wouldn't. You're much stronger than I am. I'm weak."

"You were strong enough to tell me this, when it obviously hurt you. You were strong enough to tell me about your past, when you didn't think I would believe you. You were strong enough to trust me, when you've been betrayed so badly. Crying doesn't mean you're weak, and pushing others away doesn't make you strong. You've overcome a lot in a very short amount of time, and I'm proud of you," he said, and I could feel the warmth of his emotions seeping into me. "Now, I want you to finish the story. I need to know what these pills are for," he said, ut the good feelings didn't disappear, so I dared to continue.

"The empathy I told you about. It... well, it hurts in a place like this. There are so many negative feelings, and it's hard to block them all out. It makes me depressed, and I cry a lot. In the hospital, I told the doctor about my condition and he tested me. When the results came back , he gave me this drug and I began to improve much more quickly. So much weight had been lifted from me and..."

"Are these the reason you've seemed so much happier since you came back?" Master interrupted.

"A... a little," I admitted. "Some of it is because I felt better, and because of how nice everyone's been, and because of all the good energy surrounding all of you. But, yes, some of it is because I don't have to deal with everyone else's pain as well."

"Then we'll get you as much as you need," he said, smiling fondly at me. "I'll want to have all this checked out by my doctor back on earth, but I'm not going to take those smiles off your face. I've enjoyed having your cheerful personality come out, I don't want to see it go away again.

"Thank you!" I gushed, tears springing to my eyes. Master rubbed my head, a half smile still on his face.

"Now you didn't really think I'd say no, did you? I'm a little upset you didn't tell me about it right away, but I can understand why you wouldn't now that I know your background. You do trust me fully now, though, don't you?"

"I do," I swore.

"Alright then, we're going to test that. Get your shoes, we're going out."

"Out where?" I asked as I jumped up top fetch my sandals.

"You'll just have to trust me about that," he said with a smirk. I hesitated for a second, but there was still the gentle, fondly teasing look in his eyes that knew nothing of malice. I smiled and slipped my sandals on as Master opened the door. After that, I followed him out, knowing I was safe wherever he led me.