Quatre was nervous as I led him away from the residential area of the colony and into the market area. I was almost certain that Quatre was thinking less of the stores and shops that existed in this area and more of the slave's blocks and warehouses.

I knew that a few small words from me could allay any of his fears, but I restrained myself. In the past, Quatre had been nervous and fearful around me, and I hoped that by telling me of his past he had quelled those fears. So, in truth, our outing was both to be a reward and a test. As much as I wanted Quatre to know that his past didn't matter to me, I also needed to know that he trusted me completely as a master, not simply when the thought struck him. Even when he couldn't understand my directions, he would need to be ready to follow them.

And, if I were to be totally honest, his past did matter quite a bit to me, simply not in the way he would have thought. The fact that he had once been a spoiled rich boy or that he had attempted to escape made no difference to me. I was actually proud that he had managed to overcome both his upbringing and his fears to survive, even if his escape attempt had backfired. What really mattered to me was that it was not only nameless streetchildren that were being enslaved. The slavery had spread so that even the wealthiest classes were at risk of being abducted. And, while I felt the same amount of revulsion for Quatre's bondage as I did for even Duo's, I was sure that the public outcry would be far stronger for someone as well-known and respected as the heir to the Winner family than for a foul-mouthed orphan. I didn't like the hypocrisy of the public, but I was realistic enough to look past what should happen to what probably would. If the "masters" were to fight their arrests I would need to mount evidence for a trail, and gain the support of the public. It would be difficult, for most of the masters were prominent leaders and government officials. Quatre, with his innocent blue eyes and soulful smile, could lead the campaign against his former masters. Irony and justice in the same sitting.

But it might never come down to that. I hoped that public outcry would be strong enough to put the masters away without any help or trial. And there was always the power Lady Une held. Hopefully my evidence combined with the backing of Preventers would keep the boys from a long and arduous trial, along with any invasive interviews a trial might require.

Quatre brought me out of my musings by taking my hand in his. I was a bit startled, but noticed that he was shaking slightly as he held my long fingers in his own slender ones. My brooding must have frightened him, for he already suspected that I was angry with him. Still, I could not allow myself to say a word to the contrary, for then I would never be able to accurately gage how much he trusted me. So I walked on in silence, wishing I could do more to comfort the nervous boy beside me.

There were many other masters out with their slaves, which only served to alarm Quatre more, for he had not been around anyone but myself and my slaves for several days, and only the hospital staff before that. He went as far as to hide behind me as we walked when a particularly brutish-looking master in leather and spikes came walking past. Soon after he began to chew on the ends of his finger to alleviate his anxiety, and I had to remind myself that he didn't fail the test by being frightened as I pulled his hand away from his mouth. Actually, the more frightened he was, the more faith he showed, because he had yet to try to run or even question me. He simply followed me, obviously terrified but trusting me to lead him safely to our destination.

The test ended far later than I would have liked, for I would have much preferred never to begin it at all. Still, the small, timid smile on Quatre's face as we arrived at the icecream parlor made it worthwhile. The hesitation in his step was almost gone as I opened the door and led him inside. All in all, it was less than I had hoped for, but far more than I had expected.

The shop was antique style, right down to the glass box that enclosed the icecream. There was a bronze rim around the glass case that matched the bronze railings and inlays that decorated the store. There were a few white french table sitting toward the back of the shop, one of which was occupied by three haggard looking slaves. I ordered a chocolate icecream for myself and, after careful deliberation, Quatre decided on a strawberry cone. I could only chuckle at Quatre's astonished look when he saw the size of the cone, but for the price I was paying I probably should have gotten the whole damn cow. Still, everything at Collar was like that, overcharged because they were well aware that the masters would pay it. Whoever the Owner was, he was getting richer by the second, and with wealth came power. The sooner I stopped him, the better.

But it was hard to think about that kind of thing with Quatre happily licking his icecream cone and grinning. A little less enthusiastically, I nibbled at mine. I would probably throw half of it away, since a "doggy-bag" was unheard of in the upper reaches of society. Sometimes my humble upbringing made it hard for me to understand the aristocracy, but it better allowed me to understand common people. Working for a place like Preventers, it was a must for any agent to be able to work with any level of society. Which was one of the reasons I had moved up the ranks so quickly.

Another was my keen hearing and eyesight, which alerted me to the presence of a rather unwanted set of associates to my left. I had hoped never to see Honey, Jaz, and Weave again, and though I hadn't actually expected it to happen, I had hoped to put off our meeting a little longer. Luckily, however, they seemed to be in no shape to fawn over me. In truth, they seemed to have taken a rather bad beating, and while I couldn't condone any master beating his or her slaves, this was one that I could at least understand.

But it didn't look like a normal beating, and my curiosity was strangely aroused. Not that any beating should be normal, simply that masters usually, from what I had seen, chose to hit their slaves across the face, on the back, or on the butt, depending on the severity of the slave's act and their mood. These slaves, on the other hand, had been struck in a range of places. Honey was holding his face, where a deep bruise was forming, Jaz was holding his stomach, and Weave was clutching his shoulder, as though it had been displaced. To be crude, it looked more like a downtown mugging than a punishment. I leaned closer to hear what they were saying.

"...should tell the Duke what happened! He'll..."

"Laugh at us," Jaz finished, frowning angrily. "We'll be lucky if we don't get a beating for getting marks like these."

"I'll never find make-up tp cover this!" Honey wailed, and I hid a wince.

"Of shut up," Weave snapped. "You'll find something in that box of goo of yours. I'm the one in trouble! How will I ever do chores with this arm!"

"You're both idiots!" Jaz snapped, finally losing control. "We're all in huge amounts of trouble if that little idiot tells his master what we did! You think the Duke's gonna protect us from somebody like Master Zechs? Now the only thing we've got goin' for us is that nobody saw that, alright? It's their word against ours. If it was just Nana we'd be fine, because the Duke knows he's a lying little hole, but I don't know about that Angel guy. If his master trusts him enough we could be screwed, and not in a good way. We've got to get our stories straight and stick to them if we're gonna make it out of this, alright? So, we were in the store and they started pushing us around, okay? We didn't do anything, and since there's not a mark on them we've got the proof in our favor. So just relax and go with anything I say, you got it?" Jaz asked. The other two nodded obediently, obviously shaken. Jaz was just as much of an asshole as I had originally expected, but he was quite a bit smart than I had thought.

"Master?" Quatre's voice came hesitantly across the table. I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned back to him.

"Yes?"

"Is... Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not. Have you finished your icecream?"

"Uh-... yes. I don't think I can eat anymore."

"That's alright. I didn't think you would eat it all. Throw it away and lets go," I told him, and he scurried to obey. I took my icecream as I walked out, for I hadn't been paying it all the much attention as I listened to the boys talk.

"What were they saying?" Quatre asked as we got into the street.

"Who?"

"Those slaves. I saw you listening to them, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. You seemed pretty captured by it, though."

"Hm. Well, it seems that Heero and Trowa have been causing a bit of a raucaus while we were away."

"Are they alright?"

"Oh, I'm sure they are. Heero can take care of himself, and he wouldn't let any harm come to Trowa."

"They do seem to be getting along better, don't they? Really... ever since Duo came around," he said, and I had to stop for a moment to think about it. I had noticed that Heero had been less edgy around Trowa the last few days, but I hadn't directly correlated it with the arrival of Duo. As a matter of fact, Heero had been more relaxed all around, which I couldn't understand, because Duo was a monster. I couldn't understand how Heero could find the patience to deal with him, either, but Heero often astounded me.

"I suppose," I said, and left it at that because we were nearing the apartment. In another moment I could raised voices inside the apartment. As I punched in the code to open the door, Duo yelled, "I'm telling you, he's gone! Now pay up!"

Beginning to worry, I threw open the door and took in the scene in front of me. Duo had been storming toward Heero, intent on some harm I'm sure, but stopped mid-step upon my entrance. Heero was as stoic as usually, only a small bit of annoyance showing on his face. Wufei was toward the back of the room, looking hesitant and confused as to what the situation called for him to do. And Trowa was in the forefront, looking pale and shaken.

Trowa was the first to shake himself out of the startled daze and rushed to Quatre. It was obvious, then, that Duo had once again instigated the notion in my slaves that I was attempting to do them harm. It seemed that Heero had been impervious to his ramblings, and I wasn't surprised that Trowa had become frightened at the prospect of something happening to Quatre. Not only had they become very close in the last few days, Trowa also seemed to take some kind of responsibility for Quatre's well-being. He would obviously blame himself if anything happened to the fragile blonde.

"Shit," Duo cursed, smiling in relief even as he said it. "I guess I did lose," he said to Heero with a sheepish smile.

"Lose?" I couldn't help but ask. "Lose what?"

"Ah.. I..." Duo stuttered, and I knew instantly that this would be something I wasn't going to appreciate.

"We made a bet," Heero told me, coming to stand protectively in front of Duo. I could only hope that the protectiveness spanned from his responsibility for the boy, not for some strange affection. After all, Duo would only be around another day.

"A bet about what?"

"We bet on whether or not you would punish Quatre for telling you about his medicine. I bet negative, he bet positive."

"So... you knew... and you didn't tell me?"

"He only found out this morning!" Quatre jumped in, and for a second I wondered if he were only trying to spare Heero my anger. "He made me promise to tell you! Please, master, it was my fault! I should have told you in the first place!"

I took a moment to think the entire scenario over. If it was as Quatre said, Heero had only found out this morning and had made him promise to tell me, then there really wasn't any reason for me to be mad. It also wasn't a terrible secret, like if Quatre had been doing some other form of drugs. On the other hand, Heero and Quatre were very close, so I couldn't completely rule out the possibility of Quatre lying to protect Heero. Also, despite the fact that I had found out about it, Heero should have told me immediately. And I wasn't fond of the idea of my slaves betting on my reaction. So, based on that, I had to find that Heero's reaction was wrong.

Now, the tricky part. I had to punish Heero, because all my slaves were watching and if I didn't punish him they might think it was alright to imitate the behavior. I especially couldn't seem weak in front of Duo and Wufei, who weren't even my slaves. So the punishment would have to be severe enough to show that I meant business. On the other hand, if the punishment was too severe, I risked losing the trust I had worked so hard to gain from Quatre, Trowa, and even Heero. I could easily scare them back into slave mode, re-erecting the barriers between us that I had worked so hard to tear down. So what to do?

There was no perfect solution. And, with five sets of eyes watching me and the seconds ticking down, I figured I had to do something. I decided that the best course of action would be to take Heero away from the rest of the slaves, thus alleviating most of the problem. With that in mind, I took Heero by the arm and began to lead him toward the slaves quarters when I suddenly heard a growl from behind me. That was all the warning I received before I was suddenly knocked to the ground and my head slammed against the floor.