~ My ~ Fair ~ Princess ~ By Alexia Goddess Chapter Six "You don't like the races, do you?" Relena whirled at the inquiry, barely masking her surprise at seeing the blonde girl that stood there. "Miss Dorothy, you startled me," Relena said pleasantly. At least, her voice was pleasant... "Please, none of that 'miss' stuff." "Oh, but I insist," Relena said in her most delicate voice. The thought of calling this girl by her name, as if they were *friends,* was... distasteful. Relena was the only one in the pew box, due to Sylvia dragging everyone over to see a few friends. Relena had begged a headache from the sun, and stayed in the box to avoid going out to where she had no choice but to look at the horses taking a break from the first race, panting, sweating... "Animals aren't too fond of me, you see," Relena told her, in way of explanation for Dorothy's earlier inquiry. Dorothy smiled and nodded, but said nothing. She didn't need to. Relena knew that Dorothy knew that she was lying. Animals loved Relena, actually... Presently, the next race began, and Syliva and everyone came back. "Did she say anything to you?" Heero asked, his voice flat and cold as ever as he came up beside her. "Who, Dorothy?" Relena asked innocently. Heero glared at her out of the corner of his eye. She masked a grin. "Oh, no, Professor. She's perfectly lovely. A tad peculiar, but lovely nonetheless. How peculiar her dress is, though...not the proper sort of white one would wear to the Races, is it?" "No, no it's not," Heero scowled, though there was a hint of...smuggness? Or was it satisfaction? Either way, he had a curious gleem in his prussian eyes nonetheless. Several hours later, during which the entire time Relena always managed to find an excuse to stay in the pew box or not comment on the previous race or winner, something that escaped the notice of all but Heero and Dorothy. Luckily, neither said anything. It wasn't until Professor Yuy, Colenol Winner, and Relena were all safe back at home, sipping tea in a large ornate sitting room before a roaring fire that Quatre brought it up- 'it' being Relena's odd behavior at the races. "Miss Relena," Quatre asked. "Miss Dorothy happened to mention that you had a dislike of the races due to your lack of compatibility with animals. Yet, only a few days ago, I saw a sparrow land on your arm, and yesterday you were quite friendly with Mr. Maxwell's dog." Relena froze, swallowed, and then forced herself to take a sip of tea to keep up the pretense of a lady undisturbed. She failed miserably, as her shaking caused her hand to tip the teacup and spill it into her saucer. She quickly set it down, almost knocking over the cup completely. "You don't like the horseraces." Heero summed. "Why?" Relena swallowed. "Personal," She murmured. "Bad experience, I suppose..." 'Bad experience' was an understatement. "I didn't ask you if it was personal or not, I asked you why you're afraid of-" "I'm not afraid!" Relena said suddenly. She swallowed and looked away from the looks of slight surprise on the two men's faces at her exclamation. "I told you," She said softly. "Bad experience." An awkward silence engulfed them as Heero regarded the girl through narrowed eyes. When at last the heavy silence got to her, Relena bid them both a hurried good night and fled upstairs to her room, where she tore off the ridiculous white gown with the pink candy striped ribbon and threw it aside, tears coursing down her face. She kicked the dress, then pulled a white nightgown on over her head, and slipped under the covers of her soft four poster bed. "Bad experience..." Relena murmured into her pillow. She grinned in irony. "How grand an understatement...." It was well into the night before Relena managed to calm her quaking limbs and near panicked mind and glimpse sleep. It was quite a while later that she was able to grasp sleep, and slip into its arms. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Relena could tell she was dreaming, because of the fact that although her arms, back, chest, and legs were torn and bloody, she felt no pain as she limped down the dirty London street in the pitch of night. For the rest of her life she would cringe at the sight of even a mere riding crop. Oh, the scars these marks would leave... Even though in the back of her mind Relena knew she was simply dreaming, remembering, she was still unable to hold on to that fact as she tripped, and suddenly all the pain came back. She cried out, sobbing in the muddy gutter that she had fallen into. Her blood turned the brown water a deep burgandy. Fire crisscrossed her body, agony seared her soul, and all the while she knew she could have avoided it if she had only kept her mouth shut...but at the cost of her own self worth. Or so she believed. As Relena lay, dying in the gutter, with nary a decent reason to pick herself up and tend to herself, thereby saving her own life, she thought about what she had seen...she remembered the terror in the grand stallion's eyes... She remembered, when stumbling out of the stables after the man had stalked away, thinking her dead, seeing the other horses, and suddenly realized that almost all of them had been dealt the same treatment their whole lives. Was mankind completely void of all emotions, of all sense of right and wrong? Had humanity lost...well, it's humanity? What was humanity anymore? Was human nature to do nothing but fight and hurt and kill and maim... No! It couldn't be! If nothing else, Relena knew that at least humans weren't *meant* to be like this... But to cruelty and evil mankind was going, unless people started opening their eyes and seeing for themselves what kind of a race they were becoming. But who to do it? Who to show them? Not her. Relena wasn't vain enough to think *she* could make a difference...could she? Yes, she would be scorned. People who knew her would think her a hypocrite, a foolish girl, an annoying pest to the world. But if she could touch one person... just one! Then it would be enough... But how? Get attention, that was the first step. She'd seen people stand up in the town square. They were shot down as quick as they stood up. No, doing something rash like that would only get her killed or jailed. That was when, laying in the gutter under the pouring rain, her life's blood leaking from her body, that it came to her... Relena suddenly found the desire to get up and to live, but suddenly, as she tried to pull herself to her feet, she could she couldn't move. No matter how she strained, pulled, pushed, commanded her muscles, she couldn't budge! Like something was holding her down! She tried to scream, but a cold hand clamped down around her throat. Icy arms wrapped around her torso, around her knees. She had to get free! She had to live! She thrashed and twisted, but she was held fast...her blood kept pouring from her body....pouring...pouring... The rain kept falling...falling...thunder clashed and clapped...crashed and clapped... Blood pouring... Rain falling... Thunder crashing... Voices...she could hear the voices... Death was nearing... No! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* "-NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Like a spear shattering the ice on a pond, or an ax splintering the wood of log, Relena crashed through the bonds of sleep, exploding into the waking world with a wildness that made her scream as sweat poured down her back and chest and face... Yet the icy arms still gripped her!!!! She thrashed, twisted....the rain still fell; she could hear it, all around her, on the ground, in the trees, drenching her. The thunder crashed overhead, illuminating the dark form of death that gripped her tightly to it...it's icy arms wrapped around her torso and legs, holding her tightly against itself... Some rational part of Relena's mind managed to comprehend that contrary to her dream, the arms that held her captive were not icy and threatening. No, they were warm...humanly warm... Relena blinked the rain water from her eyes, as she realized she was being carried by someone running towards the shelter of a tree. Running fast now, as her flailing and thrashing had paused. Presently they reached the shelter of the aforementioned tree, and a lightning bolt split the sky, for the slightest moment lighting up the face of her carrier. "Heero???!!!!!" Relena shrieked. "Miss Relena," Heero said with a tone of something akin to anger barely concealed by his traditional monotone voice. "Would you kindly explain why you were laying in the gutter outside the Sanq Palace in the middle of the night?" To Be Continued.... Short, I know, but once again, I want to get this finished. Probably on a couple of chapters more. Next chapter will be Relena 'spilling the beans' and getting ready for the Moon Harvest Ball... Till next time! Ja ne! Smile More, Dream Always, Alexia Goddess *STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY*