1.4

"Listen I cannot spare a ten thousand men on a whim!" Meiran fumed.

"It is not a whim! I am acting on instinct." Wufei growled, this woman was impossible.

"It is the same thing!" she argued.

Milliardo sighed, this was something he could do without. Every time they held a meeting his two councils would turn it into a fight and he would never get anything done. And even though these two would not spare to even look at each other they were their clans' only chance for survival.

The war had begun and five summers have gone and their side was beginning to gain control of the lands beyond the now destroyed wall.

"Meiran send Wufei his escort." The general looked at him outraged.

"Thank you my king." Wufei bowed Meiran scowled.

"And Meiran you will go with him." her jaw dropped. And pure hatred rose in her eyes.

"What?" she said looking at Wufei, if looks could kill the consul would have died long ago.

"You heard me I will not let my greatest advisor to die out there."

"So you send me out there to die for him is that it?"

"Don't be difficult Meiran."

She spat in frustration and stepped outside throwing Wufei another hostile glare before slamming the door behind her. "I do hope you appreciate this Wufei for it has cost me one night with my favorite concubine." The king said leaving.

***

"Meiran and Wufei are being sent to the western border." He said greeting the boy seated, parchment littering his desk.

"I do not want any part of your war Milliardo." He said not looking up.

"Heh, 'tis your war as well brother, no matter what you say."

"No it is not." he defied looking him in the eye.

"You think you are the only one who wants to spare someone on the other side?"

"What are you saying Milliardo?"

"That you are blind Quatre. You WILL fight in this war." He said leaving.

***

She ran her fingers through his hair, he would leave tomorrow and she wanted one last night with him.

"What if you die?" she asked looking up at him, her head on his chest.

"Then I die." He said indifferent.

"Embrace my kind. Become immortal, be my mate." She pleaded.

"I was born a human and I will die a human." He said quietly.

"I remember that night when I first took you. Who would've thought that that beautiful boy had the greatest mind in the land of the Sun." she laughed.

"Had I not spoken I would have been just another that graced your bed." He said bitterly.

Dorothy frowned. He had been her lover for almost sixty years now and still he could not accept her. She knew he hated the men and women other than him that she slept with. But she was not about to change for a mere human.

"If you wish to hang on to your heritage then I wish to hang on to mine. Vampires are seldom monogamous and are never pleased. You should know that by now." she said sitting up.

"I know." he said turning to his side of the bed.

***

She marched into his room. Her face set and fists clenched.

"Milliardo." She called and he looked up from the body he was devouring in his hands.

"Care to join me?" he asked wiping the blood on his chin. And motioning for his maid to clothe him.

"No I have fed." She said waiting for the silken garments to be placed on his shoulders.

"Why have you come to see me?"

"I want an heir." a silence fell over them and then Milliardo's laugh pierced the stillness.

"Why has Trowa gotten tired of you? Are you so desperate to copulate with a husband you loathe?" he laughed.

"How dare you mock me!"

"I am king Relena I will do as I please." He said tearing the heart from his benefactor.

"Father wanted us to secure an heir." she finished.

"Well you certainly know how to spoil a good mood. Not only have you brought up the prospect of me sleeping in your soiled bed, but you mention that idiot as well." He said handing the beating heart to the maid.

"We need an heir Milliardo, what if something happened to you?"

"Nothing will happen to me." he said looking at her with scorn. "If you want an heir so badly make one yourself." he said leaving her.

***

She entered the room, her words tangled but her anger clearly showed.

"What is the matter?" he asked his lover.

"Milliardo that idiot!" she screamed.

"Relena…" Trowa began.

"Don't patronize me Trowa! I have had enough of you men!" she fumed. "Thinking you own us!"

"What brought this on love?" he asked.

"Milliardo refuse me an heir." she stated. Trowa placed an arm around her kissing her full on the lips.

"Perhaps in time he would reconsider." He said.

"Can't you see? It took all of my resolve to go there and ask him and he spits in my face!"

"Milliardo is a proud man." He whispered not really listening anymore for he had other things in mind. His tongue moved into her mouth silencing her protests as he lay her down. He fumbled with the strappings of her clothes, fondling her breasts roughly not really caring that she was wincing at his touch.

"Stop!" she screamed pushing him off.

"Awww damn are we gonna go through this again?"

"That is all I am to you isn’t it? Something to work off your frustrations on!"

"Geez it's not like I get to work off any of my frustrations anymore!"

"You admit it you cur!" she said closing her blouse.

"Oh listen to yourself Relena! Why would I stay with you for so long if you were nothing but a toy to me? Don't you think I would get tired of you sooner or later?"

"And then what? Would you try to kill me as well?"

"What?" he said irritated.

"I know of Duo Trowa. And I know what you did to him that night when you saw him with Heero." He was speechless. "I know how you loved him and how you came to see him that year before the war began. I smelled him on your skin."

"I…I do not love him anymore."

"Listen to yourself Trowa, lying through your teeth."

"Relena what happened between me and Duo you would never understand. There is something left to be done and I cannot let it slip away. I would not lose to Heero a second time. That is all Duo is to me now. Something I have to finish."

"Fuck you Trowa, I will not wait around for some exiled prince that cannot come to terms with the reality he is faced with. There will be nothing left of you after this war."

He walked out on her then.

***

He had never loved his sister-wife. She had always been a thorn in his side. She had always been the first in his father's affection. He had never measured up to his father's standards like she did. He had never become the son his father wanted him to be.

But now he was dead. He was king and she was his queen.

And as this war began to brew in the bowels of his realm he knew that this was the only chance he had to regain that which mattered most to him.

"Relena is in one of her moods again." He said interrupting his thoughts as he joined him on the balcony.

"I refused her." The king whispered drinking the wine in his goblet.

"The least you could do is give me warning! I am the one suffering from your rudeness!" Trowa laughed.

"I am sorry." He said. Silence fell between them. "What are you doing here Trowa?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you fighting this war?"

"Because I have to."

"How could you betray your family so easily?" he asked.

"I have never belonged anywhere. Not in that family. They are the ones that betrayed me."

"So you aid in your clan's killing because your father choose another to succeed him?"

"I will become king Milliardo, nothing will stop that. And my family is a price I am willing to pay."

"You will be king of a wasteland, we will not let the other clan survive." He said.

Trowa was silent. Milliardo looked at him. He knew how it felt to want to prove that he could be something better than the others gave him credit for. And he felt sorry for the prince. Sorry that he had blinded himself to the truth that might have saved him and his clan. His pain blinded him and now his clan would pay for it.

"The land of the moon will be nothing but ashes after this war is over. If you hoped that things would return to where they were before then you are mistaken. You will be left without a people, a heritage." He said placing a kiss on the prince's lips.

"You should have stayed in the other side of the wall Trowa."

***

His hands were shaking. He brought it up to the light and watched it shiver in the candlelight. Duo looked at him.

"What is wrong?" he asked getting up from the bed.

"Nothing." He said turning back to the maps he was reading. Duo reached over and took his hands in his, sandwiching them, warming them.

"This war has taken its toll on you Heero." He said sadly bringing one of his lover's hands to his cheek. The body taker's consul had suddenly come upon his own army. They were caught off guard, and he lost his men. All of them.

"It has worn all of us." He said looking at his lover. He was losing and knowing that he could not save those he loved made it heart-rending. The body takers were hunters, and their scholarly society was not equipped for war.

"Duo go back to the castle." He said after some time. Duo looked up at him.

"I want to stay here with you."

"Please Duo, it isn't safe here anymore."

"Do you think I am afraid to die?" he asked smiling.

"No, but I am afraid you would." He finished not looking at him. Duo drew Heero's arms around his waist and he sat on his lap facing him. He placed his forehead on his lover's. "Duo please."

"If I die, I die with you."

Notes: this is around five years since Trowa's visit and the death of Milliardo's father. The war had been going on for five years now.

1.3 crimson 1.5