Exercising their Right to be Loved

AN: I LOVE this manhwa. After I caught up on it, I felt so sad… Michael is such a good friend… :3 Slight AU where Michael doesn't betray the Temple Mercenaries. Some fluff. Not beta'd.

Warnings: Characters may be OOC. Some language involved. Suggestions of adult themes as well.

Really, Ares had to think this all over. How did she end up here? She sat in blissful contemplation, her back against a tree trunk with lazy clouds of summer overhead scuttling across a sky of brilliant blue. Her hands stroked a head of black hair and a head of blond hair at the same time. Michael rested his head on her shoulder while Baroona dozed on her lap. Their hair is as soft as feathers. Her hands resume stroking while they both stir in the throes of slumber. Deep in the hazy heat of the Chronosian summer, she thought back to when she first joined the Temple Mercenaries.

It was a summer day when she had first met Michael and Baroona. They were in line to be recruited into the Temple Mercenaries. Since females generally did not go into the mercenary business, she was disguised as a young boy. She remembered seeing the two and their fights. Baroona dodged every attack thrown his way for the full three minutes; he looked as graceful as a bird flying in the sky. Michael was fierce, like a blazing flame, knocking the guy out in three seconds flat.

Oh~ Those two look pretty interesting! I would like to fight them one day.

Then she went to her first battle as a Temple Mercenary. She had won against Sion. She walked away from the dead body of the once magnificent general. She and Michael walked side by side.

"You were getting your ass handed to you, you ok?"

"You're bloody all over too. Worry about yourself!"

She reverted back to the split second where it was generally believed that women could not be warriors, and then remembered she was a guy. Luckily, Michael didn't really notice.

"Hey at least I didn't take any direct hits from Carnival!"

She could feel a vein ticking in her forehead at this. Damn that lucky bastard.

"Stop pissing me off! I'm already hurting everywhere!"

All she could remember after that was black. Apparently, she had fainted from loss of blood. Later on, she heard from Baroona that Michael personally bandaged her up. For a split moment, she panicked, thinking that her cover was blown, but her fears were assuaged when Michael came over and ruffled her hair.

"What was that for Michael!"

It looks like her secret was safe for now. Unknown to her, Michael had seen the chest bindings while bandaging her up.

What is a female doing here…?

He decided not to question Ares about that now and settle on bandaging his-her arm. He wasn't that nosy about people's lives.

However, it looked like that he should've told Baroona about it at least. They were in Nix, ready to launch an invasion against Minos. She had run away from her duties again. On the way, she bumped into this pretty blond-haired girl. Her name was Ariadne. The two hit off as great friends, even though Helena tried to chase her away from her lady every time because she thought Ares was a male suitor after Ariadne. After innumerable times of this, she finally spilled her secret over the two. Their reactions were hilarious and quite worth the trouble of telling them.

"WHAT? YOU'RE A GIRL?"

Ariadne's face was a picture in itself. Helena's was hilarious. She rolled over the chair, clutching her stomach while her face contorted into bouts of laughter. She calmed down a bit, reaching up to wipe a tear away from her eyes.

"Yes."

They had questioned her, Helena looking at her with a queer look on her face that was masked by slight disapproval. She had shrugged off their questions about her past with vague answers. They had sworn to keep her secret though, and she was glad for that. Helena even proved a great help, since her chest bandages were getting slightly old and dirty. Helena gave her some new ones as well as extra cloth padding for her loincloth when that time of month came, since she could hardly go out in the city with her mercenary friends and buy some. She was lucky that flat-chestedness generally ran in her family. That night, when most of the people were already in the city, pursuing their nightly interests, she decided to take a shower since she rarely had the opportunity to do so. Strangely, soldiers liked to shower at every odd hour of the day. Deeming it safe, she stripped her clothing and stored the articles in a basket in the changing room. The showers soon filled with white steam. She took her time lathering and scrubbing herself down; it was a luxury that she could enjoy at the moment.

Ah, the warm water feels so nice on the skin…

Suddenly, she heard voices.

"You were right to come at this time; no one's here."

Internally, she was panicking enough to take ten years off her life.

Please, oh please, do not let them be who I think they are…

"Michael… if only you had listened to me sooner."

Karma was a bitch. She scrambled for a place to hide, but then smacked herself. It was a public shower area; where would there be to hide? She decided on the next best course, hiding in the last row where they probably wouldn't take since the first row was open. She heard snatches of their conversations.

"Hey, it looks like someone beat us to the showers."

"I wonder who it is."

Baroona rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"No one really takes a shower at this time…"

"Well, Gohu and Ares are out: Gohu because he's out gambling now and Ares because he doesn't really take showers."

Indignant, Ares resisted the urge to go out there and give Michael a good piece of her mind. That would just blow her cover.

"But speaking of Ares, I haven't seen him all day…"

"He's probably hanging out with his girlfriend."

Damn Michael! There were so many misunderstandings due to that! Just because I asked them for one favor to draw Helena away from Ariadne doesn't mean that I like her! I am a girl for God's sake! Though they don't know that, but still! Gohu and his big fat mouth. He's the one spreading the rumors!

So lost was she in her murderous thoughts that she didn't hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

"The last row has the warmest water. Let's go."

Shit! The one time I let my guard down, this happens! Augh, why oh why do they have to come to the last row?

She hoped the steam would hide her womanly parts. But again, fate had something against her.

"Ares?"

Baroona's shocked voice reached her. She clutched tightly at her shoulders, trying to hide her chest.

"Is that you?"

She hesitated, but seeing as they suddenly had walked all the way next to her, she turned her back on them and gave a slight nod to indicate that it was indeed, Ares. To say that those two were shocked was an understatement.

"Look guys-"

She was cut off by Michael, who had a very slight uncharacteristic blush on his face. Baroona was also blushing. What normal teenage guy wouldn't when he saw a naked girl of the same age? He held out his extra towel to her.

"Cover up first, then we'll talk," he said, avoiding her eyes. Baroona also avoided her eyes. She blinked, and then flushed bright red as she finally realized that she wasn't covered. It took her a total of ten seconds to run out, get dressed, and hide back out in their shared room. Needless to say, even she was too embarrassed to be impressed with her new set record. Soon after, she explained everything hesitatingly to Michael and Baroona. After she had offered her explanation to them, a thunderstruck silence hit the room. Initially, she had bowed her head down to hide her face as she explained, but she snuck a peek through her bangs. Their faces were expressionless as they finally pieced together her mysterious activities that couldn't be offered an explanation. The silence reigned through the room, stretching seconds into eternity. She couldn't take this anymore. Clapping her hands together, she lowered her head in front of them in a ninety degree bow.

"Please don't tell the Commander about this!"

They jumped back a bit, a startled look on their face before understanding dawned on their faces. Michael looped an arm over her shoulders and Baroona ruffled her hair.

"What are you telling us this for? We already know not to!"

She stared at them.

"That's what friends are for!"

Overwhelmed, she buried her face in her hands.

"Thank you guys."

That was probably what started their possessive streak over her, she mused. Whenever guys were really friendly with her, they were always skulking about nearby. It got really annoying, but she was flattered at all the attention they lavished upon her. Sometimes, she was grateful for all that lurking they did. One such time was when she was alone at night, having to go buy some food for the rest of the guys in the regiment for having lost a bet.

"Why is my luck so bad…?"

She lamented. Suddenly, all her senses were alert. A group of shady-looking guys stood about the end of the street. Ignoring them, she passed them by but she didn't notice how intoxicated they were off of alcohol. Just as she was going to leave, a hand reached out and tried to smack her on the butt. Note tried. She stopped the offending appendage with the sheath of her sword. It seemed that they were so inebriated by cheap beer they had downed that they didn't notice that she was armed. Big mistake.

"What the hell, bastards?"

"Hey beautiful," one of them crooned. He was a fat and nasty looking guy; not at all worried about his looks. Probably was used to using force to get his girls.

"Why don't you come back to our place tonight?"

They crowded her. She could feel a migraine coming on. Lady Luck was out for her. She was going to protect her virginity at all costs! Assuming a defensive stance, she got ready to kick their asses but all of a sudden, one guy fell down out cold. They turned to see Michael and Baroona with their weapons unsheathed. Cold fury etched itself onto their faces, Michael looking down upon them with disdain and Baroona with slight abhorrence.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't interrupt our fun! Move on now!"

The thugs tried to shove the two out of the way.

"Don't touch me."

Baroona's voice could've frozen the whole of Chronos, Daraak, and Isiris combined. Michael looked at them with sadistic contempt.

"We'll show you fun."

Needless to say, it was a complete massacre on the part of Baroona and Michael. The two obliterated the thugs in a matter of minutes.

"Why did you two do that! I could've defended myself on my own!"

She was about to smack them for their insolence when she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her waist. Her back pressed up against Michael's chest while Baroona sandwiched her between them.

"You do realize that you're a female. You should be careful when alone at night, especially of people like them."

Baroona conferred pleasantly, like he was having a chat about the weather, his warm breath teasing her ear in the cold night. Opening her mouth to protest that she could protect herself against rapists like them, she shuddered when the leaf that was consistently hanging in Michael's mouth tickled in her other ear when he leaned over to speak into her ear.

"They have no right touching you."

Because you are ours.

That should've been the first thing to alert her. She continued stroking their hair as the sun inched its way across the sky. Somehow, unbeknownst to her, they had started a silent competition over her. She was getting annoyed at the continuous attention they bestowed upon her and frequently escaped to go hang out around the castle. On many occasions, she had met General- now King, she corrected herself, Icarus there. Since she constantly made her way into his gardens, they held a great deal of interesting conversations. So relaxed around this man she considered a surrogate father figure that she had let slip that she was a female. His reaction was understandable but at the same time, unpredictable given that he had decided to keep her secret and give her advice on some troubling issues that she couldn't handle by herself. One such accountable exchange was when she had informed him that Baroona and Michael were annoying her at the moment. When he had inquired why, she gave him all the details.

"Well, for one thing, whenever I give a friendly pat to someone, they start to glare at him! And I have a feeling that whenever I get strange looks, they beat the person up!"

The cigarette fell out of his mouth onto the soft red earth. Out of the blue, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

She glared at him. He held up one hand, the other hand trying to stifle his laughter. Calming down a bit, he smiled a knowing smile towards her.

"Have you ever considered that they might be jealous?"

"Jealous?" She repeated incredulously. "Of what?"

Icarus smacked himself in the forehead. He had forgotten how dense she could be. However, it might be a problem to tell her straight out since Baroona and Michael would have his hide if he did, king of the entire country be damned. He went for a more subtle approach.

"Have you talked to your female friends about this?"

"Of course! They started laughing as well!"

She had told this to Helena and Ariadne a week earlier, when their regiment headed to Nix for official matters. Their reactions were similar to that of Icarus'. Helena had smiled a knowing smirk at her, while Ariadne was out of herself with giddiness. They both refused to tell her what was going on with the two, despite her persistence. However, she did receive a talk about the birds and bees out of the blue which scarred her life even further. She gave an involuntary shudder. Icarus beamed at her, which only serve to confuse her even more.

"You'll find out eventually."

This "eventually" was sooner than she thought. So tired she was at the two walking on pins and needles around her that one day, she cornered Baroona and demanded an answer from him.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you were more level-headed than that Baroona! Michael, I can expect, but this is going too far."

Her hands were on her hips, making her look more feminine than usual. Baroona stared at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"You really don't know what's going on, don't you."

The evasiveness of which everyone avoided her questions was starting to tick her off. She closed her eyes, taking calming meditative breaths.

"No."

"Well then, I'm going to have to change that."

With that, he approached closer. Deftly, his hands shot out and drew her towards his chest. She landed with an oomph. One hand tilted her chin up. Warm brown eyes drew her blue eyes in as he leaned in, applying a soft pressure to her lips. She was too shocked to react at first; it was her first kiss, but it wasn't long before she melted into it, her face as red as a tomato. He ended it and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I like you."

His warm breath blew across her face, causing her to blush harder. Even as he had retracted and left her to her own devices, she could still feel his lips on hers. They were as soft and gentle as the rosebuds.

It was no surprise that it reached Michael's ears. Baroona was his rival in love as well. He cornered her as well one day and descended on her. His lips moved across hers in a rough manner, drawing a slight moan from her, as they descended upon her neck. Ravishing all of her soft spots, she felt her knees go weak and would've fallen if Michael had not caged her with his arms. She felt the skin tear in a place and moaned as he lapped up the metallic-tasting blood with his tongue. Crumpling to the floor, she took in deep breaths of air to restart her brain. He smirked at her. Instead of saying, "I like you" as Baroona had said, he was more aggressive, instead choosing to say, "You're mine" and leaving.

Her hand wandered up the fading marks on her neck as she stared at their peaceful sleeping faces.

Baroona was not far behind. He had also marked her. Now she had two matching love bites on the different sides of her neck. She felt completely out of it and avoided Michael and Baroona for days on end, choosing instead to go to Ariadne's or Icarus' whenever she had free time.

"Hey, do you think quite possibly that Ares is avoiding us?"

From nowhere, Baroona asked Michael pleasantly. They were lying close to each other on a grassy slope, lazing about in the warm heat. Michael appeared to be dozing off with that leaf of his in his mouth, but Baroona knew better. Part of that was always an act. He gazed contemplatively at the sky.

"We're just going to have to ask her…"

One day, they managed to get her alone.

"Who will you choose?"

She swung around surprised, though she already knew what they meant by the question. Silence fell upon the threesome. Contemplating, she really did not expect this so suddenly. Why would those two ask this of her now? She really didn't know. Michael is more fierce and aggressive whereas Barooon is gentler and more romantic which made them nearly complete opposites, but both were equally possessive over her. These qualities were what made her fall in love with both of them. It wouldn't be fair to them- to her to choose just one. She shook her head and sprinted away, at a loss of how to confront this problem.

Baroona and Michael blinked. They obviously did not expect an answer like that. Instead, they were expecting more of a confession and a rejection. It suddenly hit them that she was running away from them. Sprinting after her did not help; she only ran faster away from them. Since it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to ever catch her by blindly following her, they came to a silent understanding to split up. Baroona leapt onto a rooftop and took a separate split route. Ares looked back to see only Michael chasing her. For a split second, she let herself believe that she was going to get away, but that was literally crushed when she ran into a hard chest. Baroona's arms wrapped around her, Michael's a split second behind him. With yet another oomph, she was sandwiched between their chests, again.

"So, what's your answer?"

Michael was the one who asked the question first. Baroona hummed, the vibrations going through his chest to the front of hers, setting her senses tingling in a pleasant way. She gulped, starting to speak, but the words stuck in her throat. She had a few other false starts before Baroona spoke up.

"We can give you more time if you need it…"

The question was left hanging. Damn it! She could already feel tears of frustration gathering at the corner of her eyes. How was she going to answer them? It was impossible to tell them her jumbled thoughts.

"Ummmm…"

The two quieted their breathing so that they could hear clearly.

"Where do I start…"

She mumbled to herself, wiping away tears of frustration.

"I can't choose."

Their reaction was immediate. With slight difficulty, she freed one finger and held it up, signifying that she needed to explain.

"I already- ugh, how do I explain this?"

She ran her hand through her unruly blond hair.

"I already love both of you. That's why I can't choose."

Baroona and Michael held her at their arm's length and looked at her face closely. There were no lies there, just the clear truth. They looked at each other, and then nodded slowly.

"It seems like we have reached a compromise."

Before she could decipher the meaning of the words, their arms wrapped around her again, this time only tighter, and drew her body flush against theirs. She tried to squirm out of their hold, until they kissed her together on both her cheeks. It was by that she stopped cold.

"Oi, what?"

She blushed bright red.

A movement startled her. Baroona had nuzzled into her lap, his arms reaching up to wrap around her waist. Next to her, Michael gave a small grunt as he resettled into another position. With a start, she realized that now she was situated between his legs, his arms creating another firm vice around her waist. Great, now she couldn't get away even if she wanted to. But it really wasn't that bad. Though their relationship was more of comfort from bloodshed and the sorrows of war, she was happy. Icarus, Ariadne, and Helena were more than pleased to learn of their relationship as well. In fact, those three were way happier than she thought they would be. Little did she know that Icarus was thinking that it was about damned time that those three were together. He did not feel the need to inform her of that either.

Two lean silhouettes blocked the sun, stretching their stiff limbs; their hands reaching for the sky. Leaning down, Baroona offers his hand and Michael his to help her up, framed by eternity. It filled her with contentment. Reaching out, she took their hands.

Perhaps this is my happy ending.

The End~

You likey? It's my first gender-bent fic… o.O How'd it go?