The princess’s plight wasn’t that hard to register, and Melissa’s grin twisted upwards at her magic’s effect. A little more and she would soon be free! When the royal even went so far as to get up and move her chair back into place, the rouge was sure she had won this little mind game of theirs. However, any traces of color present on her already pale face were soon drained away as she saw the princess unlock a certain chest.

[i] “You see, Melissa, I am a very reasonable person. If you are also reasonable with me, I guarantee that you will learn just how much I have and will bend over backwards for you. I won’t bore you with the extensive history of how I managed to have you spared of harsher treatment, which was not easy, but I did it because I really do care about your side of this. But if you continue to be difficult…”[/i]

Melissa eyed the knife warily, her own heart-beat pumping faster and faster. No…she personally didn’t take a fondness to physical torture. Being captured by that warlord probably had something to do with it. The worst of all was mental torture, especially back in the Ultimatum. Whenever she was forced to spend one day with that Masked Man…she suppressed a shiver at the thought.

[i] “I just don’t see how I could possibly manage to justify my actions on your behalf.
In short, it is in your best interest to cooperate with me. It seems these torture devices aren’t very pleasant, so I’ll assume you didn’t enjoy that roughhousing. If you want to keep having the luxury of being able to move your body about in different positions, I’d suggest that you change your attitude.”[/i]

The princess would not see the tiny nod Melissa gave her, as her eyes were directed towards her feet. Once she heard the door close and lock behind her, Melissa immediately placed a hand to her temple, the extent of her fear magic having been spent. She took no mind to it though, as she had gotten her point across. Even so, she found some sort of sick irony at the fact that both girls were scared of the other but were too stubborn to admit that fact.

Some mind game indeed.

“At least she’s not as bad as that Masked Bastard,” the one-eyed girl muttered to herself, staring at the shackles binding her ankles for what proved to be half an hour or so. She could escape she realized, but the prospect of leaving Miranda behind didn’t settle well with her no matter how she looked at it. Sighing, she rested her back on the dirty wall and waited patiently.

[i] “Is this your Miranda?”[/i]

Looking up, Melissa flashed the princess that same smile of hers as she studied the bunny in her hands. Under normal circumstances, she would have denied that it was hers and to be fetched for another. Next, she would play the fool, claiming that she had requested no such bunny in the face of her captor.

The reminder of physical torture kept her from doing so, and she reached out to grab Miranda instead.

“Yeah, that’s her,” she said, a little more genuine than before. “You know, I only thought warriors and barbarians could be scary but…well, heh, I’ll admit you got me going there with the torture your Highness.”

She did not feel the need to hide the trembling fear in her voice this time. Perhaps she could play the sympathy card, seeing as her magic was desperately low right now.

“You…weren’t really gonna torture me again, right?”

A moment of silence, in which Melissa snickered nervously.

“R-Right?”