How did everything go so wrong. Ray asked himself this as he sat on the stone cold floor of Estrelia's dungeon. His eyes were reddened and a stream of fresh tears still streamed down his cheeks. The boy began to hyperventilate uncontrollably. Anger struck him at the hopelessness of the situation. Everything he loved and cared about had been stripped from him within a day. That day felt as if it were a century ago, but the effects it had on him were still very much recent.

In a fit of rage, the boy kicked the door of the cell with all his might...but nothing. He was just as useless as he was when the castle was invaded. Just as useless when his father was killed and when his mother was turned to stone by a figure in black right before his eyes. He could still smell the blood of the knights and servants in his castle alike. All of them slaughtered right before his useless eyes. That was the worst part of it. He failed them. He failed them as a prince and a warrior. When it mattered the most, he was useless.

The door flung open unexpectedly and he jumped as soon as he heard the sound. Could it be a rescue?! Had someone come to help him? No...it was a woman in her mid-thirties and a boy no older than fifteen. The woman looked at him with a sadistic sort of satisfaction. Her smile chilled him to the core. The boy had a blank expression on his face, as if unaware of how he should feel. Ray tears stopped as he spotted the boy. The curly blonde hair and blue eyes immediately brought someone to his mind: Ray's late father.

"Look, Desmond, its the usurper I'm sure you've heard about." Her voice was smooth and low, but he could feel the contempt coming from it.

"But of course, you scarce go a day without mentioning him to me. I'm unimpressed. Must we really let such filth plague our castle? Why not let him roam about the land like a dirty vagabond. I doubt he'd last a day." Desmond's voice reeked similar hatred, yet Ray could tell there was something wrong with it. It seemed...forced.

"And risk him rallying up against us? Of course not! Besides, our good friends have a lot of fun in store for him. They will let him redeem his pig of a father for his sins."

Rage filled him as his hands grasped the bars of his cell and pulled. Blood rushed to his face in anger, and at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to pick up the Tyrfing and slash her to pieces himself! Tears beyond his control still flowed down his face. Within seconds, he hated the woman. He hated everything about her. Her dark hair, her slender body, her stupid smile, everything! Frustration filled him as he became increasingly aware of his inability to reach her. A woman undeserving of chivalry? Now he had seen everything.

"Feisty, aren't you? For your sake, I hope you calm down by the time your cellmate arrives. The guards should be delivering her momentarily. It was rather nice seeing you for the first time, love, but I must be making my leave now. Ta! Come, Desmond." The pair left through a door leading to a staircase and shut it extra hard to mock him.

Ray punched the floor in fury.

He'd escape if it were the last thing he did.

Being royalty, H'ana was always aware that there was a risk of being kidnapped. After all, what better way was there to make a cheap buck than to hold a princess hostage?

This wasn't the first time that H'ana had been kidnapped and she was almost positive that it wouldn't be the last. Or perhaps it would be as thus far, this had been the most trying of her kidnaps. The distance that they had traveled was like anything she had ever witnessed in a situation like this before. It was also extremely cold where she had ended up. Chon'sin wasn't known for having a cold climate.

To make matters worse, she was only eleven years old and not exactly the model of strength or vitality. Sure, she was perfectly healthy for her age, but being dragged that far and occasionally. . resisting. . her captors had added to her wear and tear. She was surprised that the brigands hadn't brought down the axe on her quite yet, but she was grateful. Well, that was true until they had arrived in the "dungeon".

Being pushed along in the oppressive atmosphere with two goons squeezing her arms, she stared with large eyes at the bleak darkness that lay before her. It was cold, dark and smelled horrible. And next thing she knew, there was sound of a gate being opened and she found herself being shoved through the opening. The gate closed in front of her and the two goons spoke among themselves before striding off, leaving her with no answers, exhaustion and a brutal sense of awareness.

Smack. Smack, smack.
THUMP!

Throwing a few quick punches and then a kick at the bars, the Chon'sin princess wore herself out rather quickly. Falling to her knees, she stared at the opposite side of the bars craving the freedom that it offered. "Seriously. . what kind of jerkfaces kidnap a little girl?!" Very mature, H'ana.

It was only then that she felt a tear fall. Then came the shaking. Her parents would come to her rescue once more, she was positive. For some reason, however, she couldn't quite convince herself of that fact. She also couldn't help but notice that there was a knot in her stomach and this felt eerily like a final destination . . .

Desperate to avoid the thought, H'ana became aware of her cellmate for the first time ever and turned away from the bars to get a quick glimpse at the individual in question. It was quite difficult thanks to more tears that threatened to fall. "Name?" She said with a bit of a sniffle, before wiping a fallen tear away, "I mean, what's your name?"

Ray paused for a second, eyebrows furrowed as he examined the girl from top to bottom. She was lashing out at the bars as he had only moments ago. The girl let out much faster than he did, though. It was no wonder why. She was practically all bone! The right words to greet her eluded his grasp. He looked at her in silence until she at last turned to meet him. He fumbled around his words around his words as she asked his name. Commanded his name was more like it.

"Oh, um...I'm--my name is..." Ray shooked his head. He was struggling to realize the proper way to even say "hello". His title of prince had been revoked. Was there a point to being polite anymore? No, he had to believe he would take it back, and that meant following all of the customs they had engraved into his mind.

The boy cleared his throat.

"A-apologies, my lady. I am Prince Raymond of Gerhard." He spoke stiffly and politely, just as he had been taught. Bah, then again, formalities often weren't that large of a deal when you were a captive. "Although, I am quite partial to 'Ray' if that's alright." Ray's voice was steady. While his eyes were noticeably red, he was determined to hide that he had been crying like a child before she had arrived. An involuntary sniff from his nose gave it all away, as if it was that well hidden in the first place.

"Would it be alright if I asked for your name, please?"

The Prince of Gerhard. It was beginning to click in place more appropriately now. Whatever dastard had kidnapped her was also responsible for his kidnapping as well. They must've wanted more than just money - power, maybe? Favors? Or maybe they were just out for large sums of money? Whatever their reasoning was - it didn't matter and H'ana would definitely see through to that personally. That would have to wait a while seeing as she was too busy bawling her eyes out and being trapped in a dungeon of some sort.

"I am Princess H'ana. . of Chon'sin," she said, wiping away another tear. Taking a few deep breaths, she was able to get another quick glimpse of her cellmate. Of course, they weren't in exactly the best lighting, but it was something. This entire situation was definitely something. At least she may have just found a potential ally.

"I will call you Ray," she said, her voice becoming steadier as she spoke. She wasn't even aware of the shakiness in her voice before she had begun speaking to him - that would probably be attributed to the fact that she hadn't spoken to anyone in days. She wasn't aware of her Chon'sin accent until just now either, but she wasn't exactly self-conscious regarding it. At least not right now.

"In return, I would like to be called 'H'ana' without the honorary title, if that would be alright?"

Another royal? This whole ordeal was looking more suspicious by the second. The weird part was that he actually knew all about the girl, something which only filled him with more apprehension. She was the direct descendant of Naga and had the major holy blood to prove it, as well as the ability to use the fearsome Book of Naga. One of her parents had access to the tome without a doubt, yet she had still been taken away from her home. Who were these people?

"Just H'ana will do? Of course, as you wish. Does...does that mean you would rather I refrain from using formal speech as well?" Like it or not, her position as inheritor of the Book of Naga made her a superior. Not like him, a bastard without a trace of such power in his veins. Noticing the drops of tears falling to the floor, Ray also decided to add in a bit of small talk. He felt that doing so would quell both of their nerves a teensy bit. "I have actually heard of you before, truth be told. You're quite the figure in Gerhardian...textbooks." His voice cracked slightly at the mention of his country. Reflecting on what had happened only dug the wound deeper it seemed.

"Yes, that would be preferred," the girl said, referring to the comment about 'refraining from formal speech'. Her senses were now overwhelmed with a strange feeling of calm. It could only be described as exhaustion - she had her panic attack and now she was coming down from that "high" so to speak. Now she was sitting on her knees in some dark, cramped, and musty dungeon with someone around her age. Who also so happened to be a prince.

And also knew about her.

What exactly did that mean? Weren't textbooks supposed to be written after someone had done something noteworthy to history? H'ana certainly hadn't and it was beyond her why the Gerhardian people would take such an interest in her. Perhaps it had to do with her close ties with Naga, but most royals had the blood of the divine dragon running through them, didn't they? Or at least that was the assumption she had made.

"Pray tell. . what exactly mean 'I'm the quite the figure'?" She was curious now.