Author's Note: Uhm. There isn't much to say other than this is mostly AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. -flail-

"Ngh?" She groaned, trying to cough but being unable to do so.

The cloth that had been stuck into her mouth made it hard to do so as she attempted to open her eyes; attempted because she could feel the hard rag that had been tied securely around her eyes. It made it difficult to open her eyes, especially because her eyelashes would hit against the blindfold. This was ridiculous. She tried to move her hands, although she knew exactly what would happen when she did.

The rope around her arms and her legs scraped at her hands. They were well-bound this time around; she couldn't reach to try to undo them like she had last time. She attempted to sigh, which brought about another fit of coughing. She had to remain quiet because her hearing was the only thing she could focus on. Juan was probably going to throw a fit that this had happened again, and she didn't mind.

So long as he neglected to tell Alfred, Matthew, and Vicente, she would be fine.

Crashes of thunder and pouring rain thrashed on the roof. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, and the raining didn't let her hear anything else. She couldn't hear any city sounds, which meant that she wasn't in any city. She was probably out in the country…which would make it more difficult for her to escape. She always wondered why they brought her to the country.

'Always the country,' she thought to herself, turning her head to the side.

There were footsteps coming towards her.

"Está despierta!" There was an excited, but low voice.

'No. I'm not awake. I'm still asleep.' She retorted to herself, turning her head in the direction of the voice.

And, the footsteps; there were more people joining in with the original.

The smell was atrocious. She tried to filter the air through her mouth, because she was pretty sure she was going to gag if she breathed through her nose, but that was impossible. The cloth in her mouth wouldn't allow it.

Someone moved behind her, and the makeshift blindfold that had covered her eyes was removed. Her eyes blinked, trying to get adjusted to the dim light as the cloth in her mouth was ripped out of her mouth.

Itzel stared at the man in front of her. The way he was holding himself basically assured her that She stared up at him without saying anything, blinking. He stared down at her, patting her cheek before yanking her to her feet. Her vision flashed before her before her mouth twitched into a frown. This was ridiculous.

"Oye, princesa," his voice was firm. The smell waffled into her mouth, and she swallowed thickly to avoid gagging. "We're going to call your hermano, and you're going to tell him everything we tell you to…o vas a tener una problema."

'Seriously? What are you going to do, shoot me?'

Her brown eyes poured into his, raising an eyebrow. Slowly, she nodded her head. He grinned and pushed her down into the chair. There was something metallic near her feet. The leader turned around and began to prepare everything, getting a camera to put in front of her.

Slowly, she worked on the rope around her feet, scraping it back and forth until the ropes felt loose around her feet. They didn't seem to notice, and the girl had a hard time keeping the smile off of her face.

Slowly, she stood up to their surprise. They turned around, ready to yell at her and "punish her" for not complying with their demands, but she didn't think they took into account how difficult she worked. She sneered and sent a kick in their direction, making specific sure to drive her heel into their stomachs.

They were lucky she couldn't get the rope off of her hands. It wasn't long after she had kicked them onto the floor that she bolted from the room, moving her wrists back and forth to try to get the rope off of hers wrists.

She ran outside and was instantly soaked. Her shoes were getting stuck in the mud, and she had been right when she had predicted that she had been in the country. Someone threw themselves on her, throwing both of them onto the ground. Her face slid into the mud, and she sneered, bringing up her knee to the boss' stomach. He rolled to the side, groaning while she pushed herself far enough back to bring the side of her foot into his chin.

All those soccer practices with the cities seemed to pay off.

Itzel got her feet just in time to smile as black cars pulled out in front of them. Men dressed in black suits surrounded her while the army men moved forward with their guns pointed.

"Está bien, señorita México?" One of the agents asked her as he undid the ropes on her wrist.

Freed, she glanced back at the men over her shoulder, rubbing the feeling into her wrists. Her mouth twitched and she nodded her head, sliding into the car and not caring about whether or not she got any dirt or mud on the seat. She would take care of that later.

No matter what they said, she would always believe she would be less likely to be kidnapped by the cartels that wanted both her and Juan to lead them again if the agents the government issued would just…be less conspicuous about taking care of them. She was tired of being unable to walk into the market without, at least, three of them right behind her.

She did not bother to pay attention to anything else going on around her. Her brown eyes fluttered closed as she leaned her head against the window, frowning.

It was always difficult to be a country, especially one that had to deal with the cartels constantly trying to get her to lead them and with the other countries trying to make her do what they asked.

It was difficult, tiring, and thankless. Frankly, Itzel was tired of it.

AN: This is just a prologue...hope y'all like it.