Chapter 1: Encounter 20 years ago

The ten o'clock night sky was dark and low as the air became colder than ice.

Valentina held onto her fathers huge hand as she giddily skipped on the footpath. Her black coat swayed with her body and her boots grazed the concrete. Her father had taken her to a late night muppeteers play in the city today that left her frivolously excited. They were expected to come back again sometime tomorrow for the last part of the story, and Valentina had already started to conjure the possibile happy outcomes in her tiny head.

Her father father looked down to her and she tilted her head up. He smiled at her and brought his other hand over to shake her hair messy.

"I'm guessing my little girl loved it?" He asked with a knowing grin.

She vigorously nodded with a giggle. "Very much father."

"That's good my dear" he said. She watched her father for a moment. Even though his eyes were beginning to create crinkles around the corners and his skin was becoming a little more glossy and thin, he still had so much energy and love for her which she was so grateful to have. The way he held her small hand which such urgency really showed her how much she was to him. He was what the tabloids called the 'lonesome king' after all since mother had died. He had been raising her own his own and even though she wanted a women for him, she knew how twisted most women are in this world when it came to money so always told him not to. He was perfect on his own and so where they, no one would ruin that.

One of the gerrison guards who were walking alongside them crept closer to her father. He started to whisper something in his ear and Valentina quickly looked away, disinterested to listen in on her fathers work. She gazed around the town of Hampshire in disgust. The town that had once been abuzz with lively Celtic music and sustainable brick houses now had narrow dark alleways opened between blocks of crumbled grey houses as street lights flickered to stay alive. Stray cats roamed the cracked cobblestones streets as a few homeless people sat idly by with slumped backs. They were a greedy bunch of commoners who did nothing to grow the economy. They wanted more food, more money, more housing that her father could not provide. They were short on things and they knew it, but they still demanded more. So her father minimised there fill to teach them a lesson. They rebelled and sought for battle but they could never lay a hand on them. Cause if they didn't stop, he'd feed them to the titans.

Which is why she has a strong hate to commoners. All they wanted was their families money and power without actually rationally thinking things through. She didn't understand why they would call her father a greedy pig, that was never the intention. He just wanted to spread things out evenly. Like a normally human being.

With that overtaking her muppet thoughts she groaned in annoyance and kept looking around. Her father came to an abrupt stop and she jolted her head to him, confusedly.

He bent his back forward and smiled at her, before grabbing her cheek to lightly pinch it. "I have to talk to this guy for a moment, could you wait for me?" He asked.

She faked a smile, a little peeved to stay here longer. "Yes father."

"Thank you" he said. He kissed her forehead before turning around to engage in a heated conversation something about the scouting legion. She looked for a clean and quiet place to sit until she spotted a mini stair case to a non-cracked building not so far away. She walked down the pathway for a short moment before stepping onto the staircase. She went all the way up to the top and sat herself down, bringing her knees up to her chest. She rested her head on her knees and let the small bit of tiredness come over her. Today was a good day.

Small sounds of bags ruffling and swishing against each other came from the left side of the staircase. She blinked, her heart racing just a bit from the sudden noise. Slowly, she slid herself over the staircase and looked down. There, layed a boy with patted down silky short black hair and dull blue eyes that had huge bags under them. His body was near bone as his body was only covered by a sweat stained robe, nothing else. His legs were bare and shrivelled with his toe nails chipped and discoloured to white.

She grimaced. He looked so dirty and rotten. She couldn't even feel remorse for him, they deserved it. If they didn't pester they wouldn't of had lesser.

"Gross" she lowly seethed as she tucked her head back into her knees. Her eyes started to twitch and her body felt hollow. She did feel….a little sorry for him. He was of her age, he has no idea what is going on so he shouldn't be getting the blame. Sometimes her pride needed to be reassessed. At times.

Doubtful but needful she slowly took off her coat. She stood up and went to the side he was lying down. She gracefully placed the jacket on top of him. He quickly shot his eyes opened to her,petrified. She looked back at him with fear also but continued to properly cover him.

He watched her as she tucked the jacket into his sides. Once she pulled away, he huddled his knees closer into his chest and brought the jacket up with him. He stopped shivering.

"Thank you" he muttered under the coat.

"It's fine" she said.

He hesitated, biting on his lip and his eyes wondering around the place before speaking up . "Aren't you the princess?"

She nodded. "I am, but that shouldn't concern you for now, what should is your wellbeing."

"What's wellbeing?" He asked with real interest. His head was now out of the cover and facing her with a glimmer in his eyes.

"Nothing, you wouldn't need it anyway." She sighed

"Oh," he said before nuzzling half of his head back into the cover with flustered cheeks. "Okay."

They both sat there awkwardly for a moment before her father beckoned her for their leave. She stood up from the staircase and just as she was about to step the boy said something.

"Thanks again" he said.

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Don't ever mention it. It's the last time I'll be helping people like you."