"Haley... Are you still moping about this wedding?" a young woman's voice asked, sizing up her dress. A younger girl sat in a chair in front of a mirror, leaning back in the seat with a bored expression on her face. A flicker of frustration flashed in her eyes as she glanced for a moment at her cousin before redirecting her gaze back to the mirror.

"I don't even know the guy. Don't I get a choice? I don't want to just be pawned off as a peace offering."

"Oh, don't think of it like that..." Alexis kept trying to cheer Haley up, moving away then back toward her with three extravagant wedding dresses on a rack. "Here's a choice: Which do you like best?"

Haley looked between them, eyes half closed.

"That one," she said, pointing to the one on the right, "is way too frilly."

"That one," she then pointed at the one in the middle, "has too many ribbons. That really makes me look gift-wrapped."

"And the last one is too short." She leaned back, arms crossed.

"Oh, come on... It's like this whole idea doesn't excite you at all!" she continued on, sighing, her heart aflutter as she whisked the three away, producing two more.

"You're finally catching on." Haley just buried her face in her hands. She didn't want to even look at the dresses. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Miss Rayne, you're wanted in the courtyard," said a much older and refined male voice.

"Oh! That must be hiiiim!" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Kill me now..." Haley unsuccessfully tried to arrange her face into a more pleasant expression, then returned her face to her hands as a second resort.

"What if you like him? You'll never know if you don't try..." Alexis sighed to herself, patting down her casual dress. "Try," she smiled.

"Prince-type, likely an intelligence stat of 2. Willing to marry whatever girl is thrown at him. Just the kind of guy I like..." The younger girl sighed and stood up, reaching over to pull her hat over her silver hair. Alexis ran over to Haley to tug the hat away from her hair. "And you look MUCH better without that stupid hat on..." She pulled at her hand. "Come onnnn!" Haley reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled away, grateful that at least she hadn't been made to try on any dresses; she was still dressed in her own uniform, which looked more like a soldier's uniform than that of royalty, though it was more elegant than a typical soldier's garb.

As the two of them were escorted by the servant in front of the door to the courtyard, Alexis could barely keep her excitement contained. Haley was ready to stab herself in the throat.

"If you want him, I leave him to you..." Haley muttered, venom in her voice. Alexis was blissfully unaware.

"I wonder what his eyes look like... Oh! And his hair! He's got to have neat and trimmed hair... ohh, but if it's messy, he'd look so cool~!"

When they arrived, there were a few people of the nearby kingdom, most of them surrounding a carriage, presumably containing the prince. Haley looked over at Alexis, who was balancing on her toes trying to peer over the crowd for a glimpse of the prince. She simply sighed and crossed her arms, thinking to herself about what a bad idea this whole thing was.

The prince stepped out of his horse-drawn chariot, putting his hand to calm his crowd. The women were figuratively falling at his feet as they touched the grass. Haley looked at the women vying for his attention. Silently, she judged them.

"People, please..." he quickly turned his head to the side, his eyes closed, his hair flipping in the wind. All sound was silenced for just a moment, while he slowly opened his eyes.

"One at a time." he smiled. By then, about 99 percent of the females in the area were either swooning or just had a heart attack.

Eventually, his eyes laid on his princess, and happiness overtook him. His peach colored skin was a perfect compliment for his chestnut brown hair, combed to droop over one of his eyes. Though most of his mouth was shaded by the large, upward collar protruding from his light purple suit, which happened to be adorned with golden embellishments. Atop his head laid a bright blue, yet tiny crown, tilted slightly to side. But that wasn't his most striking feature, according to many. No, that would be his beautiful baby blue eyes. Most women would faint just by catching a glimpse of them. Haley was less than impressed.

She looked at his outfit. Cliché. She looked up to his hair. Cliché. She briefly glanced at his eyes, which held little appeal to her. Cliché. She looked up at the tiny crown. Bingo. Alexis squealed in excitement, squeezing Haley's hands, bouncing up and down in her shoes.

"OhmyGOSH, isn't he so beautiful?!" she whispered fervently in Haley's ear. To those who lack taste... Haley kept the thought inside. Her expression remained passive, emotionless.

"Is this the lovely Miss Rayne?" he stated coolly, stepping toward Haley. By this point, Alexis would have almost broken Haley's hand in her grip had she been stronger than her.

"I think your princess is in a different castle..." Haley stated blankly. "There are plenty of girls here who would willingly take her place, though." Just not this one.

"Oh come now," he stated, remaining calm, unlike most men that dared turn to Haley with such ideals. "There may be plenty, but none just as perfect as the one I'm going to be wed to."

"What a lucky girl. But you're probably in the wrong place. You were supposed to take a left at the fork in the road about a hundred miles back." Don't I wish... If he had, he'd be traveling through the desert with his pretty prancing ponies.

"Oh, be serious, Haley!" Alexis tugged on Haley's sleeve, nudging her toward the man afterward.

"Yes..." he placed a hand on her cheek, looking into her eyes with a smirk that could kill anyone else. "Be serious, Haley."

Reflexively, her free hand tightened on the hilt of the sword sheathed at her side, before she forced it to relax. "Serious, huh? In that case, I'm done playing charades." She reached up, snatched the crown off the top of his head, and calmly turned and walked away, raising a hand in farewell.

"Haley, where are yo-" Alexis began before being silenced by the prince.

"Shh... She'll come around. I know she will." He continued smiling, his eyes slipping closed as he spun around, returning to his carriage.

Haley returned to her room, throwing the crown to the side, slumping down against the door, and burying her face in her hands. She had almost lost control when he started coming on to her, and things were close to getting ugly. She let out a sigh of frustration, unable to suppress the feeling that, as royalty, she was nothing but a puppet for everyone else to make dance around according to their whims. She tried to force her mind to go blank before her thoughts turned more violent. She hauled herself to her feet and quickly crossed the floor to her bed, falling face-first onto it, wishing sleep could come faster and drown out her reality.

"Alright... So it's a simple kidnap?"

"Not just simple... Your target is very precious and heavily guarded..."

"Like we're not used to that by now. How much?"

"Ah... we can discuss your payment once you've brought the target to the destination..."

"You sure we can trust him?"

"Hmm... How about this as a deal breaker. We'll take your life if you don't pay us. Deal?"

The sound of a blade being unsheathed silenced the room.

"D-deal..."

"zeke zeke upload more elsword story"

DAMNIT I'M TOO BUSY PLAYING LOST SAGA

Yeah, I've got nowhere really to go with the other story, but if inspiration hits me, hell, why not pick it up. Until then, I hope this can tide you over. And there WILL be decent update times for this one, so stick around. See you guys!