"You'll have to forgive the appearance of this place."
Footsteps echo throughout a mostly empty room. It is the only sound that can be heard other than the crackling of torches, which provide the only light within the stone walls. A dark figure paces about the room excitedly, yet impatiently.
"Our ruler is quite a literal person. It seems there cannot be too much light in a Dark Kingdom. Or too much decoration, for that matter. Perhaps if we were a Dark Queendom it would be different. Don't you think so?"
The footsteps grow into a louder, clearer sound: clicking heels. The dark figure approaches the other person in the room, stepping into the flickering light of the torches. The flames reveal a slender, pale figure with short red hair clad in black and purple. In contrast to the statement about decoration, this person is quite ornate. They give off an air of royalty, though they also seem to compensate for a lack of something natural.
In further contrast to this royal figure stands this other person in the room. Slim, blonde, young, gorgeous, though "stands" is perhaps not accurate. She is upright, though against her will. Chained to a stone slab, each appendage cuffed securely with no visible locking (or more relevantly, unlocking) mechanism. Her school uniform fails to keep her warm against the cold atmosphere of the castle, and she shivers when the back of her leg touches the stone. The torches are sufficient to light the room, but they seem to give off no warmth.
"I've decided!" The royal stops pacing suddenly, with a single loud clap. "I'm going to keep you!"
"Keep... me...?" the young girl replies, still recovering from her recent unconsciousness. "What... does that even mean...?"
"Oh, don't get me going about things like meaning. What does it mean that my henchmen are so incompetent? What does it mean that they can't even nab the correct girl? But you know what? There's just something... loveable about you. So I'm going to keep you."
"So you're saying..." the prisoner begins to ask, her voice still weak, "that you didn't mean to kidnap me?"
"There you go with that meaning talk again! It's really quite an upsetting topic, dear. Won't you just drop it? You don't even realize who you are..." The noble lets out a laugh, coarse yet shrill, echoing through the castle corridors.
Meanwhile...
"I'm just weirded out, you know?" Another young blonde sits at a table with her friends, hunched over and staring at her cell phone screen. "I was so close to getting through high school without dealing with these sort of creeps!"
"Is it really creepy, though?" Her friend peaks over to get a closer look at the screen. "I've seen some creepy messages before. Yours is just weird, Selena."
"Gee, thanks, Maury. That really helps." Selena sighs. "Tell me, how many of those creepy messages that you've seen are ones you've written yourself, hmmmmm?"
"Ugh!" Maury replies, disgustedly. "I was just trying to help, okay? Figure it out on your own if that's how you're going to be." He gets up quickly, haphazardly throwing his backpack over his right shoulder, storming off while trying not to make a scene. A tinge of regret comes over Selena, but only for a moment. The message in front of her is too distracting.
"The time has come. You must face your destiny ~nyan~."
She stares intently at the message, her head resting in her hand. Images flood her mind—some of idol fame, some of back alley assault. Their outcomes are different, but they share one thing in common.
"Something exciting in my life for once, huh...?"
She flips her phone shut.