AN: Thank you all so much for the reviews and follows! I'm so sorry this chapter is so short, everybody. I guarantee the next will be longer. I can only come up with the right words to type it up so fast. Again, I apologize for any errors since I decided to give my beta MegaKat a break.
Now I rated this story M for a reason. It's actually much darker than all my others (like you just walked into the wrong neighborhood kind of dark) and has mature subject matter such as violence and sexual content. So I am warning you all for implications of sexual assault in this chapter.
Chapter 2: The Buried Moon
She came to hearing faint mumbles and felt herself being shifted in a position fit to be carried. She blinked slowly to try and restore her vision. Everything was so hazy and it didn't help that it was so dark either. Just how long had she been out? The sound of crickets and owls graced her ears, then the carriage horses neighing. She deduced they were somewhere in the woods. Why, just where were they taking her?
"Easy does it, princess." A strange male voice said as she could feel herself being hoisted up and then hopping down a step in his grasp.
Her eyes were half lidded as they took in the soft light of the full moon. It seemed like it was past midnight by how high it was in the starry sky.
"Just look at how helpless she is. Gods, this is going to be a lot of fun." A younger male voice hooted.
"Don't get too excited. The boss said he wanted her unspoiled," the first one grumbled.
"Oh forget the boss; we nabbed ourselves a bona fide princess! And you know how much I love frail groggy women," the second argued.
"You want your cut, you do your job, rookie!" The first growled.
"Yes, sir," came his partner's sigh.
Then they murmured something else that sounded incoherent to her and she closed her eyes, drifting out once more only to have them shot open when she felt herself thrown onto a bed.
"Don't fret, Princess. This is just a temporary living arrangement. There's food and drink, if you're hungry. See you at dawn." Her captor chuckled when she clambered away from him, back against the wall.
He stepped out, closed the thick door, and she could hear the click of the lock. Her hands trembled as she surveyed her momentary prison. It appeared to be an ordinary rustic cabin bedroom but there was a putrid smell of which she could not place. So, she was a captive now, to whom? These men clearly weren't in charge, she could tell that much with how they just left her all by herself.
Just what was going to happen at dawn? Her heart began to race, wondering just what these men might have in store for her. She felt her stomach wind up in knots and came to the decision she didn't want to stick around to find out.
She climbed off the bed and peeked out the window. The lights of her kingdom were mere dots in the far distance across the vast mass of tall forest trees. That meant she must be somewhere in the outskirts. And if she were in the outskirts, then Trunks must have been out there.
'I have to get out of here and find him.' She thought, trying to open the window. The window wasn't budging, it was stuck tight. Her only hope was to smash the glass. Being on the second floor though, she needed something to make her climb down easier.
Her two abductors entered her line of vision through the window as they walked outside the cabin across the lawn, holding a lifeless naked body of a young woman. The limp form that was slung over the man's shoulder was filthy, covered in dirt and blood. That must have explained the rancid stench. The other man held a shovel and began to dig what looked like a grave.
Was she going to end up like that? She shakily covered her mouth, trying her hardest not to cry out and screech. The last thing she needed was to direct their attention back at her.
She needed to escape! There was no way in hell she was going to wait around until dawn. If they managed to smuggle her so far out in the woods then she should let go any hopes about a rescue party bursting in any second. Everyone at the palace probably didn't even realize she was missing. She slid down to her knees, hitting the floor, and covered her face with her hands. Her eyes welled up with tears and she fought to keep them from falling.
She was on her own.
Sucking in her breath, trying to keep it steady, she tried to come up with an exit strategy. The door to the room was locked. She can try to ram it open, right? No, she'd risk hurting herself or turn her captors' attention back towards her when they hear the noise. She had to be craftier than that.
'Gods, what would Trunks do in this situation?' She thought as she bit her lip.
Her gaze fell upon the food and drink as she walked towards the candlelit bedside table. Guess it wouldn't hurt to nibble on something while pondering. She picked up an apple from the platter and smelled it before gagging. They couldn't bother to serve her fresher food out in the damn woods? The prisoners in the dungeon ate better than this!
Well at least they bothered to make up for it with a full bottle of rum. Turles would have been satisfied with that. A whole bottle…they gave her a whole bottle! Her eyes lit up and she almost felt like laughing at her abductors' stupidity.
'If there's one thing I learned from growing up with Uncle Turles, it's the many uses of a bottle of rum.' She thought with a hopeful and triumphant grin.
She then eyed the linens on the bed and began to strip. She removed her ball gown, corset, and any loose jewelry. Now left in just her undergarments, the princess set her accessories aside on the table she began to rip up the fabric of her formal wear. Tucking in a small piece of cloth into the mouth of the rum bottle she peeked out the window to find the men were still digging. Good, that will buy her time to make her escape plan a reality. First thing's first, finish her Molotov cocktail.
"Fire! Fire!" The princess shrieked at the top of her lungs.
The captors had just finished pounding the dirt on the nameless grave to look and see the smoke emitting from the smashed open window. "Shit..!" One of them growled and they both ran back inside the cabin, grabbing the curtains from the lounge in hopes to put the flames out.
Unbeknownst to them, a rope forged from fabric descended out the broken window and the princess climbed down, wincing from cutting her palm on the glass. Once her feet touched ground she removed the rag wrapped around her face to shield her mouth and nose from breathing in the fumes.
She then took off to where the trees were thickest in hopes she would be shielded by them and harder to spot. Her heart raced as she sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her. She inwardly cursed feeling dizzy from whatever they drugged her with.
'Dammit, keep running!' She pleaded her body to carry on, already short of breath. Usagi's sight then dissolved to tunnel vision, only seeing her onward path clearly. 'Come on, don't give out now!'
She heard the sound of horses galloping as if the devil himself was nipping at their hooves along with the voices of her abductors shouting after her. This was like every nightmare in the book. You run from a deadly threat and you can't seem to run as fast as you know you can, leaving them to catch up.
'Shit,' she inwardly panicked. 'Shit!'
She could see right ahead they were reaching the end of the thicket marked by a rocky precipice. She couldn't jump it, could she? What if she couldn't survive the fall?
Her thinking was halted when she heard the sound of swishing closing in on her. A rope managed to coil its way around her moving legs and go taught with the assist of small weight balls attached at each end. Her legs being unwillingly bound, the princess tumbled face forward. She lifted up her face to cringe and winced at the growing sting of her cheek and forearms she undoubtedly scraped, spitting out dirt.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" Spoke the voice of her first kidnapper.
"That was real naughty of you to try and burn down our lovely summer home and just run off." The younger one snickered.
She turned over so she was on her back and tried to tug the wound bolas off of her legs. Her eyes looked up at the two men in horror as they climbed off of their mounts and stalked towards her.
"These sorts of things have consequences, your highness. Even you aren't above the law," the older one reached for his hunting knife on his belt.
Usagi trembled as she felt her heartbeat resonating in her chest. The pounding was hard enough to make her wonder if it could burst at that very moment and spare her from whatever they were planning to do.
"Now that we got you hogtied princess, what are we going to do with you?" The younger sneered while eyeing her up like piece of meat. "Maybe some spanking?"
"I had enough with your perverted nonsense, rookie. She burnt my cabin and she'll pay for it in skin!" He growled and unsheathed his blade.
"Now, now, chief, you did say the boss wanted her unspoiled. I'm sure that skin can be put to use while still attached to her, hopefully in a way to put you in a better mood. I'm sure he won't notice if we use her pretty little mouth and hands as long as we clean her up afterwards." The rookie licked his lips in raw lust.
"Hmm, you know what, rookie? That has got to be the smartest thing you've said all night." The older man sheathed his knife and cracked a malevolent smile at their prey.
The blonde found the will to snap out of her shock and begin to crawl backwards using her elbows.
"You two stay away from me!" Her voice cracked, throat dry from dehydration. It didn't help her that every breath she took felt like her lungs were on fire by how she was panting. "Not one more step, I'm warning you!"
"Isn't that cute? Princess thinks she can still call the shots. Well, your highness, without your big fancy crown, your palace walls, and your soldiers. What will you do if we don't stay away?"
Usagi's eyes watered and she clenched her fists. "I-I'll scream."
The two men burst into hysterical laughter. "She'll scream!" One held his sides and the other slapped his thigh.
Unfortunately that was all she could think up at the moment while desperately looking around for anything she could use. She spotted a rock bigger than the size of her hand that looked as heavy as a shot put ball but it was farther than an arm's length away.
"Oh princess, you are hilarious. Just for that, we're going to count to twenty. Feel free to scream out for help all you want. No one's going to hear you way out here. And then once we get to twenty, well then my partner and I are going to enjoy gagging you with something other than a rag." The older man tittered and removed his cloak, getting more comfortable for the main event. "Care to do the honors and start counting, rookie?"
"With pleasure," the younger one was already fiddling with his pants. "One…"
"Two…"
Usagi swallowed as much saliva as she could muster to moisten her throat, preparing to scream the loudest she had in her entire life. "Help somebody, please help me!"
"Six..."
"Help, I'm on the cliff! They're going to kill me! Help me, please!"
"Ten…"
"Help, the princess is in danger! Please, save me! I'm on the cliff, help! Hurry, please! I need rescue!"
"Fifteen…"
"Is there anybody out there?! Please, answer me! This is Princess Serenity! I need your help!"
"Nineteen…"
Left with no more time, the golden-haired maiden bashed her fists into the unforgiving ground with tears streaming down her face. She decided to give one last shout. "TRUNKS..!" She lowered her head and found it hard to breathe while sobbing at the same time.
"Twenty. Time is up, your highness."
"Now to pay your penalty,"
She shrank backwards near the edge, trying to crawl away aimlessly. Her vision was now blinded by tears as their footsteps came closer.
Just as she felt the merciless grasp pull her head up by her bangs came a sudden crash behind them and a mighty roar closing in.
