Disclaimer ½ Prince and all of the characters belong to Yu Wo

Note – This happens during the time frame of the last chapter. Poor Prince! ;-;


Prince blearily stared at the dingy corner of the basement, wondering how many years it had been since he'd been kidnapped. The stone walls, having no windows, blocked out any sunlight he could have used judge how much time passed by. Plus that stupid magician was still casting that stupid confusion spell, so he had no idea just how long he'd been tied up in that cold, dark room. Still, Prince felt slightly impressed by how long the woman had kept up the spell. The cost of mana potions must have been huge, drinking so many until even the woman's veins were probably filled with potion rather than blood.

Yu Lian definitely wouldn't condone such spending.

Trying to blink away the woozy dizziness, Prince glanced upward as one of the warrior kidnappers began to pace back and forth impatiently, heavy boots thudding across the cold floor. "How long are we going to keep her here‽" he whined at the magician, fat lips puckered in a childish pout. "It's been days and we haven't even given the Odd Squad our ransom note yet!"

"Shut up," the woman snarled in a strained voice as she continued to keep her hold on the spell, and then added in a much steadier tone, "I'm sure he knows what he's doing, so pipe down and do what you were told."

"But I'm so bored," he continued, drawing out each syllable in a very annoying drawl. Prince inwardly glared at him. So what if he was feeling bored? Prince was bored a million times as much from their repetitive conversations. They could've at least talked about something more interesting, to keep Prince entertained while he was tied up. Logging out to relieve the monotony was a tempting choice, but he'd been online as much as possible ever since he'd told the others in real life where he was, in a hope that they would hurry their butts up and find him already yet.

Prince's eyes widened in horror as he felt the cold fingers of the warrior trail down the bare strip of his thigh, coming to a halt at the top of that irritatingly tall, pink boot. Furiously struggling against the spell and ropes tying him down, Prince attempted to get away from the man, but to no avail. He simply chuckled at Prince's weak movements.

"Hey," the magician called warningly as the warrior began to remove Prince's boot. "What'd he tell you about touching her‽ I don't want to get in trouble again because you're being stupid! And neither do I want to watch you being gross!"

"He won't find out," came the mischievous reply as the boot was slipped out from under the ropes, taken off, and tossed to one side. Prince was filled with a cold dread as his eyes searched the empty staircase. The warrior had done this before, but the other one had always intervened. Now that he wasn't present, it seemed the man had gained new courage. Or stupidity.

"He's too busy upstairs playing watchman. Anyway, you can just close your eyes."

Prince involuntarily let out a whimpering noise as the caressing continued, and the magician gave a sigh, averting her eyes toward the cobwebbed ceiling. "Don't complain later when you get your ass kicked."

The wandering hands of lechery traveled all over Prince's exposed leg, and back up to the bottom of his armored skirt. Inwardly screaming, he squeezed his eyes shut and attempted once again to message his teammates, but he couldn't connect with them. Cursing whoever designed that particular spell to die a horrible death, Prince hopelessly continued his wriggling, ignoring the new pain brought on by the ropes digging into his skin.

The man laughed again, tapping the end of Prince's nose as a smirk made his ruddy face go lop-sided. "You're so cute when you struggle, Lolidragon."

"I want to puke," the magician muttered.

At Prince's murderous stare, the man made a tutting noise, pushed Prince over onto his back, and prodded the cloth gag tied around Prince's mouth. His green eyes narrowed scornfully. "Don't like the situation? Well, you shouldn't have stolen all that money from us and ruined our team, huh? You're just getting what you deserve."

Lolidragon was definitely going to be the fourth person Prince was going to kill when this was all over. The first, second, and third being these people.

Before the warrior could do anything else, the basement door suddenly opened, shut, and the second warrior slipped noiselessly down the stairs, dark armor making him nearly blend in with the shadows that surrounded them. He wordlessly ran his cold eyes over what the other was doing, and frowned ever-so-slightly in disgust. Striding over to where Prince was laying, he easily lifted the man off and threw him against the basement wall. "I told you not to touch her," he hissed angrily, and then turned to the magician. "And what were you doing, not stopping him‽"

The magician's face paled and she shook her head fearfully, clutching her thin staff tighter against herself. She threw an accusatory glance in the other man's direction. "H-he–"

"Shut up." The warrior didn't seem to expect a reply from her, and he strode toward the stairs again. His black boots barely made any sound as he walked, as if he wasn't even coming in contact with the floor. "They're here, and I've left the note upstairs. Bring the thief, we're moving to the next location."

Prince's heart soared with happiness at the first part of the news, and he mentally cheered on his teammates. As the other warrior gave a groan and stood from where he'd fallen on top of a now-broken table, he quickly picked up Prince and followed after the other man in silent obedience. The magician quietly stepped after, walking very shakily as she fought to keep her hold on the spell.

When Prince attempted to continue his struggle so the others would have time to get there and save him, bright lights exploded behind his eyes as he received another blow to the head, and he went limp in the warrior's firm grasp. Prince stubbornly fought back the tears threatening to spill out as the back of his head throbbed painfully. Having low defense was so inconvenient. Lolidragon's impressive agility and stamina were pointless when he couldn't use them.

The shopkeeper watched in timid silence as they emerged from the basement stairwell set in the floor behind the till. They hurried past him, entered the storage room, and walked to the back door. When the three came to an unexpected halt, Prince perked up his ears. "Why has he done this?" the dark warrior asked softly, in a curious sort of tone. "How daring." The jangling of metal filled the air for a moment, and he sighed. Apparently the door had been locked. "Break it."

The magician's spell was suddenly cut off and she gave a gasp of relief, but Prince's mind remained annoyingly swirly. The effects of the spell being cast briefly had the potential to last quite a while, and, as it was, Prince had no expectations of being able to think clearly for a very long time. His heart pounded as he heard the familiar voices of his friends speaking to one another inside the shop, and he attempted to call out to them around the cloth stuffed into his mouth. The only sound that came out was a muffled, strangled noise, barely loud enough for those in the room to hear, much less the rest of the shop. They were only a few meters away, yet he couldn't even get their attention. He furiously twisted his wrists around behind his back, trying to loosen the ropes. All he managed to do was give himself more cuts on the rough bonds.

A loud explosion abruptly sounded out in the storage room, startling Prince out of his escape attempts, and splintered wood flew all over the place. Sunlight suddenly spilled through the open doorway, and the three resumed their escape, dashing through the tiny, maze-like alleys behind the small shops. Their progress faltered only once when the warrior carrying Prince tripped and fell down with a loud yell, accidentally throwing Prince into a wall.

"Get up."

At the icy order, the warrior jumped to his feet and grabbed Prince again, shooting off once more. Prince attempted to memorize the directions of all of the turns, but soon gave up. Even if his mind was completely clear, he knew he wouldn't be able to remember any them.

Rounding another corner, they again came to a sudden halt. "Stop them."

Prince weakly lifted his head to watch the magician as she readied herself. She muttered a long, complicated spell. Prince stared fearfully as Kenshin came around the corner, his sword drawn, but was immediately blasted backward by the magician's released spell. Without waiting to see if the others had been caught in the attack, the three continued their retreat.

After what seemed like hours, they finally entered the back of another small building in one of the less populated areas of Infinite City, and Prince was carelessly dropped to the floor. He winced as his bare leg scraped against the rough stone. A hopeless feeling filled him as he wondered how long it would take to be found this time. At least he hadn't been blindfolded. The area outside had looked familiar, and he attempted to remember which part of the city they were in so he could tell the others once he woke up.

"Now we wait," the dark warrior informed, sounding amused as he sat himself in a corner, gaze fixed on the front door. As the other warrior lowered himself onto the floor on the other side of the room so both doors were covered, the magician quietly resumed her spell-casting, and Prince closed his eyes, attempting to block out the pain stinging all over.