He didn't want to do this. He really didn't want to do this. But, life sometimes presented you with a problem you can't solve, that must be solved. Especially if said problem involved royalty. And failure. And stupidity.

Rock, meet hard place.

He had spent the hour planning. Well, after he had loaded his veins up with some sweet, oh-so-precious caffeine he spent the hour planning. It was still close to 3:00 AM, after all.

He was presented with two problems at the moment, but to be fair, some benefits. HE wouldn't be blamed for this incident, the normal security would. If for no other reason than to maintain that the security of the royal family's personal guard was infallible. Besides, his success would mean his position would be safe.

It would also be easier to take the target now, out in the world without support. His earlier machinations to get him out of the building had been sound, but still carried inherent risk in the form of the non-in-on-it members of the security detail. This made it so much better.

But they didn't offset the setbacks. First, the princess. He had thought quite a bit about this point. She… wasn't supposed to be involved. At all. Preferably, she would have remained in the estate, quiet and ignorable, until the deed was carried out. But, if he got what he preferred, he wouldn't be sitting at this fucking desk at 3 in the fucking morning, now would he?

Either way, he figured out a solution. He didn't know what his employer wanted out of this, but he would get it. A little extra… incentive for the Prince. That would be what she was, to help him break and reveal… whatever.

Especially if it stopped himself from breaking. That was not an… acceptable turn of events.

"Now, onto the point of this little meeting. Why, exactly, do you need my help now of all times? It's three in the goddamn morning, and while you might not sleep, some of us do!"

And… there's his third problem. The second, you might ask? That was what this third problem was supposed to solve. If he didn't throttle the short, red-haired little shit first.

But, still. Politeness. If nothing less than to get his help. He could clobber him afterwards.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your sleep (he wasn't), but I need an experienced (available) agent to work on a mission that has gone… sideways."

The other man, watching him up until now quite intensely, brought the corners of his aging mouth up into a ravenous smile, shortly followed by laughter. "So, the little Agent Dashing finally needs help from me, eh? Something certainly must have gone down the shitter for this one!"

As much as he loathed to admit it, he was right. Right, but also insufferably an idiot.

He simply sighed, looking at his opposite in his mocking, but slightly… curious, eyes. "I don't expect you to help for nothing. I'm calling in the favor."

The red-head looked a little taken aback, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Ten years, and you finally call it in, eh?" He stared, but broke out into a grin. "Be good to have your dead weight off for good. So, who do you need murdered?"

"I'm not in need of that today, it's not as bad as that. It is simply… surveillance of a missing target."

"What!" His fist came down onto the table rather loudly, shaking it in his expression of anger. "Do you really not have one experienced asshole in your little club that could do simple tracking, boy!?" He continued to himself; "Useless little shits, all of them…"

This was why he didn't want to deal with this man. All the insults, negativity, and constant complaints about others…

...while still having the skills that he is never able to be called out on it. Ever since his spy days, when he met the man, he despised him, and more so than just as a superior. But, still, to the topic at hand.

"The target is a child. Five foot two, black hair, violet eyes. Likely traveling with a girl. You can figure out the rest."

Well, who said he couldn't attempt to annoy him, just a little.

Standing up slowly, eyes never leaving Rathers, Saunders began to stroll around the room, smiling. "That's all I need, boy!"

He began thinking to himself, with nothing visibly betraying his thoughts. Slowly shifting his weight foot to foot, he strode around the room, silently, always in a defensive stance. Finally, after a few dozen seconds, he seemed to come upon a revelation.

"I see… you've lost the little royals!" The dwarf's stupid mouth opened, and the laughter that spewed forth hurt his ears.

Rathers cringed inwardly, but kept a solid expression. He gritted out: "Yes, now can you get them back for me, and do your job?"

His laughter died out in an instant, snuffed out like a candle. He stared, angrily, and it honestly scared the Colonel. It was a predator, not man, on the other end, and no matter how many times he has seen it, he hasn't gotten used to it. The prey never does.

"You want me to do my job, do you?" He began to approach the Colonel.

"I will do my job. I will go out there, find the little shits, and inform your lazy ass sitting in that chair what exactly is going on." He stepped closer.

"I will update you on their position. Their status. Their words. Every goddamn breath they take will be recorded so your excuse of a military organization can do what you please."

And closer.

"I will do so until you get what you goddamn want, you little chicken shit. Until midnight, when I will finally be free from our little deal."

He stopped, just short of the table.

"And do you know why?"

Rathers just looked at him, honestly too scared to talk, but unwilling to give ground, he attempted to look back.

Because unlike you, I DO MY FUCKING JOB!"

He pounded the table, hard. The metal, built to withstand above-ordinary forces, bent. The indent would be difficult to fix, if it could be.

"Unlike you, boy."

His mouth was dry, body shaking, and leg rapidly tapping. He wanted out.

"I...understand. My man will be in touch. Now… just get out."

Turning away from the Colonel, the Major, and Special Agent, William Leopards, nicknamed Bloody Bill, stood to attention, doing a half-assed salute. The Colonel was a superior, after all.

"Gladly, boy."

Beginning to leave, he made it to the door before turning around one last time.

"Although, if I were you, I wouldn't want this to get out to, oh, a certain Empress, now would I?"

He hit a nerve there.

"She… will be informed of the incident after they are retrieved." Or never, whichever came last. He could always blame the manor's head of security. Even he didn't know if they would be found, though wouldn't care if they simply just… disappeared.

"Oh?", questioned the Major. Reaching into his uniform, he pulled out a small, rectangular device. "I think she will be hearing rather earlier than you expected, sir."

And then he left. And the Colonel had a whole new problem to handle. One his life likely depended on.

There went his sleep for the day. God damn him.

The birds were chirping, a sweet melody that blended together with the early incoming sunlight. The trees had a certain glow about them, and the woodland creatures were also beginning to stir, preparing to begin their own day of hunting and grazing.

Sadly, the scene caused by Alfonso had ruined the perfect picture.

He hated himself for it, and it never should have occurred. But, it had. In his rush to defend himself, he hurt his sister, Nunnally. What she was even doing out here was still a mystery, but here she sat. Crying on the ground under the trees.

Sure, they had played around before, fighting in the lush grasses of the Villa, and they may have caused some bruises or scratches to form on the other, but he was never malicious. This, however, was different entirely. It was purposeful. And it would have hurt. Thankfully, at least, he had the strength of the child that he was. Otherwise, the situation would be altogether worse.

But, that thinking could wait. He couldn't just stand by as his sister was hurt. After his initial exclamation of surprise, he quickly slid over to her side, attempting to put pressure on the wound, to hug her, to do anything to help.

As he tried, she flinched. Looking up at him between small sobs, she quickly pulled back.

"No! Go away!"

She quickly attempted to shift herself backwards, but instead she fell, ending up on her back and hurting her foot more.

He tried again, moving towards the young girl and attempting to look at the wound.

"No, stop!"

She still attempted to move away. He realized that she was probably afraid. He had never hurt her before, and she had never been hurt. So, he tried a third time, wrapping her in a hug instead. However, this was made rather difficult by her position and constant squirming to get out. After a moment, however, she stopped, sagging into his arms and crying.

They remained like that for a few minutes, as Nunnally began to calm and the pain began to dull.

It had been about an hour at this point. After soothing the poor girl, he eventually got to look at the point of impact. While her crying had indicated that it was bad, it was actually better than expected.

Rather than a full-on blow, as he had feared more than anything, his redirection actually worked better than expected. It was only a glancing blow to the right foot and, while it would still hurt quite considerably, it would only bleed slightly, likely healing within the week.

Thankfully.

After calming her down, the pain eventually faded, and they sat in the ground together for a few moments. It was a good time to ask what he had begun to think about over the last hour.

"Sis, what are you doing out here?"

She looked at him curiously, probably assuming that he would have already known. "I was following you!"

That didn't help. "Yes, but why?"

"It looked like fun!"

Great. Now he had to deal with this. She couldn't come along. "Nunnally, you need to go back to the estate. It's not safe out here for you."

He could tell that she disagreed based on the way her face scrunched up. "But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing."

"But I know, too! I'm staying with you!" And then, she proceeded to latch onto his leg, while continuing to sit on the ground. He tried to shake her off, but to no avail. Stupid child body.

"Nunnally, I'm bringing you back to the mansion, and that's final!"

"No!"

And he struggled for a little bit, attempting to both escape from the hold she had on him and trying to get her in return, in order to return her to safety.

After a few dozen seconds, however, he realized it was useless. He just didn't have the strength to escape. He was trapped, both figuratively and literally.

So, he thought about it, even as his sister attempted to halt the blood flow to his leg. When it came down to it, he had three, altogether bad options.

First, he could go by himself, getting away from Nunnally and hoping that she would return to the estate. Even as the thought came to him, he dismissed it as altogether impossible. She would never return to the estate without him in tow, and she would just go after him. He would be back at square one or, even worse, lose Nunnally in the woods. Not an option.

Second, he could return with her, going back through the passage and hoping they hadn't been noticed. That would ensure that she got back alright, but that was the only positive. He would have to reschedule his escape for another day, altogether unlikely as they were due to leave in two days. Or, even worse, the escape would have been noticed, and he'd never get another chance, both getting punishment and not getting what he wanted. Better for Nunnally's safety, but just too bad for himself. Not an option.

Finally, bringing Nunnally with him. That would be the easiest, but also the riskiest. While they would be punished once found, he was confident that he could shift the blame onto himself. However, he didn't know what he was doing. Sure, he could handle himself (hopefully) and accept the risk, but Nunnally couldn't. She was just too young and ignorant for such a trip. She didn't understand, and she could be at risk from any surprises.

However, he was more optimistic about this approach. It was possible for something to go wrong, but unlikely. And, if it did, he did have the 2-pound insurance weighing against his leg. But… he honestly didn't know if he could use it to defend himself. He had never shot someone before, and was terrified of violence.

But, if it was to protect someone else…

He made his choice.

Looking to the younger girl, still adamantly holding on to his leg, he still felt unsure, but there was not really an alternative. "Ok, ok, Nunna. You can come with me."

It was almost a magic trick, how fast she went from holding him down to hugging him. "Yay! Adventure!"

"But," he continued, "you must follow me and do what I say, got it?"

She stopped hugging him and backed up a bit, looking to him. "Yes!"

It was probably her smile and excited eyes that, in that moment, helped him to alleviate the doubt he had left. They would be fine, the optimism in his mind told him. His fears would come to naught, and they city would just be a fun adventure. They would look around, have a good time, and get back to the manor quickly, making up some excuse about playing in the woods. It wouldn't be enough to get them out of punishment, but they couldn't know he went to the city

Could they?

It was pitifully easy.

How could the cunts at the Manor not be able to figure out something as simple as tracking? He was experienced, sure, but even the greenest recruit should know that indents in mud and unusually ruffled foliage means somebody was there.

Major Leopards was not impressed. Even with a superficial scan of the surroundings of the tunnel exit, he had already seen three broken twigs, a few overturned rocks, and footprints leading towards the stream. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that meant. Though, a little shit like Rathers probably didn't have the mental capacity to even fucking shoot straight.

But, he needed to do this, if even just to get the tall fucker off his back. As much as it loathed him to admit it (and if you asked him about it, he would break more than a couple bones), he did owe the man for the almost-botched job in Paris.

They were on a mission together in the city, attempting to uncover a copy of the "Code Red" plans from the little mob they called the EU. While the plans for an invasion of the motherland by a weak-willed and simple enemy should be useless, it needed to be taken into account. The naval plans also didn't hurt to have, since the EU had a larger ocean-going force of rusted-out dinghies.

Anyways, Rathers, a rookie, just so happened to pull his balls out of the fire. He had planned to meet in secret with a representative of the French Brigadier General Amirault, contacted through the typical backchannels. Little French shits would do anything for money, even if it meant selling out their country for a promise of thousands.

It just so happened that, as he had gotten ready for the meeting, Rathers wanted to prove himself and just so happened to go behind his back to do recon on the man he was to meet. That had pissed him off, but what made it worse was the rookie had found out that the General was meeting with a figure of French intelligence, codenamed Phillippe. That...was a red flag and, just like it would with a bull, it made the Major murderous.

And so, the meeting occurred, except instead of himself, he sent a random civilian into the meeting (with a death threat, of course). Poor sod was shot in the leg and arrested on the spot. And so, the cursed debt was formed, and he needed to honor it, since he did follow chivalry.

He may be a pissy son of a Scotsman who drank all the time and may have killed a few people, but he still had his honor.

He did.

Anyways, following the trail, he found it to be relatively simple. They led towards the sad little stream, over the small bridge, and towards…

The city. Well, fuck, this wouldn't be so much of a walk in the park as he expected. More effort wasted on this little search.

But, still, he was experienced. It helped that the locals had no idea what the little tykes looked like. The good old Emperor made so many of the little shits that it became a form of torture to learn them all. Better for him, though.

And, so, that is what he did for the next two hours. Questioned the ignorant peasants on the streets. Did some scouting of the side roads. Looked. Did his job, like he told the fucker at the manor he would.

And so….

"Hey, you!"

The young man, who couldn't have been more than twenty with stubble like that, turned around to face him.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Get over here for a moment!"

Walking rapidly towards the man, the Major gave off an aura of… Well let's just say it was hostile. So, the man attempted to reverse course, walking the other way slowly.

"Look, man, I need to get to the steel mill. My shift starts in-"

"Well, it won't ever start unless you COME HERE!"

Finally catching up to the guy, Leopards reached into his pocket, the mill worker's eyes trained on his hand at all times. Something that was noticed.

"Oh, don't worry you little sissy. If I wanted to shoot you, it would be in the back."

That… didn't exactly help the situation.

Finally locating the object he was looking for, he removed his hand from his pocket, and thrust the two produced photos into the younger man's face. It was the Prince and Princess, though the little bastard wouldn't know that if it hit him on the nose. Or, with how angry the Major was at the moment, shot him in the face.

"Have you seen these two kids around? I need to find them."

He looked at the photos for a moment. "I would… assume these are your kids…?

"...yes."

"But they don't look like-"

"Adopted."

"But-"

Ok, that's enough of that.

"Ok, you little shit, enough! Now, have. You. Seen. Them. Or. Not!"

The man thought about the morality of what he was about to do for a minute. And then, he thought about the pistol that the other man had "accidentally" shown during the shouting earlier. Yeah, no.

"I saw 'em down by the river eating some ice cream. Something must have happened, for them to be all happy like that. Well, the girl was, at least-"

"Well that's all well and good, but WHICH FUCKING RIVER!"

And there was the gun again.

"T-the East River. Now wi-will you kindly just leave me a-alone!"

The angry Scotsman put the photos back into the pocket, a grin beginning to form on his face. An altogether… bloodthirsty one.

"Yes, I think I will. Time to finish it once and for all…"

Turning around, he began to walk at a breakneck speed towards the riverside a few miles away. And the steel worker, wanting to forget about the incident, turned to rush towards his job. Which he was late to. And got fired soon after.

Not like Leopards would care about it though.

Bullseye.

That bumbling idiot in the city was right. After a quick ride and a short theft, he had arrived at the banks of the river. And, lo and behold, less than three minutes in and he had already found the little shits.

He kept his distance, though. No need to alert the mouse of the cat. Pulling out his mobile radio, gotten shortly after… that meeting, he brought it up to his mouth and spoke quietly and quickly.

"Leopards, found the kiddies on the banks of the East River, near the industrial sector. What now?"

Silence. Only static for a good three minutes. The Colonel must have put a fucking imbecile on the other end rather than brave up and talk to him directly, little shit.

Finally, the other end responded. "Continue observations, Major. Monitor and await further instructions. A team is being dispatched"

My god, even the voice sounded like that of an ignorant and bumbling teen barely old enough to shave. What was the world coming to? They couldn't even replace him now that the targets were found!

"Monitor my ass…"

Well, that solved that curiosity. Even if it was… an unfortunate truth.

He sat with Nunnally on the banks of the river, after her insistence that she was tired. With what little money he brought, (since $5,000 was only a little compared to his actual allowance) he got some ice cream for them in the… better section of the city. Nunnally had been sitting and eating hers without a care in the world.

The city was worse off than he had thought it would be. As he had approached the city, he was nearly taken by guards for being alone, at least until he bribed them. Started everything on a sour note.

Even once he got in, everything was split. The richest of the city had lived towards the center, in giant skyscrapers and small mansions that made up the heart of the financial and first class sector of the city. He wasn't allowed there. Only the nobility, rich, and not-in-hiding royalty were. So, he was left to roam the industrial sector.

It was… not good. Workers, covered in grime, walked the streets early in the morning. When he inquired, he was ignored by the vast majority. Except one, who took the time to complain about the 14-hour workweek, low pay, and unsafe metal machines sticking out everywhere.

It was even worse than the Industrial Revolution was. Over time, regulations had gotten rid of these practices. Not here, it looked like.

Even the houses were bad, small little shacks compared to the towering behemoths in the city. Granted, some had nice homes that would be considered middle class, but many were simply old, dilapidated houses.

This… explained some things to him. Maybe this world wasn't as… kind as his noble upbringings implied.

The trip was valuable information, to be taken into account in the future. But, it was now time to return home. The emerging daylight had begun to morph into the bright rays of the afternoon. And the sooner he delayed, the worse the punishment.

"Ok Nunna, I think it's time that we-"

He stopped.

Where was Nunnally? She had just been down by the riverside a moment ago, looking at the flowers growing along the banks. Now, she wasn't there anymore.

He felt a little dread at this point. He made the choice, so if something happened, it was his fault.

But, then, he heard some rapid footsteps approaching from behind him. That must be her, mustn't it? Turning around, he prepared to be tackled, tickled, or whatever else her plan might be.

He briefly saw Nunnally in the distance, struggling. Before it registered in his mind, he noticed a gun stock just a foot away. And then felt a throbbing pain on the side of his head.

It would be the last thing he remembered before the darkness closed in.

Hello all, offtimeotaku here!

2,000 views, holy cow! For my first writing piece, it does feel nice to have so many people read my work, so thank you guys, truly.

Yeah… I haven't uploaded in a little bit. Blame the education system. In fact, blame it for the next few months, since school work is going to take up a not-insignificant portion of time.

Anyways, the story! The children finally made the escape, but they were followed! I mean, what else could be expected from children, really. Even if one is supposed to be a young adult.

What's going to happen to our protagonist? Will Nunnally be alright? Will Major Leopards finally break and murder one of them? Gonna have to find out next time. Well, except the last one. That would just be bad story writing.

Review!

JustaShadow4: I will keep it up my friend. Can't get rid of me very easily!

Go ahead and leave a review! I love reading them, and they make me get a case of the happies in my life.

That's all from me. Have a nice day!