Notes: Wooowie, this one is 3.7K words. Maybe I accidentally went too far :P

Rum - Thanks ;) I will

Bedrock - Yeah I plan to update more often. I want too! But I like to make stories as a reader, not as a writer. So if I lose interest in a story, I need time away to ready up again and then get back into it, 'relight the fire' if you would.

Noobl2 - Thanks for the words of encouragement, it really means a lot to know I'm still attracting people to my story! :D

Infinite - Good ideas, I already talked to you in a PM about them :)

Sugar - Hahaha, that sounds like a familiar plot to me but I'm not sure where from and yes don't worry, maybe I might or might not have something planned for Ophelia... Pssst - I don't xD

Welp! That's about it, enjoy the chapter :D

Star wasn't sure how long she'd been there by now, it'd been at least a few hours, the time was hard to tell down in the dusty darkness. Her wrists had become extremely sore by now, skin had begun to peel away from the surface, but that was nothing compared to the burning agony in which her arms were going through. Having to keep them raised for so long built up a tremendous amount of acid in her muscles, the desire to release the tension was almost maddening.

The cobblestone underneath her was slightly cracked, some parts had faint blood-stains on them from previous captees. Long iron bars were about 3 meters in front of her, they had become slightly rusted from the years of abuse by water droplets, multiple chinks of varying size had been made in the surrounding walls, presumably from rats that infested the undergrounds of the castle. The girl had lost herself to the inner-confines of her mind in wait, that was until her body had jolted her to the harsh-reality once more.

A creak of metal had notified Star of an incoming intruder, her eyes darted towards the cellar entrance in wait of the identity to this presence. A few near-inaudible footsteps were heard before a voice called out, "He-hello, M-mi-mmiss majes- Your majesty!" The voice quickly corrected, it held a warm, slightly calming tone to it. Star was left baffled by the unexpected visitor, but then as the bewilderment settled down, more questions were being raised in Star's head. 'Who was this girl?' 'Why does she know about Star being doing here?' 'Why does her voice not match her actions?' The figure approached her cell, the Butterfly could make out some features now; green fluffy hair was erupting in all directions from the scalp of the girl, she must've been about 5 foot 3 inches and she appeared to being holding a tray containing some food. "Sorry that this isn't food – I mean it's food, but just not good food – like your food, I mean like royal food." She finished a little flustered, a silent blush crept on her cheeks, there were two candles just outside the cell which were about half burnt-out. They provided little warmth but enough lighting to really emphasise the depressing nature of the cage.

"Yeah. I'd love to come over there and eat, but I can't right now. A little tied up with something." Star deadpanned, "Why don't you come over here and uncuff me?" Her head was leaning against the cold stone now, arms still up in the air.

"Hehe, sorry Princess." She stated while looking at the tray that she was lowering down, "I'm just following orders from Ophelia, funnily enough I don't want to die yet, or rather I can't die yet." She closed with a smile before sending the tray sliding across the bumpy surface towards the chained teen. "It's not that I don't like you! It's just that I want to choose the winning side in war, is all."

Kelly began to move away after that, her back faded into a deep abyss, leaving Star with a gloop of soup lying next to her right foot. "Tsk." Star groaned as Kell's footsteps faded out of earshot.

5:00 PM – Dining Hall

The crew spent the past few hours being good chosen, playing sport with the others, talking to the Royal family – this was slightly awkward for Marco. He could barely hold himself back from attacking the king directly, luckily Ophelia was busy flirting with some of the other chosen so he had that as an added bonus. Over the course of the stay, Al had become friends with a few more guys. I say "friends", more like casual acquaintances: Alexander Pattio and Dominic Covertson were a couple of the closer ones he made. Would they be useful to Marco? Probably not, but at least Al's blending in nicely. He's by far the least suspicious one out of all of them so far, the Diaz wanted to keep it that way.

Regardless, it was time for dinner. Marco's stomach had become increasingly more stable when eating the food, its overwhelming taste had less of an effect on his stomach. Today's menu consisted of fresh tomato soup for starters, a chicken dinner consisting of buttery mashed-potato with a dousing of gravy lathered on top for the main and finishing off with a spongy ginger cake. The food menu hadn't been nearly as over-the-top as the first day of arrival, mostly 3 course meals. However, to say they were large portions would be an understatement, even though it wasn't as massive as a five-course dinner, Marco could've lived off this meal alone for up to 3 days.

"What do you guys plan to do after this?" The Diaz asked whilst plummeting a spoonful of jiggly cake into his mouth. Alfonzo was sat across from him and Matt was sat to the left of Al, the latter person had already finished their cake; the first had barely finished a quarter of it.

A small 'hmm' came from Al for a second before he spoke, "I've been meaning to get some practise with a bow & arrow for the archery competition tomorrow. We could do that?" His eyes were still fixated on the tantalising loaf in front of him.

"Yeah," Marco replied, "I actually don't know how to use a bow & arrow at all." The teen finished while sheepishly scratching his head.

That was when Matthew decided to chime in, "I can teach you guys the basics if you'd like? You won't become world-class overnight, but at least you won't be a complete embarrassment." Matt was laid back in his seat now, letting his slightly bloated stomach rest from all the intake of sustenance. The two other comrades' eyes filled with glee when he offered the lesson on archery, that was all he needed for an answer, after a short chuckle "Well then, looks like we're going to have ourselves a night of archery."

Later – In the Garden

The sun had nearly set now, it filled the sky with an Ocean of orange, shifting between various colours across the massive blue. About 100m from the centre of the garden with the water fountain, there was a short archery course. It had about 3 targets, all varying in distance – the first was about 30m, second was 50m and the third was around 70m, they were just painted wooden planks which were leaned against a couple hay bales.

As Marco bent down to pickup a bow, he asked "Where do we start?" The boy grabbed the bow and started to inspect it.

"For starters, we pick the right bow." Matt replied as he took the shooter out of Marco's hand and swapped it with a recurve bow, apparently Marco – in his haste picked up a long bow which was primarily used for hunting. A blandish look crept across Marco's face, slightly embarrassed, he accepted the new piece of wood. "Now you two are going to watch me, and then you can try it right?" Timmings said as he gathered another bow and pulled one arrow from the side. He began by placing his left foot forward with his right back, about shoulder width apart, "One of the most important things is to have a strong foundation, all the power is generated by pulling the string back, hence the more you pull – the faster it'll fire." The others nodded in agreement with what he was saying, "okay, now you want to keep your firing arm – in my case my right arm – level with the arrow, if you put it down or up, your arrow won't fly straight." They seemed to understand that too, "finally, you want to release and—" a slight high-pitched zip was heard as it soared through the air faster than any normal human could register. It had embedded itself about 1 bar from the centre.

Marco and Al stared in amazement at how powerful the shot was, it was firmly rooted in the wood. "Don't be shocked too much," Matt stated as he placed the bow back down, "I'm not very good at it, I only have a good pull."

"How can we not be amazed after seeing that!" Al exclaimed with an assortment of accompanying hand gestures.

Matthew walked over to Marco, who already had a bow in-hand, "Now you try." He said as he passed over an arrow. The Diaz took a large gulp in preparation and took a hold of the aerial dagger, he swiftly made his way to the position and locked the arrow in the string, "Remember: Pulling arm level, feet planted, eye on target." Marco nodded to signal his understanding, after a minute of breathing and preparing he launched the arrow, at first the arrow looked good. His training in martial arts had strengthened his arms, so the initial velocity could probably rival Matt's. Although, the same could not be said for his technique, the short 'whizz' as it soared was interrupted by a short 'thud' as it came crashing into the ground about 5m in front of the target, Marco closed his eyes and took a steep breath in – it was rather anti-climactic.

Timmings let out a roaring chuckle while Al just snickered slightly before stopping himself. "Don't worry Marco, you'll get the hang of it." Matt said while moving over to the Diaz to collect the bow, "We've got a lot longer to practise so don't get too upset, your finger just changed the trajectory at the moment of release is all; the power was good though, you could easily be a challenge if you had better technique." Marco just hmm'd in response to the critique.

The three practised for another hour or two, it was night now and the candle lights had been lit. They decided it to be best if they left it now, overall, Marco had hit the target around 13 times, 1 near-bullseye and missed 4 times. Meanwhile, Alfonzo hit the target 16 times, 1 bullseye and missed once. It seemed the teen had an eye for looking at trajectories.

The air was fairly humid and the three were covered in sweat from the exhausting sport. Usually it wouldn't be so bad but when you're constantly firing out shots it really started to take a tax on your body – you may think it'd just be the arms, but the legs and the core work just as hard. Without either of them your form would crumble, or your shots would lack any good power to them. The trio thought it be best to pack up and head over in for showers and warmth.

As the three were collecting any arrows that they could find, the group was startled by a high-pitched shriek pierce the skies and snap behind them, lodging itself directing into a bullseye. Simultaneously, all three turned to face the source of the near-death experience. Unsurprisingly, their eyes landed them onto Ophelia stood at the furthest point away from them, she gracefully dropped the bow and strolled towards them. Marco was the first to proceed to her, "What the hell?! You could've hit one of us!" He hissed.

"But I didn't." She nonchalantly responded. A small twitch struck Marco's left eye. The other teens jogged over to the bickering two for any reinforcement needed.

"What do you want?" Matt spit as he approached.

"Don't be so cold," she complained, "after all the intimacy we shared in the bush." She finished with a wink and motioning a kiss.

Matthew was getting ready to respond but Marco stopped him, "Matt it's not worth it… She just wants to provoke us." He said. "We should just leave." Marco began to walk away from the princess, just before the other two could follow she sprang up.

"I think after you all shower, you should all go get a drink."

"Why are you so insistent on us getting drunk?" Marco shot back, his eyes not facing her.

"I'm not saying you should get drunk, oh heavens no, I just think our wine cellar is a lovely place this time of year, very chilling." Before Marco could inquire further about her strange request, Al grabbed his arm and shook his head before leading Marco off still in thought. A grin formed on Ophelia's face once they were slightly further away.

Rec Room – 9:30PM

On the nights when there wasn't much going on, the Chosen were free to use to recreational room as they please, it held a few board games and card packs to create any game they could think of. The trio were playing blackjack, Al was the dealer. "Hit" Marco called, he held a 3 and a 7 so far.. The third card slid gracefully across the table and softly into Marco's fingers, he glanced at the card and seemed happy with his result. "Stick" he called out. Matt stuck with his first two cards, whereas Al got three cards and then hit a fourth one but went bust. The version of blackjack they were playing allowed for three players, it wasn't a 'true game' but they weren't betting anything, it was simply to pass the time.

"20" Marco called out before flipping his cards over to reveal '3' '7' and a 'Q'.

"19" Matt replied and flipped over a 'J' '9'.

"Marco you're too good." Al cried, the Diaz was easily in the lead with the most wins, it seemed his affinity for luck was no joke.

"It's all in the wrist." Marco joked, the three shared in a good laugh before Marco continued more seriously, "What do you guys think Ophelia meant by we should go to the cellar?"

"I don't know," Al said, "knowing her it's probably a trap." Matt seemed to agree with this opinion.

"Yeah… Maybe, but there's a part of me that can't shake the feeling that it's something important…" The teen was staring into the table, lost within his mind once more. What should I do? It could be a trap, but it could be something import—

"If you feel that bad about it, we can check it out." Matt said, seeing the obvious conflict Marco was in right now. Marco just nodded and began to move, still thinking about what it could be.

Cellar

Star had managed to figure out a way to relieve the stress on her arms now, but the downside was that it meant her wrists had to endure even more pain. She had been using the method on and off for about 2 hours now, said wrists were slightly bloodied now. They weren't dripping with blood, but evident marks of extreme soreness and friction burns were protruding through her skin. The temperature was dropping quickly, the air had become sharp – piercing her nostrils with every breath, she could see her breath in the surrounding atmosphere now. She tried to keep active, but it wasn't much use when trapped to a wall. The girl needed to be warmed up, rather quickly too – it was about to reach dangerous levels of coldness.

However, in between the panic states of the impending doom, her mind was still thinking about the girl who visited her earlier, 'who was she?' 'Why did she act the way she did?' 'How come she refuses to fight Ophelia?' All questions that plagued her mind.

A few thumps around upstairs had awoken Star from her deep thought, "Hey!" She called out.

2 Minutes Earlier

The three teens had managed to manoeuvre around the castle successfully without bumping into any guards, however there was a close call when Al was about to sneeze next to a guard outpost. That'd have ended well.

Matt's servant had given him the directions to the cellar, when asked why he needed it, he just said that the Chosen asked him to get a bottle of something expensive. The servant seemed happy with the excuse.

The entrance was two metallic doors with a small handle in the centre, it required two of them to open it up. A small "Hey!" Was audible from further down the darkness.

"Marco that sounded like…" Al said.

"Star." Marco finished. Without wasting much time at all, he jumped into the doorway and rushed down the few steps they had in the cellar, he noticed that the air had already started to prickle his skin, How long has Star been here? "Star?" He cried, trying to figure out where she was.

"Over here!" The voice called back.

"Marco don't go running off without a light idiot!" Matt shouted back as he came down with a candle, after catching up to Marco they saw Star's outline in a cage. The three ran over to try and break her out; they were stopped by a lock.

"I can try and pick it, but it'll take time." Alfonzo stated as he leaned next to it.

"We don't have time!" Matt yelled as he brought down a large metal pipe he found and snapped the lock cleanly from its hold. A loud 'clank' was heard as the metal made contact with the stone floor. Afterwards, the three rushed in to free Star, luckily the cuffs were slightly rusted – Matt and Marco were able to pull apart both of them, it was tough and their hands started to sting a lot after it. But honestly they didn't really care about the pain, or at least, Marco didn't.

A warm hug was given to the little Butterfly once they rescued her, the girl accepted the gift and returned it similarly. "You're freezing." Marco cautiously noted.

"You're late." She replied, they shared a laugh before getting her out and back into the main of the castle.

A Few Minutes Later

Al and Matt broke off once they reached the right floor, they needed to head to their respective rooms now, they said that they'd come to check on Star in the morning. After a few short goodbyes, Star and Marco headed for his room.

"Ophelia shouldn't be able to get to you in here." He said while taking his shoes off.

"Thanks Marco," She said with a smile, "You're always here to help me out."

"I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't." He said with a laugh, 'Only a friend, huh?' She thought to herself.

Marco offered that she get into a warm shower for a while to heat up, after being trapped in that temperature for as long as she was, her core temp should've lowered considerably.

30 Minutes Later

Star finished showering, it was rather refreshing – her body felt so much lighter than before, her wrists were still red. But the damage wasn't dangerous or even close to it, she'd lived through worse injuries. The girl had dried herself on a couple of towels and put on some slightly loose clothing that she found, rather comfortable but not very stylish.

Star came out of the shower room to find a lonesome Marco sitting on the bed.

"I don't know any more Star…" He moaned.

The guy seemed really deflated about something, a flood of sadness, despair and hopelessness filled his voice. She was taken aback by the sudden deflation of her companion.

"What do you—"

She was cut off by Marco, "It seems like everything I do, Ophelia just retaliates harder and harder every time. I'm not sure what the right thing to do anymore is, like, how do I keep you safe, and still protect everyone else?" He refused to make eye-contact, instead he just kept staring into nothing…

"Why do you need to protect me?" She asked, moving closer to him – now lowering herself to sit next to him.

"Because… Because you're the most important piece. You're the most important person to me here, and I want to protect you… I have to, but I don't know how to because I always keep losing." He turned to meet her in the eyes now, a mix of emotions swirling inside of him – threatening to explode into a fit of colour.

"I think you're winning…" She said, inching a little closer, "think about it, you gave me confidence," she began to count on her fingers, "you saved me – twice! You got a confession from Markus, you made a plan to take 'Phe down, you persuaded others to join us and you managed to manipulate this entire choosing to last the full 2 weeks for everyone!"

"That's only because I had you for -"

"You still do, you haven't lost me. We can win, so just believe in yourself, kay?" Her sweet smile. That damned smile that tore through any doubts.

…

"Your wrists." Marco noted as he took a grasp on her hands gently.

"Ah that? That's fine, it'll heal don't worry about it." The two locked eyes with their hands still holding each other, both parties slightly leaned in.

"How do you know that I can win?" He asked.

"You can't…" She confessed, a puzzled look struck Marco's face, "but we can. Together, all of us." She smiled sweetly once more, and that was when Marco accidentally gave over the controls to impulse for a second; he fell into her lips, colliding with a soft impact. The two sat still like this for a moment, neither refusing to break their contact. When it finally ended, Marco was the first to be brought to reality, "I should – uh, go… To your room."

"Yeah yeah, of course…" She said, slightly disappointed in the anti-climactic ending. He stood up and moved for the exit, he opened the door swiftly and left, leaving Star alone on his bed. She exhaled deeply, 'Idiot.' She thought to herself.

The door slammed back open, "Fuck it, I don't want to go." He declared before strutting over to Star and grabbing her by the waist, a massive grin erupted on the Butterfly's face and the two leaned in for another kiss. A mixture of feelings were poured into each second of contact, the two made out for quite some time, eventually they moved further onto the bed and continued this war-of-mouths.

15 minutes had passed in the blink of an eye, the two stopped – gasping for oxygen. "What made you come back?" She asked, her lungs still agonising for air.

"I realised: If I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore, I'm just going to do what I want. To hell with it all." He smirked back at her.

"That'll do." She said before closing in for another frontal-assault.

End Notes: Yep, I know the writing quality may have de-railed a little towards the end but I really wanted to finish it tonight! I had a few more ideas I wanted to write, but I decided against it because of how long this chapter was already. Sorry if it felt rushed at the end, I might come back to fix it up later :)

Review! - Use it to ask questions about the story or myself, give suggestions or just give some constructive criticism! :D

See ya,

vK~