A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter, but I needed to stop making them longer and longer; it was seriously stressing me out xD
DISCLAIMER: I fail at life.
"You were unsuccessful in getting any information?"
"Correct, your majesty," Donald spoke, head bowed and arms behind him as he and Bumper stood before the king. Bumper was sporting a rather nasty black eye and swelled purple nose, and he looked a bit more irritated than his level-headed fellow guard.
The king hummed, moving to circle the boys in a condescending manner. "And did you use all methods of persuasion?"
Donald cleared his throat. "We used basic physical violence, your majesty. We plan on making a few more attempts at getting the prisoner to speak, but we must request your permission to use other methods."
"Yes of course," Jefferson replied, nodding his head once. "I trust you two to execute what is needed in order to extract any information from the thief. I give you full permission to do what is needed. However, I request that you restrain your torture methods given the fact that I do not want this thief dead yet. I want her kept alive until we can capture the rest of the Bellas." The king finished his slow circle around his guards, taking stand in front of them again. "However, besides that, I grant that you both are free to do whatever means you deem necessary in order to get information on the Bellas identities or whereabouts. Do you understand me?"
"Yes your majesty," both guards responded obediently.
The king smiled. "Excellent. I trust you boys to do what is needed. Now, I dismiss you both," he said, waving them off. The guards obediently left the room, relaxing their formal stances once the door finally swung shut behind them.
"Ugh, we can't kill her? Do you know how many torture devices that limits us from if we can't risk killing the stupid bandit? She fucked up my face, she deserves to be put down!" Bumper whined indignantly. "It's not like she's gonna give us any useful information on her team anyway."
"Relax, you can still get plenty of revenge without killing her," Donald gave his partner a warning look. He knew Bumper was letting the prisoner get into his head a bit too much, and he worried the other guard would forgo the kings' instructions to suit his own need for revenge. Deciding to keep a close eye on his partner for now, Donald sighed. "C'mon, we need to go get some rope."
"Aubrey, I'm bored," Chloe whined, sitting precariously on the island counter as she watched the blonde prepare dinner. The redhead had been lounging about the kitchen for the majority of the day, avoiding any royal responsibilities she may have, and more importantly, hiding from the prince. Though he had always been rather handsy and flirty with her, his forwardness had seemed to increase tenfold since she'd held his hand at the table. No matter how much Chloe argued otherwise, he was convinced the redhead had begun 'succumbing to his inevitable charm' and insisted on spending time with her - which usually meant harassing her. Yes, lazing around in the kitchen with Aubrey seemed like the much more desirable option.
"So read your book," Aubrey suggested distractedly, not taking her eyes off the big ham she was glazing with even and calculated brush strokes.
Chloe hummed in disapproval, fiddling with the hardcover novel in her hands. "But I've been reading for forever! I'm tired of reading. Can we play a game?"
The blonde chef rolled her eyes fondly. "Chloe, you've been reading for twenty minutes. And I'm preparing dinner, I can't play a game with you right now."
The redhead sighed dramatically as she flopped back on the counter, harboring a pout. "Pleease? One card game or something?"
After making sure the ham was perfectly and evenly coated with glaze, Aubrey turned to put the brush in the sink, glancing over at her friend. "I hope you realize how unsanitary that is," she commented as she noticed Chloe spread out on her counter.
"Sorry," Chloe sighed, sitting up again. "That doesn't answer my question though."
The blonde was silent as she popped the oven doors open, grabbing the pan of ham and sliding it onto the rack with a clatter. Once she shut the oven again, she wiped her brow, turning to face Chloe again. "Fine, I'll play one game with you while the ham is cooking," the blonde finally relented, lip quirking as the redhead squeed and quickly hopped off the counter.
"Yay! You're the best, Bree," the redhead gushed, abandoning her book as she made her way to a drawer in the corner of the kitchen. Since Aubrey and her were such good friends, and Chloe often spent a lot of time in the kitchen, the blonde had allowed Chloe to have one of the corner drawers. The redhead usually kept it stocked with things to entertain herself with while she kept Aubrey company, but she also used it to occasionally hide things from her parents. Quickly fishing out a deck of cards, Chloe trotted back over to Aubrey, and soon the two friends were deep in a game of go fish, cards spread out on the island counter between them.
"So how's it been with Tom lately?" Aubrey asked, attempting to start up a conversation as she unconsciously began organizing the cards in her hand from smallest to largest. However, with the fact that Chloe had been hiding out in the kitchen with her for so long today, she had a feeling she already knew the answer to her question. Her suspicions were further confirmed when Chloe groaned at the prince's name, shaking her head. "That bad?" Aubrey asked, casting her friend a sympathetic glance.
"I thought he was annoying before, Bree. But he's been way worse since I grabbed his hand to shut him up. He seems to think I'm interested in him now, which I most certainly am not," the redhead sighed, thumbing over her hand of cards. "Do you have any threes?"
"Go fish," Aubrey said, watching the princess grab a card from their pond and add it to her hand. "What's he been doing exactly? I mean, is he just flirting more with you or...? Got any sevens?"
"Go fish," The redhead said, shaking her head. "And he just won't leave me alone, Bree. I mean, he was handsy and flirty before, but now he's doing it even more, and he just won't stop," Chloe explained, readjusting her cards. "It's like he's acting like I'm his girlfriend or something, and I can hardly get a moment's peace before he's touching my ass or giving me an arrogant smile. Ugh. Any aces?"
Aubrey cast Chloe a sympathetic glance, the irritation and exasperation evident in the princess' tone. As the blonde chef pulled the ace from her fan of cards, she decided to redirect the conversation away from the arrogant prince. "So, how's your prison friend been?" she asked, passing off her ace of clubs to the redhead. "Bagel or something? How's she doing?"
Some of Chloe's stress melted away as she grinned bemusedly at her best friend. "Bagel? Seriously? Is 'Beca' really that hard to remember? And why do you always think her name is a food?"
"I work with food a lot, sue me," Aubrey rolled her eyes playfully. "When she's important enough to me to remember her name, I will. Besides, my career revolves heavily around food. She should feel honored I've deemed her worthy of a food name."
Chloe giggled at this, shaking her head at her friend's antics. "Okay then. Any fours?"
"Go fish," Aubrey said. "And you never answered my question. You haven't gone into her cell again, have you?"
Chloe hesitated, hand briefly pausing over the card pond. "Uh, well..."
"Chloe!"
"I know," the princess gave her friend an apologetic look. "The guards really roughed her up the other day though. I just went in to help fix her up a bit, that's all. She was very grateful, and I made it out safely. We've even formed a truce," Chloe added as an afterthought, still seeing the skepticism in her blonde friend's eyes. "We're going to trust each other a bit more. She's not going to hurt me, and I'm not going to tell my dad anything she tells me. We're like, friends now I guess."
The blonde still looked uncertain, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "Okay, so maybe she's not going to hurt you, I can see why that wouldn't be a concern with all the times you've gone into her cell. But I still don't know about making a truce with a bandit. I mean, what if she's just doing all this so you'll help her escape? To use your power in this situation to benefit herself?"
"Why would she..."
"Think about it," Aubrey started. "If she doesn't get out of there, you and I both know she's as good as dead. There's no way in hell they're going to release her after what she's done, and she's not going to be able to get herself out with all the guards prowling the castle. And through this situation, suddenly the princess waltzes in and wants to be friends. What would you do, Chloe?"
The redhead's gaze lowered at this, mulling over Aubrey's words as she began to doubt the bandit for the first time. "I... Never thought about it that way," she admitted.
"And I know you said she seemed like a good person," the blonde continued, "and maybe she is, I don't know. But that still doesn't mean she can't try and get close to you just so you'll help her. She may not hurt you purposefully, but if she has to choose between freedom and being your friend, a bandit is going to choose freedom in a heartbeat."
Chloe was silent for a long moment, head bowed as she half-heartedly fidgeted with the cards in her hand. Aubrey felt slightly bad at seeing Chloe's kicked puppy face, but at the same time she was glad she had finally gotten the wariness she exhibited through to Chloe's head. The princess was often overly optimistic about people and situations, innocently thinking with her heart instead of her head, and while it gave her quite the positive outlook on life, it also led to the redhead getting hurt more than she should be, and this whole bandit situation was one Aubrey didn't want to see Chloe's naivety blind her to; it could end up being much more dangerous than some of the other things Chloe got into.
The princess' silence stretched on for a few more moments, and just when Aubrey was about to say something to try and snap her out of it, the redhead spoke up. "You're right," Chloe said, voice softer than it had been a moment ago. "I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, what if she's just using me? Or if she's trying to get information out of me? Oh god Bree, I-"
"Chloe, it's okay," Aubrey cut off the redhead's worried rambling, abandoning her hand of cards as she maneuvered around the counter to hug her friend. "Why are you letting this affect you so much? I mean, you've only known her for a few days."
"I-I don't know," the redhead admitted softly, and she honestly didn't. "I guess, she's just really easy to talk to, and she doesn't treat me like a royal or a princess like everyone else does. She treats me like an equal, and I know most high class people wouldn't like that, but I like that she talks and acts around me like she would anyone else. I mean, she treats me like a normal person, like I'm Chloe Beale, not like the princess of Barden."
Aubrey rubbed her friend's back soothingly. "Oh, Chloe..."
"And I know I have you to talk to, and I appreciate it," The redhead continued. "I mean, you're my best friend and I love you to pieces, and no one will ever be able to replace you. But I just. It's nice to have more than just one person that, that I can-"
"I know, It's a completely understandable thing to want, Chlo," the blonde cut off the redhead's rambling, heart going out for her distraught best friend. "And I... It's not like," Aubrey hesitated. "I'm not saying you can't go in and talk to this bandit. She hadn't tried to hurt you in any way, even though she had a few good chances to, so I don't see the harm in just going into the prison chamber and talking with her. Just maybe stay out of her cell from now on, and be careful what kind of information you say around her," Aubrey offered. There was a few more moments of silence as Chloe hugged her friend, lost in thought, but she eventually pulled away, ignoring Aubrey's sympathetic look.
"Yeah, I guess so," the redhead said, giving the chef a weak smile. "Thank you for knocking some sense into me though Bree. I don't know what I was thinking. I'd be a mess without you."
Aubrey chuckled, playfully nudging Chloe with her elbow. "C'mon, help me clean up these cards. I don't even remember where we were."
"Me neither," the princess giggled, moving to help the blonde pick up the abandoned card game. Chloe was just slipping the deck into the box when the girls heard a familiar arrogant voice hollering from in the grand hall.
"Chloooee! Where are you my princess?"
"Shit, that's Tom," Chloe whisper-yelled, eyes widening. Aubrey quickly gestured to the opposite side of the kitchen, towards door that led to the hallway and away from the grand hall door that Tom's voice seemed to be growing closer to
"Go out through the hall. I'll distract him for you," Aubrey whispered back, hurrying around the counter to gently usher the princess.
"Where do I go? He's just going to find me again," the redhead asked frantically, gripping the deck of cards nervously in her hands.
"Go see Bagel or something. Hurry, before he comes in here," Aubrey said quickly.
"Her name's not-"
"Just go!"
"Right. Thanks Bree," Chloe said, hurriedly pushing through the doors and rushing out of the kitchen.
Aubrey barely had time to dart back over and snatch Chloe's forgotten book off the counter when Tom entered through the grand hall door. The cook quickly pretended she had been reading, precariously dog-earing the page she had randomly opened it to - and silently sending an apology to Chloe, who she knew hated dog-earing pages in her books - before glancing up politely at the royal. "Ah, Prince Tom. How are you this afternoon, your majesty? May I be of any assistanc-"
"Have you seen Chloe?" the prince cut her off rudely, not seeming to care about what she had to say in the slightest.
Aubrey did her best to hide her annoyance as she responded, "I'm sorry, prince. She isn't here with me at the moment."
Tom narrowed his eyes at her. "Who were you talking to then?"
Aubrey's heart sped up, doing her best to keep up a neutral expression. "What ever do you mean, your majesty?"
"Before I came in here," he said. "You were talking about bagels, I heard you. Who were you talking to?"
The blonde held back a laugh, more relieved than ever that she refused to learn the bandit's name; bagel-talk would be much easier to explain. "I was just going over breakfast plans, your majesty. I tend to talk to myself sometimes when I really get into it."
The royal grunted, not bothering with a response as he turned to head out the door Chloe had just gone through. Aubrey's eyes widened at this as she spoke up quickly, "Oh wait! I uh..." The prince stopped, turning to look at the chef. Aubrey swallowed hard as she racked her brain for something to say, and the weight of the novel in her hands suddenly became very noticeable to her as an idea came to mind. "I think Chloe said something about going to the library for a bit."
Tom narrowed eyes in skepticism and confusion. "The library?"
"Yes," Aubrey said, relieved she had stopped his trek to the door. "Whether she is actually there or not is really hard to say, she can get rather distracted with her princess duties, but last I heard from her she was planning on stopping by there." It wasn't a lie; Chloe had said she needed to return her book to the library, lest she lose it like she often ended up doing with her favourite books. Aubrey was grateful the thought had occurred to her, and even more so that the library was all the way on the opposite side of the castle.
"Where is this library?" Tom asked.
"Just through there," Aubrey began, pointing a bit too eagerly at the grand hall entrance again. "Head out to the hall through there and go left, and follow the hallway until you get to the very end. The library is right there."
Tom left without another word, and Aubrey slumped back against the counter in relief, glad she had been able to deter the prince from her friend's path, at least for a little while.
Beca sputtered and coughed as she was pulled from the lake, the tight rope bindings around her torso making it even more difficult to breathe as she gasped for air. The dunking contraption she was currently attached to was set up in a teeter-totter fashion; a thick plank was securely hinged at the middle to a heavy wooden block, and Beca was dangling from the end of the board suspended over the water while Bumper and Donald stood on land, holding the other end of the plank to maneuver the system. Its base was set permanently on the ground because of its weight, the guards only needing to pivot the board to bring the prisoner over to land, and while the castle had many other - much more gruesome - methods of torture, this one seemed to be the easiest for keeping the thief alive, only having to make sure to pull her back up after a small amount of time.
"Ready to tell us anything yet?" Bumper jeered from beside the lake, his hands firmly gripped around the wooden beam. He seemed to be rather enjoying the whole situation, his head set on avenging his bruised face and ego. "I could do this all day."
"Yeah, I'll tell you something," Beca panted, tone spiteful. "Fix your fucking face."
Bumper growled, letting the board fly up as he watched the bandit drop into the water again. Beca was instantly submerged into the lake without warning, struggling to hold her breath from her already oxygen deprived body. Her lungs burned as she sank helplessly deeper into the water, and while she could easily escape her bindings if she wanted to, she had never been a strong swimmer, and her captors would most likely just reattain her and punish her more forcefully.
However, her throat began to constrict and spasm as her body screamed for oxygen, a few bubbles escaping her mouth, and she involuntarily began thrashing and shaking against her restraints as her head began to swim from air deprivation. Just as she thought she would pass out from lack of oxygen, she felt the rope around her tug her skyward, and her body was yanked up to break through the water's surface.
"Still got something to say to me, you useless bitch?" Bumper asked, watching Beca take greedy gasps of air. The bandit kept her head down, sopping hair dipping in front of her face as she panted. She allowed herself time to swallow down a few more lungfuls of oxygen and recuperate before she responded shakily.
"Fuck... You..."
Bumper frowned. "Wrong answer," was all she heard before she felt herself dropping toward the water again.
Chloe slowly sauntered down the hallway, fidgeting with the box of cards in her hand as she idly journeyed in the direction of the prison chamber. Her mind was mulling over what Aubrey had warned her about, and though it wasn't an absolute thing, Chloe knew it was very possible that the blonde was right in the bandit only befriending her for a chance at freedom. The redhead wasn't sure how to handle this information. Should she act normal around Beca? Should she pretend nothing had happened? Should she confront the bandit? With this new revelation, Chloe wasn't quite sure if she wanted to go see Beca right now; she needed some time to process.
Chloe was pulled from her thoughts when she heard heavy boot-clad footsteps approaching, echoing through the hallway around the corner. Fearing it was Tom, the princess quickened her pace toward the prison chamber door, not having time to ponder another hiding spot. However, as she pushed through the door, Chloe was caught off guard to see the bandit cell was empty and barren, metal barred door wide open. Chloe's heart jumped in her chest; had the bandit escaped?
The footsteps she had heard in the hallway seemed to still be approaching, growing louder and louder as they neared the prison chamber. The princess swore under her breath, quickly glancing around for somewhere to hide. Spotting some old wooden barrels in the far corner of the prison cell, Chloe dashed over to them, ducking down behind them just as the door swung open.
"Stop being such a nag," a male voice said, and Chloe peeked between a couple barrels to see two guards entering the room, one of them carrying a sopping wet and barely conscious wheezing Beca over his shoulder.
"Bump, you almost killed her," the other guard growled. "I told you we couldn't leave her under there that long. The king'll have our heads if-"
"She's not dead, I got her breathing again," Bumper cut him off, his tone carrying that of nonchalance as he waved off his partner. Shrugging the bandit off his shoulder, Bumper dropped Beca unceremoniously onto the stone floor, watching her begin to cough. "See? Still very much alive. Now c'mon, I'm hungry."
The guards quickly locked up the cell, exiting the prison chamber and leaving the bandit coughing and sputtering up water on the floor of her cell. Unbeknownst to them, they also left behind the redheaded princess, struggling with an internal war of raging emotions and mixed feelings as she watched the half-drowned brunette with a blend of sympathy and caution.
A/N: This was actually a rather impulsive decision plot-wise. Hope I don't screw myself over; I just thought we needed a bit of discontent:{P
So, I have a random question for you guys. From what I've seen, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter both seem to be similar in terms of popularity. So I'm like, curious now; which one do you guys like better? LotR or HP? Which one do you think is more popular? Honestly curious. I always thought HP was more popular, cuz I see so many more references to it than LotR, though that could just be because I like HP more (could never get into LotR). What do you think? Which do you like more? Which do you think is more popular?
REVIEW RESPONSES:
Defying-gravy: Haha sorry to keep you up xP It's awesome to know you like my fic that much dude; you're aca-awesome:{3
Asswipe: Haha your review was amusing:{P I'm not sure yet if there's going to be other pairings in this or not; I guess we'll both have to wait and see xP
wishgrantingfactories: Glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the reassurance heh; it was actually quite comforting:{3
Guestttt: Haha omg, I didn't even view the truce dialogue like that until you pointed that out xD I like it dude. Me gusta.
crystalsoda1: Haha thanks; glad you're enjoying it so far:{3
blue-wasabi24: Haha yes! All the problems when it comes to typos:{P I struggle with buying clothes online too though, cuz I'm always nervous about getting clothes sizes wrong.
A Lover of Things: Haha perhaps it will, perhaps it won't; you shall have to wait and see:{P I totes agree too about PP2, all bad choices would be ignored if they just put Beca and Chloe together:{3
Sweedledome: Thank you! It's nice to know I'm developing it okay:{3 So jealous you get to see HU again in November btw; that'll be awesome no doubt. Your little spiel on change rooms was amusing too; you're totes right:{P But I'm always nervous I'm gonna get the wrong size online, heh.
cxcxcx386: Haha I'm glad you enjoyed it:{3 And it's actually cool to know I caught you off guard with the Stacie news; I was worried I made it too obvious xP Haha I've never tried cadburry 'fruits and nuts' chocolate (never heard of it actually), but M&Ms are definitely good:{D Not gonna lie, I've never understood what window shopping meant, so I googled it xP Not sure I could handle window shopping though haha; I'd want to buy everything!
Dracossack: Wow, thank you so much. Your review was so nice and wonderful! Interesting username story btw; yugioh is totes awesome, and your username definitely sounds cool. I'm definitely with you too on the singing thing. "If I could sing a lick, in any humanly way possible I would. But I can't! And I hate myself every day because of it!"
lucakutya: Ahaha, I was happy you caught onto that! No one else said anything about it xD I totes ship Vauseman (though I always end up calling it Pipex xP). They're just so cute together:{3 Glad you liked the chapter btw, thanks:{3