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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Maxon touched my face tenderly. He looked sad, pained, but I could tell he tried to push all that down. Just for me. So we could have this one moment together. I knew I was dreaming. I knew I was going to have to wake up in a cold dark room with men trying to hurt me. And so did Maxon. But for now, we just laid in a secret meadow, surrounded by wildflowers. We memorized each other's faces with our hands and kissed each other softly on the lips.
"I have to go." He said faintly.
"I know."
"I'll come get you, I promise."
"I love you." I whispered. But he was already gone.
Then I was back in the cold, dark room. And Ram, the leader man, was standing over me. I glared at him. He took me away from my Prince, my happily ever after.
"Your fiance didn't pay. Time for your next television session. Get up."
And they hurt me again, in front of the camera. I knew the pain wasn't for me. It was for Maxon. The more I hurt, the more he hurt.
MAXON'S POV
I stared at the screen. I couldn't watch, but I couldn't look away. It's sick. I'm sick. I'm watch my love, my fiance, my Princess, being tortured like it's some kind of sick movie…
"Sire? The Parliament is ready for you." A man came in. The TV shut off on it's own like it did yesterday.
"The Parliament and the military, like I requested?" I made sure.
"Yes. Yes, Sir." He responded quickly.
"Good."
"And have we found out how they're controlling the Television in the castle?" I asked irritably.
"No sir, but-"
"But WHAT? If we haven't found anything out, then WHY ARE WE HERE?" I exploded.
"Maxon." My mother said warningly next to me.
"My FIANCE is out GOD KNOWS WHERE having GOD KNOWS WHAT happen to her, and your telling me THAT YOU CAN'T TELL ME HOW MY TV IS EVEN BEING CONTROLLED!"
"Your Majesty, with all due respect," he started.
"No good sentence ever starts with 'all due respect'!" Oh dear lord I'm turning into my father…
"SIR!" He finally yelled. That shut Maxon up immediately. He was both steaming angry and stunned. He was just yelled at. By the men he's about to lead. "If you would just let us speak, I'm sure you'd be much happier with the progress. We may not have figured out the Television or how it's being streamed, but we could track the stream to a certain area." My face must've gotten excited, but he looked warily at me. "It's not an exact match. We only have a general area."
"I want a list of every single person living in that area. I want to be notified the SECOND you get ANY lead." I walked out of the room.
AMERICA'S POV
I slept, ate, and experienced pain. That had become my schedule. The only way of knowing that time had passed, of knowing another day has come, is the TV session. I knew it hurt Maxon more than it hurt me, so I tried not to show that I was actually in pain. But I knew my facade wasn't a very good one.
But every day I'm brought to the room with the white sheet, they don't know what they give me. They give me hope. They give me hope in knowing that Maxon hasn't paid the money. Hope that we wouldn't just sit around and watch my pain like some kind of sadistic movie. That he wouldn't let my pain go on forever. Hope that he actually has a plan. That he's going to get me out of here. Hope that we're going to have our happily ever after, after all. Hope is the thing that keeps me counting the days.
MAXON'S POV
"I THOUGHT I TOLD PEOPLE THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO BE BOTHERED!" I bellowed at the knock at my door. The door opened, ignoring my irritation.
"Maxon?" It was May. Sweet May. Each day I spent in her presents, I fell in love with her sweet innocents. She's like a sweet daughter or sister to me.
"May! I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you." Then I noticed she was about to cry. "May? What's wrong?"
"I miss my sister!" She cried. My heart simply broke. I hugged her.
"I know. I know you do. I miss her, too."
"Why won't anyone let me see the videos of her?" I hesitated.
"Well, they're not for little ladies."
"But she's my sister! How do I know if she's alive or not!?"
"If anything different happens, I promise you'll know, okay?" I had a feeling that this conversation would last a while, so I led her over to my couch by the fire.
The brown leather couch was worn with use. There was a brown plaid blanket with tassels thrown over the head of it, giving it a homey feel.
We talked about America. About Kota and Kenna and Gerard. We talked about her father. All the sweet memories of him. She cried and cried when the subject came to him. But she was able to talk about him. And that was good. May asked about my parents. About my mother and father and what it was like growing up as royalty.
Eventually she fell asleep on the couch. Then there came a knock at the door. It opened without my consent. A man bowed.
"Your Majesty." he said in a regular voice level. But I shushed him. I got up slowly from the couch so I didn't wake her. I threw the blanket over her and walked up to the man.
"The Princess' sister is sleeping in here. Let's go outside and talk." He nodded but I could just about hear the gears turning in his head. I went over my sentence in my head. Oops. America has two sisters. One of which is married. I could have just hinted at something that wasn't true. So I fixed it. "Miss May really is a sweet little girl. She's like a sister to me." He nodded and the gears in his head stopped turning.
"You said you wanted to be notified. There's been a breakthrough on the Princess' case. We think we might know where she is." My heart jumped. I'm getting my love back.
"Gather Parliament and the Military. Be in the meeting room by four in the afternoon. Notify no one but those people. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir." He left. I was about to turn around the go back to my room when Kota walked by.
"Have you seen May?"
"Yeah. She came to me about an hour ago. She fell asleep while we were talking. She's on my couch napping now."
"Great," He tried to sound happy he found her, but I knew he thought it was just one more person lost to me… He really doesn't like me, does he?
"This will happen TOMORROW. Understood?"
"Yes, sir"'s echoed around the room. I left to make sure America is still alive. The TV should be turning on at any minute now.
AMERICA'S POV
It's been roughly five torture sessions since my first, which makes it roughly five days since the ball. Maybe six, I don't know. All I know is if Maxon doesn't act soon, there won't be much left to save…
Almost every night, I've been dreaming of Maxon, of my family, and of the family Maxon and I could have together (if I live through this).
Tonight's dream was more of a nightmare. I never thought a dream with Maxon in it could be a nightmare.
"I don't love you. I never did. You're just a pretty face to be on my arm. I only ever liked you because you're easy to manipulate. You're easy to control.
"I'm not coming to save you. Why would I? If it's just that easy to get rid of you, why would I try? Good bye, America. You're dead." He sneered and laughed evilly. Then the man laughing in front of my was no longer Maxon, but Aspen.
"You think you can come crawling back to me?! I left you for a reason! The only reason I ever came back to you is because you were the Prince's plaything! You're suddenly interesting. Do you think I'd take you back as the Prince's leftovers?! Good bye, America. You're dead."
I woke up screaming. My eyes shot open to Maxon standing in front of me. Another nightmare! I continued screaming.
"America! America it's me!" He said, rushed and quiet. I stopped screaming. It really was him! I tried to get up. But a week (or more, I don't know) of malnutrition was catching up to me. My good arm shook as it supported my weight. I couldn't get up. He went to help me. But his hand grabbed my bad arm and I cried out.
"Sorry! Sorry!" His hand went instead to my waist. As soon as I was up, I threw my arm around him- half out of happiness to see him, half out of need for his support. He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me turn around so I faced the door. And Aspen was standing in the doorway.
"Aspen!" I said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Rescuing you, of course."
"I'll explain everything to you, later." Maxon whispered in my ear. I simply nodded. Maxon, Aspen, and a few other men led me out of the room. I never really got the chance to look at the place (I was either blindfolded or half-conscience from the pain). From the looks of it, I was in a normal basement of a normal house. They helped me up the stairs and into a hallway. The only thing in the way of the front door, was twenty men, lead by Ram.
"Did you really think that two men with a half-thought plan could really breech into a high security Rebel base and actually get out?" He chuckled. "Boys." he mumbled. "Take the two of them back to the cell." he ordered his men.
"Two?" I noticed. Aspen looked at me.
"I'm sorry, America. You always knew I had a strong sense of self-preservation." He moved so he was no longer with us, but with the men, facing us with gun in his hands.
No… this cannot be happening.
HAHA I GAVE YOU GUYS ANOTHER CLIFFIE! Did you like the Maxon/May sweetness? She's so cute! Reminds me of my little sister! So cute! haha so what do you think of Aspen? Most of you didn't expect this when you said you didn't mind Aspen coming back, did you? haha I hope you enjoyed this!
C.A.M.3