NOTE: Here's the next chapter!

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Chapter 8: Keep the Needle Away!

"Princess, 'tis time for-Hm?" Alpha stopped herself as she stepped into the cell. The blonde elf raised a brow when she saw the Princess sitting on the floor in a meditative position with her chained ball being held above her head by a single finger. Being used to the eccentric behaviors of her 'sisters' kept her from being too surprised by it. "What is it that you are doing, Princess?"

"Preparing myself." Princess responded.

"To submit?"

"Exactly-HEY! I WASN'T-GACK!" Princess lost concentration, which caused the ball to fall from her fingertip and directly on top of her head. "OW!" As she held her hurting head, she expected to hear her holy weapon to speak out against Alpha.

Ex didn't say a word.

"EX?!" Princess turned to her trusted weapon. "You're not going to say anything?!"

"You did it to yourself, Princess."

"C'mon, Ex! You gotta have more energy than this for when the torture starts!"

"Just so you can submit again?"

Princess flinched back from her weapon's claim. "S-such low faith! From my own holy weapon!" She couldn't believe this level of betrayal being shown to her! Sure, she's given up a little too much since becoming a prisoner, but that doesn't mean he should give up on her! She can resist anything torture that comes her way! "That's it, Ex! I'll resist today's torture and prove to you that I can keep my secrets!"

"Good luck." Ex said.

"Hmph!" Princess turned away from him with a pout. She faced Alpha with a steely focus that the holy weapon hasn't seen in a while now. "Okay, Miss Alpha! Bring your worst! I'm the Princess, Captain of the Legion's Third Imperial Army! I've climbed frozen mountains with my bear hands, marched through blazing deserts, and swam through raging rapids bare naked! Whatever it is that you have planned today won't make me submit-"

"There is no torture, today. I simply need a blood sample." Alpha interrupted the Princess' spiel. She raised a medical needle and several other concealed bagged supplies. "Tis time for a medical examination, Princess."

"I give up."

"HUH?!" Ex's scream caught Alpha by surprise a bit. "There isn't even a torture today, and you're still going to submit?!"

Princess seemingly didn't hear him, her eyes melting holes into the floor as she muttered to herself. "I said I'll talk…please forgive me…"

"Princess…are you scared of needles?" Ex asked softly, causing his wielder to flinch.

"D-don't be ridiculous, Ex! Why would I be afraid of a tiny little-"

"She is." Alpha answered, much to the Princess' embarrassment.

"M-Miss Alpha?!"

"We run through examinations of our prisoners to ensure there aren't any potential diseases or abnormalities that could cause issues for the Shadow Garden members here. You were unconscious when we first brought you in here, so running the examinations shouldn't have been an issue."

"What exactly happened?" Ex does remember that he was separated from the Princess for a time when they had been captured. So, he has no idea what they could've possibly done to her.

Alpha sighed and continued. "Even in her unconscious state, the Princess' body reacted on instinct as if it could feel the needle approaching. It quickly escalated into an all-out brawl which landed several members of ours injured. You were only stopped because Delta found you fun to fight against."

Ex sputtered at the story with his usual energy seemingly returning. "T-that's preposterous! There's no way the Princess could've reacted in such an undignified way over a little pinprick-"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Princess interrupted.

"Princess?"

"I-It's just that those things are scary! I don't like having things jammed into me! No matter how small they are!" Princess cried.

Alpha nodded her head. "Understandable. Which is why precautions will be taken to ensure everything goes over smoothly."

"Eh? Precautions?"

Alpha snapped her fingers and three figures emerged from the Shadows. Princess gasped when it was revealed to be her new friends 644, 665, and 666 (Still masked). The three held her in a vice grip, refusing to let the Princess move. "Y-you guys?!"

"Hello, Princess!" 665 smiled warmly.

Ex glared at the blonde elf. "What is the meaning of this, Alpha?!"

"I figured familiar faces would help calm her down." Alpha shrugged.

Princess struggled in the three-way hold she was trapped in as 666 rolled up the sleeve on her left arm. "N-NO! I-I can't believe this betrayal! To think you guys would do this to me! Was our friendship a lie all along?!"

"Nope, we're still friends, Princess!" 665 smiled. 666 nodded her head repeatedly to show that she agreed. When 664 didn't say anything, 665 elbowed her hard to get her to speak.

"Y-yeah! We're friends!" 664 spoke quickly.

"R-really? Hehehehe~!" Princess giggled.

STAB!

"Eh?" Princess looked down at her left arm to see that Alpha had stuck the needle in and started draining some blood.

Everything for her went white.

The Princess got a shot.

"Ow…" 664 groaned as Alpha applied mana to heal her wounds. Most of her slime suit had been obliterated, leaving her almost completely naked. Her uninjured companions sat next to a guilty looking Princess, who had a teddy bear sticker put on her left arm. 664 turned to her teammates and Princess with a furious stare. "Why was I the only one who got hit?!"

"An easy target perhaps?" 665 giggled. That was until a half-naked 664 tackled her and started a cartoonish dust cloud tussle that ended up taking them out of the cell. 666 quickly rushed out of the cell to stop her teammates from causing any damage.

Alpha sighed, knowing she was going to have to have a discussion with those girls in the future about controlling themselves.

"S-sorry about the trouble, Miss Alpha." Princess apologized.

Alpha smiled softly at the prisoner, placing a hand on the girl's head. "Don't worry, Princess. We all have our fears, after all. But the important thing is that we learn to face them, so that we learn to become stronger. At least, that's what my Lord taught me."

Ex, who was relieved everything ended without too much trouble or secret spilling, hummed at her words. "This Lord Shadow seems like a wise person for a leader of an organization like this."

"He surely is." Alpha hummed in agreement.

"GODDAMMIT!" Cid Kagenou screamed as he stood in a field of empty treasure chests. The paper map in his hand was crumpled into a ball and obliterated with a blast of mana. "That is the LAST time I follow a treasure map!" Cid kicked one of the chests. "Should've known that stuff was a load of bull…" He walked away from the chests, missing the one that held a shining golden egg wrapped in paper.

Chapter End

NOTE: Cid finally appears again! Also, no secrets told this time. Originally, this was going to be a Delta chapter, but I felt like saving that for next time.

Have a great day!