Chapter 2

The bride noticed that his eyes were locked on the bracelet. "You want this?" She asked as she snapped the bracelet onto her wrist. "Come and get it."

The King of thieves lunged at her but was thrown back by a guard who saw that the bride was in need of assistance.

"Run your Highness!" The guard shouted as he continued to fight off Logan.

Among the chaos was Remy, who was shouting to the other thieves, "Fall back. More guards are coming!"

"Not without a hostage!" Victor said as he scanned the crowd and laid his yellow eyes on the bride. Without any hesitation, he tackled Ororo very hard to the ground. The snow-haired princess was stunned but knew she had to get free from him.

"Let me go! Now!" She said kicking her legs erratically under his weight.

Victor growled, she's feisty,' he thought. And decided to take advantage of an opportunity to steal a kiss from her.

But Ororo also took advantage of the situation by head-butting her head forward into Victor's nose. He cried out in pain and threw himself off of her. Ororo then jumped to her feet to get as far away from him as possible. But then a giant chandelier fell, and then everything went dark.

When Ororo woke up she was tied up in a tent. She could hear various voices and music, but she couldn't see anything due to a cloth covering her eyes.

"Awake already, princess," she heard the voice of a man.

"Where am I?" she questioned, turning her head to try to find where the man was standing.

"I can't tell you that, princess," he said.

"Who are you then?" she questioned.

He played with a deck of cards in his hands, "I can't tell you that either, princess."

"Well, what can you tell me?" she asked.

"By now, your kingdom knows that you are gone, and your prince is probably pissed that there won't be no wedding night," he joked.

"Silence, you swamp rat," she heard a woman's voice now. "Don't frighten the poor woman."

"Who are you?" Ororo asked.

"Don't be scared princess," the woman soft-voiced soothed her. "I'm just going to place a cool rag on your head. You got a nasty bite from that chandelier."

The princess winced at the pain but felt at ease by the coolness.

"Someone else is with you?" she asked.

Laura, a young orphan who had quietly snuck in to catch a glimpse of the princess, gasped and quickly hid.

"It's just a little girl," the woman said as she resumed to aiding Ororo's wounds.

Outside the tent

"I'm telling you the job was a failure!" Victor yelled among the meeting of the other thieves. "We were promised more than what we walked out with."

Some of the men agreed but looked to the King of Thieves to hear his response.

"That's what you think, "Logan shot back without going into too much detail. "This job was not a failure."

"What the princess?" Victor snarled.

"Yes, we got a hostage but what if they find us and kill us all?" Victor challenged in an attempt to turn others away from following Logan.

All eyes fell on Marie as she exited the tent that Princess was tied up in, "Her bleeding has stopped. She's going to be fine, but she will need some rest. The poor princess has been through it today."

"Oh well, we'll try to keep our voices down," Victor mocked.

"She's asking for you," Marie said, referring to Logan. Logan nodded and left the meeting to enter the tent.

"Awake now, princess," he said as he approached her.

"Please let me go," she said. "I have not seen anyone's face. I am no threat."

He snorted at the statement 'no threat.'

"I will be no threat if I am let go," she pleaded. "I will not seek vengeance, nor will I allow my husband to be to do so."

"Why did you ask for me, your Highness?" he asked.

"Because you are a man of power," she said.

"How would you know that?" he asked.

"Because I am a woman of power," she said truthfully.

"You flatter me, your highness," he said as he leaned on the pole that she was tied to. "But unfortunately, you will not be released."

Ororo's breath was shaky, but she tried her best to hide it from him, "Why is that?"

"You have something that we want," he said as he tapped on the Moonbeam bracelet.

"Then take it and release me," she pleaded.

Logan kneeled in front of her. He had pity on her. He wished she had just handed the bracelet to him at the palace, but she had to challenge him.

"I wish it were that easy," he admitted. "Rest now, princess."

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked.

"No," he said. "The woman that helped you earlier will be back with some food for you."

With that said, she heard him leave. For the second time in her life, she felt helpless. Tears began to stream down her face as she softly sobbed.

"It's going to be okay, princess," she heard the voice of what sounded like a young girl. The young girl petted the top of Ororo's head in an attempt to comfort her.

"Thank you, child," the princess whispered. "But please, I would like to be alone right now."

The child nodded and left the princess alone. But she was unaware that the princess had managed to grab the young girl's little knife she had tied to her waist when the child had leaned over close to her.

At the Castle

The Kingdom was in a state of panic. After they had realized that the bride was taken, Prince Scott sprang into rage. How dare these people come into their wedding, destroy it, and take his bride? He called all his knights to search everywhere for her. He would not rest until she was returned safe and sound. "I want to help look for her too," Jean said to the prince. "She's like my sister."

Scott sent some guards along with Princess Jean to search around the palace for any clues, while he looked outside the palace.

"I hope we find her," Jean sighed as her mind was filled with worry for her cousin. "She must be so scared and helpless."

At the Thieves Lair

Ororo had no idea what time of day it was but decided she would make her escape when it was quiet. She knew she wasn't alone in the tent, but she waited for her chance to escape. She could hear soft snoring in the tent as she cut her wrist loose from the tight knot and slid the cloth off her face.

She blinked her eyes for a second to let her eyes adjust after being covered for so long. She saw a woman sleeping in the arms of a man on one bed.

And quietly peeking out of the tent, she saw some men awake, walking around, and a big fire pit in the center of all the tents. She knew her hair would be a dead give away so before exiting the tent, she grabbed a shawl to wrap over her head and to cover her face.

She cautiously moved through the camp. Anytime she heard someone approaching, she hid and then continued to move through the shadows. 'This place is huge,' she thought as she ventured around in search of the exit.

"It's late for you to be out," Victor's sinister voice sent chills up her spine. "You hit me in the nose earlier. Made me bleed. Now I'm going to make you bleed."

He lunged at her, but she dodged him and ran as fast as she could. She knew her little knife wouldn't be much to fight off that brute. She had to get far away from him, and she was until she lost her footing and fell to the ground hard. Before she could get up, Victor was right there, standing over her. The princess crawled away backward from him, but he got down and pinned her down.

Ororo slashed the little knife at him, but he smacked it out of her hand. She tried to scream, but he covered her mouth with one hand while his other hand held him over her. She bit him, and he yelped but smacked her across the face.

She feared what would happen to her now. But then she heard him cry out in pain and saw Logan pulling the blonde hair man by his ponytail off of her.

"That's enough of that Victor!" Logan snarled at the man. "She will not be harmed! Is that understood," he said, placing the dagger on his throat.

Victor gulped and nodded his surrender.

"Go sleep it off!" Logan yelled to the drunk man. And then turned his attention to the princess.

He helped her to her feet, "Are you alright?"

Ororo touched her aching cheek, "For the moment."

Logan led her to his tent. She was hesitant to go in. After all, she did not trust him even though he saved her. "You have my word; I will not harm you," he said as they entered but then added. "For now."

When she entered the tent, she spotted two beds. One was empty, so she assumed it was his, and the other had a little girl lying in it. He led the princess to be seated as he soaked a cool rag to put on her puffy cheek. "The child, is she yours?"

"No," he said. "She belongs to all of us. We took her in."

Ororo pondered what he meant by that. "What's your name?"

"I just want to thank you for out there," she said to him.

"They call me the King of thieves," he said.

"That's not a real name, but nonetheless, I thank you," she said.

"Logan, Logan!" a man called from outside the tent.

Logan opened the tent to let in a man, who was holding many books.

"Oh, pardon me, I had no idea that you had company," he said, then realized it was the princess. "Your Highness, " he said, bowing down. Logan chained Ororo's wrist to the pole and tried to lead the man outside the tent, but the man insisted they discuss it there.

"I'm afraid it concerns her," the large man stated gravelly.

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