Pirates & Princesses (Brawl Stars AU)

Chapter Nine: Common Royal Empathy

Shelly opened her eyes to an empty abyss. There was no cage, no other prisoners, just pure darkness and total silence. Shelly started to walk, didn't know why, there was nowhere to go, anyway, but there was nothing else to do anyway. Soon she felt a mysterious breeze from somewhere that made a tingle shiver up her spine. It made her instincts tell her to walk faster. Soon she heard a creeping noise from either far away or very close. It made her want to run, breathing heavily with every step. No matter how long she ran, nor how fast, it was like the noise, or the maker of the noise was still right behind her. Soon, she heard it come closer and closer to her; there was nowhere to go and nothing and no one around. She couldn't help but start to tear up in fear, trying to keep it all in. Then, the noise became bigger, from a whisper to a roar to the fact that she knew that the creature was right behind her. It terrified her so much, that she just kneeled down and covered her head, screaming, just wanting the nightmare to end.

She sat up with a jolt. She looked around to see that she was still in a cage, her prison mates were behind her, who were busy eating something, before they started staring at her. It was just a nightmare. She thought as she shook her head.

"Good morning!" the blonde one, sang with a cheery attitude. Strange for a person that's stuck in an inescapable prison. "We saved you some breakfast." Shelly stared at them for a few seconds, until she decided to join them. There was nothing else to do and she was hungry.

The blonde one, or Piper, handed her only a bowl of dry gruel that looked like sawdust. The raven-haired one, or Bianna, glared at her when she stared at the gruel.

"What, this ain't good enough for you? Well, this the only thing they'll give us, so eat or starve." She plainly said before Piper nudged her. Shelly could do without the attitude, but she ate it anyway. For something as dry as sand, this was pretty wet, so wet in fact it was slimy. She choked it down, her appetite killed from thinking of taking another bite.

"You gonna eat that," Colette asked, already grabbing the wooden bowl from her hands and horking the stuff down. Shelly shuddered at that but let it go; she had other things to attend to. She stood up and inspected the prison bars to see if they could be breakable. Like she was staying in this freakshow without a fight.

"Anyone know the security in this place? Gotta start planning my escape plan," she asked. The royals looked at each other; Bianna rolled her eyes, Colette shrugged and kept eating, and Piper sighed in despair at Shelly's ignorance. "Shelly, we've told you already. There's no way out of here-"

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'll escape on my own."

"Shelly, you're not listening-"

"No, all I'm hearing are cliched damsels-in-distress royals counting down the minutes till they can exchange their freedom for an imprisoned life of luxury and never leave their crystal castles again." She snapped. Piper shut up but Bianna wasn't having it.

"You think we liked the lives we had, where everything was just laid out for us," she lashed out. Piper tried to stop her, but nudged her off and kept going. "Every day the same, never able to do anything for ourselves whatsoever, never ever leaving our 'crystal' kingdoms when we wanted. 'It's not the royal way' this or 'You're a lady; Act like one' that. You think that's the life to live?"

Shelly heard her description and it the reason she turned around to face her was that it sounded exactly like hers.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But if any of you had that life, then you know exactly why I want to escape. To never be anyone's prisoner again, no matter how shiny & pretty the cage looks."

"We get how you feel, Shelly. Truth is we've been stuck in this rotten place for six months." Piper explained, surprising Shelly. She didn't know they've in here for that long. "There was once a time when we believed we could escape, just like you. We planned, and we inspected & used everything we could've gotten our hands on. But back then, there were four of us. Her name was Drizzella and she didn't think it was a good idea to try and instead wanted to wait, but we didn't listen and tried anyway. When our first and last plan went awry, one of us was to be punished for it. She took the blame for our mistake; those men took her somewhere and we didn't see her for a day. When we saw her, she looked awful; beaten, bruised, and as pale as cream. She passed away a week later." Piper finished sitting next to the bars, swallowing a lump in her throat so she doesn't cry. It was the first time Shelly saw her sad. When she pulled it together, she finished. "She died because of our mistake. I never want anyone to suffer as Dizzy did again." Once she was done, it was silent once again, with sad faces on all three. Even Colette looked like she was going to tear up. Shelly had her share of tragic stories, but she never heard something as sad, especially when she knew it was real. She kneeled next to Piper and put a hand on her back, still sharing a moment of silence for whom they'd lost.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. If I do get caught, I'll take the blame for it. Warrior's honor," She held out her hand, Piper confused. "It's a thing me and my ma-mentor did; it means we stick to our promises, no matter the cost." She kept her hand up as Piper smiled at the gesture and took it like a handshake. "We'll work on it."

"I wanna do Warrior's Honor!" Colette called out like a nine-year-old girl wanting a pony. She grabbed Shelly's hand and shook so hard her whole body was shaking. The four of them sat next to the prison bars together, waiting for something else to happen. This was the first time felt at peace where she was ever since the night she was caught and one of her most serene moments ever since her journey began, and that was saying something. For being prisoners in the hideout of royal female abductors, that one minute of silence felt... soothing.

"So, why'd you leave your kingdom like this; at least you had your mentor and warrior handshake thing," Bianna questioned after a moment of too much silence. Shelly decided to answer; these unfamiliar ladies seemed to understand her more than most people she should have a relationship with. Besides, not like she was leaving anytime soon.

"Well, she's actually my maid, but she gets me more than anyone. After my birth mother died, she promised to take care of me until I found my own path which I guess starts in this."

"But what made you leave now?" Colette joined in.

"I was going to get married to this guy I didn't know in two weeks, well, a week and a half now."

"Leaving your home to run away from marriage. How original." Bianna teased.

"It's much more than that. What's your excuse, shortstack?" She replied.

She grunted something in Japanese before she explained, "I was going to this guy's house since I had been arranged on a date and these idiots robbed us & kidnapped me while this bigger moron ran away with his tail tucked between his legs. 哀れな。You can never find a cool guy these days." She sighed, closing her eyes while getting into a comfortable position, her hands supporting her head.

"My parents always thought there was something wrong with me, so every few months in secret, they'd send me to a boarding school to help special kids hide their 'quirks'. No matter how many times they sent me, I always stayed the same girl they'd never be proud of," Colette explained, saddening everyone. However, she pulled out her usual toothy smile to hide her feelings. "Eh, whatever. Their loss. Besides I got you guys who love me." She hugged them all very tightly, making the situation more awkward than sad.

"Anyway, how'd you get here, Piper?" Shelly continued.

"Oh, just like Bibi. Men mugged the carriage during a bad date. No biggie," She responded all too swiftly and dismissed the question. Shelly didn't examine the query enough though, since she appeared to be the attractive blonde girl who has at least as many dates as she has with men as much as her, if not more, so she shrugged it off. Anyway, it's hard to tell the time when there's no sun, but it's probably been about an hour since they woke up.

"But seriously, does anyone know the looks of this place?" Shelly still asked.

"You're still thinking about how to escape, aren't you?" Bianna groaned an eye open. She shrugged in response, unable to think of a better answer.

They all then sighed in defeat; there was no way they could change the stubborn girl's mind, so they might as well try to help her. They could admit, however, Shelly had guts that they could respect. Piper crawled to the far end of the wall and pulled out a tattered brick. Inside was not the way out, but clues to doing so: a hand-carved map on a bowl.

"We can't stop you from leaving, but we might as well be your aid." She said as she handed Shelly the bowl with a half-smile.

"Thanks," she said, holding it tightly yet not examining it. "But, I'll look into it later. I got more questions to ask." And then the four girls talked about their past royal lives, anything they wanted to say about it laid down without judgment towards anyone's feelings. They talked for hours, until it was finally, supposedly nighttime. That was when Shelly decided to examine the map, or what she could see of it. 'Why didn't she check it before, when she first got it?' she asked herself. She didn't know the answer at first, and she didn't want to admit it, but maybe she just wanted the moments with these empathetic princesses to last a little bit longer.