Mr Fortune's Charms

"It would be a shame to harm such a pretty face." When his deep voice uttered those words and I saw my parents' stunned faces, I knew for a fact that the situation was troublesome. I had a knife to my neck and didn't know what to do. There was no way out. I recall my mind plummeting into fear and my heart going haywire out of panic. Even at that dreadful moment I couldn't find the strength to release myself from his sturdy grasp, nor find the courage to say anything. There was no way out and I was scared out of my mind. Was he really going to kill me? Is this how I'm going to let my life end?

"...We will allow you to leave with the core." My Father, the King declared reluctantly. "But you must release the Princess."

"My, my! How kind of you!" The man sneered. "However, I fear you may have misunderstood the situation, your Highness." It was only mere seconds before his sniggering came to an abrupt pause, which sent a cold chill down my spine. "We'll be taking the Princess as a souvenir of our accomplishments on this revolutionary day. Why the long faces? There's no need to worry. I'll take good care of my trophy." He mockingly placed a kiss on my cheek.

"How dare you touch her! You can't be serious! You can't think that we'll just allow you to leave with her so simply!" My Mother retorted, tears of fury began to fill up her eyes. She knew that she had to let me go. There was no way of winning. The thought of me being kidnapped was painful enough for her, I could tell, but she wasn't going to allow me to come to harm either.

"Oh, but it will be that simple, your Majesty! Because I want it to be... and Mr Fortune always gets what he wants. If you don't believe me, please allow me to demonstrate." And with that he sheathed his dagger, tossed me over his shoulder, approached the large, patterned window of my bedroom, paused and glanced back at his audience with a smirk on his face. "Adieu."

And with that he jumped from my window. The castle was stories high. There was no way we would've survived if he were just a regular human. But there was no hesitation or thought. He just leapt with a carefree air about doing so. Meanwhile, I was overwhelmed by all the shock, confusion, worry and fear.

...

"Didn't know mew were such a showman and were capable of putting on such an entertaining performance like that. You're lucky that Kessho has great reflexes." A high pitched voice laughed as I began to regain consciousness and could begin to hear properly.

"I didn't know you were such a stupid fool! What if someone saw me! I'd be killed! What if I didn't save you! You would've been killed along with the Princess!" A more matured female's voice added. "There was no need to be so reckless."

"I wanted to keep up the 'man of many mysteries' act going on, besides I had no doubt that you would save me if I did something as spectacular as what I did." As soon as I recognised whose voice spoke such ridiculous words, my body shuddered. It was him. The man, who abducted me!

I couldn't recognise where I was. Some sort of typical, secret, underground hideout? Without question, I began to look for my nearest escape route and the only simple and silent way out was the only door in the place, which was left ajar but was across the other side of the abnormally big room. I started to sneak towards the door, unnoticed, as the other three were too busy bickering to notice that I had awoken.

"You seem to often exploit my title of your personal Guardian Angel, you know that right..." The girl that said this had long, loosely curled, blonde hair with a turquoise colour at the tips of it - which fell between a pair of pure, white, feathery wings. I knew it! Well... I partially did. This was the first time I had ever seen any species other than a human. A real life angel! She must've been the one who swooped to our rescue when I fainted.

"I don't mean to, Kessho. I just seem to be a little accident prone, that's all-"

"Ha! Mew are more than JUST A LITTLE accident prone! And on that note... what was with that little kiss on the cheek!? THAT was not necessary and wasn't ever a part of the plan!" This girl was much smaller than the other. She had two ears poking out from her short, scruffy, black, fading into a pink ombre, hair. Her odd dialect was a clear give away to the fact she wasn't human and her tail, which was wagging furiously behind her.

"Oh? Did that offend you? My, my! What an off scent... is that - no, no, it couldn't be - not... the sweet smell of envy!?" The strange man chuckled.

"WHAT!? NO! Why would I EVER-!" The cat girl went a bright red.

"There, there, Koneko. No need to get your fur in a twist. I was just teasing, ahaha." He patted her head.

I quickly realised that my fear had disappeared. These rebels were really no threat at all. Just a bunch of odd people, who did seem intelligent at first, but now I am not quite sure anymore. I also remembered that they did capture me and my intention was to escape. I was so incredibly close to the door. So, I thought it was a great idea to make a sprint for it while I still could. However, I found myself bumping into another tall man in mostly black and hints of red. This one gave off a very eerie, solemn aura and stared at me with a piercing gaze that struck fear into me once again.

"Going somewhere?" He said, finally. I froze in fright. What was I to do? I can't fight to save my life and my legs wouldn't run. The man sighed, hopelessly, and grabbed my wrist, then dragged me towards the other three.

"Let me go!" I tried to escape this time but he was much stronger than I intended. I stood no chance.

"What a pathetic, little girl you are." He didn't even look back at me when he said it. Does he not know who I am!? At least give me a little bit of respect! "I think there's been an issue with the hostage's security. It kinda makes me feel as if... nobody had eyes on her. Do I have to be responsible for all of you?"

"Sukie, you know the Captain doesn't like such harsh terms for the Princess. He would much rather prefer something more like 'bounty'. Or anything along the same weird lines." The angel said in somewhat of a disgusted tone.

"He's sure as hell is no Captain of mine." The eerie man let go of me and crossed his arms in frustration, but now everyone was staring at me - there was no escaping this time.

"How sneaky! I definitely wasn't counting on loosing my treasure so soon… maybe we should go for the more restrictive approach if you plan on making moves like that, Princess. Hmm… is being tied up in chains more to your liking?" I flinched as the man, who brought me here, approached but he just let out a laugh and continued: "I'm kidding, ahaha! But seriously I would refrain from doing that again. I don't want any scratches on my new trophy." A wink was thrown in the cat girl's direction.

"W-WHAT? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MEW!?" She shrieked, confusedly.

"Mr Fortune unfortunately has some business to attend to, so I'll be taking my leave. I hope you all keep a close eye on the Princess… and little Koneko too. I don't want her getting into trouble."

When he left, everyone was left in an awkward state of confusion about what was actually going on…