Chapter Text
Steven Grant Rogers remembered the day that the Romanova Princess was kidnapped. He was only fifteen, and beginning his training as a knight. Only a few months before that day did he truly start his training, on his fifteenth birthday.
Many of the training days were memorable. Like when he won his first spar, or was knighted. Yet nothing could quite compare to the day that the Princess was declared taken.
The bells chimed through the hallways and echoed off of the castle walls in a chaotic manor. Immediately, the knights knew something was wrong. Steve still being fifteen and in-training, was told, along with the other young knights, to stay put while the higher officials rushed inside. But Steve and James, being Steve and James, found a way to sneak through the corridors and follow the knights. They sat outside a secret door that was located on the west side of the council chamber, and was the perfect spot for eavesdropping.
“What do you think has happened?” Steve remembered himself asking James (or as he called him, “Bucky”).
“I’m trying to figure that out too. But whatever it is, it isn’t good. I can hear the King pacing.”
James was right. The sound of the King’s heavy boots clopped on the tile floor. His steps were fast, almost frantic. Both James and Steve put their ears up to the door.
“What do you mean she is gone?” they heard the voice of Commander Fury ask. He was the highest ranking official in the King’s cabinet, and oversaw all the duties of the knights.
“Her ladies-in-waiting haven’t seen her since yesterday. They found her bedchamber empty this morning. Thinking she went for a walk, or was somewhere around the castle, they searched for her, yet she hasn’t been found,” the voice of the King explained. Steve looked to James, who also had a shocked expression on his face. “I’ve had my guards search diligently for her. She’s nowhere to be found. But we did find this.”
“What is it?” Steve asked in a whisper.
“Shh! It’s not like I can see through walls either! Let’s listen!” James hushed back.
“An empty vile?”
“It had a trace of a tranquilizing tonic inside. The physician has already identified it.”
“You’re suggesting this is a raptus? That she’s been kidnapped?”
“Yes.”
Steve’s eyes went wide, and he felt a shiver of fear flow down his spine. James looked just as concerned as her turned to face Steve.
“Let’s go, I’ve heard enough,” he sighed after a moment. The blonde just nodded in agreement, and they both returned to the courtyard.
He didn’t know the Princess personally or anything like that. He knew her name was Natalia, and that she was a year or two younger than himself. Steve had seen her before. Sometimes she would cross the courtyard, walking alone, wearing some sort of magnificent gown. All the young knights would try to fight their best when she passed, to impress her, especially when it seemed to become a regular routine. He assumed she was heading to the gardens, while they were still training in the courtyard.
But she never paid any attention to the knights who tried to grasp her notice with their sparring. Sometimes she would just steal a quick glance at the boys, then leave, not even looking back.
Sarah Rogers had always told Steve it was rude to stare at a lady. It would be un-noble and just despicable. So he didn’t, he didn’t stare like the rest, but just gave a quick bow when she gave them her attention.
And now she was gone.
Soon, word had broke out, and the whole kingdom was searching for the kidnapped Princess. The King sent out his best knights in search of her.
A week had passed, and the knights returned with nothing. No leads, no information, nothing. The King sent them out again. Again and again, for months! And months soon turned into a year. Eventually, they gave up the search.
The Princess was never declared dead. But a knight was never sent out to search for her again. That was until Steve.