Just a little more...”

Uzi was staring at her work, a long rail gun that possessed a bright green glow. She chuckled evilly, looking out the window to see the village next to her castle.

Uzi Doorman was a princess, a princess who was tasked to overlook the kingdom of worker drones. She had two parents, Nori and Khan Doorman, who were the Queen and King. She loved her mother, Nori would treat her with kindness, to both her daughter and the people around her. Nori was also mischievous, which caused her to also be feared by the townsfolk and other neighboring kingdoms.

Her father was a.. Different story.

He was well respected as a king, but Uzi wasn't too fond of him. He would always scold Uzi for not acting like a “true Princess” and tending to her duties. She always scoffed at that, and she liked it when her mom defended Uzi. That would usually back off Khan from Uzi for a while.

The kingdom next door was home to the disassembly drones, which Khan made clear he did not like at all. Nori was indifferent about them, especially since one of her good friends Yeva was killed by one of them. For years, the disassembly drones would sneak onto their land and kill worker drones, due to needing their oil to survive. When Khan became king, he made an order that any worker drone volunteers would donate their oil to the neighboring kingdom to keep normalcy as well as peace to both kingdoms. That's how it has been for twenty years.

Uzi rolled her eyes.

She wasn't a fan of the disassembly drones, but she was sick and tired of her dad not doing anything. That's what this rail gun she was building would do. She would use this in a demonstration to the townsfolk as a way of defense against the disassembly drones. When her presentation was complete, she would earn the respect of both her dad and the townsfolk and would also boost her reputation.

“Gotta put this last part in…” Uzi pulls out a wrench and attaches a few bolts and screws to the device. When she finishes, the rail gun projects a message saying “ Ready for use. ”

“Yes!” Uzi hugs the rail gun to her chest, going over to her mirror to look at herself. Despite her royal colors being blue colors, Uzi always wore purple and black outfits. She had a long black dress that covered her legs and arms, the sleeves were large and her skirt almost touched the ground. She had a black crown on with little red jewels. Uzi laughed evilly as she twirled the rail gun.

Uzi put on a long dark coat and glasses to disguise herself, as well as putting the rail gun in a large bag. She walked out of her room, rushing past the guards until she reached the back of the castle. Uzi prepped a carriage for her to reach the village, she convinced one of the guards that she would be going there for school purposes to avoid raising suspicion.

Uzi sits inside the carriage, feeling it move as she holds onto her bag tightly. She asked the carriage to stop outside the outskirts so she could prevent suspicion, quickly thanking the driver. Uzi walks along the sidewalk, trying not to bump into those passing-by townsfolk.

The middle of the town was marked by a large fountain. The fountain had been built many generations ago, making it a landmark. Uzi steps onto the fountain as she unzips her bag.

“Hey, everyone!!”

Most drones walked past, but a few drones stopped to see what the commotion was about.

“You all hate disassembly drones, right?!” Uzi asks, and two drones nod.

“Well, let's say that I have something that is totally gonna blow the heads off of those things! What would you say to that?!” She asks, more drones stopped to watch her at this point.

Uzi drops her bag, pulling out her rail gun. The material of it shines under the moonlight, making some drones gasp in awe.

“How is that gonna kill, disassembly drones?!” A drone asked.

“Does this mean I can finally get revenge on them for killing my husband?!”

“That looks sick..”

“It is, isn't it?” Uzi points the gun in someone’s direction, making them quickly step back.

“Sorry,”

“You're okay.”

“Anyway, with this rail gun, this will be the first step of going against the disassembly drones! We can mass produce this, and everyone will have their own rail gun to protect themselves and their families!” At this point, Uzi had made a large crowd form in front of her. This was the perfect moment to show off what her rail gun could really do.

Uzi flips a switch to turn it on, making it glow brightly and electricity shoot out of it. Most of the crowd gasps while a few worker drones step back. Uzi’s plan was to shoot it up in the sky, showing off the projection beam. The crowd would cheer, her dad would respect her, boom.

That didn't happen though.

Uzi points it to the sky to shoot, but nothing comes out of it. She stares at it in confusion as the crowd stares at her, waiting for something to happen.

“Uh..” Uzi spits out.

“That’s it?”

“I just wasted my time on this?”

“This is such a joke.”

“No, wait! Give it a minute!” Uzi couldn't stop some of the drones from walking away. One of them, however, pointed at the rail gun with a scared face.

“It is… supposed to be that color?” They asked. Uzi gave them a confused look before looking down at the rail gun.

It was glowing red and was making a buzzing noise.

“Everybody, get-!” Uzi couldn't finish her sentence as the rail gun exploded, causing a bunch of people to scream and the explosion caused Uzi to be knocked back in the fountain. Part of the fountain broke off, making water pour on the ground. Uzi’s was glitching since the water got in her system, she watched in horror as a few townspeople were groaning in pain on the floor.

“It's the Princess!” One of them points out. Uzi realizes her disguise fell off, showing the townspeople her purple hair, eyes, and black crown.

“I should've known she would do something like this.”

“No wonder she gave me such weird vibes.”

“I have no idea how someone like her is the Princess.”

Uzi sighed, she was used to comments like this. She wasn't exactly Miss. Popularity to these people. Uzi quickly got up and tried running away, however, the water inside her caused her to glitch and fall to the ground.

Two guards come up to her and pick her up from the ground.

“Not so fast, young lady.”

“I'm sure the King would love to hear about this.”

Shit.

Uzi woke up in her bedroom, five guards watching her, her father crossing his arms, and a nurse next to her. The last thing she remembered was her systems going offline during the ride back.

“Good, she's awake!” The nurse says happily, picking up a large bucket of water with rubber gloves on her hands. “I drained all the water from her systems and fixed her firewalls. She just needs at least a day of rest.” She explains to the king. After Khan nods and thanks her, she bows and takes her leave.

“You five wait outside, I need to have a talk with my daughter.” He orders in a stern tone. Uzi felt her core drop as the guards bowed and took their leave, Uzi couldn't ignore the scared look that said “ good luck ” one of the guards gave her as they left.

Uzi and Khan stared at each other.

“Dad, I-”

“Do you realize what you have done?” He asks her, and she nods.

“I messed up, a lot. I'm sorry, Dad. I-”

“You caused damage to a landmark that has been in this kingdom for generations, you caused damage to both yourself and other worker drones.” Khan rubs his eyes with stress.

“I-”

“Uzi, a child drone is in the hospital. His mother is furious with you and the Royal family, there's a chance we might need to come out of pocket to compensate for that family’s medical bills.” He explains, his voice gradually getting more angry. Uzi felt awful, she never wanted to hurt anyone in that village.

“I'm so sorry...” Uzi says sadly.

“I'm sure you are, and I will be too after this,” Khan says, Uzi raises her eyebrows.

“What do you mean..?”

“Once you get better, you will be grounded. And you will not be grounded in the castle, you will be grounded in the tower that's located at the corner of the kingdom.” Uzi’s eyes widened. There are rumors of that tower being haunted by ghosts.

“Dad, you can't do that…”

“I can, and I will. There have been too many incidents where you defied my words and went off trying to convince the people that we should go against what I said. We are at peace, Uzi. We’ve been at peace for years and you want to ruin it for.. I don't even know.” Uzi tries sitting up but winches as a sharp pain go through her back.

“We can… go against them, Dad. Even with your whole “let's donate oil to them” thing, they're still sneaking in to kill us. What if one of them sneaks into the castle one day? They kill me? You? Mom?”

“That's enough , Uzi.”

Uzi looks at her dad with tears in her eyes. He sighs as he turns to leave.

“Get some rest, because you definitely need it.”

This old tower is now Uzi’s temporary residing place.

The tower was nineteen meters high, the only thing Uzi could see from her window was the forest. Khan told Uzi that he would still give her stuff to Uzi so she wouldn't be bored, but he would still send a teacher to Uzi so she could continue her studies as well as guards coming over every day to give her food and other necessities she needed. She's pretty much on house arrest until further notice.

Uzi groans. From this height, Uzi couldn't jump out the window, nor did she have any rope to tie around something and climb down. Two guards would always be outside the tower, and it's through their gossip that Uzi would find out more about what's going on in the outside world.

Nori doesn't know about her daughter being in the tower, apparently, Khan told her how he sent Uzi to a private boarding school in another part of the planet so she could work on her behavior. Uzi felt herself get angry as she figured out that Khan was basically lying to his wife about Uzi’s whereabouts.

The gossip that really had Uzi’s gears turning was the word of some Royal members of the disassembly drones kingdom coming over in a few days. Uzi doesn't know what they’ll talk about. Uzi sits down on a chair, looking down at her hands.

This sucks.

“You look ridiculous, by the way.”

J was crossing her arms, looking at N adjust his outfit in the mirror. She scoffs, raising her arms so she can fix the ribbons in her hair.

“You better get ready fast, bozo. Everyone is waiting for us.” She says to N. Before he could respond, J leaves the room.

N sighs. He was incredibly nervous about today since he and a few others would be going to discuss matters at the worker drones kingdom. He knew they didn't like the disassembly drones, which was understandable.

They would donate oil to the disassembly drones, however, they didn't know by the time the oil did reach them it would taste cold and not tasty since it wasn't fresh. They would have to heat it up or hook it up in their own way to make it tasty. This causes a few of them to go crazy and take the risk of sneaking inside the kingdom so they can kill a few worker drones and take the fresh oil themselves.

Even though N was a prince, he was not respected in the castle and disassembly drones in general. He was seen as weak and a “pathetic synthesizer” for even talking about the worker drones in a positive light.

Because he was terrible at his job, two other princesses, V and J, are typically seen as the rulers of this kingdom. V normally would forget about his existence, J was the meaner and cruel one of the bunch. She cared the most about her reputation and status.

N took a sip from an oil pouch he had beside him, cringing at the taste. He hasn't had fresh oil in a while, the last time was when J forced him to have some a few months ago after she had a few insiders give her fresh sources from the kingdom. Even though she had a good reputation, she was doing things that were less than good.

N finishes his oil, leaves his room, and walks down the hall, saying goodbye to all the guards. He reached his carriage in front of the castle, where a guard had given him a disguise so he would cover himself and his tail. The last time he was in the worker drone kingdom, they threw trash as he was arriving. N sighs as he puts on the disguise and the carriage starts moving.

V and J were in a carriage in front of him, so he had the carriage to himself. He brought his own form of entertainment, reaching into his bag and pulling out a few rocks with drawn faces on them.

“Sorry, buddies. I didn't mean to keep you in there for too long.” N apologizes, receiving no response. Because N was not liked, this meant he didn't really have friends. He would interact with other disassembly drones, but it was clear they would only talk to N unless they were forced. He gotten used to this at this point, making friends with rocks instead.

A few hours go by with N talking to his rock friends, and they reach the castle. They rode inside the castle gates, causing many people to stare at the carriages. Because they had their disguises on, no one could tell they were disassembly drones. The meeting would start in three hours, which meant N had plenty of time to explore the kingdom once he settled down.

N suddenly feels the carriage shake, and he falls sideways as the carriage stops and leans to the right. He hears the driver curse as he gets up and knocks on N’s door.

“I'm sorry, your highness. One of the carriage’s wheels has broken. It will take some time to fix it, but I can request another carriage to come pick you up?” He asks N. They luckily stopped by the less populated parts of the village, so he didn't need to deal with staring eyes. N walks out, holding onto his rocks as he sees that the carriage’s wheel did in fact break. The wood was splintered as the driver scratched his head.

“No worries! I can head to the castle myself.” N says cheerfully. He looked around and saw V and J’s carriage was nowhere to be found.

They must've gone ahead without him.

“Are you sure, Your Highness? Let me at least escort you.” The driver insists.

“It's alright. With this disguise, I should be alright.” N gives the driver a reassuring smile.

“…Alright. I'll still give the castle word that you are on your way. Thank you, Prince N.” The driver bows and N smiles. He wishes the driver good luck as he walks away.

N always loved watching the townsfolk, both in other kingdoms and his own. He saw a mother playing catch with her kid, two teenage drones giggling and gossiping with each other, two boys playing a game of tag.

N walked past them and into a shady part of the area. He walks past a few trees where he encounters a large rusty gate. On it was a large sign.

“ By Royal Decree, this area is off limits. Any non-Royal officials in this area will be shut down immediately, arrested, or forced to pay a large fee. Whichever we felt like, lol. ”

N raised his eyebrows. Past the gate looked like a path that led into a forest. He was confused as to what could be there that required such a sign.

“Oh, you don't wanna go there.” A voice says, and N turns to see an old worker drone with a large bucket. He had a sign of his own, saying “ Homeless. Any donations are appreciated .” N felt himself get sad seeing the old drone, looking exhausted as he was wearing a long robe.

“What do you mean, sir?” N asks, not before reaching into his pocket and grabbing a handful of gold coins. He places them in the bucket which causes the old guy to smile.

“Thank you, son. It's rare to come across a drone with such kindness.” He says to N. N smiles as he sits next to him.

“It's not a problem.” N holds his hands together as the old drone lets out a cough.

“There are rumors going around… how the Princess is locked there. That's why no one can go past the gate.” He explains, and N raises his eyebrow.

“Princess?”

“Aye. I'm guessing you haven't heard about the incident she caused a few days ago.” He asks N, and N shakes his head.

“Well, the Princess came into town spewing a bunch of nonsense about wanting to destroy the disassembly drones with this.. Rail gun she made. The darn thing exploded, causing property damage and a few drones to be hurt. They say how she won't cause trouble because she's at this fancy boarding school, but I know the truth.” N looks at him confused, she never heard of a Princess doing such a thing. J would rather stab her eye out with a pen than ever think of doing a public display like that.

“How do you know that she's there-”

“There!” The old drone suddenly yells, causing N to jump. The two stay silent but they hear a faint booming sound.

It was… music?

“What is that…”

“Music, my boy. Sometimes, that faint booming music would be heard over there. That's how I know they are lying about the Princess being at some preppy boarding school.” N looks at the gate. Despite the drone being… unusual, he might be right about the Princess being over there.

But what kind of King and Queen would keep their child behind closed doors?

“I say, you should go over there and see if the rumors are true.” He says to N. N looks at him scared, he would already probably be in trouble for being in this area of town instead of being in the castle. But to also go in a restricted area?

“I don't think I can, sir… why can't you do it?”

“I'm old. My days are very numbered and one of these days my systems will finally reach their limit. You look young, so you should be able to go over that gate easily!” He gives N a cheerful smile.

“What if I get caught?”

“I've been here every day, son. Something big is happening at the castle, so the guards won't be here for a few hours. Now is your only chance.” He explains. N really was curious, plus he wanted to see what the Princess looked like.

N gets up and walks over to the gate. He holds onto one of the bars and looks back at the old drone. He gives N a toothy smile and a thumbs up. N smiles back as he uses his strength and climbs up, jumping over the gate. He waves the old drone goodbye before following the stone path.

Under his long cloak, N holds onto his tail to reassure himself. His core was beating fast as he followed the path. The night was clear above, but it caused the tree branches to cast scary shadows. N quickly walks until he reaches the end of the path.

He sees a large field, a field that is growing red roses. He gently brushes a finger on a petal, then winces in pain as a thorn pricks his finger. He pulls the thorn out as he sees the biggest thing in the field.

A large tower.

He looks around, but he doesn't see anyone else around, but the music was more louder and prominent here.

It was… rock music?

N raises his eyebrow. He walks over to the tower, pressing a hand against the mossy stone. His tail perks up as he hears two voices coming in his direction. He runs to the side of the tower to obscure his vision from them. He sees two worker drones dressed in dark blue guard outfits. N leans a bit closer to hear their conversation.

“I can't believe she's playing her music that loud…” One of them mutters.

“Should we tell her to turn it down?”

“Nah, let her have her fun. If I was banished to this tower I would wanna play my music this loud too.”

Banished?

N frowns. One of the guards yawns loudly.

“I'm so bored, can't we just leave? We’ve been here for hours, no one is gonna come.” He says. The other guard chuckles as he pulls out a bag full of coins.

“Where did you-?”

“Got a raise. You wanna leave and head down to get some strong gasoline? My treat.” He says with a smile. The two cheer as they walk away, leaving N alone.

Or at least, alone with the Princess.

The tower was tall. N walked around the tower, hoping to find a door of some kind of entrance. There was none, which raises questions as to how they even got her there in the first place. N looked up again, staring at the window that seemed to be the only entrance in.

He still had a few hours.

Maybe J was right, he was stupid.

That didn't occur to N as he opened his wings and started flying.

He looked around, hoping that no one saw. In this kingdom, there was a law that if disassembly drones were visiting, even if they were royalty, they were not allowed to use their wings or else they would be eradicated on sight. Thankfully, no one was around besides him. He reaches the window, the music blasting as he climbs inside.

He wasn't prepared for what he saw.

A short worker drone, who was wearing a long black dress with purple hair, was bashing her head along to the beats of the music. She had two large speakers as well as a large computer on an old table. The drone had a black crown that was placed on the speaker. N also noticed she had black combat boots on.

This was… not what he expected when he heard the word “Princess”

N debated on what he should do. He wanted to talk to her, but a part of him says that he should just leave after finding out that the old drone was right about them locking the Princess in this tower.

Then again, he isn't used to Princesses jamming out to rock music.

But that just intrigued him more.

N stepped closer to her, the girl not noticing him since she was busy dancing and jamming. By the time he was behind her, he extended a hand out to tap her shoulder and the girl turned to look at him.

She had Violet eyes.

He never saw that before.

“Hello-!”

N couldn't speak more as the Princess screamed, grabbing her keyboard and wacking N straight in the face with it.

He went offline.

Uzi stared down at the disassembly drone, her core beating out of her chest.

What the hell just happened ?

She was minding her own business, listening to her music. One of the only positives of being in this tower was she could blast her music as loud as she wanted with no interruptions or complaining. She quickly turned the music off, still holding onto her keyboard as she looked down at the drone.

On his screen were the words “ REBOOTING ”

Uzi thankfully didn't commit a murder, but she was still scared out of her mind. She looks at her keyboard, putting it down as she doesn't want to break it. Uzi looked around, examining her surroundings to find something else she could use to defend herself with.

She saw her school textbooks and pens in the corner of the room.

Uzi groans loudly.

Thirty minutes pass. Uzi tied the drone’s tail around him to prevent him from leaving, as well as having a large textbook and sharp pen next to her. She didn't mind destroying them if things got messy.

“How did he even get in here...” She asks herself, but then remembers how they have wings. Her dad mustn't have thought that hard enough that disassembly drones could just fly in here and eat her if they really wanted to.

Uzi leans close to him, examining his features. He had soft white hair and was wearing fancy clothes. From the quick moment she saw his face when he was online, he also had yellow eyes.

He was also.. Really tall. Much taller compared to Uzi.

His screen glitches, which makes her step back and hold onto her textbook. His eyes pop up and he stares into her eyes.

“Did you just slap me with that keyboard?” He asks, making Uzi look at her still alive but barely keyboard.

“Uh…”

“I'm sorry, by the way. About scaring you. That wasn't my intention at all.” He tried standing up but couldn't since he was tied by his tail.

“You aren't going anywhere,” Uzi says rudely. “I'm going to have you arrested and you will never see me again.” She spits at him, making him frown.

“Yeah, uh… if you're talking about those guards at the bottom of the tower, they already left.”

“ What ?!” Uzi shoots daggers at him before heading down a flight of stairs. N sits in silence before she comes back, a huge frown on her face.

“Okay… you are still gonna stay there until someone gets here!” Uzi yells.

“Um, what time is it?” N asks, Uzi raises her eyebrow but checks her computer to look at the time.

“1:45 am, why?” N looks down, feeling ashamed.

“Biscuits… I have a meeting at 3 am. Can you please let me go?” He pleads, and Uzi scoffs.

“Give me three good reasons why I should let you go.” Uzi crosses her arms.

“Uh, one… people will be mad at me. Two, I didn't hurt you when I could've while you were dancing,” Uzi feels a blush form on her screen, embarrassed that someone was watching her dance. “Three, you don't seem that bad compared to what people say about you,” N says, Uzi rolls her eyes.

“Bite Me. I don't care what they say about me.” She lies, and N looks at her.

“What is your name?” He asks her.

“Why do you wanna know?”

“I'm curious. My name is N, by the way. I'm from the disassembly drone kingdom.” N answers honestly. Uzi raises her eyebrows before sighing.

“…It’s Uzi.”

Uzi.

“That's a nice name!” N says happily, Uzi glares at him.

“I mean… sure. Whatever, this is dumb. You shouldn't even be here!” At this point, Uzi puts down her textbook but still picks up a pen.

“I get it, you don't trust me. But please Uzi, hopefully, if this meeting goes well, we can make it to where we don't have to be so hostile towards each other anymore.” N pleads.

“Really? Because from what I know, even though we give you our oil, you guys still sneak into our kingdom and kill a bunch of innocent drones!” Uzi yells. N looks at how her black dress moves as she stomps.

“Uzi… I don't know what they tell you, but that's not the full story.” N tried to sympathize with her, since from what he knew himself, it wasn't fair that she was banished to this tall lonely tower.

“Then tell me then, what don't I know.”

“Do you know that I had to be super discrete flying up here? Because if I got captured, your guards would unscrew parts of my body until I'm defenseless? From my wings to my knives? Do you know how your father would cut off disassembly drone tongues that are locked up and use them as medicine, he would use it as a torture method too since we can regenerate ourselves. Every day, our tongues get cut off. Rinse and repeat the cycle? Did you know the only reason disassembly drones will still kill worker drones is because the oil they send is cold and almost inedible?” Uzi stares at him. She knew her father could do bad things, but this?

“I… didn't know,” Uzi admits. N stared at her, he could tell she was honest based on her tone of voice.

“From what I've heard, you're a troublemaker, Uzi. But… you seem interesting. Because of that and my status as a Prince, that's why I didn't kill you.” after saying that, N cuts off his tail using a finger knife. Uzi stares in horror as he gets up, his tail regenerating back.

“Get back, now .”

“It doesn't matter what you do. You don't understand how long it's been since I had fresh oil, it's been a while, Uzi.” N says in a low voice. She stares at him in horror, cursing her dad in her head for not giving her any means to defend herself.

“So what, you wanna threaten me?” She asks, hoping he doesn't notice her voice shaking. N sighs, stepping back from her.

“I'm sorry… I really am, Uzi. This whole thing is complicated, I'm just so sick and tired of seeing everyone fight and hurt each other all the time. I just want peace, isn't that what everyone wants?” He asks her.

“Well.. Yeah.” Uzi sits down on a chair, running a hand through her hair.

“I'm not going to hurt you, I was never going to hurt you. I just heard about a ‘Princess that might be banished in this tower’ and wanted to check it out for myself.” N says honestly.

“Well, you found her.” Uzi rolled her eyes, putting her crown on her head. “She's not that interesting.”

“I can disagree with that.”

“Oh, really?” Uzi looks at N. “How so, Prince N? ” She says his name in a dramatic voice.

“Well, not every day I see a Princess who wears long black dresses and combat boots.” He states, pointing at her outfit. Uzi glares at him.

“It's cool, that's why! They want me to wear those big gowns that are the size of tables, no thank you!” N giggled at that, making Uzi blush.

“What's so funny?”

“Nothing. It was just sweet how you said it.” He admits, Uzi’s blush grew more.

“Shut up! Bite Me!” Uzi clicks her tongue and crosses her arms. She looks at N’s clothes.

“Your clothes look… uncomfortable.” She admits, and N chuckles as he scratches his neck.

“They are… I'm forced to wear these clothes.”

“Have you ever told them no?” Uzi asks N.

“I can't, because I have a ‘reputation to uphold.’” N raises his hands to make quotation marks.

“Who told you that?”

“Princess J.”

“Oh, I heard of her. I heard she's a huge asshole.” Uzi smirks.

“That's not nice at all!” N scolds Uzi, making her chuckle.

Uzi did not expect that her boring day would turn into having a conversation with a disassembly drone, much less one that was a Prince. Uzi learned that he wasn't that terrible, he was treated badly like she was. Uzi checked the time, it was thirty minutes until 3 am.

“Hey dude, you have like thirty minutes,” Uzi says, N’s eyes widen as he opens his wings. Uzi looks at him in astonishment at how big they were.

“Um, can I.. Come back? I'll be here for a week.” N asks her, and Uzi looks at him.

“Um, sure? I don't know if you’ll be lucky enough to get past the guards though.” She says.

“It's no worries! What is the best time of the day to meet you?” N asks her, and Uzi thinks about it.

“I think.. 4 am. Usually, throughout the day, I'm being monitored and drones come here to give me food and school lessons. That's the only time when everyone is exhausted or doing their own thing.” N nods as he walks over to Uzi. He takes her hand to give it a handshake.

“It's great to meet you, Uzi.” He says with a smile. Uzi feels herself freeze as he waves goodbye, flying out the window.

“It's uh.. Nice to meet you too.” She says to the empty room.

N was exhausted. The meeting went.. Alright. J of course scolded him for almost being late, it wasn't until V told her to back off that she stopped.

N noticed during the meeting how much Uzi had a physical resemblance to the Queen. They both shared the same purple hair and violet eyes. There were even times when the Queen would laugh mischievously at jokes, it reminded him a lot about Uzi.

They made an agreement, that the worker drones would do a better job at preserving the oil so the disassembly drones would be satisfied with what they were given. It was a good step and they needed some time to design a prototype that would do so.

Tomorrow, they will discuss more about it.

It was progress.

N sighs. A day had gone by and he was in a rented-out inn room. He had the option to sleep in a room in the castle, but he didn't appreciate the group of guards that would point their guns in N’s direction every time he moved or breathed. This was one of the only times J agreed with N, with her and V having their own separate rooms. He was bored.

He looked at the time. 3:30 am.

He had thirty minutes.

N remembered a little shopping area in town on his way inside the kingdom. He grabbed his disguise and crept past V and J’s room. He walked outside and headed to the plaza. He looked at the types of stores that were there: a robot candy story, a video game store, and a clothing store.

N was unsure if Uzi liked candy, and he was sure that Uzi had a whole wardrobe of clothes since she was a Princess. He stepped inside, looking at the shelves full of different video games. He saw shelves for video games and walked over to them.

He was unsure what games Uzi liked, or even what games she had at all. He didn't see any games with Uzi, so he assumed that she wasn't given any when she was banished to the tower.

He was a little angry that they just trapped Uzi like that.

“Hello!”

N turns around to see a short worker drone with short blue hair. She was smiling up at N, fluttering her eyes. Her nametag said her name was Rebecca.

“Welcome to RoboStop! How can I help you today?” She asks N, and he scratches his chin.

“Do you have suggestions for what computer games a girl would like?” He asks her, Rebecca leans close to N and examines the games.

“Is it for your girlfriend?” She asks him, N feels a blush form as he waves his hands.

“No, of course not! It's for.. Someone I wanna get close with.” He says honestly.

“Uh-huh. Well, I don't know what she's like, but this game,” Rebecca picks up a game, on the cover shows a girl surrounded by a bunch of guys with roses in an exaggerated cartoon style. “This game right here has a bunch of girls wanting it.” She says, and N nods.

“Interesting... Do you have more games like this?” He asks, Rebecca nods her head as she heads to the back of the cash register.

“It's for a computer, right?” N nods and Rebecca pulls out a box with the words “Computer Otome Games” written on the box.

“What are… ‘otome’ games?” N asks her.

“They're dating Sims! If you want games that are popular with girls, these are typically our most popular games.” Rebecca explains. N smiles at her which causes sparks to come off of Rebecca and a blush to appear on her screen.

“How much do they cost?” N asks, Rebecca stares at him.

“Are you sure you wanna buy all of these? They're very pricey.” Rebecca says, N nods as he pulls out a bag of golden coins.

“Holy shit…” She mumbles.

“Is this enough? Or do you need more?” He asks, Rebecca waves a hand out and grabs the bag, putting the coins in the cash register.

“It's more than enough. Here is your change.” Rebecca hands him seven golden coins, but N shakes his head.

“You keep it, I just need the games. Thank you though!” N exclaims. Rebecca cheers as she puts the coins in her pocket. N says goodbye as he grabs the box of games and heads out the door. Rebecca looks at him as he twirls her hair.

“Whoever that girl is, she's so damn lucky.”

Uzi leans back in her seat. Looking at the amount of homework her teacher assigned her.

“This is so boring..” She mumbles to herself. Next to her homework were scribbles and messy doodles. The time said it was almost 4 am.

Almost time for N to see her.

She scoffed. She didn't expect N to come back after what happened yesterday. Uzi was embarrassed that he saw her be herself when she was listening to music. But he didn't laugh or judge or kill her.

“Uzi!” Uzi jumps at the sound of her name. She sees N come in through the window, holding a large brown box. She looks at him with confusion.

“I… honestly didn't expect you to come back,” Uzi admits to him.

“I did say how I would come back, silly!” He says with a smile. Uzi rolls her eyes and looks at the box.

“What's that?”

“It's a gift! Take it as a way of saying ‘im sorry for yesterday, please forgive me and I hope we can at least be friends’ gift.” N says. Uzi gets up and steps to the box.

“It's not like.. A chopped-off head or something, right?” She asks.

“Nope! Nothing deadly or dead! Open it!” N holds his hands together as she opens the box.

She stares at the contents inside.

“What…” Uzi couldn't comprehend the amount of romance otome games she saw in front of her. She looks up at N, whose tail is wagging nervously.

“Um… do you like it?” He asks nervously. He couldn't understand Uzi’s reaction, her expression was unrecognizable.

Uzi couldn't help the laughter that spilled through her lips.

N looks at her with disbelief as she clutches onto her stomach, sitting on the floor and laughing hysterically. Tears were forming on her screen, Uzi couldn't believe the display that was in front of her. She let out some wheezes and snorts.

Uzi couldn't remember the last time someone made her genuinely laugh like that.

“Uh.” N stood there awkwardly as he saw and listened to her laugh. Uzi took a few deep breaths before wiping her screen.

“N… honestly, I appreciate the effort but… what made you think that I would like stuff like this?” She asks, still giggling in between her words.

“Um,” N holds onto his tail. “The person at the game store said these games are what are popular with girls so… I thought you would like them.” Uzi laughed at that, but it wasn't in a malicious way.

“I'm not laughing to mock you, dummy,” Uzi says after calming down. “I just… didn't expect a box of these games.” Uzi grabs a few games, giggling at some of the titles.

N sits down next to her, picking up a few games. Looking at some, he regretted just rushing out of the store and should've taken some time to actually look at what he was buying.

“ Sugar Honey Alpha … My boyfriend is a Pomegranate ... Goth Girl Anime Lover vs. Wholesome Killer Boy .. N.” Uzi was still giggling as she kept reading some of these titles.

N blushed.

“Okay.. I definitely should've looked at them. I didn't want to be late to our meeting time.” His tail lowers sadly, making Uzi stop laughing for a minute.

“Hey…” N looks at her. “I.. Really do appreciate these gifts, I mean it. I'm not used to people doing this for me, so I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being mean. I'm really grateful, N.” Uzi gives him a reassuring smile, which makes N’s tail wag again as he leans in and hugs her tightly.

She did not expect that at all.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Uzi gently pushes him off, and he apologizes for suddenly hugging her.

“It's fine, just.. Ask me if you're gonna do that.” She says, and N nods and salutes as a way of keeping his word. She rolls her eyes with a smile and picks up one of the games.

“You wanna.. Play one of them with me?” She asks N, he gives her a toothy grin.

“I love doing anything!”

That's what they did, Uzi used the download code the game had and put it on her computer. N pulls up a chair to sit next to Uzi as they start the game.

The game starts up, and the screen shows a protagonist with big anime eyes and purple hair.

“She reminds me of you!” N exclaimed.

“She does not look like me.”

“I think so! You both have the same pretty eyes and purple hair.”

Oh .

Uzi smacks herself to keep her blush under control. She wasn't used to people complimenting her. The game shows a backstory to the protagonist’s life, how she grew up not having friends and being bullied but had a crush on her childhood friend Theo. However, one day she runs into a tall handsome guy named Nate who makes her debate on her feelings. The game has three routes: Theo, Nate, or being rejected.

“This game looks ancient.” Uzi comments, and N points at the heart-shaped bar at the bottom of the screen.

“What's this?” He asks.

“Love points. Pretty much if we choose choices that cater to the protagonist's interests or their personality, it will make them like us more. If we have enough by the end of the route, we will get together with them.” Uzi explains.

“You sure know a lot about these types of games…” N comments and Uzi’s eyes widen.

“Bite Me! I do not!” Uzi scoffs as she turns her attention back to the game. Nate was a more sweet guy who would protect the protagonist if anything happened to them. Theo was a more sporty guy who listened to the protagonist’s struggles.

N and Uzi were in front of Nate, he asked the players if they wanted to:

A. Go home

B. Get some slushies

C. Go to the arcade

“Go home, we've been out all day.” Uzi was about to click on A before N stopped her.

“Try clicking on C, I remember Nate saying he likes arcades in an earlier part.” Uzi raises her eyebrow but nods as he clicks on C.

That choice gave them the most love points.

“What…” Uzi stares at her screen and then back at N, who smiles at her.

“How can you remember that?”

“Well, when you really like someone, you remember the small things about them.” He explains to her.

“Oh… I'm not that good with that stuff.” She admits to him, crossing her arms.

“You ever dated someone before?” N asks with genuine curiosity.

“Of course not. Everyone here in this kingdom doesn't like me. You ask anywhere here what they think of me and they think I'm cursed, ugly, annoying, irritating.” Uzi didn't realize she was physically tense until N gently lowered her shoulders.

“I don't think that's true at all. Sure, you can be a little angsty at times but I think that adds to your charm.” He says calmly. The only sound that could be heard was the music playing from the speakers.

“Oh…” Uzi looks away from him, trying to focus all of her attention on the game.

They spent the next few hours together, playing the game. N helped her with the more romantic choices, which caused her to complete the game with both of their routes completed.

In the end, the two gave each other a high five. N and Uzi check the time: 7 am. At around 7:30, the sun would rise.

“I should.. Go.” N says, and Uzi nods. N puts on his disguise and says goodbye to Uzi, saying he will come back tomorrow.

By the time he was gone, Uzi groaned loudly and sat back on her chair, keeping a hand on her chest to calm her beating core.

“Geez…”

The week had come to an end, and every day since N and Uzi met, he would come at the same time, play a terrible otome game with her, and leave. On his last day in her kingdom by her computer, Uzi was thinking.

Would this be the last time she saw him?

“You good, Uzi?” He asked her, noticing she was spacing out.

“Yeah, I'm good just…” Uzi takes a deep breath.

“Will I ever like, see you again? I don't know how long I'll be in this tower, or if you'll ever come back. I just wanna know.” Uzi asks.

A smile formed on N’s face.

“So, you’ll miss me?” He asks happily.

“N-No! I'm just curious!” Uzi glares at him, making N chuckle.

“I'm not sure when I'll be back, but.. I think I have a way of communicating with you.” He says, thinking to himself.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see. And it will be good since it will be discreet and none of us would get caught.” He says with a mischievous smile. Uzi Snickers.

“Okay, Prince Charming . We’ll see.” The two finally finished the game in time for N to leave. N puts on his disguise and looks at Uzi.

“Oh right! I have something for you!” N reaches into his pocket to pull it out. Uzi expected another weird video game of some sort, instead, N pulled out a long black rose.

Uzi looks at him.

“You uh.. Your kingdom has a lot of pretty flowers. And I noticed that black is one of your favorite colors so… I took a rose and dyed it for you.” Uzi noticed the embarrassed blush on his screen, but Uzi had the same embarrassed expression. He walks over to her, giving her the Rose. Uzi takes it gently, her fingers brushing against the thorns.

When you really like someone, you remember the small things about them .

“Sorry if this gift isn't as good either.” He says sadly.

“No, it's actually.. Really nice. Thank you, N.” Uzi gives him a smile, which makes his tail wag. N goes in for a hug but stops himself when he remembers what Uzi told him.

Uzi noticed his reaction. “Silly, you can hug me.” N jumps in excitement as he hugs her tightly, being careful to not crush the Rose and Uzi.

Uzi was pressed against his chest, feeling his warm core and the air coming out of his vents. She hugs him back gently and the two stand in a close embrace.

The hardest part of the entire experience was letting go.

At this point, it's been three weeks since Uzi had been locked in this tower. She's gotten used to the silence, and the only interactions are with her teachers or royal guards.

A day after they left, Uzi learned what N meant when he said he had a plan. He had a crow deliver letters to Uzi, which completely shocked her the first day she heard a squak and saw a large crow holding a scroll.

Every day, it was the same. And the crow would even arrive at the same time as N came to the tower.

4 Am.

Her favorite scroll from N, however, was on the fifth day he was gone.

Uzi,

I hope you're having an awesome day! Today was kind of cool for me, especially since now we have a design of a good oil filter for our kingdoms to use! I really hope this can fix things between our kingdoms.

Anyway, today in our Castle gardens I saw a patch of roses our gardener was planting! It reminded me of you, since you like roses and in front of the tower there were roses.

I miss you.

I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly, and because of unfortunate circumstances , I can't just leave to go see you. I hope there will be another chance I get where I can see you or your dad will let you out so you can do what you want to do! If you ever do get out of the tower, please let me know!

I drew us at the back of our scroll, I noticed how you liked to draw so I wanted to draw us. Sorry it's not as good as yours, but I hope you like it!

I'll talk to you tomorrow, Uzi.

-N

Uzi lay on her bed, yelling in her pillow. The Crow looked at her with confusion as she held the note close to her core, looking up at the ceiling.

She was not supposed to feel this happy over a freaking letter.

“Damnit…” Uzi looks at the dried-up rose on her nightstand. As the days went by, the Rose slowly lost its life, but it still kept its black color. Uzi gently touched its petals until a voice called out to her from outside. She jumps from her seat, thinking that it's from N.

She looked outside, it wasn't from N but instead from one of the Royal guards.

“What do you want?!” She yells. He clears his throat and opens up a scroll of his own.

“Your father says that he thinks you've been punished enough. Tomorrow, you will be released from this tower and back in the castle. He says that if you act out again like what you did back in the village, your punishment will be much more harsh.” He yells at her.

Finally, she could go back home.

Uzi cheers. “About damn time!”

“There is a side note here to mind your language! A Princess shouldn't curse!” He says to her, Uzi hisses at him and rolled her eyes.

She wrote a quick note of her own to N, saying how by tomorrow she will be back in the castle, and to explain to the crow that if she wasn't in the tower, go to the highest story of the castle since that is where her room would be.

She also said how she missed him too.

The next day, Uzi was excitedly back in her room. She missed her posters, her games, her stuff. Uzi almost didn't care about the guards who were watching every move that she did outside of her room.

She looked at her computer, since she had a proper internet connection, Uzi could send messages. She wondered if N had an internet username so she could send more than one message daily to him.

When the crow came to her window, she sighed in relief that it found her. She gently strokes the crow’s head as Uzi grabs the scroll and reads it.

Uzi,

That's awesome, Uzi!! I'm so happy you're finally out of that tower, now I don't have to keep being sneaky whenever I want to see you! :)

Speaking of good news, V, J, and I will be coming back to your kingdom. Your dad let us know that he has a prototype for the oil filter for us to observe and approve before it becomes finalized. We will be there on Wednesday for three days, so I hope I can see you!

We can pretend to not know each other if we are in front of people to prevent raising suspicion. I can't wait to see your face, Uzi :D

Love, N

Wait.

He said “Love”

“He added ‘Love’ this time!” Uzi says to the crow, the crow cocks its head to the side and lets out a squak.

“Yeah! He didn't do this for his other letters…. I might be overthinking…” Uzi groans as she lay in her bed, kicking her feet as she rereads the letter. Even though N was a Prince, he did not have good handwriting.

Uzi picks up an empty scroll, inside it she writes to N if he has an online handle she could search for so she could message him. In case he wanted to message her first, she gave him her online handle (Uzi didn't tell her family she had one). She debated whether or not to end it with “Love,” but he did it for her.

So it was fine, right?

She wrote the damn ending, giving it to the crow before thanking it as it flies away.

During that time, Uzi explored the castle. She felt relieved that she could finally go to places that weren't just one area. Uzi went to the kitchen, sneaking a few batteries in her mouth before speeding away.

“Uzi!”

Uzi saw her mother approach her, wearing a long blue and purple gown, and a silver crown on top of her head. She smiled, she loved her mother, and she felt awful about how her dad lied to her about where Uzi was sent.

Nori, despite having three guards next to her, rushed up to Uzi and smothered her with kisses. Uzi groaned loudly but gave her mom a kiss on her cheek.

“I'm so sorry I couldn't greet you when you got back. How was the school? It wasn't too bad, right?” Nori asks her. Uzi’s face dropped. Even though now she barely spoke to her dad unless absolutely necessary, she knew how much Nori loved Khan and would be devastated if she found out the truth.

She had no idea how Nori could fall for someone like her father, but she digressed.

“It was.. Scary at first. But I did make a friend there, so the experience wasn't too bad.” She says to Nori. Nori smiles as she holds onto Uzi’s hands.

“That's wonderful! What was their name?” She asks. Uzi knew she couldn't say N’s name, which would immediately raise suspicion.

“…Nate. His name is Nate, he's very nice.” Uzi lied.

“Well, I'm glad you made a friend, Uzi. Hopefully one day you’ll see them again.” Uzi smiled at her mom, one of the guards whispered something in Nori’s ear and she sighed.

“I gotta do ‘Royal duties’” Nori made air quotes with a disgusted face, making Uzi laugh. “I'll talk to you again when I have the chance, I love you, sweetheart.” Nori kisses Uzi on her forehead before leaving with her guards.

Uzi went back to her room and saw her computer had lightened up. She was confused as she looked at the screen, seeing she got a message and friend request from someone.

The user said goldenprince30.

“Who the hell is this..?” Uzi asks herself, she clicks on the message.

“Uzi! It's me, N! I got a computer for this after receiving your letter, hopefully, this makes communicating easier! :D”

Holy shit.

Uzi grinned, happy that N accepted her request to chat. She sat on her computer, taking off her crown before typing a message.

darkXwolf17: Good to see you here, N >:3

goldenprince30: Oh, you're online! That's great!

darkXwolf17: Yeah, today was incredibly boring. Haven't been talking much to my dad

goldenprince30: I don't really blame you for that

darkXwolf17: How was your day though

goldenprince30: It was pretty good! My little sister was telling me about a story of a dog she saw today

darkXwolf17: I didn't know you had a sister

goldenprince30: I do! Her name is Cyn, she's incredibly sweet and kind. Maybe one day when you come over to my kingdom, the two of you can meet! :)

darkXwolf17: You think she will like me?

goldenprince30: Yeah! It might take her some time to get used to you since your new, but I promise she's a sweetheart when you get to know her

darkXwolf17: I'll definitely keep that in mind :3

N smiles at his small computer. He didn't have a large one like Uzi, since he needed to be discreet and secretive. The only one who knows about his computer is Cyn, who is sitting on the floor and playing with dolls.

“Are you talking to that Princess again, Big Brother N?” She asks him, N’s tail wags.

“Yeah! She's very nice, I think you'd like her.” Cyn gets up from the floor and sits on N’s bed.

“Crisscross applesauce.” Cyn moves her legs in that position to sit. “You've been…talking about her a lot.” She comments.

“Ah, sorry about that… it's just…” N didn't finish his sentence. He kind of had a feeling he was talking about Uzi a lot ever since he came back home. Cyn was the only drone he knew he could share his secrets with and she wouldn't tattle on anyone.

“Just ask her to come over…” Cyn asks, she makes claws appear on her back so she can reach and grab her dolls.

N frowns. Cyn having claws was something unusual she had for years. Doctors keep thinking it's an unnamed disease, but they don't have a diagnosis. For now, this was something their family kept secret from the public.

“You know how everyone will be. J hates everyone in that kingdom with a passion, I don't know how V feels about it.” He says sadly. Cyn tilts her head to look at him.

“Well, after you, V, and J come back from your trip, ask her to come over. She might appreciate it. Thoughtful expression.” Cyn smiles at N.

He sighs. “Okay… I’ll try,” N says to her.

“Then, once you two are together. You guys can smooch.” Cyn presses the lips of her dolls together, making N blush.

“I uh, highly doubt that will happen!” He says nervously.

“Giggle. I am messing with you, Big Brother N.” She extends a hair out to ruffle his hair gently.

Cyn cared about N and his happiness. He was the only one in the castle who didn't treat her differently, so, she hoped that things would be good between him and Uzi.

He was here.

And Uzi couldn't see him.

She argued with her dad for thirty minutes, trying to convince him that whether he liked it or not, she was a Princess. She was his daughter, so she would also want to be in these meetings. Khan said no, and that there would be meetings she could go to that didn't have disassembly drones. He still cared about his daughter’s safety.

“One day, whether you like it or not, I'll be Queen. What, you're gonna come back and tell everyone I can't be in the room?!” She asks angrily.

“My decision is final. I'm sorry Uzi.” Uzi scoffs as she stomps away. She left the castle, not even bothering to put her disguise on as she walked through the garden.

She went a little bit into the forest to lean against a tree to cry. Uzi hated crying in front of people, especially in front of her dad. He already treated Uzi like she was still a kid, she couldn't imagine what would happen if she cried in front of him.

Uzi sat there for a while, hugging herself as she looked up at the stars above. She lost track of time but figured it was about time to head back before she caused a panic. She wiped her screen but she saw a familiar face.

“N?!” Uzi’s eyes brightened seeing him. He smiled brightly and Uzi couldn't help herself when he raised his hand to wave at her but she ran to hug him. She almost tripped from her dress but N caught her in time, the two looked at each other with blushes on their screens.

“How did you find me?” She asks.

“I saw you running through the garden out the window during the meeting. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, they had more things to say…” N says sadly.

“You don't gotta apologize, dude. I'm just.. Happy you're here.” Uzi says softly. A part of her was unsure how she had gotten so soft around N, but he didn't mind it at all.

“Hey, what time is it now?” He asks Uzi. She looks at him confused but presses a button on the side of her head to show the time on her screen. 2:37 am.

“Okay, can you meet me here at-”

“4 am?”

“Yeah.” N smiles. “I have something to show you.” Uzi nods, N gives her a warm smile and Uzi looks away. A guard calls out to them, asking them what they are doing. N tries to speak up but the guard ignores him, asking Uzi if she is okay.

“I'm fine, geez. I just went to get fresh air, he didn't hurt me.” The guard leaves with Uzi, leaving N alone at the spot.

But they had a plan.

3:50 am.

Uzi looked at the moon. She was nervous about going back to the spot since it was pretty far from her room. And there was extra security around these times too. Uzi put on a shirt and pants, something she knew her dad would disapprove of. She opens her door to look out the window and sees a group of guards playing a card game down the hall.

This was her only chance.

Uzi runs down the hallway, quickly hiding in the corner before anyone can see her. She looked from behind corners to see guards going up and down the stairs. She picks up a vase and throws it in the opposite direction, the crash making the guards look and run toward the noise. Uzi runs down the stairs until she finds her way outside.

Hiding from guards in the garden was easy since it was dark outside and she could just hide behind bushes. When she reached the spot, N was already there, and Uzi was out of breath.

4:09 am.

“I'm sorry I'm late.… ever since the tower there have been more guards…” Uzi takes a minute to catch her breath. N stares at her, he wasn't used to seeing her in pants, and even in them she still kept her dark purple and black colors.

It was really cute.

“No worries, Uzi. I had to do a lot of sneaking too. V kept talking to me and the guards kept pointing their guns at me…” N says to her.

“I'm so sick of them.” Uzi groans, and N pats her back.

“We don't have to worry about them tonight! What time do you need to be done?”

“Um… 8 am. That's usually when the guards wake me up.” She says.

“Gotcha. I'll bring you back before then, for now…” N opened up his wings and crouched down.

“Hop on!”

What.

“What- huh?!” Uzi exclaimed in Confusion.

“I wanna take you somewhere special, it's a little farther in the forest and it will take us longer to walk so I was hoping we could fly there. If you're comfortable?” He looks back to look at Uzi, she was tugging the ends of her shirt nervously.

“I.. Never did this before. What if I fall?”

“I promise that I won't let you fall. Do you trust me?”

Trust.

Uzi looks at him, debating some more before she steps forward, slowly wrapping her arms around N’s and he holds onto her legs. Uzi couldn't see the smile he had on his face, but she did see his tail wag which made her grin.

He slowly goes off the ground to get Uzi used to being in the air, she holds onto N tighter but he still keeps a tight grip on her.

“You good, Uzi?”

“Yeah… you can go higher..” She says, N shivered when he felt her talk in his ear. He flies higher from the ground until he is over the trees. From this point, Uzi could see over the castle walls.

N starts flying forward, the wind rushing through Uzi’s hair. She was glad she wasn't wearing her crown or else it would've blown away at this point. Throughout the ride, N would ask if Uzi was okay. Each time she was fine, but she wasn't used to the fluttering feeling she got being so close to N and being high in the sky.

N finally landed, in an unfamiliar spot that was far from the castle. Uzi got off his back and saw that N took her to a frozen lake, the ice was shimmering under the moonlight. The ice was so clear you could see the frozen water down below.

“Robo-God…” Uzi whispered.

“Cyn told me about this place, she saw it on a map called the “Beloved” Lake, there is a story about two humans who came to this lake to swim, however, one of them drowns. Their lover was so devastated that every year on their death anniversary, they would come back and spend the entire day at the lake. One day, the last lover drowns in this same Lake. No one knows if anyone killed them or if they did it on their own hand, but the two lovers died at the same spot and on the same day but on different dates.”

Uzi looks down at the lake, looking at the patterns and designs of cracks on the ice. It looked thick enough to hold people, otherwise, both she and N would be screwed.

What Uzi didn't expect, was N to suddenly step on the ice and skate in a circle.

“How can you do that?!”

“Practicing.” N grins. He skates in a circle before extending his hand out to Uzi.

“Oh no, I do not know how to skate.” She laughs, waving her hands. N gently takes a hand and it makes Uzi blush.

“I'll teach you.”

Uzi couldn't help but turn away at how soft he sounded, she was more than flustered, especially with how he held her hand. She looks at him with nervous but determined eyes.

“Okay.”

She steps on the ice and immediately falls on her face.

“Uzi! Are you okay?!” N helps her up and Uzi groans in pain as she rubs her visor.

“Yeah… thank Robo-God I have this protector on.” She mumbles.

“Here, let me hold onto you.” N puts a hand around her waist and pulls her close to him.

If she wasn't flustered then, she really was now.

Uzi hoped that N didn't hear her vents grow louder to try and cool her down. Her face was hearing up, sweat was forming on her face. She quickly wiped It away as N started to skate with her.

She wobbled a few times, as well as fall on her butt. Every time though, N was patient with her until an hour passed and she was confident she could skate without his help. She cheers loudly and pumps her fists in the air until she falls down again. Thankfully, she could get up herself. The two skated around each other, talking about their family, their (lack of) friends, and what they wanted for their futures. The two were comfortable with each other.

The two skated close with each other, Uzi being bold, grabbed N’s hand. His tail shoots up, making Uzi laugh. The two hold hands, skating in circles before N catches Uzi, hands on her hips.

They looked into each other's eyes. Yellow with violet.

“Um…”

“So…”

They stood awkwardly, Uzi shivering from the cold breeze. She really should've worn more to cover herself up. N holds onto her tightly so she can be close to his body heat.

She looks at him, then looks at his lips.

He notices.

“Uzi?”

“Yeah?”

“I… really wanna kiss you.” He admits. Uzi blushes furiously, her hand clutching tightly onto his jacket.

She really wanted to kiss him too.

“…Okay.” She says quietly. N cups her face gently and smiles at her, his hand is so warm against her cheek.

He leans down and kisses her.

Uzi felt shock course through her body, her core was beating fast and her body was hearing up. Uzi feels N’s tail wrap around her leg, which makes Uzi hold onto N tighter. He was warm against her, and he tasted so sweet. Her hands moved into his hair, his soft hair in between her fingers. During the entire thing, Uzi and N forgot they were on the ice and they slipped, N falling backward as Uzi fell on top of him.

They stared at each other, their blushes still prominent as they both laughed at what just happened. They leaned in and kissed each other again, feeling addicted to their taste.

N shuddered tasting Uzi, he could taste a slight sour battery acid taste against her tongue. His fingers brushed on her neck, which made her shiver. The two were intertwined, hot against the ice. They both pulled back, looking at each other with wide eyes and hot bodies.

“We should.. Get off the ice.” Uzi breathes out, N nods as he picks up Uzi and skates back to the regular ground. Uzi couldn't react as N leaned in and kissed her again. She lets out a small groan as he gently pushes her against a tree. Her sweater slid down her shoulder, exposing her t-shirt. N pulled off the sweater so his hands were on her bare arms.

Uzi’s arms were around his shoulders, and her legs were around his waist. The feeling of being close to N was one of the greatest feelings she’d ever experienced in her life. The two didn't want to let go of each other as N intertwined his fingers with Uzi.

“We should…” N breathes, getting interrupted as Uzi gently kisses his neck. “It will be,” Another kiss. “8 am.. Soon.”

Uzi’s eyes widened.

“Shit!” Uzi quickly gets up, puts on her jacket, and uses her hands to fan herself. N understood the memo as he opened his wings and crouched down. Uzi hops on him and the two fly back to the castle.

Uzi convinced N to fly her back to her room, the guards would be tired and exhausted by now, so they wouldn't really pay attention to the sky. Thankfully, Uzi left her window open and she stepped inside her room. N smiles at her as Uzi scratches her neck.

“I uh… I had fun.” She says honestly. N chuckled.

“I did too… it was the most fun I had in my life.” He admits, and Uzi grins. N points out that she had something on her face and he would take it off. She looks confused until N grabs her face and pulls her in for another kiss.

Uzi could live off of just N’s kisses for the rest of her mind and she wouldn't mind.

Dizzy swirls appear on her screen, sweating once more. N laughs at her reaction before saying goodbye and flies away. Uzi stumbles to her bed, kicking her feet and laughing maniacally.

She felt so cringed acting like this.

But she also loved it.

A few weeks had gone by, and Uzi had been messaging N every day. She always thinks about their time at the lake, and how hot she was when she kissed N for the first time.

She really wanted to kiss N again.

Their messages became more and more romantic, Uzi catching herself smiling and giggling before she smacked her screen, going back to her angsty persona. There was one conversation that they had though, that had Uzi think.

What if they both ran away?

They both hated being in their castles, with N being mistreated by J and everyone else, and Uzi just being monitored every time she walked and didn't want to be in the same place as her dad. They both mentioned how they could each get money and travel somewhere else on the planet. They didn't care where just as long as it was away from their kingdoms.

The only problem was they had people who cared about them.

Uzi had her mother, and N had Cyn. They knew that if they left without any warning, the two would be devastated. So the two hatched a plan, they would tell them about their plans to run away and pray that they wouldn't tell anyone else about it.

They both agreed and left to put their plan into action.

It was hard to catch her mother not busy, which was expected since she was the queen. During the daytime, however, Uzi found her mother alone with her usual guards. She calls out to her, and Nori smiles.

Uzi felt her core drop.

“Uzi! What brings you here?” She asks with a smile. Uzi gives her a weak smile and turns to look at her guards.

“Can you… give us some privacy?” She asks. They raise their eyebrows until Nori shoots a glare at them, making them bow an apology before leaving the room.

“Are you okay? You never ask to talk to me alone.” Nori asks with concern. Uzi was scared of being honest with her mother about everything, but at least it wasn't with her father.

“Mom… I need to be honest with you.” Uzi starts, and Nori nods slowly.

“I… Dad… he's been lying to you.” She says, and Nori frowns.

“What are you talking about, Uzi..?”

“He never sent me to a boarding school.. He made me stay in that tower on the outskirts of town. I stayed there for weeks, I was only allowed to talk to guard members and my teacher.” She admits.

Nori’s eyes widened, tears pricking her eyes as she fell to the ground.

“Is this true…?” She asks quietly. Uzi felt guilt as she looked at her mother. She barely saw her mother upset, and when she did it was serious.

“..yeah. I'm so sorry for not telling you. I didn't want you to get mad at Dad or at anyone.” Uzi says, Nori looks at her with tears streaming down her screen.

“I'm so sorry, Uzi… I'm so sorry it took me this long to find out. I should've known something was wrong, I'm a horrible mother…” Nori was crying in her hands at this point, Uzi sat down next to her and held her tightly.

“You're not a horrible mom. You're the best mom I could ask her, you're also a great Queen, I know that.” Uzi rubs her back in reassurance.

“I don't care about being a damn Queen, I care about my daughter. No mother should let her daughter be trapped in a place like that..” Nori sobs, hugging Uzi tightly. Uzi couldn't help the tears that flowed, hugging her mom back. The two cried on the floor together, Nori letting go with lines under her eyes.

“I don't know what I'm going to do, but.. I promise that I won't ever let that happen to you ever again.” Nori promises.

“I know you won't, Mom.”

Nori holds onto Uzi’s hand. “Is there anything else you wanna tell me?” She asks, and Uzi sighs.

“I didn't... Entirely lie about making a friend. I did make one but…” Nori looks at her confused.

“It's Prince N.”

Nori’s eyes widened.

“Wait, Prince N like.. The Disassembly Drone Prince?” She asks, and Uzi looks away as she nods.

“ Wha …” Nori looks at her with disbelief. “When did this happen?”

“When I was in the tower, he found his way there and we just… talked every day he was here. And we communicated with notes when he wasn't here.” Nori rubs her head and sighs.

“I have a headache..” She mumbles. Uzi picks her up from the ground and sits her down on a chair.

“And… I think I love him, Mom.” Uzi blushes and Nori stares at her.

“You… wow …” Nori’s expression was unrecognizable at this point. So many emotions were rushing through her head.

“…Okay. Did you do anything with this boy?” She asks, and Uzi’s blush grows.

“We just… kissed.”

“And?”

“That's it! I swear! We just pass notes and kiss!” Uzi exclaims, making Nori laugh.

“I'm teasing you, sweetheart. Just… this is a lot to process.” Nori admits, at this point, that she took off her crown. Nori’s crown was more detailed and heavy than Uzi’s, she couldn't imagine how heavy that must be on her head.

Uzi and Nori shared another embrace, Nori laid her head against her daughter’s.

“I love you, Uzi. I always will.” Nori kisses her head.

“I love you too, Mom.”

N was rubbing his hands together nervously. He was in front of Cyn’s room, debating whether or not he should knock on the door.

He loved Uzi though, so he knocked.

N steps in, and sees Cyn hanging upside down on the ceiling, her hair swaying as she rocked side to side.

“What brings you here, Big Brother N? Climb.” Cyn climbs down from the ceiling, facing her big brother.

“Uh… so…” N looks at her with sad eyes, and Cyn tilts her head to the side.

“What has you so, upset?” She asks him. N sighs as he gestures for her to sit on the floor, sitting crisscross applesauce with her.

“Do you remember Uzi?” He asks her, and she nods.

“The one you're in love with, am I right?” She asks, making N blush.

“…Yes.”

“Giggle. I figured.” Cyn smiles as N’s blush grows. Classical music from the record player was playing inside the room, the melody making him focus.

“So… since Uzi and I love each other. We wanna… leave.” He says the last part quietly, but Cyn picks it up.

“You wanna, run away?” N nods at her and Cyn gives him a sad look.

“Will I, ever see you again?”

“One day, maybe...” N was unsure of how long it would be until they came back to their kingdoms. Maybe when they change their identities they will feel comfortable enough.

Cyn looked down at her hands, her expression was showing pain and hurt. N frowns as he pulls Cyn into a hug.

“I'll come back one day to see you, little buddy.” He promises her. Cyn lightly pats his head before she gets up and pulls out a drawer, reaching into a dresser.

Cyn walks back and hands N a bracelet, which is made with smiley face beads.

“It was meant as a birthday gift but…” Cyn looks away. “It's better to give this to you now. Sad expression.” N feels tears form as he puts the bracelet around his wrist. He pulls Cyn into a tighter hug, which she reciprocates.

“I love you so much, Cyn. I swear one day I'll come back to see you. So please remember me, okay?” Cyn looks up at him and gives him a smile.

“Of course, N. Smile.”

It wasn't supposed to happen this early.

A day had gone by after she told her mom everything. In the middle of the night, Uzi woke up to the sounds of crashing. She quickly gets up and rushes out of the hallway, where she sees Nori screaming at Khan.

“You locked our daughter in that tower?! How could you do that?!” She screams at him, Khan has his hands raised, trying his best to calm his wife down.

“Nori… I felt like that was the only option we had. Uzi hadn't caused trouble ever since she came back! That was the reason I sent her there!”

“You lied to me. You made everyone in this castle lie to my face for months! How can you stand there and tell me to calm down when Uzi is scared and lonely?! Please explain to me!” Nori was crying as she yelled at Khan, Uzi quickly rushed back into her room and pulled out her emergency bag.

She prepped the bag a little bit ago, consisting of food, clothes, money, medical supplies, and her rail gun. She hoped that this time, it would work when she needed to use it. She put the backpack on her as she looked out the hallway again, seeing her parents move the argument to a separate room. Uzi rushes to her computer and sends a quick final message to N.

darkXwolf17: Parents found out. We gotta leave now. I'll meet you at the spot.

Uzi deleted the chat and made her computer do a system wipe so they wouldn't find evidence. Uzi takes off her crown and sets it next to her keyboard. Uzi takes one last look at her room before she rushes outside, running down the hallway.

“Princess Uzi! What are you doing?! ” a guard screams, Uzi turns around in horror as she sees three guards rush in her direction. Uzi sprints through the castle, dropping decorations as she runs to slow them down.

She reaches into the garden, hiding behind the trees as she waits for N to arrive and the guards to leave.

The guards order each other to look at different points of the castle. Uzi lets out a sigh of relief as she still hides behind a tree. N finally arrives, holding a bag of his own.

“N!” Uzi hugs him tightly and the two share a kiss, causing Uzi to spark up.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He asks.

“I told my mom, she's arguing over my dad over it. The guards are looking for me, we gotta leave now.” She says quickly. N nods as he carries Uzi bridal style, lifting her off the ground and flying in the sky.

“There!” Uzi and N look down and see one of the guards pointing at them. They pull out their gun and start shooting, N thankfully dodges in time as he flies above the forest.

They were away from the castle.

They were free.

“We did it!” N and Uzi burst into laughter, Uzi looking straight into N’s yellow eyes.

“I love you.”

N stares at her, blushing furiously. A smile forms on his face as he hugs her tightly and spins her in the air.

“You love me! You said you love me!” He cheers, making Uzi groan and laugh.

“Bite Me! I'll only say this once!” She lies, and N knows that.

N kisses her on the lips.

“I love you too.”

Cyn sits in her room, listening to the loud yelling happening outside her door. Everyone found out N was gone, and they were searching everywhere for him. Cyn looks down at the matching bracelet she made alongside the bracelet she made for N, before looking out her window at the bright full planets and moons.

“I'll miss you, big brother N.”