Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A Princess and a Monster (1x1)

Lucard was a bit surprised. He took the hand, very carefully in his own much larger hand, and shook it. "I am Lucard. It is a pleasure to meet you, princess Anna." He let her leave, his gaze watching her until she could not be seen any longer. He hoped she would not get in too much trouble with her father. That would be very sad. He settled into the corner and debated carefully, thinking over it. The princess was so different from her father. Perhaps she took after her mother.

The next day, very early in the morning, she returned with breakfast. "Hi, I'm here with food. Did you sleep well?" She was wearing her normal gown now and when she sat down by the bars, her behind wasn't cold because of all the layers. "So, I'm gonna try to talk to my father today. He is in a very good mood because my brother beat the record on some stupid duel." Johanna rolled her eyes and continued. "A proud father can be asked anything. Especially when he is proud of his son."

Lucard went towards the bars when she came, smiling softly. "Good morning, princess. I did, thank you." He started eating, listening to her as she explained her plan. "I see. That is very wise of you. It's important to take advantage of a person's good mood in such situation. I wish you the best of luck." He was quiet for a few long moments, then gazed at her carefully. "If I may be so bold...what happened to your mother?"

Her face changed immediatly. Her once so bubbly personality got replaced by a sad expression. "She died when i was about 12. She was nursing the people in this town and got sick, too." She pushed herself back a bit and leaned her head on her knees. Her hands were wrapped around her leg as she stared out in to the void. "I don't blame my father. My mom died because she was too merciless and too kind. He is afraid I'll be the same and get myself into trouble."

"Anyway, I should go." Her sudden mood change showed how much she didn't wanna talk about it. She got up and without saying anything she left before he could see the tears in her eyes.

Lucard listened carefully, bowing his head respectfully. "I am sorry. That must have been very difficult for you. But at least she died doing what she loved to do. And that is very important." He knew she would not want to talk about it, so when she tried to escape, he simply smiled. "Best of luck, princess." He hoped that she would be able to talk some sense into her father. In the meantime, he hunched in the shadows. At one glance, he would indeed look like a beast, a monster. But his eyes were too intelligent, too sad, to be a beast.

At night, Johanna came back. Her face was sharp and she looked stubborn and annoyed. "I had to steal the key because ofcourse my father didn't listen." She opened the cell and waved to the door. "Be quick, get away from here and make sure they don't catch you. EVER." She gave him a bag with food and tucked the blanket in there too. "You need to make sure that they never find you. Because this time, they won't hesitate to kill you."

Lucard was surprised that she came to...to free him. He stood up and walked out of the cell, then looked at her carefully. "..come with me, princess. You are obviously not happy here." Sure, if they caught him then he would be executed for kidnapping the princess. But as she said, he was going to die already if they caught him. He took the bag. "Come now, princess. Live a little. You surely aren't living in this prison. Fancy it may be, it is a prison nonetheless, not a castle." He wondered if she really would take him up on the offer.

At first she didn't believe what she heard. Part of her wanted to say yes, but part couldn't. "I'm sorry, I cant. My people need me." Her voice sounded sad but determined. "Even though I don't have anything to say, what would happen if I wasn't here? My father would die from heart break." She shook her head at the ground like she was still making up her mind.

"I would if I didn't have anything holding me here. The people need me. Yes, I'm not happy but I have to put my happiness aside and think of the others first." Sad she walked towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for showing me that different is beautiful but I can't go with you, even though I want to with all my heart. Go before they catch you."

Lucard looked at her carefully. "...well, then. If your mind is made up, there is just one thing left to do." He suddenly lifted her up in his arms and loped up the stairs, quicker than she could imagine. He burst through the doors and once out into the open air, his wings opened and he took off, with her held gently but firmly in his arms. Guards saw him leave. They also saw the princess in his arms, probably quite frightened and protesting. In fact, he maneuvered slightly, just to make sure that they saw he was taking her away. And he let them see where he was heading; back into the forest, but deeper this time. He flew for a little while, and then landed carefully and gently set her down. "Are you alright?"

The whole thing was a hazy memory and she didn't realise what was happening until she got back to the ground. Her face was in shock as she looked around. "Wh-a I-No." She ran towards him with her finger pointed. "No! I told you, they need me to keep them safe. My father. He'll be heart broken. He won't ever rest.." She walked around in circles. In the whole time, not once did she say she wanted to go back. No, she had responsibilities and thats what kept her there. The thing was, she wasn't even freaking out as much as a normal person would. She wasn't yelling or angry. Nothing.

"Well? Bring me back?" She said standin there, tapping her foot. "If you think they will be waiting for you with a basket of cookies, you are very wrong." She joked but thats the way she coped with stuff, by joking.

Lucard looked at her calmly, accepting his anger. "He won't ever rest until he finds you. I know." He shook his head as she ordered him to bring her back. "I will not. They will not be waiting for me. I will be waiting for them. We are staying here until they come." He went over to a cave nearby. "Here is some shelter for the night. You will be home by noon, I would bet. The horsemen are probably already on their way for you." He paused for a moment, then looked at her. "Sometimes," he said softly, "the only way we realize how much we love something is when we lose it." He was doing this on purpose. All of this. To make the king realize how much he truly cherished his daughter.

"Well, if you aren't flying me back, I'm walking back." With a pep in her step, she started to walk in the most random direction ever. She realised that he was trying to help but she could only imagine her fathers face. His tired, once again hurt face. And her brothers serious face while he tried to hold back tears because men don't cry, according to him.

After a couple of steps, she cringed. She didn't put on shoes this morning because she wanted to be as silent as possible. Ofcourse, she stepped into all kinds of dirt. But stubborn as she was, she kept walking. "He doesn't get what my father has been through." She thought to herself. She couldn't blame him for acting this way. Yes it was frustrating but she understood. Johanna looked exactly like her mom. Her father couldn't look her in the eyes after she died and Johanna never knew why until one day, she saw a painting of her and her mom.

She looked around and started walking in a different direction. "Okay, so the sun is this way, meaning the castle is too?" Oh if she only paid attention in class.

Lucard moved towards her, jumping slightly and his wings taking him the rest of the way to land in front of her. "Please, princess, do not make me force you. The sun is setting, the forest is dangerous at night. It is best to take shelter until the dawn." He gave her a gentle nudge back towards the cave. "You do your father no good if you end up dying on the way back." he pointed out gently. For being such a 'brute' and 'monster', he really was kind and considerate. Every time he touched her, it was as if he were touching a glass doll and didn't want to break it. Of course, with his strength, she almost was like a glass doll to him.

"If I die, it's your fault." She sounded very hars but that was only because she already felt guilty about not wanting to go back. She looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." She really didn't. When he nudged her, she let him and sat down on infront of the cave. "Fine.." That was all she said and she stared out.

After a while of just sitting there, thinking about her father and brother, her body started to shake from the cold. She wasn't used to not be inside of 4 walls. The air outside was so pure and the sun on her skin felt weird. But somewhere deep down, she found it all very exciting. For once, she wasn't afraid of the unknown.

Lucard went into the cave with her and started a fire, noticing her shivering. He carefully took off his shirt and draped it over her. "I'm better at dealing with the cold than you are, princess. Here. Keep this around you, and stay close to the fire." He pulled a blanket out from the bag she had given him, and wrapped that around her as well.
That was when they heard a growl. Lucard looked to the entrance immediately, to find a wolf there. It glared at them, and slowly started to approach, fangs bared. Lucard stepped in front of Johanna, hunkering down. He growled back. The two growled at each other, and then Lucard let out a mighty roar. The wolf laid its ears back against its head, whimpered, and then scurried off. Lucard rolled his shoulders and moved to sit down again.

Johanna's eyes got big and for a second she did get scared of him. He looked so different in the light when he growled at the wolfs. "Don't do that." She said soft. "You are not a monster, then don't act like it." Again, she didn't mean to sound harsh, she just wanted to be honest with him. "If you want people to meet the real you, then let them."

The blanket around her was cosy and made her sleepy. Not too long after that, she fell asleep. That night she dreamed about the adventures she read about in books. About Lucard and the travels she did with him. Suddenly she woke up, sweating and panting. Her fathers crying had woken her up and she realised too late that she wasn't home.

Lucard looked at her as she scolded him. He frowned. "Would you rather I let him eat you? Princess, sometimes one needs to take advantage of one's appearance to divert any potential problems. You can't tell a wolf to 'shoo'. You can only scare it away." However, the damage had been done. He knew she was scared of him. And he knew she probably didn't understand his perpetual struggle of whether he was man or beast. He stayed in the shadows while she stayed by the fire, gazing out at the entrance. When she woke up, he was still there. But it was nearly dawn, and the fire had gone out. Light was trickling into the cave. "..did you sleep well?"

She didn't but she already felt like a nag so she nodded. "Did you?" Her voice was still a bit weird from just waking up. A bit confused she looked around. "They should've been here by now.. Why aren't they here yet?" Something fishy was going on. It was too quiet and too calm in the forest. Johanna got up and walked around, then she took the bag and grabbed some bread and cheese, gave some to Lucard and sat down with her own food.

The awkward silence made her feel really guilty. "I'm sorry for yesterday." She said soft.

Lucard gave a slight nod. "I slept fine, thank you." He watched the entrance carefully. "...they're probably setting up a trap to bait me out so that they don't risk my hurting you." He glanced over at her, taking some of the food and eating it. "Apology accepted. Thank you, princess. You are forgiven." He watched the entrance carefully, and when he was done eating he got up and lumbered over to it, standing there and gazing out around him.
That was when an arrow hit his shoulder. He roared out from the pain, reaching up and yanking it out. Thankfully it hadn't gone too deep, due to the thickness of his skin. "They're out there alright...or at least some are." he growled lowly.

The sudden arrow made Johanna jump in the air. " Are you okay?" she asked worried. "You should get out of here! Before they catch you." Johanna pushed the bag with dood in his arms and gave him a quick kiss on the cheeks. "Thank you for what you did. I'm eternally greatful!" Before she walk to the edge of the Cave, she gave him a heartwarming smile. This had been a weird experience, hard and sudden but kinda great. She wondered how it would be if she had some more time to Explorer the world.

She proceeded to walk away but then stopped. When she turned around she had a strange look on her face. "I just realised that I don't wanna go back." It seemed to almost scare her, the way she said it. "I shouldn't go back, not yet." Her mind was working fast and she started babbling. "Right now is the only time I can break free, even if its for a little while. I could go exploring and see things, learn things." Her face lit up at the thought. "i could leave a not or something saying that I'm safe and that he shouldn't look for me, that I'll be back in a couple of months? What do you say?"