I groaned as I slowly but very painfully regained my consciousness. I had the most intense headache I'd ever had and my world spun violently.

Not that I could see it. My vision was dark as a result of the cloth that covered my eyes. I wanted to scream but even my mouth was restrained. It was a terrible realization that I was cut off from the world. I felt that much more helpless when I tugged at my arms but they were secured firmly behind my back.

The only one of my senses that still offered any input was my hearing but even that was dominated by the sound of my loud, irregular heartbeat.

I could feel my heart in my chest pounding away. This paired with the tightness in my stomach produced what I believed to be the worst I'd ever felt in my life.

I was struggling to breathe. It felt as though my lungs hadn't yet recovered from the oddly sweet-smelling chemical forced into them.

I groaned weakly as more of my feeling came back to me. The floor felt hard and uneven. My shoulder was sore from bearing the full weight of my body.

Slowly I began to hear the humming of an engine and the sound of tyres on a road.

I desperately wanted to scream but all I could manage was no more than a whimper.

Oh God Nick. I hoped he was alright. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to him.

"She's awake" I heard a voice originate from somewhere around me. I could tell it belonged to a man but little else. Mature maybe? A Lenorian accent could be detected but that didn't help me much.

It wouldn't matter anyway if I couldn't find a way out of here.

I forced myself into a roll in search of more sensory input. It took a rotation and a half to hit a wall. A van?

"Dose her again" I heard another voice.

"Mmh" I forced the sound through my restraints. I remembered the feeling of the gas all too well. I couldn't handle another round.

I turned and kicked as a deterrent but my feet only flailed helplessly in the air.

My heart sank when I felt a strong hand grip my chin and hold it in place. A moment later, he placed a rag to my face once again.

I'd tried not to breathe for as long as I could but it was hopeless, he had all the time in the world. It took about 30 seconds after first breathing in the slightly sweet and a bit musty odor for me to lose consciousness once again.

=^..^=

I woke up feeling like I was about to cough up my internal organs. I opened my eyes and was stunned by the bright light in the room.

I wasn't bound. I forced myself to my knees thinking only of escape but my body was betraying me. I couldn't stop wheezing as I struggled to breathe.

What the fuck was that? I wouldn't force it down the throat of my worst enemy not to mention doing it twice.

'Who are these people?' I thought to myself as I groaned in pain.

When I began to win the struggle to breathe, I realized just how much of my body hurt to no end.

I forced my eyes open, taking in only a brief second of my surroundings before forcing myself off the bed that I was apparently lying on.

I managed to stand on my own two feet for only a few seconds before a wave of dizziness washed over me and I stumbled over to the wall.

There I remained until my bearings returned to me. Slowly my condition improved and if I ignored the sweating, I was beginning to feel like my normal self again.

This feeling of normalcy finally allowed my thoughts to shift to figuring out where I was.

While still leaning against the wall, I studied my surroundings. It looked to me like a room belonging to a little girl. Beige walls, pink curtains, wooden floors, a pink bedspread and more.

There were toys, drawings on the wall, and a dresser with a discolored, oval-shaped patch on the wall above it. It looked like a room where a normal girl would have slept, not at all like a prison cell. There was even a door that led into a bathroom.

It was almost worse that it wasn't a prison cell. It felt eerie. L

Why would they kidnap me only to bring me here? What did they want?

I hurried over to the only other door that had to have been an exit. I tried but it was locked.

I kicked the wooden door in anger.

"Let me out of here!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and then listened. I was met only with silence.

I kicked the door once again in frustration before pulling at the handle, "Let me out or I swear--"

I stopped only when I heard footsteps approach the other side of the door. I took multiple steps back when the footsteps stopped just outside.

I heard the lock rattle and prepared myself. I looked around the room searching for anything that could be used as a weapon. Everything was frustratingly soft.

My heart skipped a beat when the door slowly opened. With bated breath, I waited to see the person on the other side of that door.

A large man walked through dressed in what looked like black tactical gear, carrying a rifle on his hips. I couldn't see an inch of him except his eyes. He looked like bad news.

Who was I kidding? There was no way I could fight him, not in a million years.

He took more steps into the room and I realized he was carrying a tray of food. I retreated with each step he took into the room until I reached the foot of the bed at the other end.

"Who--" I faltered, "Who are you?"

He only got as far as the dresser, on which he placed the tray before turning to leave.

This made the fact that I was their prisoner feel all the more real. Did they think I would just quiet down and stay here willingly? I needed them to know that I would defy them till the end.

I walked up to the dresser, picked up the tray, and threw it at him as he retreated with his back turned. Most of the food fell short, spilling on the floor, but some made the whole journey splashing on his trousers.

I looked defiantly as he turned to look at me. I could detect a hint of annoyance in his eyes but he paid me no more mind beyond that. I fell down to my knees as I heard the door lock behind him.

Where the fuck was I? Who were they? What did they want?

=^..^=

I scoured every inch of the room looking for anything I could use as a weapon but came up short. It felt like everything that could be used had been purposefully stripped.

I sat back on the bed in frustration as I slowly realized that there was little chance of making it out of there by myself. I sighed after turning my attention to the discolored patch above the dresser. It looked about the right size to have been a mirror.

"What do you want?" I screamed.

I lay back in bed exhausted. At the very least, I was thankful that I wasn't dressed very femininely. The blue jeans and hockey team jersey I wore were a lot better than the dresses the stylists would usually have me in.

My outfit reminded me of Nick once again. It was strange but I felt a bit closer to him knowing we were dressed the same no matter where he was.

I hoped he was in the castle, perfectly okay, and getting the king to act on my behalf.

Yes, he was okay. I couldn't think anything else.

I began to realize just how tired I was as I lay in bed. Being knocked out was nothing like being asleep. I needed actual sleep.

'I'm hungry,' I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep. The smell of the food scattered on the floor certainly did not help.

=^..^=

I was awoken by a twisting and turning of the lock on the door and hurried to my feet.

Slowly the door was pushed open. I could smell the food before I managed a glimpse at the woman carrying it.

"Miss Penelope," I said in shock as she carefully avoided the spilled dish on the floor.

"I know the food here isn't quite up to the standards you're used to but tossing it away is very rude, wouldn't you say?" she frowned.

"I don't understand," my confusion was clear on my face, "you brought me here? Why?"

"You would understand things better if you would only listen," she walked up and placed the new tray on the dresser, "But that isn't something you're very good at, is it?" she added as she walked up to me.

I looked at her as she approached and then at the ajar door behind her.

No, don't be stupid. It could never be that easy.

Miss Penelope closed the gap between us further and I retreated until I hit the edge of the bed.

"I am old so forgive me if my memory isn't what it used to be," she continued, "But I seem to remember telling you to return from whence you came"

"Why bring me here?" I asked her again, "What do you want with me?"

"Hmm," she smiled before turning away from me, "Foolish girl. Do you have any idea how much harm you've caused my country?"

I watched her take a few steps back towards the door.

"I don't understand," I screamed at her, "Just let me go! Why are you keeping me here?"

"Eat now, we will speak later," she told me as she approached the door, "And don't spill this one. I am not against letting you starve"

"Fuck" I hissed in frustration as she locked the door behind her. What the fuck was going on?

I did eat after staring at the meal for a good long while. I figured if they wanted me dead, there was little I could do to stop them. And if they wanted to poison me, they could just force it down my throat like they'd proven they could.

Most importantly, if I was going to find a way out here, I would need my strength to do it.

=^..^=

I couldn't tell you how long it had been since the last time anyone walked into the room.

I'd fallen back asleep after quenching my hunger and thirst and had only woken up a little while ago. If I had to guess, it had been about an hour, maybe two since I awoke and began pacing around the room.

I had no way of telling how much time was passing with all the windows sealed. I couldn't even tell you if it was day or night outside.

I scurried back over to the bed when I heard the lock on the door click and open.

I watched Miss Penelope take one step after another into the room. This time, she didn't speak to me so I in a similar fashion kept my mouth shut as she walked around the room.

She ran her fingers through the curtains before walking over to touch the dresser gently. I could do little else but follow her with my gaze as she quietly examined the room.

"This used to be my daughter's bedroom," she spoke when she was ready, "Gillian slept in that very bed. Comfortable, isn't it? She was the perfect child so I wanted everything to be perfect for her"

I didn't respond. What could I say? This was the person who kidnapped me. I was very much on guard.

"A lot of parents think their children are perfect but Gillian actually was. Beauty and brains to spare. People loved her even more than they loved me. That girl could do no wrong and I knew right from the start that she was going to do great things"

Miss Penelope paused for a moment taking her time. I watched her in silence as she gazed at the floor.

Once again, the door behind her was left open and I could probably push my way past her and make it out into the hall.

However, I stood unmoving because I knew there was little I could do against the man from earlier.

"Well, I'd say my perfect daughter had one flaw," Miss Penelope turned to look at me again, "She adored the royal family"

Miss Penelope took one step towards me and then another. I had nowhere else to retreat to so I stood still as she approached.

"She would spend all her time reading the magazines, looking for any new information about them. My smart girl lost all reason when it came to that family"

Miss Penelope who now stood in front of me reached out and touched my shoulder-length hair, "She would have loved everything about you"

She touched my face gently, "And she would have been more than a bit jealous of you, I think. Oh how she dreamed of marrying into that family"

She abruptly turned and stepped away before continuing, "I never liked the obsession but it made her happy and there was nothing I wanted more in the world. When you have your own children, when you hold your baby in your arms, you'll understand. You only want them to be happy"

"It will break your heart when they fall ill" she continued, "And you will realize there is nothing you won't do to make them feel better again."

Miss Penelope who had been walking away turned back to me and I stood frozen once again, "So of course I sold everything I could to afford her treatment. Which wasn't much because how much can a commoner really own in this country no matter how much they've served"

She finally ended her pacing around and returned to meet me at the bedside.

"Still, I sold everything" she spoke with sadness in her voice "I took her to the LPC. You received a pretty tour of the hospital but what do you really know about it?"

"Paraded around, take a few pretty pictures and you think you know what's really going on in this country?" she asked. "I carried my sick daughter in my arms to the only place in the country with the equipment to treat her weak heart and they turned me away"

She chuckled to herself, "No available beds they told me. They were full. I went home to watch my daughter die" She closed her eyes as if searching her memories.

She must have found whatever she was looking for because she took in a deep breath and let out a pained sigh.

"There were beds available," she opened her eyes to look at me, "Many of them in fact. But they were reserved for nobility and that we were not."

"My daughter is dead because of rules made by those she adored. Isn't that funny?" she asked me.

It seemed like a genuine question so I shook my head 'no'.

It wasn't funny. Not in the slightest.

I watched Miss Penelope begin her advance towards the door only to stop halfway through.

"I heard about the methods that were used to bring you here," she said to me, "Please accept my apologies. I hadn't intended for it to be so violent"

=^..^=

How long had it been? Days? A week? More? I couldn't tell anything. I couldn't even tell if I'd ever be allowed to leave this place. No one would tell me anything.

Miss Penelope only showed up one more time after that last conversation and it had been to bring me a fresh change of clothes and inform me that she was leaving for a while.

She'd waited in the bedroom while I walked into the bathroom to change. I'd searched as much as I could for any cameras in there but couldn't be sure so getting undressed was always a gamble.

Nothing ever came up though so I assumed I was fine. They still believed me to be a woman and kept treating me as such.

In the time since Miss Penelope left, the man had brought me food to eat and dresses to change into ever so often. I made a point each time to ask him why I was being held hostage but he never said so much as a word back to me.

At the very least, several days had passed and I had begun to worry that I wasn't being searched for. I couldn't imagine living my entire life in this room-- or worse, dying here.

It might have been petty and short-sighted for this to be a concern but I couldn't help it; I was so damn bored. There was nothing to help pass the time so you can imagine how relieved I was when I heard the lock on the door rattle.

A break from the monotony was just what I needed.

"Why are you keeping me he--" I started to ask before I noticed it was Miss Penelope.

"How about some answers?" she asked holding the door open, "Come with me".

I stood hesitantly. Had the time finally come? Were they finally going to get rid of me?

She nodded me over and I obeyed. When I had gained sufficient distance, she turned and began walking down a hallway.

I paused at the door. It felt like ages since I had seen anything beyond these four walls.

"Hurry up," I heard Miss Penelope's voice farther down the hallway. I obeyed once again.

I followed her until we reached a flight of descending stairs, at which point, I began to hear voices. Many of them.

I followed as she descended the steps. The stairs led down into what looked like a normal household in terms of layout but nothing like that in terms of how much weaponry was lying around.

There were guns, ammo, and various kinds of gear that I couldn't hope to recognize. Next to all that weaponry were people equipped similarly. Naturally, I felt I was definitely going to die.

The room had quieted down since we made our appearance and now they only watched me.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked her. Why else would they let me see all of that?

"I simply wish to tell you a story," she told me as we walked through the house, "Will you join me for a walk outside?"

I didn't respond. I simply followed in silence while trying to ignore all the stares.

I felt self-conscious but not for the usual reason. I had long stopped feeling self-conscious about wearing dresses and skirts.

=^..^=

I was hit with a wave of fresh evening air as we stepped outside. It felt glorious after being crammed in a room for so long. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. I couldn't bear to return to my confines.

"Sometime last year, an American like yourself was King Richard's guest here in Lenoria. My sources tell me you met him"

Even out here, there were many people. I guess I could call them soldiers. They certainly looked the part. All of them had their faces obscured by masks. It made me wonder what Miss Penelope was playing at by being so open.

I turned my attention to the surroundings. It was a large compound surrounded by large trees on almost every side. No matter where we were, it certainly wasn't the city.

When I thought about it, it had a vague similarity to the King's forest but that of course made no sense.

"This man belonged to a certain organization unknown to most of the world. They make highly specialized products and supply them to individuals such as our dear King."

I listened as we walked down a beaten path away from the house. We would occasionally pass a soldier who would greet her with a nod. I got the sense that they respected her here.

"One of these products as I understand it is a psychoactive compound designed to alter neural processes making the target more open to external influence, agreeable, and emotionally dependent"

"I don't understand," I replied.

"Parts of your brain particularly those associated with reward and trust were flooded with dopamine making you more likely to seek the trust and approval of those around you"

"What are you saying?" I stopped walking and so did she.

"Everyone around you would have reinforced those feelings," she continued without missing a beat, "They would have made you feel it was entirely natural and justified for you to feel the things they wanted for you. It wouldn't have taken very long for there to be nothing left of you. Nothing but the perfect puppet.

I stared at her blankly. She looked me deep in my eyes, a hint of compassion present.

"Even now, you must still believe those feelings to be your own"

=^..^=

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So sorry this took so long. It's been a shit week. Anyway would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Thanks for reading.