While Tricky watched Indie and Frost talk through the window at the end of the hallway, eventually Kiwy walked up to her to not be alone, prompting her to walk to the hall with her and rejoin the party. But as she didn’t find anything entertaining to do except watch Nitro attempt to flirt with some of the married women, they both got curious to explore more of the second floor. And as Kiwy hadn’t gone past this room, Tricky gladly took her to the left hallway, opposite all the tables and the platform, where the princess continued receiving gifts and thanking her fans.
Tricky and Kiwy walked past a few doors, which all seemed to be guest rooms, except two larger ones that were labeled with respective signs for the bathrooms. It was after passing the men’s bathroom that three well-dressed and tall guys left at the same time. They didn’t look like the rest of the guests, mainly because they weren’t elves, but their black suits gave the same impression as Frost, which was questionable for Tricky. But as they continued walking down the hallway, they didn’t care to check behind them, and after getting past all the other attendees, they headed to the middle of the castle.
While everyone gathered around the princess, the few guards present made sure to keep her safe by creating a circle around her, only letting one person approach Priscilla at a time, only to hand their gifts and receive a hug if they earned it. Even Groovy and Bones had to move from their positions at the intersection of the hallway and the hall in order to calm people down. But as more fans tried to get attention from the princess, Candy had to step in to control the crowd, pressuring everyone to be hasty with their gifts and not bother Priscilla for longer than needed, especially the guys that tried to flirt with her, even though the princess seemed kind of into it.
–Alright, hurry it up! The princess has a lot of presents to open up!– Candy shouted impatiently as she tried to kick people off the platform to let others hand in their gifts. While she was mostly ignored by the guests, they were a bit scared to approach her, so they began to drop their gifts at Priscilla’s feet before returning to their tables.
–Thank you so much. I was running out of excuses to reject some of these guys. It’s crazy how much they love me…– Priscilla said with a thankful but prideful grin, being able to drop her façade as she placed some of the larger gifts behind her seat to be able to see Candy.
–No problem, if you need anything else, just say so…– Candy replied with a big smile as she tried to leave the platform and guide more people to their tables until Priscilla thought of something to ask, much to Candy’s displeasure.
–Actually, could you give some cake to the inmates at the dungeon? I still don’t forgive them, but I think they haven’t eaten in a while…– Priscilla asked playfully, sparking concern and confusion in Candy. She tried to question it, but since she seemed relieved to be able to leave the hall, she just quietly complied.
–Sure thing…– Candy replied hesitantly before walking to the cake at the side of the platform and cutting some pieces. But before she could bring them downstairs, the princess began complaining about some rude guests. She tried to ignore it, but Priscilla was already calling for her, so Candy quickly looked for someone else to delegate the task to. And since she just happened to find Nitro at a table nearby while he tried to talk to three women at once, she immediately tried to hand him the cake to deliver it to the dungeon.
–Hey, nutty. Can you please bring this to the guys we detained at the dungeon?– Candy asked with a friendly smile, which quickly turned anxious and stressful as she looked back to see the princess growing annoyed by some people. But as nice as she was, Nitro didn’t pay much attention to her, instead focusing on the three girls at the table in front, as they were surprisingly listening to him.
–Come on, not now. Maybe later. Don’t you see I’m in the middle of something?– Nitro dismissed in annoyance but tried to keep up a confident demeanor to impress the ladies. He continued to tell a story, although the girls were more suspicious of Candy desperately trying to talk to him.
–No, do it now. That’s an order– Candy insisted with a harsher tone, forcing Nitro to listen to her and grab the cake from her hands begrudgingly upon seeing her dreadful stare. He was confused but didn’t get a chance to ask questions as she was already running back to the platform to help Priscilla. So, without knowing what to do at first, Nitro had a moment of indecisiveness, where he visibly struggled to prioritize one thing over the other as he looked over at the ladies on the table and the cake in his hands back and forth several times.
–Umm, just wait a minute, I’ll be right back…– Nitro said with a nervous smile as he started running to the stairs to complete his short task as soon as possible. The girls laughed and kept smiling as they watched him run away, but after a few seconds, they quickly lost interest and searched for other guys at the party to talk to.
Reaching the end of the long hallway, Tricky and Kiwy walked into a semi-open area, the circular lookout, with a full view of the city below in the middle tower of the castle. The lookout was contained by only a short railing and the ends of the adjacent hallways, which seemed to always be open despite now having a functional gate mechanism to enclose the area. They weren’t quite at the top, although there appeared to be a ladder next to the other hallway in front that led to the highest point of the tower. But without the intention of admiring the view for too long, they just took a glance at the scenery around them while continuing forward, now through a similar hallway in the left wing with a multitude of doors.
Without checking any of the doors, they kept exploring the open areas of the second floor as much as they could. While the right wing was filled with guest rooms, the hallway on this side seemed to branch out a little, as there were more doorways leading to small living rooms or recreational spaces. But what really caught their attention was when they reached another big hall, similar to the one the party was taking place in, and even at around the same level as they were about to reach the end. The walls and decoration were similar, but the room served a different purpose as it was a large library with seemingly thousands of books littered across the floor. But since most of them looked torn apart, Tricky stopped being fascinated by the room as she couldn’t appreciate the mess.
–Hmm, I don’t think the princess is the type that reads much, but she would definitely make a mess like this…– Tricky mentioned skeptically as she looked around the chaotic library, getting distracted mainly by the books on the floor but also noticing some signs of disorder that Kiwy picked up on. There were some stains on the wooden floor, dirty shoe prints, and scratches that created a suspicious scene that prompted Kiwy to look at Tricky in search of answers.
–Some of the guards might have caused this, they are too clumsy… or maybe… Well, we don’t need to worry. I placed several turrets around the main hall, and everyone should be safe as long as they stay in there…– Tricky added nonchalantly, doubting for a second but then smiling proudly at her precautions to ease Kiwy’s worries. And though she seemed fairly confident, Tricky was still bothered as she kept seeing scattered books, chairs, and a few bookshelves out of place.
–Such disrespect… I’ll find whoever did this and bring them to justice so they can rot with the others in the dungeon…– Tricky cursed under her breath, forcing a menacing tone to put a smile on Kiwy’s face. But after a brief moment of pondering, her threat became nothing but a joke as they continued exploring the castle merrily, now about to reach the end of the left wing, where Priscilla’s bedroom was found.
–Can’t believe she would ruin my chances like that… Does anyone have any consideration nowadays?... I had it, if only she didn’t step in an-... Forget it, you still got it…– Nitro grumbled to himself with increasing anger, but he remained cocky as he reached the first floor, where he had to keep going down the spiraling stairs to reach the dungeon, but not before making sure that the guards were still at the throne room, keeping a watchful eye on just in case.
But as he was in a hurry, Nitro ran to the dungeon and started handing cake to the six men in the jail cell. They all didn’t say a word to him, instead giving him bitter and disdainful stares, despite getting somewhat excited to see someone visit them. But their attention was quickly drawn to the food as they started devouring the large piece of cake as soon as it made it through the cell bars. They began fighting each other over some of the crumbs, giving Nitro a fun show to watch for a brief moment, but before he knew it, they had finished everything.
–Oh man, this is so good, I wish I could be up there sharing this with her…– Leon moaned with a delighted grin as he enjoyed his piece of cake, with the other inmates laughing at him but still sharing the sentiment, which weirded Nitro out.
–Well, she is now going to pay for breaking up with you…– one of the inmates replied with a mocking grin, getting more laughs in the cell but directing a sly glance at Nitro, which caught his attention right as he was about to leave and continue speaking to the girls.
–Why are you still saying that? You know you are going to spend the rest of your life trapped with these dummies, right?– Nitro asked in a confused but belittling manner, taunting the inmate back to get rid of the smile on his face. But despite his insult, the men kept laughing hysterically, which raised enough suspicion for Nitro to deliberately stay in the dungeon to confront them instead of returning to the party.
Surprisingly, after receiving so many gifts, the princess continued to captivate everyone’s attention as she opened each one of them. She started with the bigger ones, which she was very thankful for, even humiliating the others who couldn’t afford the more expensive ones. However, they were all still entertained watching her open the gifts and see if she critiqued some of her guests. It was because her comments were so hurtful and blunt that the people were more eager for her to open the smaller gifts just to see her reaction. There was one guy in particular who impatiently insisted on her opening a gray box that was stuck right underneath her seat, but it was so unappealing for her that she just ignored him.
The guards seemed to have found a balance to protect the princess while giving her fans the chance to get as close as possible to admire and praise her. With the princess keeping most of the crowd engaged, Candy didn’t have to worry about them approaching the platform anymore, so she started to walk around the room, searching for something to relax with. She then noticed that none of her teammates were present anymore, but she didn’t seem to mind as she casually grabbed a drink from her table to try to take a sip. But of course, before she could enjoy herself for the first time today, more problems were brought up.
–Hey, miss. You are the one in charge of the event, right? Could you tell the guys in the bathroom to leave? They have been there for what feels like an hour!– a mature lady asked politely but with slight annoyance as she approached Candy, who turned to her in confusion but quickly adopted a cordial attitude. But before she could respond, a man who was accompanying the lady saw the opportunity to step in and voice his own complaint.
–Yeah, and there are other men out here causing problems. They are really bringing the mood down. Do something!– the man exclaimed, but his request wasn’t taken as well by Candy, who tried to ignore his rudeness but reluctantly complied after seeing more people trying to approach to complain about the same thing.
With them all pointing at the bathrooms in the hallways, Candy checked the problem from afar, which appeared to be a congestion problem as there was a line of people waiting to get in. But while it certainly caught her attention, since she didn’t have the motivation to help them, Candy tried to find an excuse to walk away and let them handle their issues. Luckily, Priscilla was calling her for some help, and despite Candy disliking it as well, it seemed better than dealing with the other situation, so she gladly ignored the other guests to go help her friend.
–Hey, Candy. Could you do me a favor? I wanted to write a short letter to thank this man for giving me such an awesome gift, but I left my special pen in my office… Could you go look for it?– Priscilla asked cordially, containing her excitement as she held onto the new, large, and shiny necklace that a handsome man had gifted her. Without even looking at him or noticing how he had wrapped his arm around the princess’ waist, reaching for her bottom, Candy nodded with a forced smile and immediately headed downstairs to search for this pen.
While Priscilla waited eagerly, distracting himself with some flirtatious talk with the man, Candy ran as fast as possible, but she was so focused on getting to the office that she didn’t see the three men in black suits walking up the stairs. She tripped and fell onto one of them, who luckily reacted fast and caught her before checking if she was okay. Despite giving him a grateful smile, she didn’t actually thank him and just apologized multiple times as she continued running to the office to look for Priscilla’s pen. In response, the man just glanced at the others, shrugged it off, and shared a slightly mocking laugh before they all headed upstairs, picking up the pace rapidly and making enough noise to draw Nitro’s attention downstairs.
–We are just saying... It is much safer to be in a cell than to be surrounded by a crowd of strangers. You never know what they could do…– Steve affirmed with a playful grin, getting his cellmates to agree and share another laugh in front of Nitro, who was now curious about the sound coming from upstairs. He began listening carefully as he approached the stairs, poking his head out to see what was going on. While he didn’t seem concerned at first, he was suddenly more skeptical when the inmates turned quiet as well, letting a tense silence consume the entire room before it turned dreadful.
Tricky and Kiwy experienced the same as they reached the end of the left wing, where there was a small hall connecting to different rooms, where Indie had the chance to search before. But the one that caught their eye was the princess’ royal bedroom, which they could tell apart because the door was open. At first glance, it seemed strange, as it was the only open bedroom in the whole hallway. But as they both looked at each other worriedly, trying to approach the room casually, they were distracted by some noises coming from downstairs, similar to the ones Nitro heard.
They quickly took the stairs at the end of the hallway as they could hear footsteps, leading them right to the party room where the Heartaches’ welcome party took place. But unlike back then, the room was now a mess, with some of the tables flipped around, missing some legs, or completely shattered and tossed to the sides. One of the towers of stacked chairs had fallen, and the large chandelier in the middle was missing a couple of lights. The decoration was gone, but in its place was the most concerning part they had stumbled upon. One of the turrets that Tricky had set up, hidden behind one of the first pillars holding the gallery above, had been turned into scrap, and as soon as she recognized it, she ran over to pick up the pieces.
–Oh no! What happened?? This can’t be… It would have alerted me if-...– Tricky exclaimed in panic, distraught over her destroyed creation, which she tried to fix before noticing more concerning signs around the room. Kiwy stood still at the bottom of the staircase until she noticed that the stage was mostly untouched, but there were words scratched into the wall behind her. She struggled to read them at first, so she got closer, all while Tricky mourned the loss of one of her turrets. But by the time Kiwy had figured out what she was looking out for, she couldn’t warn Tricky as the latter looked out of the open door connecting to the hallway, staring directly at the opposite end of the castle.
On the other side, which was difficult to see from a distance, Candy was leaving the princess’ office in a hurry. She was all excited because she had found the pen she was looking for, but with her sole focus being bringing it to Priscilla, she didn’t notice the group of six familiar figures following close behind, chasing slowly to not draw much attention. Tricky spotted them but was unable to make out who they were, so she tried to get a closer look by stepping out to the hallway, although it seemed pointless as they were headed upstairs, where the vast majority of guards were found.
Regardless, seeing a strange group follow her sister was concerning enough for Tricky to keep a close eye on them. She was getting closer to the hallway, but before getting to leave, both she and Kiwy were caught off guard by more of the same loud footsteps that originally drew their attention, but this time, they were louder than the ones from a couple moments ago, and to their dismay, they were coming from upstairs. It was a fast pace; someone was running above them, but since they were unable to see them, Tricky and Kiwy could only speculate as to where they were going or even who they were. However, after taking another look at the marks on the walls, Kiwy had already found a hint as to who was behind all of it.
As she ran back to the long hall with the pen in hand, Candy distanced herself from the mysterious group following her, unbeknownst to her. She obliviously kept running to find the princess, but she was surprised to see that Priscilla was no longer on the platform with her gifts. Instead, Candy saw the crowd surrounding the guards, which suddenly scattered to clear a way for the princess to leave. Even Groovy and Bones distanced themselves, but they seemed preoccupied with restraining some guests causing trouble. However, Candy didn’t pay attention to them or anything around them as she froze in confusion, watching how the princess ran across the entire hall, straight to the opposite end, where she quickly hid herself in one of the guest rooms next to the men’s bathroom.
The hallway to the left was more cramped than ever, but despite this, Candy ran after Priscilla without thinking twice, avoiding the group right behind her before they caught up to her. But as she made a run for it, her stalkers sneaked their way into the crowd at the hall, further causing panic with their mere presence. Candy pushed through all the people trying to head in her same direction, not even looking back when she heard the chaos unfolding behind her. Screams echoed through the hall, tables were knocked, guards were on the defense, and a stampede of guests was headed for the only two exits, but none of that stopped Candy from prioritizing Priscilla.
Candy reached the long line outside the bathrooms, which only increased in size, although people were not waiting for their turns anymore. They were blocking the entire hallway, but she made it right to the first set of doors, and it was there that she saw where Priscilla had gone; the only problem was the people on her way to the door. But as she tried to reach for it, Candy came to her senses, as it was only until a burst of gunfire shocked the entire room that she turned around. Everyone had gone silent for a second, drawing Candy’s attention to the ceiling first, with the dust falling from the bullet holes slowly leading her eyes toward the source of the disarray.
With all the guests running through the sides to avoid the danger, Candy had a direct view of the platform at the very back of the hall. It was right where the princess once sat down, happily opening everyone’s gifts and enjoying her cake, that a completely different picture was now the center of attention. While it caught everyone’s attention, it wasn't a sight to behold for more than a second, but unlike the rest, Candy stood still to take it all in. She seemed the most distraught, as her eyes were instantly filled with terror, not in the way the other guests were struck with fear; it was true dread at the unreal sight of a very familiar group standing at the opposite end. Candy was the only one able to recognize them immediately, causing that paralyzing feeling that was displayed on her blue complexation, but what frightened her to the point of complete despair was that they just happened to recognize her too…
