"But you're a Criminal"

🌙 Out There ⭐️

Ah, royalty.
Well. I should probably clarify.
I hate royalty.
No, it's not one of those "hate to be liked" things. I'm not making fun of it to seem like a better person. I genuinely hated every factor of saying I had 'royalty' coursing through my veins. The concept of 'royal blood' is by far the dumbest. There's only a few different blood types, and royal isn't one of them.
Half of it is just boring politics anyways. Or standing around looking impressive. I'm no bird of paradise to be flaunting about, nor am I a decoration.
Am I entitled? Maybe. Spoiled? You bet. But don't get me wrong. I do cherish the moments where I can sit down and escape in a whole different fantasy with a nice mug of cocoa.
Not that I don't live in a fantasy already. My life should be perfect.
Sure. Call me spoiled. I don't.. want the royal life. I've dreamed of being swept away by an outlaw of some sorts, run away, rather than live my perfect, boring life.
And father couldn't do anything about it!

But, unfortunately, even royalty can't get you a full fantasy. And besides. Here I am complaining about getting every material thing I want, when some people are wishing for three meals a day.
And it's not like I'd even meet a space outlaw anyways. There's so many ways this doesn't work. A criminal would never come to our city. Why would they? Besides, it's one of the best guarded cities known to spacekind. Any outlaw who's smart enough to stay away from a star should know not to steal from our city.
And why would any space outlaw want to meet with a princess? Especially me. This isn't some "reality can be whatever I want it to be", no. This is not a scroll of fan-fiction to be written in. Life didn't work that way.
But I'm still desperate for something that will never be.

Until this morning, of course. And no, it didn't feel like a dream come true. It felt like a pile of bricks hitting me in the stomach. I remember it clearly.
I saw father downstairs, speaking urgently with the guards. Finishing up his business. "Whatever happens, don't let him get past our defenses." A gruff and stern king. A protective ruler and father.
Was it enough? No. Maybe for anyone else.
"Father, what's going on?" I asked him with a worried face. You could tell his whole demeanor was off. Not that any of my sisters cared.
But did he care about his daughters? In a way. We are future rulers. Well, me, not as much. I was furthest in line from the throne and deemed "the oddball", but he was still our father and he did have some morsel of love for us.
Of course, he had to make it past our borders. The thought of some criminal outlaw lurking just outside the kingdom terrified me. What did this outlaw want with us?? Did he want to steal something? Someone? Maybe,,
Kill??
I'd never had to actually deal with these types of things before.
Well, adding more to the cons of royalty.
It would be alright. Father would get rid of the criminals shortly. There was almost nothing to worry about. It would come and go as if nothing had even happened.
...right?
I had to go out with bodyguards, which I'd never had to do before. "Security protocols" or something along the lines of that. I understood father was trying to keep me safe. Although maybe a little privacy would've been nice.
Naturally I snuck out that night. I tried losing all the guards until I eventually shook them off when everyone was asleep.
My feet landed in the grass, soft rustling barely audible. I looked up at the moons, the beautiful night sky, navy blues and whites, the same color as our people.
Don't get me wrong. I thought nighttime was gorgeous. I preferred the solitary quietness rather than the buzzing responsibility of the day, not to mention the bright lights. I liked all the miniature stars far away rather than the burning star closer to us. But right now, with an uncontrolled outlaw on the loose and being alone in the silence, it was an experience. Terrifying, at that.
But it was so cool.
So what did I do in the beauty of being alone with the quiet? I took a stroll in the garden. Not our palace gardens. I'm talking about the grand gardens that didn't belong to anyone in particular.
...
Ah, the nice breeze.
...
Nothing else exce-
SNAP
silence.
terror.
The sounds of crickets ceased, but my heartbeat made up for it tenfold.
There was someone else here.

calm down, calm down, it's probably just a palace guard. the odds of it being...

being...

Well, I had hoped not. I'd much rather be in trouble and caught red handed sneaking out rather than dealing with an all-powerful galactic criminal.

I finally managed to calm myself, not perfectly, but perhaps enough to have escaped, but I still heard the rustling sounds of nature obeying the existence of another living creature.
There really was someone else here.
...
Possibly just another person, taking a nighttime walk as well?
That thought didn't give me as much relief as I had hoped. I mean come on. What are the chances?
And I can't just run away either. I'd make lots of noise, and I most definitely was not fast enough to outrun whatever or whoever this was.
Well it all went downhill quickly when I felt a pair of hands pull me back from my escape, and one covering my mouth to cease any sudden sounds. I was extremely freaked out. All my suspicions were coming true in the worst way possible.
"Shh, shh, I'm going to explain but you mustn't speak a word."
Spoke a deep voice.
Are you kidding? Am I seriously being kidnapped? I could feel my heart racing. I had to get back. So why was my terror freezing me to my spot?? I thought instinct was supposed to get you out of bad situations, not not help you escape, Goddamnit! If this is what being royal is, count me out.
I tried biting his hand.
"What do you want with me?? If you're keeping me for ransom, you're getting nothing. Whatever it is you're trying to take, I can already tell you it's not gon-"
His hand muffled my speech yet again. Great! Now I can't yell for help!
I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be in my bed, I just wanted to sleep. How did I get myself tied up in this mess??
"Ouch. Look. You seriously need to keep it down. I don't want anything to do with you either, but we can't have anyone spoil our plans, alright? Just keep it down." The criminal grinned charmingly.
Ohh, so that's how it was. He simply thought of me as a princess, just another person in the way. Well. I wasn't a tool to be used.
"Hey, quit squirming. Look. Stop freaking out. You probably think I'm here to kill you. Which, isn't true by the way," he said casually, throwing another smug look. He then turned serious again.
"I'm here to... 'borrow' something of yours. Your family's. It's important. I'm not here to steal it, or to destroy your city or all that jazz, it's actually more crucial to you than it is to me. So, where is it?"
I simply blinked at him, confused and upset.
"Where is what?"