No Redemption

MARROE

I pecked her lips, exstatic to finally be alone with her again. "I love you, too Shadow," I whispered, kissing her nose and then her forehead. Bobo stirred on my shoulder and I let go of Shadow long enough to pick him up gently and set him on the floor, where he fell back asleep immediately. I intertwined my fingers with Shadow and nuzzled her neck with my nose.

"I do believe my partner in crime interupted us," I whispered, pulling away and kissing her lips. I would spend the rest of my life with this girl if I could. With Naela's help, Twarl wouldn't be a threat to us... There was the whole princess/criminal thing that we would have to work around, but we would figure something out.

I pulled her in closer to me, not daring to let go. This was so close to perfect it wasn't even funny. Her lips seperated and my tongue slipped inside. There, now this... this was perfect. Shadow was perfect. At the moment the whole damned world was perfect.

My legs were turning to rubber and I let go of Shadow with my right hand, keeping my left around her waist and feeling behind me for something to sit down on. Finding the bed behind me, I took a step back and sat down, pulling Shadow with me.

~Princess Shadow~

At the moment, I didn't give a damn if he was a thief, if he had killed anyone, if he had originally planned to hurt me and steal from me when I met him. This moment was the only thing that mattered to me. My past faded, and my future became unclear. All I saw was his face. All I felt was his body pressed against mine. All I heard was our steady breathing. All I cared about was this moment. It was all that mattered, and I would always going to remember it. He was going to be with me for the rest of my life. No matter what happened, we would be together. I never wanted this to end, I never wanted the love to end. I loved him, and he loved me, and that was what counted. Not the fact that my father was going to kill us both, not that my mother would completely disown me, not that Garrett would now look at me like he didn't know me worse than he already did. Not that the man in the garden would only want to kill him only more, not that my people would think I was a disgrace to them. Not that the guards would look upon me as a thief and a liar as well. It didn't matter to me. Let them hate me, I was in love with this man. I loved Marroe. Till death do us part.

I'm gone till Weds-Thurs...
Chuppy, I wanna see a post when I get back!
xD

**Ahh! Ish, I'm in your boat! I've been at band camp ALL weekend! This post won't be much, since I have like... five minutes before I go to the Color Guard leader's house for a little get together with the team!**

Garrett~

Garrett sighed deeply as he led Raven and Shanaela down to the dungeon. Jaykob had begun to stir, so Garrett was trying to be as quiet as possible. He opened the cell, and the two girls walked in, Shanaela turning around quickly. "Tha-" Before she could finish, Garrett's lips crashed onto hers, his arms tightly around her waist while her fingers danced their way around his neck.

Garrett pulled away, his eyes saying everything. "I'll get both of you out before the party, I swear." He whispered, kissing Shanaela again softly before turning away and shutting the door. "Shanaela," he whispered to the blushing girl.

She looked up quickly.

'I love you,' he mouthed and, without waiting for a reply, ran out the dungeon door.

Keiko

I waited patiently in Garrett's room. Quite a feat for me, especially on energy tonic. Hunter kept squeezing my hand and whispering in my ear. Each time, his lips would graze my skin and I would feel his breath. Together they made me break out in shivers.

Noticing this, Hunter pulled the blanket up to my chin. I laughed, but didn't tell him why. That would be embarrassing. I missed Naela already, and the way she could calm me down with just a touch. It really was just me and Hunter.

Alone.

I shuddered a little.

"God, why are you so cold?"

"I'm not." I squeaked.

Hunter scowled and swooped down in front of me. I couldn't even blink before I felt something pressing on my lips...

Wait.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hunter was kissing me?

SWEET!

We broke apart literally two seconds before the door swung open. I squeezed Hunter's hand and flashed him a smile.

"So what do we do now?" I asked Garrett.

*Where am I? That's all I need to know.*

In the dungeon again I believe.

Yep, Raven's in the dungeon with Naela...

SHANAELA MARZ

I blinked and took a step back, heart hammering. Had he just kissed me? Better yet... he had said that he loved me. Great. I turned to Raven, who looked just as confused as I was. Big help, really big help. Looked like I was on my own to sort this one out... The biggest flaw in this was that I was supposed to be unlovable. My major life rule here was "Thou shall not falleth in love."

Okay, so bigger flaw... I was starting to wonder... was I in love?

I sank to the floor, staring blankly at the wall. Was I smiling? Oh gosh, I was. Bad Naela! Bad! I scolded myself. The smile refused to disapear, which was sickly wonderful.

Okay, so bigger flaw than the first two flaws combined. I had enjoyed the kiss. My heart was still pounding, and I felt like I would barf all over the already grimy floors from excitment.

I was in love, I just refused to admit it. Nope, Shanaela Marz aka the mute, redheaded, most-wanted theif would not admit the horrible-wonderful fact that she was in love with a prince.

Raven
I grinned at Naela I was so happy had I not been crippled I would have done a backflip. 'Yes,yes,yes, yes' I thought reading Naela like an open book. I hugged her and grinned again.

GAH! Isha! I want to post, but I'm just...not sure how to continue this! Gr you for leaving me in such a position!

Garrett~

Letting out a soft growl, Garrett paced back and forth before his coin sack on his belt slid off his waist and crashed to the ground. He crouched low, spreading the coins out and grabbing a silver key. "Take this, and all of you go to the highest point of the castle. The masquerade is tonight, so I'll have a loyal tailor come up and fit you all for your costumes. The masquerade is where we'll try and set Raven and... Shanaela," the name caused his lips to tingle, "free."

"And, how long will we be waiting?" Keiko asked, Garrett smiling softly as Grey paced across his room.

"Only a few hours. Not too long. You'll all give that much to rescure Naela and Raven, won't you?" They all nodded. "Good, now go."

Keiko

I paused by the door, ran back, and hugged Garrett tightly for half a second. "Take care of Nae." I whispered before sprinting out after Hunter. I grabbed his hand, and with speeding hearts, we raced up a hidden spiral staircase to the observatory.

As soon as the door was safely bolted behind us, Hunter ran to the window seat and pulled me into his lap. I shrieked a little, grinning madly. Hunter got a face full of turquoise waves for a second, but then his head popped around, chin on my shoulder.

We chattered for about half an hour before there was a polite knock on the door. I opened it, knowing it was the tailor.

"Now, Miss...?" the lady asked.

"Keiko."

"Ah. Miss Keiko, I will need you to change into undergarments."

I took one glance at Hunter, raised an eyebrow, and marched up. I put my hands on his shoulders and steered him into a side room, bellowing, "OUT."

An hour later, I had my dress. Another girl, this one looking a little older than me, came in and ushered me into the antechamber Hunter was in. Thankfully, the dress in my arms covered me, and the girl booted him out quickly.

The girl helped me into it, and laced up the -don't laugh- corset. I hadn't wanted one, but when I saw the design, I gave in. My hair was twisted into a half-bun, a few strands left out in my face. I felt clean, for once, and the silken black mask with diamonds studded around the eyes and rim, covered my face to a point that I wouldn't be recognized.

The dress... it was stunning. I felt like royalty. I wondered if Shadow felt like this all the time. From loose black trousers and an even looser cotton tunic to this. A full skirt, that flowed with me and twirled, with pale purple tule underneath. A stunning bodice- a black corset, intricate silver stitching in an ivy pattern around my torso, pale purple ribbons tying it tightly. The entire piece of black satin, fingerless black lace gloves. Silver satin slippers, embroidered in pale purple.

The best part? The sapphire butterfly bracelet on my wrist. Two silver bands, joined by that butterfly. My mother loved blue butterflies- that's why I loved anything with them.

I felt pretty, for the first time in my life.

OK, well sense Isha is no help, I'll attempt to post. Humph.

~Princess Shadow~

I paced around the room, worried about tonight. I knew I shouldn't worry, because it was just Garrett's party, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. I sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around my body, shivering a little. I wanted to get back in bed with Marroe, he was telling me to, I was telling me to, but I wasn't going to let myself right now. I sighed, sitting on the floor where I was, shivering again. I didn't feel so good, and I had the worst headache.

"I guess I should probably get ready for Garrett's party tonight," I said, sighing once more. I didn't want to leave Marroe, but I knew this was one of the things I had to do what I had to do. I was, after all, the princess. I didn't want to move unless it was into Marroe's arms. Bobo, who had finally gone to sleep, and was now on the floor at my feet, was starting to wake up. And Sophie, who was at the foot of the bed and had drifted to sleep hours ago, was now sitting up and watching me.

Reluctantly, I got up, but I went to sit on the side of the bed, looking at Marroe. He smiled, and I did my best to return the gesture as best as I could. I leaned down, kissing his lips then pulling back before we got carried away again. I had too much to do, but it did make me smile, and I touched his lips with my index finger, tracing his lower lip. Then, it was off to get ready for tonight.

MARROE

Shadow closed the door behind her and I sighed loudly. I was happy, extatic even, and at the same time I was half-sad. How long would I be here for? Or would I be able to go to the party with her? Of course, this meant finding Garrett and asking him for something to wear... which would be a problem considering he didn't seem to like me much. Unless he did like me, it was hard to tell with him.

Bobo hopped onto the bed beside me and started to chatter, which I ignored. He was probably hungry, but I didn't exactly have anything to feed him, and I couldn't just walk out of the princess' room and waltz down the kitchen and demand a grapefruit. I'd get a lot of, "Theif! Guards! Guards! Come slay the beast!"

Yeah... bad idea.

So I just sat there and waited staring at the ceiling. That couple of hours...or few hours, however long it had been... there's only one word I could find to sum it up, and that was. "Wow."

SHANAELA MARZ

I laughed and wrapped my arms around Raven. Of course, for me, laughing was more or less just my stomach moving up and down and air narrowly escaping my throat. But it was laughing all the same.

I still couldn't believe it... I was freakin' unlovable, only I obviously wasn't unlovable... And he had mouthed the words. I didn't know if he had known it would mean so much, or even given it a second thought, but the fact made me want to cry. Tears of joy of course, but cry nonetheless.

Raven and I were both laughing like maniacs, and probably waking up the should-be-out-cold Jaykob, but what did it matter? I had learned by this point that things happen for a reason. If I hadn't been chased by a bunch of idiots and stabbed in the leg, Garrett and I would never have met. He would never have thrown his jacket over my head to hide my identity, he would never have helped me with my leg... never had fallen in love with me.

Therefore I was in the middle of thanking the freak who had stabbed me in the leg. Yep, thanking him.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I was much too happy for my own good, and confused. Yes, very, very confused.

Raven
We kept laughing like idiots tears oozing down our cheeks. I wanted to jump up and down but I couldn't because I had to be crippled.