(Y/n)'s POV.

After a bit of walking, I felt my strength slowly coming back, so I was able to walk on my own again. Kris let me do so but made sure to stay close next to me, making me feel all warm inside. 'He's so worried about me...' The thought alone made me blush.

After a short while, we came across the puzzle Susie had solved by herself earlier. Ralsei noticed it and his eyes sparkled. "Aww, Susie, did you solve this puzzle all by yourself? You must really have wanted to save us..." He said and wanted to go in for a hug but Susie pushed him away by his face, an irritated look on her face. "Huh!? No way, I just...! I just solved it... on accident." She tried to lie her way out of her embarrassment. "On accident?" Ralsei questioned, a slightly disappointed look on her face. "I actually thought it was, uh, y'know, a slot machine. But it turned out the prize was nerds."

I rose an eyebrow and smirked. "Hate to break it to you Susie but I actually came to during this part. Susie tried so hard to get it right. You should have seen her, guys! She was soooo worried about our well being.~" I teased, pissing Susie off even more but she couldn't really deny it at this point so she just gave a "Tch..." and looked at the ground.

"Aww, Susie!" "Look at you being nice." The two boys cood, Kris clearly teasing. 'It's nice to see him so playful again. He had been acting odd for a while but he seems to be okay now.'

~about 20 minutes and a lot of wrong turns later~

"Ugh! Hey girly! Didn't you live here or something? How comes you don't know where to go?" Susie complained for like the hundredth time and I rolled my eyes, scoffing. "Well excuse me! It has been 9 years and I never was down here that much! So either shut up or take the lead yourself." I slightly snapped at her, crossing my arms. I didn't hear anything after that, so I assumed she calmed her tits. "Please don't fight, you guys... We just reunited." Ralsei said sadly. I sighed and Susie and I both agreed to stop arguing.

After another bit of walking we came across a large room with multiple cages. Once I saw this, I froze in place. 'Oh my god... Can it be?' The others didn't really realize my frozen state and rushed towards the first cage while I stayed around the corner, hiding myself from view. I listened.

"H-Hey! We are the former Kings! We beg you, free us!" I felt tears in my eyes, finally hearing the voice of my old friend and mentor, the king of diamonds. Then, the king of hearts started speaking. "Once, all four of us ruled together, but then, a knight arrived... and everything changed..." I got confused by this. 'What knight are they talking about? I never heard or seen anything of a knight arriving... '

I heard the voice of the king of diamonds begin to sob. "Oh, my diamonds! My little jewel! You must tell me if they're alright! If she's alright!" He sobbed while shaking the bars.

I'm sure that at this point, Kris, Ralsei and Susie already figured out the situation. Gathering all my courage, I took a deep breath and turned the corner. "I-I'm... alright... my king..." I managed to get out, rubbing my arm while avoiding eye contact at all cost. Kris, Susie and Ralsei stepped aside so that the kings had a full view of me and a line of gasps followed. I stiffened. 'This is it... I'm standing before them now... Oh God, what are they going to think of me...'

"(Y-(Y/n)...?" The king of clover asked and I nodded, slightly bowing to the three. "I-Im glad t-to see you unharmed, y-your m-majesties..." My nerves were through the roof right now. My heart was hammering in my ears and it felt like I was going to pass out. "Our little jewel! You're here!" The king of hearts cried out in joy, the king of diamonds had yet to say something. In that moment, I took his silence as disappointed rejection and I began to cry, nearly falling to my knees from all this pressure.

I finally looked up at them, thick tears running down my face. "I... I'm so sorry! I should have come back sooner! I left you here! I was so weak and that costed you your freedom for so many years! Please, forgive me..." I lowered by head in shame. It was silent for a moment, no one dared to say anything. My friends seemed to be at a loss for what to do.

"(Y/n), look at us." The king of diamond's voice addressed calmly. I hesitantly looked up at them, only to find smiling faces, looking at me with great relief. "Come here." He said again and I obeyed, standing up with shaking knees and slowly making my way over to the cage, the bars the only thing separating us now. Without warning, my king pulled me into a hug through the bars, stroking my hair fontly, just like he had done so many times all those years ago.

"Oh, my little Juwel. We never blamed you for anything that happened here. We were perfectly content with you being safe. We knew that you would come back when the time was right. And now look at you!" He said, releasing me from the embrace, holding unto my shoulders and glancing me over, as if he was inspecting me. "The cute, stronghearted little girl has grown into a strong, confident, beautiful young woman!" He wiped away the tears from my cheeks. "I'm so proud of you (Y/n). So proud." He finished, pulling me into his arms again, the other two kings each laying a hand on my back aswell as I sighed a breath of relief. 'This feels nice, to have this closure. They don't hate me... I can finally take this off my chest.'

"Thank you... I missed you." I whispered. "I missed you too, little jewel. But it seemes you made some friends." We pulled away after he said that and he motioned towards Ralsei, Susie and Kris, who all watched with content smiles, even Susie. "Oh yeah!" I went over to the three of them, going to Ralsei first. "This is Ralsei, a prince of darkness and my best friend. If it weren't for him, I would have been caught by the spade guards. I stayed with him all those years." Ralsei blushed at the sudden attention but waved shyly. The three kings gave their happy greetings and I went between Kris and Susie next, wrapping my arms around their shoulders. "And this, are Kris and Susie." I nodded to them as I said their names. "They're Lightners and they're here to help us." I was so proud presenting my friends to my mentors. I never really had friends growing up since I didn't know someone my age at the time.

The Kings gasped. "Lightners?!" "I can't believe it!" "We haven't seen Lightners in centuries!" The three heads of the king of cloves exclaimed. The kings stared at them like they were some rare sensation, which in a sense, they were. Kris coughed awkwardly. "Ahem, uhm, nice to meet you...?" He replied more as a question and I couldn't help but giggle. "Ugh, way to make it awkward, you weirdo!" Susie complained, shoving my arm away. I pouted, before whispering to the kings. "Susie sucks at being nice but we're working on it." The three chuckled.

Kris put a hand on my shoulder. "But seriously, doll. Don't throw me in the spotlight like that." I playfully pouted. "Aww, I'm just trying to introduce you." Kris raised his eyebrow and patted my head. "Doll, I'm a strong, independent introvert, who don't need no social life. There are only a few people I tolerate."

"Well, I sure hope, I'm one of them.~" I batted my eyelashes and I notice him blush as he scratched the back of his head. "Uh, y-you are one of the few exceptions, yes..." I cheered and gave him a quick hug.

Then we heard little squeels, cooing and awwing behind us. Turning around, the kings were all fanboying, fanning their teary eyes or excitedly clapping. Kris and I blushed tenfold.
"Aww, you two are so cute!"
"I'm so happy for you, little jewel!"
"Our baby has grown up!"
"We are expecting wedding invitations, you two!~"
"I call dibs on being the godfather!"

And so on and so on, you get the picture. Ralsei tried to contain his laughter while Susie was straight up losing it, as she had to lean against the wall to not fall over from laughter.

Wanting to escape the situation, I clapped. "Okay! I think it's time we get going! We are definitely coming back to free you! Don't worry, it won't be 9 years this time, hehe!" I awkwardly ranted and at least the king of diamonds seemed to calm down enough. I walked over to him and gave him one last hug for now. "Hehe, alright... See you soon." The four of us waved to them and exited the dungeon. I heard one last thing before walking out of hearing distance.

"Please be careful, little jewel... good luck..."

~To be continued~

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°