The lead guard grabbed my hand forcefully and pulled me to him. My back was turned to him as he pressed his thick and veiny arm on my neck. He didn't put much force but I was too scared and numb to even move. With his other hand, he pointed a gun to my temple or more like the helmet's temple.

I swallowed down my whimpers as I saw the faces of my friends going pale. Never did I ever understand the meaning, essence and beauty of life until now. Never did I ever think about what it would feel like to be really far away from my family, friends and… the love of my life, as cliche as it may sound. My whole body was sensitive to each touch but I steeled myself anyway. I didn't intend to piss off the one person who had my life hanging on a flimsy thread.

"Drop your weapons! All of you!" Someone from the back commanded and my friends did as they were told.

I felt a hard tap on the helmet and my heartbeat skyrocketed. The saliva in my mouth was accumulating to the point where I couldn't understand if I should spit it on these men or just gulp it down.

"Y-yes?" I croaked, gulping thickly.

"Take off your helmet," he said in his gruff voice.

With shaky fingers, I removed it and he snatched it from my hands quickly. He tossed it away like it was a piece of trash but only I knew and understood what a power tool it was for me. It saved my life one too many times in just a span of an hour or two.

I heard someone's gasp and I looked up to see my friends giving me worried glances. Truth be said, I wasn't even embarrassed to be looking so disheveled because my main motto at that point was to make it out of this man's grip alive.

"Let her go."

That voice! This time my heart escalated for a completely different reason. It was as if it was trying to break out of my lungs just to squash against Skye's chest to hug him. Eww. Am I still drunk? I thought.

All our heads turned in his direction, who appeared from behind my friends along with Ivan. Skye was serious with the way he was clenching his jaw and his face screaming 'don't you dare mess with me right now'. He doesn't often have that angry expression but whenever he does, it's still so shocking to me.

Ivan though was strutting like a male model in some fashion show as he pulled off his aviators. He looked so nonchalant as he noisily chewed on his gum. I had to roll my eyes at his weird dramatics but it calmed me down a bit.

"My king!" Shivaay suddenly shouted, throwing up his fist in the air. 

It was then I understood what he meant by "king and the army" during our phone call. Of course that's what he would mean.

"Let. Her. Go." Skye gritted this time, enunciating each word slowly and completely ignoring Shivaay. He hadn't glanced at me even once and I was more than okay with that. Because… I was not looking my best at that moment. Ironic since I didn't care about it just seconds ago.

"Or else?" The guard holding me drawled out in a bored voice.

Skye said something that I didn't catch because my mind took that very second to remind me of my dad's words from some years back when I was a thirteen year old teenager.

He'd said to me, "You are my princess just like any other girl is to their father. But for me, you're not just any princess. You're a strong, independent and a dauntless princess. Just like Mulan and Moana. You don't need no Prince Charming to save you even if you have one. You wanna know why? Because even if he loves you with every bone in his body, there might be a time where he couldn't save you. Not because he doesn't want to but because his timing and your event of happening wouldn't necessarily match in this real world. So my point is fight for yourself and learn to be your own hero, your own prince."

The guard began laughing sinisterly and his hold on my neck tightened. "Let's see then," he taunted.

Be your own hero. I closed my eyes to put all my concentration on my next move.

Be your own prince. And just like that I completely stiffened my body and before I questioned myself, I harshly elbowed him in his face. He screamed so loud that it was worse than someone playing the wrong keys on a piano.

He retreated his hands back and I turned around before kneeing him in his groin. Another wailing scream was heard. The guard was still clutching his right eye and nether region as he continued shouting some profanities.

That's when all hell broke loose. The opposite team aimed their heavy loaded guns at me and my friends were in a frenzy as they held their weird weapons which were making clanking noises.

"Aakraman!" Shivaay shouted followed by him imitating an angry gorilla voice.

Everything was a blur and I stood there befuddled when I felt an arm circling around my waist. "Come on," Skye whispered in my ear as he pulled me away from the pointing guns. From my peripheral vision, I could see Keith and Ivan trying to distract the guards' attention away from me. Ivan was saying something to them that I couldn't hear.

"Skye, it's Mr. Miller," I panted as we reached my friends.

"I know, Shivaay told me," he replied, nodding his head stiffly.

"Oh." I looked away consciously when I felt him staring at me intensely. I tried to pat down my unruly curls but his stare was still burning the side of my head. "And he has your dad under his captive."

"I am aware," Was his terse reply with the same scowl plastered on his face.

"Alright, guys. Here. Have these weapons and let the battle ensue," Shivaay spoke theatrically and with urgency.

Both Skye and I looked at the heavily filled big plastic bags. Curiously, I peered in to see that they were all filled with… beer bottles. "Beer bottles?" I voiced out confusedly.

"Oh, yeah, beer bottles to smash their heads but let's just do it from a good distance. I wouldn't go near them and don't worry, smash them anywhere you want." Shivaay smirked and slowly whistled as he pointed downward at his groin.

I flinched and glared at him. "Shut up." I could tell that he was talking about me kneeing the guard there.

"Anyway. Here." He handed Skye and I a stick each. "Your weapons. Completely legal." He clicked his tongue once.

"Oh, gosh, Shiv!" Chelsea suddenly screamed as she waved her fingers under her nose. Emika did the same as she openly clenched her teeth at Shivaay.

"Why does this smell like piss? Eww!" She gagged, taking a lot of steps away from the beer bottles.

Before Shivaay could reply, we heard a loud commotion from our left. As we turned to look at the guards facing Ivan and Keith, we saw them both dodging the professional kicks and punches from those strong men. However some did land on their bodies.

Thankfully, their big guns were tossed aside. Maybe, they must have challenged them in a hand to hand combat. I slapped my forehead at their stupidity.

"These clowns." Skye groaned frustratedly. Sensing his irritation, I patted his back and he relaxed visibly. He passed me a half smile before looking ahead.

"Aakraman!" Shivaay yelled the same thing for the third time as he ran ahead with a stick in one hand and a bag of beer bottles in the other. His speed was sort of slow because of the heaviness of the bag.

Lifting up my stick and another bag of beer bottles, I followed him with adrenaline coursing through my veins. Be your own hero, be your own prince. I chanted that line internally like a mantra.

"Vale-" Skye called out from behind me but I didn't listen to him.

I needed to fight this fight. If my friends could deal with these buffons and it wasn't even their battle then so could I.

"Abraham!" I exclaimed, trying to mimic Shivaay but he gave me a weird look from over his shoulder.

"Lincoln!" Chelsea yelled from somewhere behind me. "And Em is also signing something…! That I don't understand…! At all!"

If I were not a part of this situation, I would have laughed until my stomach hurt. It was supposed to be taken seriously but if it involved my friends then it's a complete nada nada.

Shivaay was the first one to reach the guards and began charging at them with his stick. His blows didn't seem so painful but the guards were still trying to dodge them. I even saw Thomas amongst the other guards fighting though I couldn't spot Jesse anywhere. Maybe they must have woken up from their slumber, after all.

"What the hell, man?! Keith and I were taking care of it! Plus this was a no weapon fight!" Ivan shouted at Shivaay, his face red from all the exertion.

"Um, well, yeah. Speak for yourself, man. I feel like my muscles are tired of getting sore," Keith spoke, panting heavily.

I began cracking up at Ivan's incredulous face. I saw a guy lunging at me but before he could punch me, I blindly hit him with my stick.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Skye making his way toward the metal door. He gestured something with his hands that I didn't quite understand but his expression said all I wanted to know. It was 'take care of yourself and don't get hurt.'

I nodded my head while also hitting anyone who came in front of me. My eyes fell on Skye again to see him pressing his hands on the door as if it would budge. "Pizza is God!" I told him over the chaos.

He must have heard it because he turned around and looked at me. He was far from me so I could only make out his lips moving. But from my assumption, he repeated the passcode because the door suddenly opened. Giving me one last look, he was inside the warehouse.

It was then that the weight of the situation hauled me down. He was inside where Joseph Miller had a gun in his hand and he didn't look very happy to be dealt with.

Oh, God. What did I do? I thought with panic surging through me.

That's when I heard the sound of glass shattering and I jerked in response. My eyes automatically trailed toward the sound of someone's painful scream.

One of the guards was softly rubbing his head and something liquid was cascading through his hair and onto his big, square shaped face.

It took me a second to realize that someone had thrown a beer bottle at him. I couldn't tell why but suddenly a really bad and pungent smell wafted through my nostrils. It was the worst smell like… piss?

The guard sniffed his shirt and we were all soon engulfed in that bad smell. "What the fuck?!" He screamed angrily.

Shivaay flinched and before anyone could blink, he spun on his heels and began running away. "Run!"

We didn't need to be told twice as we all followed his lead. The only reason Shivaay made a beeline to run was because all the guards had it enough with us and went for their big guns, enraged.

I don't even know where we were going but it was like we were rounding the warehouse. Once we were at the back of the building, my eyes fell on a ladder far ahead that maybe led to the roof but I couldn't be too sure. I noticed it because I was busy looking around, especially for something that could save us. The ladder seemed like a plausible escape.

"What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?" Ivan yelled at Shivaay. "I was handling it just fine! Now look at what you've done."

"Excuse me?" Shivaay panted loudly as his feet slapped the ground. "You've had it handled, You-Van? Because apparently…" His breathing was labored.

That's when I heard loud thumping of feet getting closer to us. "Now, come on." I waved at them before dashing in the direction where the old, rusty ladder was placed. Sprinting toward it, I climbed upwards quickly with my legs feeling like a Jell-O. Instead of wasting my time to look around, I held out my hands for my friends to do the same.

Within seconds, everyone was safely behind me. Although the last one to climb was Keith and my heart was beating way too fast because just as he was halfway through, I saw a few guards already rounding the corner. "Come quick," I whispered shakily and waved my hands furiously for him to catch.

Thankfully he reached the floor before they could catch us and I breathed a sigh of relief. As I turned around toward my friends, I saw that it wasn't a roof. It was a small room with all the weird stuff and everything. The cobwebs on the walls were so huge and visible that it was hard not to think that this place was haunted.

Emika took that exact moment to slap both Ivan and Shivaay upside down on their heads and clapped once like a disciplinary teacher.

"Thank you, Em." I gave her a wide smile. "And everyone of you, can you guys just please stop fighting for once?" My eyes widened in incredulity.

They avoided my eye contact and I felt really bad because they were all here in the first place in this situation because of me. They were fighting because of what I put them through.

Sighing, I licked my dry, parched lips and began. "Look, I am sorry for bursting out like that but… it's just that… Shivaay didn't do anything wrong. He's at least tried, right? When I told him to bring along some weapons, I had nothing in my mind but when he showed up with all of this at such a short notice, I… I am grateful. And no offense, Ivan but fighting hand to hand with so many muscled men alone was just impossible because we're not in a Tom Cruise movie."

"When you put it like that… I guess you're right, Val," Ivan said, hanging his head low.

"Thank you." I grinned, intertwining my fingers. "And, Chelsea, if it weren't for him and his weird smelling whatever bottles, I swear even if we wouldn't have been killed, we would have at least been injured… badly."

Shivaay was looking at me with wide eyes and closed lips as if he was in awe. For the second time since I've known him, I saw him blushing a little. First time was when he had talked to me about Emika. "I… thank you, VVJ," he told me earnestly but his voice cracked somewhere in the middle.

I guess everyone must have noticed it too because their heads snapped in his direction.

Before I could ask him what's wrong, Emika hugged him tightly and pulled away a few seconds later. She began signing something vigorously.

Shivaay rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I am fine, Mikasa."

"Shivaay…" I warned him with narrowed eyes because I could see it in his face. I could see that he was itching to say something.

"It's just that…" He exhaled. "I am so used to being disliked by people that I was… shocked to see that at least one person was grateful to have me. It's the reason why I am always so rude and sarcastic." He shrugged like it was unimportant.

"Aww." I wrapped my arms around him and soon enough, we were being hugged by everyone.

"Shut up," he muttered. "Don't get all mushy on me. It's very annoying, y'all."

Chelsea punched his shoulder softly. "You moron!" She glared but her face softened. "I am sorry."

And just like that, he was showered with everyone's apologies.

"Oh, my God," he said in disbelief. "You guys are really annoying. Stop apologizing, man. I am cool. See?" He banged his chest with his fists.

I laughed at him and slapped his back like a "bro". "No but seriously what's the deal with those… beer bottles?" By now, I had forgotten all about those guards even though it was weird that they didn't find us yet.

Shivaay scrunched his nose while rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed. Watching two completely opposite emotions from Shivaay within minutes was weird. A good weird though.

"Yeah, exactly. I wanna know too," Keith seconded with a disgusted face. Just talking about it made me feel like we were bathed again in that putrid smell.

"Actually, I tend to pee a lot while travelling so my roommate and I collect the beer bottles to not keep him from driving his car every five minutes. Usually I throw them away but I didn't remember this time. With everything going on at the department, I didn't even remember. And my roommate's gone for his work trip for some weeks now. And then, you had called me so urgently that I didn't even notice and pulled out all the bottles from under my bed." He chuckled sheepishly.

"Eww. So you mean to say that I touched…" Chelsea trailed off, as if wanting to throw up.

I pursed my lips too because the mere thought of it made my stomach recoil. "Oh," was all I could mutter.

However, our fun moment ended as soon as we heard a loud and aggressive gun shot. The thunderous noise ricocheted off the walls, sucking out all the other noises into its abyss.

But even that was nothing compared to what I heard next.

"Valerie!" It was Skye's voice. And the worst part of it all was that it sounded full of frightening pain.