Bound To A Princess

Neon stretched out his legs, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned against the tree. The bark was rough beneath his fingers, but he didn’t mind. The evening air carried the scent of damp earth and pine.

Across from him, Aria sat with her knees drawn close to her chest, the moonlight catching in her dark eyes, making them seem almost silver. She had been quiet for some time now, gaze flickering between the shadows of the forest and the small flickering campfire Neon had produced.

“You know,” Neon began, his voice unhurried, deliberate, “those people… they called you ‘princess.’”

He tilted his head slightly, watching the way her fingers tensed against the fabric of her dress.

“What should I make of that?”

Aria inhaled sharply, as if considering whether to tell the truth.

“Because it’s true,” she admitted at last, her voice quiet but steady.

Neon lifted an eyebrow. “So I’ve bound myself to royalty.”

She let out a short laugh, but there was no real amusement in it. “Not much of one,” she muttered, resting her chin on her knee. “I was cast out by my own father, the king. We had a feud.”

Neon whistled low, shaking his head.

Aria shrugged, but it wasn’t casual. It was the kind of shrug that looked like it was trying to carry more weight than it could hold. “He’s not wrong,” she murmured, and there was something almost imperceptible in her tone. Something worn, something tired. 

Neon studied her in the dim firelight, noticing the tension in her shoulders, the way her thumb absently rubbed over a scar on the back of her hand.

He frowned slightly. “The camp members weren’t exactly welcoming either. I saw the way they kept their distance.”

“That’s different,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “They don’t hate me. They just think I’m soft.”

Neon’s gaze sharpened. “Soft?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “They think I don’t belong here. That I wasn’t meant for military life.”

“Were you?” he asked, his voice softer now, not teasing but genuinely curious.

She was silent for a long moment, staring down at her hands as if searching for an answer in the lines of her palms.

“I... don’t know,” she admitted at last. Her voice wasn’t weak, but it was unsure, like she was still grappling with the truth of it herself.

Neon let out a slow breath, shifting his position so that he was leaning forward slightly. “Then why are you even here? Why throw yourself into the military at all?”

“Because I have nowhere else to go.”

Something in the way she said it made Neon’s chest tighten. There was no self-pity in her voice, no bitterness. Just a quiet resignation, like she had made peace with it long ago.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The fire popped, sending a few embers floating into the sky like tiny, dying stars.

“Well,” he said after a while, his voice lighter, “then I guess we’ve got that in common.”

Aria looked at him, her eyes searching his face. He didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t push. Instead, she gave the smallest nod, as if understanding something unspoken between them.

“I thought…” Her voice wavered, but she pushed forward. “As a healer, I could do something worth living for.” She gave a small, humorless laugh. “Something that meant something. But sometimes, I don’t even know why I fight. Maybe I thought I’d die on the battlefield and be remembered. Maybe I just…”

She swallowed, voice barely above a whisper. “Maybe I just wanted to die.”

He didn’t tell her how messed up that was. Didn’t try to comfort her with empty reassurances, didn’t pretend to understand. He just let the words sit between them, let her sit with them. And somehow, that was better than anything else he could have said.

Aria let out a slow breath, closing her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. Then she scoffed suddenly, shaking her head, her voice tinged with bitterness. “They tried to hurt me,” she muttered. “My own people.”

Neon exhaled, stretching his arms lazily behind his head again, as if weighing his words. Then, after a moment, he said, “Yeah, well.” He turned his gaze toward the sky, where the stars burned cold and distant. “Come to Nyxia, princess.”

Aria blinked at him. “What?”

He grinned. “You heard me, princess.”

She groaned, recovering herself. “Oh, not this.”

“What? I think it suits you.”

“It doesn’t.”

“I disagree.”

“You’re insufferable.”

Neon only grinned wider, clearly pleased with himself. “Hate to break it to you, princess, but you’re stuck with me now.”

Aria shot him a glare, which to Neon was a victory in itself.

“Stop calling me that,” she said finally, her voice sharper now, irritated. “Just call me Aria. No honorifics. We’re not that different in age either.”

Neon raised an eyebrow. “And here I was thinking you enjoyed the royal treatment.”

She shot him a flat look. “Try again.”

“Fine, fine. Aria it is.”

She sighed, rubbing at her temples, shaking her head slightly.

 "Anyways, what do we do now?"

Neon considered their situation. “We need a place to stay the night.”

Aria joined her fingers together, hesitating. “I don’t have that much money.”

Neon gawked at her. “What kind of princess doesn’t have money?!”

Her entire face turned red. “Don’t say it like that!”

Neon snickered. “I think I know why, actually.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You keep buying luxury food and eating like there’s no tomorrow.”

Aria’s embarrassment deepened. “I do not!”

“You do. I’ve seen you.”

“W-Well, food is important!” she stammered. “It’s a necessity!”

Neon shook his head in disbelief. “How have you not gained any weight?!”

“Some don’t!” she huffed, arms crossed.

The banter eventually died down, and they shifted their focus back to their situation.

“We still need a plan,” Aria said. “What do we do?”

Neon exhaled. “We go back to the boundary and try one more time.”

Aria hesitated, then nodded. “Alright.”

They set off under the dim glow of Militia’s twilight, moving quietly through the Frontier. The journey back to the boundary was uneventful, the air cool against their skin.

The shimmering threshold loomed before them, a rippling distortion in the air, as if the fabric of reality had been stretched too thin. Neon clenched his jaw. He had tried before. Every time, nothing had happened.

Still, he reached out again, pressing a hand against the invisible force.

Nothing.

A sigh escaped his lips, and frustration flickered in his eyes. His fingers curled into a fist against the barrier before he pulled away, shaking his head. “This thing—”

Before he could finish, Aria stepped forward.

She hesitated, barely breathing, as if afraid that the moment would slip away if she moved too quickly. Then, cautiously, she lifted a hand, her fingers grazing the threshold.

The reaction was instant.

A pulse of energy crackled through the air, stirring in the space between worlds. The barrier flared with sudden brilliance as if recognizing her touch. A rush of warmth surged through her fingertips, spreading up her arm like liquid fire.

Then, without warning, the threshold pulled them in.

The world shattered into color. Blinding, weightless, infinite.

Everything blurred. A whirlwind of colors, sensations. Then, a violent force threw them forward.

Neon hit the ground hard on the other side, rolling onto his side with a sharp exhale. Gravel bit into his palms as he pushed himself up, blinking rapidly. His body still tingled with residual energy, every nerve on edge.

Beside him, Aria lay sprawled on the stone floor, dazed, her chest rising and falling in uneven breaths.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then, slowly, Aria sat up, her wide eyes darting around, taking in their surroundings. Her lips parted, but no words came.

Neon followed her gaze.

Nyxia.

They had made it.

Aria finally found her voice, though it was barely above a whisper. “What… just happened?”

Neon smiled to himself, shaking his head. “Looks like you’re the key, princess.”

She blinked, still stunned, then snapped out of it enough to glare at him. “I told you to stop calling me that!”

Neon brushed the dust off his jacket before standing. He reached out, offering her a hand.

“Welcome to Nyxia. Princess.”

 "Do not call me princess..."

For a second, she just looked at him, then over at the city pulsing with life in the distance. And then back at his hand.

She took it.