Queen's Princess

PART I: Chapter 6

I was sitting outside, this time to avoid Odessa's early morning routine of banging on the side of the house. However, when the sun rose above the highest sand dunes, I knew something was wrong. Heading inside, I walked over to where my dad was, in which he was sitting beside my grandmother.

"Dad?" 

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Where does Stone live?"

"Not too far from here. You know where all the houses are lined up and facing one another?"

"Yeah."

"I know they all look the same, but look for one with a similar motorcycle like mine."

I nodded, "Thanks, dad."

"Odessa didn't show up?"

"No."

I walked out from the back and overlooked the houses like my dad had described. I slid down the sand dune and found the only house that had a motorcycle that looked like my father's. I walked towards the back door and I was about to knock on the door, but it swung open and Odessa was there.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," she said. She wasn't as loud and as chipper as she usually was.

"Is everything ok, Dez?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get to training."

She walked into the sands and led me to where we were going to be training today. Something was off. She wasn't as talkative, especially the banter we had between one another, and she was holding back her punches when we were doing close combat training. Even though it's been about three months into our training, I knew how strong she was and she didn't hold back with me when we were doing close combat. She wanted me to get used to feeling pain. However, she was being repetative as if her head wasn't in the game today.

"I think we need a break."

"I can keep going, Y/N," she said.

"Dez, we should take a break."

We sat down on the sand and slowly sipped the water from the bottles we had. I looked over at her and her eyes weren't as bright and full of fire like they were before. 

"Is something wrong, Dez?"

"Everything is fine," she said, avoiding eye contact and taking a swig from her bottle. "Come on, we gotta train more," she stood up. 

"Dez," I reached up and grabbed her wrist, making her turn to me. "Something's wrong, isn't there?"

She sat back down on the sand and sighed, looking at the grainy terrain below her feet, "One of my siblings died."

"I-I'm so sorry," I said.

"They died from malnutrition," she said in a low voice. "There was nothing I could have done to save her."

"I'm really sorry to hear that."

There was silence between us, which felt awkward at first.

"Use that to fuel your anger even more."

"What?"

"They died because of malnutrition, because Mason banished you and your family. If he didn't banish ya, surely they would have had better living conditions and have better food. Instead of having to get by day by day, they would have had a better life."

She looked over at me, a small smile appearing on her face, "Yeah. Yeah you're right."

She stood up and I stood up with her.

"We're going to make Mason pay for what he's done to our families. What do you say, champ?" she asked, getting into a fighting stance, that fire and passion returning to her captivating amber eyes. "Ready for a fight?"

I got into a fighting stance and nodded, "Ready, Dez."

After training was finished, it was time for me to head to the junk yards to search for more intact bottles. Even though I was bruised everywhere, my muscles were aching, and my feet were dragging across the ground. When I reached the junk yard, I fell onto the ground and looked at my surroundings. I was in no condition to search for anything today. Struggling to get up, some people came up from behind me.

"Well if it isn't the junk rat," the familiar voice said.

I slowly stood up and looked at the boy and his entourage. I was in no condition to fight today.

"What do you want?" I spat back, trying not to fall.

"Look at ya. You can't even stand on your own two feet," he said and shoved me to the ground. 

"What's in the bag?"

"Nothing of importance."

"Get the bag."

I tried to fight off the two other boys, but with how tired I was, it was no use. They ripped the bag from my upper body and opened it up. They pulled out the intact bottle and admired it. Thankfully I drank all the water that was in there so they were unable to figure out our secret.

"Where did you get this?"

"Where do you think?" I asked.

"I'm going to take this with me," he said and was about to take the bottle, but Odessa came in and punched the boy on the side of his head, sending him to the ground.

The two other boys fumbled to catch the bottle, but one of them caught it.

"I believe that doesn't belong to you," Odessa said.

"You," the ring leader said.

"G'day," Odessa said. "Mind tellin' me what you're doing to my friend?"

"Nothing that concerns you," the ring leader struggled to get up, but managed.

"I'm sure it concerns me. She's my friend. Whatever shit she has to deal with, I have to deal with."

"Get out of here, scum," he said.

"News flash, we're all considered scum in these parts. So think of a new name," Odessa said punched the guy who was holding the bottle. 

It was an all out fight over just a bottle of nothing. I slowly got up from the ground, but I was still in no way to help fight Odessa, but from the looks of it, she was handling herself for the most part. She knocked out one of the lackeys and so it was just two of them. I was trying to grab the bottle, but they were kicking it here and there, making me chase after it. There was at one point where the ring leader brought out a knife and swung at Odessa. She shoved the other lackey into the ring leader and when he shoved the other boy aside, Odessa went in and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground.

"Now that's done," she turned to me as I finally picked up the bottle. "You ok?"

"Yeah," I looked down to see she was bleeding. "You got cut."

"Nothing but a minor cut. It'll heal quickly. But you, ya look a bit banged up. Can you walk?"

"Not really."

"Come here," she said and lifted me onto her back, walking back to her house. "You did good out there, Y/N."

"I barely did anything."

"You tried to hold your own. That's better than nothing."

"I guess you could say that."

"Come on, champ. That's a win in my book."

I smiled, getting closer to Dez as I nuzzled the side of my face into the side of her head.