Warning: This story contains bondage, damsels in distress, kidnapping, and some sexual themes.
Oh. Also spoilers for the epilogue of DIDnapper 2... which you should've played before reading this anyway...
Ugh... so tired...
The old wooden steps of the Inn creaked wearily as Seles climbed them, a sentiment she could definitely relate to at this point.
This had been one of the longest and most exhausting nights of her life. Then again, maybe she was just being dramatic. She was sure she'd had worst nights. Sneaking into bandit camps, escaping bandit camps... after getting captured by said bandits. There had been a lot of bad, physically and emotionally draining nights over the last year, but those things tended to happen when you were a band of globe trotting, monarchy overthrowing, heroes.
Seles had hoped that with evil having been defeated, and peace restored to the kingdom, that those endless seeming, strenuous times would be over, or at least less common. That's usually how it worked out in the books she used to read when she was a kid. Happily ever after, and all that.
Turns out though, in real life, the troubles don't really ever disappear, they just became less... conventional.
The exhausted looking red head felt a playful tug on her hand trying to coax her back downstairs to the tavern inside the Pendragon Inn her party had decided to stay in tonight.
"Lili, please..." Seles muttered tiredly, not even looking back at the princess behind her. "You need to go to bed."
An inebriated giggle echoed on the old stairway. "But Selessssss... those drinks were soooooo delicious," Liliana replied, sounding far from her usual refined and dignified manner of speech. "Let me get you one... they're sooooooo goooooood..."
Seles didn't dignify the request with a response. She just continued to trudge her way up the steps, nearly dragging the clearly intoxicated princess of Iidra up to her room, wondering how things had dissolved into this.
It had all started innocently enough. The seven of them had spent the day taking care of some business with the guilds in Pendragon and decided to just spend the night in the seaside village rather than suffering the long trip back to the mainland. They had just rented the rooms they needed when the innkeeper (slash bartender, apparently) had first tempted them with his wares.
Obviously wary of any stranger offering drinks- or any form of consumable at this point- Seles had been immediately out. Pendragon wasn't the worst place in the world, but she really didn't feel like taking the chance of waking up in some closet bound and gagged, being offered up as some prize at an underground casino... you know... again. However, the rest of her friends didn't seem to share her sense of caution.
Aden had practically jumped on the offer, the (most likely, but never proven, mad) scientist always seemed eager to try whatever concoctions the "experienced" drink mixers of the world could come up with. She considered herself a pro at handling her liquor, a fact that Seles herself had witnessed multiple times to be false.
Whatever. Aden was a big girl, and if she wanted to suffer through their boat ride back to Alverona with a massive hang over, that was her business... but then she'd goaded Liliana into trying some too, and things started to deteriorate from there.
It was all because the blonde inventor had made the mistake of referring to Lili as a "delicate princess." Seles swore, Aden was getting a big fat sock shoved into her mouth for that one... Then again, maybe what her body would no doubt put her though when she awoke tomorrow morning would be punishment enough.
Anyway, with Liliana successfully provoked, there was no stopping her. The two friends were determined to out drink one another. Liliana in order to disprove the assumptions of her "delicacy," and Aden... well... probably just wanted the excuse to drink more. Regardless, the gauntlet had been thrown down. As the princesses royal retainer, maybe Seles should have put a stop to things there, but they'd been traveling all day and to be honest, she'd just been too tired to see the red flags waving in the air.
Fortunately, Eileen, Zhara, Chelsea, and (most importantly) Kaie had agreed to "watch' the contestants. Allowing Seles to turn in early for some much needed rest. Surely at least one of them could manage to act like an adult long enough to ensure things didn't get too out of hand, right?
... Right?
"Lighten up, Seles. What's the worst that could happen?"
You know what? She changed her mind. The BIGGEST, grossest sock she could find. It had a date with Aden's mouth.
It wasn't until Seles felt the rough hands of the innkeeper shaking her awake that she realized how foolish she'd been. She'd still been half asleep when the elderly man burst into her room, but as soon as she heard something was wrong with her friends, the red head's attention snapped back into focus.
She hadn't even bothered getting fully dressed, settling for putting on her long black socks and a pair of pink slippers she was able to quickly slip on. This left her to face the brisk night air in nothing but the white night-shirt she'd once found in a random treasure chest...
Honestly, her life was so weird sometimes, Seles just decide it was better to not question things like that.
Anyway, said night-shirt was admittedly very comfortable to sleep in, long sleeved and not constricting, but as the head of the Royal Knights rushed out to find her friends, she became strikingly aware of just how impractical it was in literally any other situation.
Not exactly "Royal Knight" material, Seles thought embarrassingly to herself as she tugged down on the hem of her shirt for what felt like the millionth time that evening.
Cards on the table, the soft white garment, while very comfortable, was probably a size or two too small for the red head. It clung tightly around her waist, showing off her shapely figure a bit more than she would have liked. Not to mention the shirt itself was a bit short, the hem ending fairly high on Seles' thighs. It'd felt like she was one stiff breeze away from a wardrobe malfunction the entire time she was out, having to constantly tug down on her shirt to preserve what little modesty she felt like she had left.
None of this had been a concern to her at the time though, her friends safety outweighing her need for practical clothing.
Fortunately, upon finally bursting out of the Inn, she was relieved to find none of her friends were actually hurt, but judging by the completely baffling situations they'd all somehow wandered into, that status a was definitely up in the air.
Where did she even start? Kaie was stanced up to fight Zhara of all people, who, by the way, had been suddenly wearing some kind of bizarre white and blue dress that- while very flattering on the fit, blue haired, swords woman- Seles had absolutely no idea where she'd gotten. Aden and Eileen had been found arguing on the Inn's roof, over the latter's hat of all things. Meanwhile, Chelsea was apparently having some kind of mental breakdown on a swing next to the building they were staying in.
Seriously? Seles couldn't have fallen asleep for more than an hour or so. How had a few drinks managed to create that much chaos in such a short time?
Focusing on what was right in front of her, Seles had decided to start with Zhara and Kaie, having to physically put herself between the drunken pair to stop their sloppy looking "duel." However, as wasted as they both were, the two were still a couple of the best fighters the Royal Knight had ever seen, and seemed determined to put up a (very uncoordinated) fight. Thankfully both still had some rope on their persons from the groups earlier traveling.
(Look, if Seles had learned anything over the course of their adventures it was that it paid to keep a spare coil or two on you... maybe a ball gag as well.)
It didn't take long for the sober red head to restrain the other two girls. That didn't mean it wasn't tiring though. She even had to go so far as to gag the two of them, once Kaie began trying to bite her, and then Seles decided Zhara deserved one as well, once she wouldn't stop yelling about "justice" or whatever it was. The last thing the Aion would've needed was someone hearing all that nonsense and coming to investigate. That wouldn't have been fun to explain.
However, with her friends restrained, Seles was forced to take up the task of having to literally drag the two bound and gagged drunks back into the Inn, where the innkeeper was still waiting at the counter. The older gentleman gave the trio an understandably confused look, but said nothing, choosing to go back to cleaning a random glass on his counter. Apparently that hadn't been the craziest thing he'd ever seen. Go figure.
After finally getting the two of them back to their rooms, Seles untied them and practically shoved Kaie and Zhara into their respective beds, where they seemed to pass out almost immediately. After taking a moment to catch her breath and make sure they were both truly out cold, the red head rushed back outside to deal with the next catastrophe her friends had put themselves in.
Next, she moved on to settling the debate between Aden and Eileen that had been still taking place on the establishments roof. This was easy enough, as apparently the two of them had decided that Eileen's pink, frilly hat possessed some kind of political power, and that by taking it from her, Aden had risen to control over all she saw, which exclusively included the roof of the Inn.
So, before the new empress could fall off the throne of her new kingdom and break her stupid neck, Seles snatched the hat off her head and gave it back to a bawling Eileen, but not before using the powers invested in the piece of head ware to order the two off the roof and back to their room.
That was around the time Seles' sleep deprived brain realized the throughout all this late night craziness, Liliana had been nowhere to be found. Assuming the worst, she'd gone to the final remaining (and so far, least troublesome) member of her party, Chelsea, who had thankfully remained on the swing where Seles had left her.
However, the red head was much less thrilled with the depressed sounding brunette when she told her that Liliana had last been seen wandering off with a handful of shady looking goons, headed outside the village.
With adrenaline coursing through her veins, Seles sprinted to Pendragon's gates assuming the worst and already trying to figure out how she was going to explain to Ryker that she'd managed to let the princess of Iidra, her ward, get kidnapped... you know... again.
But when she'd finally reached the gates, instead of finding a worst case scenario, the scene that was unfolding was one beyond anyone's imagination.
Said goons Chelsea had mentioned were strewn about, all over the grass, around what must have been their wagon- no doubt perfect for transporting inebriated, helpless princesses- moaning and groaning pathetically in pain. And there, in the center of all of them, had been Liliana, staring blankly into space, seeming neither bothered or concerned with the carnage surrounding her.
Four guys, big ones, all muscle, and apparently Liliana had dropped all of them solo, weaponless even. Seles would've been lying if she'd said she wasn't impressed, and maybe a little entertained. That was one beating those scumbag totally deserved.
What was less entertaining was how difficult Liliana had been about returning to her room. From some reason the princess was convinced that it was Seles that had taken out her would be kidnappers. Her eyes seemed to light up at the sight of her "rescuer" and she was all praise and complements towards Seles. Which wasn't... bad or anything, but the Royal Retainer knew that getting Lili somewhere safe was the priority. However, the princess refused to move a step... unless Seles held her hand.
So the two had made their way back to the Inn, hand in hand, of course. Seles' hair color matching her complexion the entire way. Lili was also very red in the cheeks, but for a completely different reason from her knight.
They'd briefly stopped on the way back to check on Chelsea, who remained as uplifting as ever, but at least she still hadn't moved.
Liliana was a mess by that point. Giggling and smiling, greeting Chelsea like she hadn't seen her in years, pointing excitedly at Seles and her own entwined hands.
Chelsea didn't offer much in the way of a response, aside from some uplifting, half murmured, comment about how, "Affection was pointless because we'll all die alone in the end."
Charming.
Without a word, the red faced, red head dragged the drunk princess into the relative safety of the Inn. This pretty much brought us up to speed on the nights proceedings thus far.
The thoroughly exhausted Seles offered a glance back to her company as they traveled up the stairs. Liliana was still swaying back and forth, struggling to overcome each step as they went up, making the trip take infinitely longer than it really needed to.
Seles let a frustrated sigh slip past her lips. She was tired, flustered, and ready for all this to be over, but at least no one had seen them walking back together like... this.
Not to say she was upset about getting to hold hands with Liliana, hell no. A part of her might've even seen it as a perk, but it wasn't about her.
Lili- er, Liliana was a princess, genuine royalty, meant to be rubbing elbows with the elite and powerful of the world. She couldn't be caught... fraternizing with the leader of her own Royal Knights, especially not someone like Seles.
She saw how other people looked at her. In the castle, at the dinner parties, the extravagant balls. They'd seen the Princess of Iidra hanging around and socializing with some commoner girl from the back end of the kingdom that'd stumbled ass backwards into a respectable position, and of course they all had opinions about it. No one had actually ever said anything to her face, but the looks were easy enough to recognize. They were the same ones the Aion had gotten back in her village, just for being born what she was.
Don't get her wrong, Seles loved her job. It was demanding sometimes, and didn't leave much room for goofing around, but it was worth it. She got to help people, travel the world, and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as she could handle, often times more than that. Plus... She got to spend time with Liliana.
No matter how long her day was, no matter how many times she had to listen to the same people complain to her about the same stupid, monotonous stuff, those (agonizingly few and small) moments she got to spend with her dear friend made all the troubles worthwhile. Just seeing Lili's smile or laugh could turn her mood from bad to good.
... But deep down Seles knew the truth; She was no one, from nowhere. No amount of fancy titles or responsibilities would ever change that.
On a good day, the red head could at least maintain the fantasy that Liliana needed her, that she was important to her, but other times, she couldn't help but wonder if that was the case. This evenings events had only added to that sense of uselessness that ate away at Seles.
Not only had she let the princess she had personally sworn to protect wander off into danger, but then said princess (again, whose safety was her literal job) had single-handedly devastated the local bandit population with her bare hands. That seemed to paint a pretty clear picture of just how necessary she was in Liliana's life.
Lili was... amazing. That much has been obvious from the day they'd met. She was so strong, and Seles wasn't just taking about when she had a spear in her hands, although that was plenty impressive too. No, Liliana's real strength was on the inside. It was the kind of raw determination and poise that was necessary for a leader of the country. However, beyond even that, she still had this unwavering kindness that she shared with all but her worst enemies. She was amazing, and Seles couldn't help but wonder what kind of place she could possibly hope to hold in the heart of someone so important and incredible.
Sure, she'd helped Lili out of a few tough spots on their travels, and they'd fought alongside one another more times than she could count. But now that things had calmed down, and they weren't fighting for their lives every day, she couldn't help but wonder what her role was now.
Friends? Okay, fine, that was a given at this point, but Seles couldn't help but want something more... purposeful?
No, That wasn't right. It was much more childish than that. She wanted to be needed. She wanted Liliana to need her as much as she-
A sudden tug on her hand from behind snapped Seles back to focus. She quickly spun around to see Liliana starting to fall backwards down the stairs.
Instinctively, her grip on the other girls hand tightened, while her other grabbed onto the railing beside them, immediately halting the princess' fall.
Liliana blinked a few times as she stared up at the ceiling, as if her brain was still catching up to what nearly just happened. Then her gaze moved down onto Seles' who stared back, wide eyed and breathing heavy, clearly much more panicked about the situation. They stared at each other in silence for what felt like a long time, then slowly, Liliana's face broke out into a massive grin.
"My hero..." She said sweetly, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks still rosy from the nights shenanigans. She giggled coyly into her free hand, and Seles felt her heart soar into the stratosphere.
There it was again. That damn smile. That damn laugh. Suddenly the red head felt her own lips curving upward in response. She never stood a chance.
Seles let out a huff of air, rolled her eyes, and laughed. "Come on, your royal drunkenness," she said, clear amusement in her voice, "it's time for bed."
"Boooooo..."
Ignoring her friends weak protest, the knight continued to lead her slightly wobbly legged ward up the rest of the stairs in silence.
What was she doing? She could have a pity party on her own time. Right now, Lili needed her, and that was enough. Everything else they could figure out later, after she was taken care of.
The two of them took a quick detour once at the top of the stairs, as Seles stopped by each of her other companions rooms to make sure they were still in their beds. Aden and Eileen were right where she'd left them, Kaie too, and Zhara had somehow managed to kick all her covers off her bed, revealing the... odd outfit she was still wearing- Seriously, We're did that come from?- but the blue haired girl was still sound asleep. All that remained was Chelsea, but first she had to finish getting Lili settled.
They entered the princesses rented room, where Seles- almost reluctantly- let go of her hand to allow Liliana to get ready for bed. She couldn't exactly sleep in full, plate armor after all. Thankfully, now that she was in her room, the princesses protests seemed to come to an end as she began removing her adornments.
First she removed the flower braided into her hair, with a great deal more care and precision than she'd displayed thus far this evening. Next, she dealt with the gauntlet on each wrist, unstrapping the two and placing them on a nearby dresser. It wasn't until Liliana sat down on her mattress and pulled up one of her legs to removed her greave's that Seles realized she was staring.
Her face burning again, the royal retainer quickly spun in place, turning away. She'd wanted to stay just to make sure Lili actually went to bed, but now she couldn't help but feel like she was intruding. It wasn't really anything she hadn't seen before, they'd traveled across the kingdom together after all, camping out in places that didn't exactly afford them a lot off privacy when changing, but this felt different. Maybe it had something to do with her wards clearly inebriated state? It somehow felt like by watching, Seles was taking advantage of her friends condition.
However, just as she was reaching towards the door for a stealthy exit;
"Selesssssss,"
The red haired knight slowly turned around- not entirely sure if she had permission to do so- to see Liliana had finished removing almost all of her armor, only the pristine white breast plate remained. The other girl was facing away from Seles, looking back over her shoulder.
"Help meee..."
Then the princess reached back with one hand and pulled aside her golden colored tresses, revealing the clasps that held her armor in place.
The temperature of the Inn skyrocketed to Seles.
"S-sure..." she mumbled off to the side, having a hard time making eye contact with Liliana.
Seles made her way over and with trembling hands began the simple process of undoing the straps holding the armor in place.
With a resounding clang, the heavy breast plate hit the wooden floor. The princess let out a relieved sounding sigh as she let her hair fall back in place, the blonde locks grazed against Seles' fingers as she failed to get them out of the way in time, making the heat in her cheeks rise even higher.
Now clad in just her dark colored tunic and long socks, Liliana sat back down on her bed and looked at her knight sweetly. With her hard armor shell removed, the blonde's natural curves were on full display.
"Thank you..." she said dreamily, brushing a few errant strands of her hair behind her ear.
Gods, she's so pretty...
The thought popped into her head so naturally, it nearly gave the red head a heart attack. What was she doing? She must be more tired from the nights escapades than she'd thought.
"D-don't mention it," Seles managed to mumble out, reaching up to wipe at her nose with her wrist in an attempt to hide the enormous blush on her cheeks.
She quickly turned away, ready to escape this situation and head to her own bed as quickly as possible. Just one last thing to take care of...
"Phew, okay..." Seles said, taking a breath the regain her composure. "now I just need to go get Chelsea."
"Selesssss..."
Again, Liliana's voice stopped her mid step. She turned around to see the princess of Iidra laying in her bed, giving Seles the biggest pair of doe eyes she'd ever seen. She eagerly pat the empty space on the mattress next to her.
"Come cuddle with me..."
The sound of glass shattering filled Seles' head as she was pretty sure the sudden, unprompted request caused her brain to explode.
"Huh!?" she managed to stammer out, scrambling to recover whatever brain cells she could to form a coherent response. "I- uh, I don't think that would be, um, appropriate..."
Gods, that sounds so lame. Seles couldn't help but think, as she remained frozen in place, eyes perpetually locked onto the blonde's.
"Pleaseee? Just a little bit..." Liliana pleaded again, continuing to pat the soft sheets beside her while seriously testing the royal knights willpower.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Abort. Abort. Exit the situation.
"I, um, I... I really have to make sure Chelsea is okay..." Seles finally managed to say. It was as good as excuse as any to save her from herself.
For a moment, a strange sort of look came over Liliana at her retainers refusal. Her smile faltering ever so slightly, before it bloomed back onto her face.
"... Just one hug?" she asked, outstretching her arms towards the red head and giving her friend a pleading look.
Her sweet and inviting voice completely threw off any suspicion Seles might've felt over the subtle and brief change in mood.
"Erm... O-okay... I guess one hug won't hurt" she said, heart still hammering away in her chest. Something felt a little off all of a sudden, but if this is what it took to get her friend to finally settle down and go to sleep, so be it.
I mean, she didn't not want a hug from Lili...
"Yay!" Liliana exclaimed joyfully as she stretched her arms out even wider in anticipation.
With only a handful of butterflies in her stomach, Seles crept forward, sitting herself down on the bed next to the princess. There was a slight hesitation in her movements as she leaned in close, as if she believed at any second that Lili would suddenly pull away and laugh, revealing this was all some kind of elaborate joke. That wasn't the case though, and as she soon felt the blonde's strong arms wrapping tightly around her, pulling her close.
After a brief mental check to ensure this was all actually happening, Seles returned the embrace. She leaned in closer, sticking her head into the crook of Liliana's neck, the other girls sweet scent drifting into her nostrils with each breath.
This was nice. Okay, maybe this night wasn't so bad...
With a content sigh, Seles reluctantly released her grip and went to pull away, when she suddenly realized Liliana hadn't let go of her yet.
"Uhh... Lili?" The red haired Aion said in confusion, "I should really-"
A still drunken, mischievous sounding giggle from the blonde cut off Seles mid sentence.
"Gotcha..."
Before Seles could even begin to wonder what that might've meant, she found herself thrown down face first onto the mattress she'd been sitting on.
"Ah! What the- Hey!"
Without warning Liliana was suddenly on top of her. Her legs straddling each side of Seles' exposed thighs, holding the other girls legs in place.
Honestly, the Aion was too shocked to resist at first. Every instinct in her brain told her to fight back, but this wasn't some villain on top of her, or some drunken asshole, or some love-struck idiot, it was Lili. She didn't want to hurt her.
Was she even allowed to fight back? What was the protocol for this? Seles really wished she'd at least skimmed over the guidebook Ryker had given her in regards to her duties as a knight.
The hesitation cost her, as suddenly she felt the princesses hands clumsily seize her own, Liliana giggling the entire time, before pulling both behind her back.
Surely this wasn't about to go the way she thought it was...
Seles' fears were realized when she suddenly felt a taught rope wrapped around her wrists, snapping them together tightly.
"L-Lili!? What the hell are you doing!?"
"Hee hee, you're alllllll mine now..." Liliana said back, sounding strangely amused. A sentiment Seles definitely didn't share, as she felt the princess tightly knot her crossed wrists behind her back.
What was happening here!? Where did she even get the rope from in the first place? Probably from her pack, which was sitting in the corner of the room, but when had she had time to grab them?! When she was changing and Seles had turned around? That was the most likely scenario. Just how far ahead of time had the intoxicated princess planned this?
Suddenly Seles' early thought about how convenient it was to keep binding material around was coming back to bite her.
But more important than all that; Why was Liliana acting like this? Tying her up like-
The drinks. Of course.
Aden, I swear when I get my hands on you...
Okay. Mystery solved. None of this was actually Liliana's fault, and after Seles made a solemn vow then and there that the truly guilty party would pay in time, she took a breath to calm herself down before she tried reasoning with her "captor." This was still Lili after all, surely she'd come to her senses if Seles just to talked her.
"Lili, come on, I think this has gone far ennfff- HMMPH!?"
Unfortunately for Seles, all talking accomplished was giving Liliana the opening she needed to stick the long piece of cloth she'd tied an extra large knot in the center of between Seles' soft pink lips, effectively gagging her.
Her ability to reason now restricted, the restrained Aion decided to go with her initial instincts and finally began to struggle. A decision that probably would have been more effective if she'd chosen to do so before she was more than halfway tied up. The knot holding her wrists was fully secure by that point, her hands flopping uselessly behind her back, and the thick bundle of cloth in her mouth making calling for help just as futile. She doubted that even if her other friends hadn't drank themselves stupid tonight that they would have heard her. The gag, along with the four walls of the room ensured not a sound she made would escape its confines.
Not that it did much to stop her from trying.
"HMMMMMMFFF!" Seles bellowed as she began kicking her feet, her only remaining chance of escape. The effort was pretty much a waste though, with Liliana still on top of her, pinning down her thighs, nothing below her knees was able to move.
"Shushhhh," the clearly still quite intoxicated Liliana slurred out from beyond the red heads field of vision.
There was a suddenly sharp sting of pain on Seles' backside, accompanied by a meaty sounding SLAP that made the knights entire body freeze mid struggle and go rigid.
Had... had Liliana just spanked her?!
A fire greater than what any Chroma on the planet could create erupted across Seles' face, for two reasons.
Firstly, of course, the slap itself. It hadn't done any real damage, the red head was way tougher than that, but the shock of it all had ninety percent of her blood rushing to her face. The other ten percent quickly joined it as Seles realized that the only fruits her wiggling around underneath Liliana had bared was managing to make her already short, white, night shirt ride up over her butt, exposing her matching colored panties. An opening the drunk blonde had clearly noticed and taken full advantage of with a swift strike.
The blow had more or less left Seles paralyzed. Mortification, confusion, humiliation, and about a dozen other emotions all rushing through her at once had forced her already frazzled mind to do a complete restart. Which made it easy for Liliana to shift herself around on top of the frozen girl so that she was facing the opposite direction. Then, she easily grabbed Seles' legs and looped another cord around her ankles.
By the time the rope was wrapped, cinched, and pulled tight, the red head had finally returned to reality to find herself fully bound and gagged.
Her work complete, Liliana rolled off her "captive" and onto the mattress. Then she took the tied up girl by her shoulders and flipped her over so she that was on her back, and with a grunt of effort, pulled her around a full one hundred and eighty degrees so her head was resting on one of the pillows at her top of the bed. After that, she took her hands off Seles, giving the bound and gagged red head the full range of movement she needed in order to struggle in earnest. Which she did. Vehemently.
She bucked and rolled every way she could, nearly falling off the edge of the bed in the process. She screamed muffled curses into her gag as she threw her head from side to side to try and dislodge the knotted cloth filling her mouth. It wasn't the most complex tie the Royal Knight had found herself in during her many, many (too many) experiences, but the ropes held fast.
After a good five minutes or so of struggling, the red head began to tire herself out. A heavy sweat growing on her brow, making her crimson hair stick to it as the Aion took big chestfuls of air in and out through her nose. She was already exhausted from all the craziness this night had brought, and now she found her seemingly boundless energy reserves running on empty.
This was insane. What the hell was in those damn drinks!? Whatever it was seemed to have affected every facet of Liliana's psyche except her rope work. It was becoming clear to Seles that this deceptively simple looking tie would take more time and energy to undo than she would've expected.
She'd always had the feeling that Lili had been taking it easy on her whenever they did their escape training together at camp. Always quick to crumble under flattery and loosen the ropes whenever Seles had pleaded for it. It was clear now that those fears were well founded, as even someone as experienced in the art of escaping bonds as Seles was, failed to see an immediate way to get free. Liliana had gone all out.
Speaking of the blonde, the bound knight rolled over to see the princess reclining on her side on the bed next to her. Her elbow resting on the pillow and propping up her chin, her face beaming with the biggest, chesire-like grin beneath her still rosy colored cheeks as she watched the trapped Aion wiggle around.
"Lhhlhh," Seles tried to say, as calmly and clearly as she could muster, making sure to enunciate around the big ball of cloth tucked between her lips. "Lhh. Mnnhh. Gmmph."
She tried her best to look as intimidating as one could while tied up, drenched in sweat, blushing like a tomato, and with her pesky night shirt having ridden up well past her waist, having long since given up trying to preserve her remaining modesty.
Perhaps predictably, the state she found herself in did not have the desired effect.
Liliana giggled drunkenly, before reaching over and gently booping Seles on the tip of her nose.
"Cute..." she said with half-lidded, sultry looking eyes.
With that, calm and clear was thrown out the window, as Seles devolved back into her futile, beast-like struggles.
"MMMMMPPHHH!"
She threw her head from side to side, desperately trying to remove the gag that had turned her furious cries into mewling whimpers.
She was not cute! At least, Seles certainly didn't feel that way right now. She felt... embarrassed, humiliated really, that she'd let any of this happen to her. She was supposed to be the head of the Royal Guard of Iidra! Now, not only had she been bound and gagged (yet again) but it was by the hands of the very person she was charged with guarding!
Eventually, that one, final, momentary spurt of energy died out, and Seles collapsed back into the pillow, letting out one last, long, resigned sigh through her nose.
"Tired?..."
The red head shot the blonde an unimpressed, deadpan look at the ridiculous question. Of course she was tired. She'd been walking all day, barely got a chance to sleep before being dragged into her friends craziness, and now she found herself in quite possibly the most ridiculous situation of her life.
... Well... It was in the top ten, at least.
Liliana was unmoved by the icy glare though, her own sleepy looking eyes closing as she let out a long yawn.
"... Yeah... me too..."
Then the princess scooted herself across the bed, closer to the tied up Seles, before wrapping her arms around her torso, resting her head on her shoulder.
"H-HHHHMPH?!"
W-What is she doing?!...
Seles felt her face somehow get even redder than she thought possible at Lili's sudden proximity. Her heart racing. And yet, she didn't dare to move or try to dislodge the still tipsy princess.
"This... This is nice..." Liliana mumbled, craning her neck up slightly so she was whispering into Seles' ear. "This... is all I wanted...all I need."
Trying her best to ignore the shivers of pleasure traveling down her spine at the princesses low, tired sounding voice whispering to her, Seles raised an eyebrow at Liliana's drunken statement. The pair of beautiful, brownish-red colored eyes, so close to the red heads own emerald ones, suddenly looked a little sad.
"It's not fair..." Lili mumbled, casually reaching up and twirling a few errant strands of Seles' crimson hair between her fingers. "You're always so busy... me too, I suppose... but you're always coming and leaving, always putting yourself in harms way for me... and it..."
Seles' eyes widened as she noticed the princesses lips quivering.
"So many people... they keep leaving me... mother... father... my brother and sister..."
Liliana sat up in the bed, turning away from Seles, and tucking her legs up close to her body.
"... Elize..."
Seles' brow furrowed at the mention of the former leader of the Royal Knights. The one who'd betrayed Liliana, tried numerous times to get rid of her, nearly started a pointless, ignorant war, stolen Seles' Exceed, and tried to use it to take over the kingdom, until she was finally stopped by Seles and the others. She was a truly awful and remorseless person, but at the same time, Lili had once seen her as "like a mother" to her. The red haired Aion knew that betrayal had been especially devastating for Liliana.
"Everyone... every time I... feel this way, they leave... The ones I hold dearest to me..."
A quiet sniffle made Seles sit up in her bound state. Was Lili... crying?
Sure enough, when the knight looked over to see the princesses head resting on her knees, she could clearly make it the tears forming in her eyes. Even if she wasn't currently gagged, the sight would've left the knight utterly speechless.
In all their time together, Seles has never once seen her blonde friend cry. It was a testament to that incredible inner strength she'd brought up earlier. No matter how bad things had gotten on their journey, even when the two of them were sharing some dingy cell, sitting across from one another, tied up with itchy, uncomfortable ropes, and gagged with disgusting tasting rags, not once had the princess so much as sniffled. She'd faced those dark moments with courage, and in turn, given Seles the strength she'd needed to overcome them as well.
Now though, it was like that strength had been stripped away, revealing that beyond the unflinching warrior and the noble leader was a woman. One just as capable of fear and self doubt as any other human, and Seles felt so stupid for having never noticed that before.
"Mpphh..." the still bound red head wanted to be supportive, but considering her current position had to settle for leaning her head on the other girls shoulder. Just to let her know she wasn't alone.
Drunk or not, Liliana was her friend. Not her boss, or her monarch, her friend. Always. This night might've been... strange, but it hadn't changed that. Nothing would.
The blonde haired princess let out a relieved sounding sigh, leaning her own head closer to Seles' and the two remained that way for a few quiet moments.
"... Promise me..." Liliana started, her voice regaining its usual cadence and regality, at least for a bit, "promise you won't leave my side...?"
Seles smiled around the edges of the knot between her lips. "Nhhvhhr," She said resolutely.
There was no place she'd rather be.
Liliana removed her head from the other girls shoulder so she could fully face her. She smiled at Seles, a bit more lucidity in her features. "Thank you, Seles," she said, trails of moisture still evident on her cheeks, but clearly looking better than she had.
Then, suddenly and without warning, Liliana leaned forward and kissed Seles.
... Well, sort of.
Really, the kiss itself landed more on the knotted part of the cloth between her lips. Not that it made much of a difference to Seles, whose eyes practically popped out of her skull at the experience.
D-did that really just happen!?
She stared, still wide eyed at the princess, her face still only inches from her own.
There was another beat of silence between the two, before Liliana giggled softly, her earlier state of lucidity seeming to drift away and she returned to the inebriated state that put Seles in this situation, and gods help her, the other girl couldn't help but smile back.
"Hmmm... tired..." Lili mumbled sleepily, before wrapping an arm around the still bound red head and pulling her back down onto the mattress as she laid beside her. "Time for bed..."
"Hnnnnhm?!" Seles protested. Was Lili seriously about to fall asleep and leave her like this?!
"Hmm?" The princess hummed in confusion, eyes already starting to close below her head even hit the pillow. "Oh... right... let me just... just give me a... few..."
Liliana's mumbled rambling dissolved into nothing as her eyes fully closed. Seles stared in disbelief at her somehow now fast asleep ward laying next to her. The slow, rhythmic rising and falling off her chest making it clear she was out like a light.
"Hhhmmm, HHHHMMPPPHHH! LHHLHHH!"
Seles' muffled shouts did nothing to stir the sleeping beauty next to her. Liliana merely snuggled her face into her pillow as she continued dreaming unabated.
Heaving a massive sigh, Seles reclined back and stared up at the sloped ceiling of the Inn. Okay, so she wasn't getting any help getting out of this anytime soon. She spared one more look at the sleeping Liliana next to her. No matter how insane this evening had turned out, she still couldn't find it in her heart to blame her for what happened.
Okay, time to get to work. She thought to herself, and began scooting her bound body to the edge of the mattress, hoping to get herself up and find something to cut herself free.
However, she didn't get far before a pair of hands grabbed her midsection and pulled her back into place.
"No..." Liliana mumbled half asleep as she wrapped her arms possessively around Seles' body, even curling one of her legs around the other girls, almost acting as a second layer of bindings, holding the red head in place. "Bad pillow... naughty..."
Then the blonde drifted back off to sleep, gripping the tied up Aion tightly.
"Hhhhhmmmnnnnn," Seles bemoaned in annoyance. Okay, apparently she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Gods, she was just so exhausted. Her body was still damp with sweat and taking in big breaths of air from all the excitement she'd been experiencing so late at night. Not to mention, Liliana's body was just so... warm, warmer than any blanket, wrapped so tightly around her...
It wasn't long at all before the red head felt her own eyes beginning to flutter as long overdue sleep began to take hold. She yawned behind her gag.
Just need a few minutes... gather my strength... then I'll...
That was her last thought before her conscience slipped away into slumber. Her head subconsciously snuggling up against Liliana's, reluctantly succumbing to the other girls request for "cuddles."
Hours later, Seles' eyes slowly open.
For a moment, she didn't remember what happened, and having woken to find herself tied up and muzzled, (you know, again) assumed the worst.
But then she noticed she wasn't alone in the bed. She turned to the side to see Liliana's face inches away from her own, the other girls mouth slightly open as she slept peacefully. Suddenly the events of the evening replayed in her head and the Aion blushed profusely.
Then she noticed Lili's arms had slipped off her body at some point during the night, no longer holding her in place, her legs too.
Experimentally, the red head shuffled a bit to the side, away from her inebriated "captor," towards the edge of the bed. Liliana stirred a bit, making Seles freeze, but eventually the blonde seemed to fall back asleep, even rolling over onto her other side, away from the escaping knight.
"Mmmph!" Seles couldn't help but quietly exclaimed in excitement. With the other girl no longer holding her, there was nothing to stop her from making a quick and much needed getaway.
After shifting herself to the edge, Seles took a moment to readjust her night shirt, tugging it back down over her rear and with her bound hands, restoring her dignity, slightly at least.
She thought about standing up, hopping around the room and trying to find something to cut herself free, but as she'd mentioned before, the bindings holding her weren't the most complex, Liliana had just made them insanely tight. Now that she had the time- and a bit of rest- Seles was fairly confident she could get herself out on her own.
It took about ten minutes worth of squirming, but finally the Aion managed to find a weakness in her bonds. Her fingers worked quickly after that, and soon Seles' hands were free.
The red haired knight gave her sore wrists a few quick shakes in front of her. Damn, Liliana hadn't been messing around with her rope work tonight. Luckily she hadn't had the presence of mind for a more strict tie, otherwise Seles would've probably had to wait until someone found her in the morning. That was not something she wanted to have to try and explain. Imagine if any of the other members of their party saw her like that. Gods, none of their friends would've let either one of them ever live that one down.
Her hands free, Seles reached up and finally pulled the knotted cleave gag from her lips.
"Blah," the Aion girl said quietly as she left the saliva soaked cloth hang around her neck. Figuring she'd remove it once she was completely free of this embarrassing situation.
It only took a few more minutes for Seles to untie her legs as well, and she stood up and gave her body a nice, big stretch as soon as she was able.
As happy as she was to have at least gotten some rest tonight, it was time for her to continue her sleep in her own bed. So the red head went to leave Liliana's room.
"Mmm... No..."
A distressed moan from behind her stopped Seles in her tracks. She turned back towards the bed Liliana was sleeping in to see the blonde girl tossing and turning, her brow furrowed.
"... Don't go..."
Feeling her heart ache as she remembered Lili's earlier confession, Seles crept back over to the bed. She slowly reached towards the bottom of the bed and grabbed the wool blanket folded there, draping it over the other girls form. The blonde princess stopped her wiggling and let out a breath of contentment, seeming to drift off into a more peaceful sleep.
"Good night, Lili," Seles whispered.
Then she noticed just how close she'd gotten to the other girl's face when tucking her in, and the Aion smiled.
It's not a big deal... She probably won't even remember what she said or did tonight anyway, so why would she remember this?
With that bit of reasoning, Seles leaned in and pecked her lips against the slumbering princesses pale, soft cheek. Her thumping heartbeat the only sound filling the room as she did.
"Get some rest, princess," the knight said as quietly she could, before stepping away from the bed...
... or at least, she tried to...
Suddenly, Seles felt a pair of arms wrap around the back of her neck.
Oh no... She thought, but it was too late. She looked up to see Liliana's reddish colored eyes open, and staring back at her with a certain predatory look in them that didn't fill the Aion with comfort.
"Naughty..." Lili mumbled in a low voice with half open eyes.
Suddenly, and with a ferocious strength, the princess pulled Seles back onto the bed.
"No, no, no, wait! Liliana! I really need to get to- MMPHH!"
About thirty minutes later, Seles was back in the bed, staring up at the Inn's sloped ceiling again, her situation having been upgraded from embarrassing, to inescapable.
For starters, the half asleep, but still somehow crazily strong Liliana had reapplied the knotted cleave gag to the escaping Aion's mouth, but not before stuffing another cloth into her open mouth. Clearly she hadn't been interested in anything Seles had to say about the subject. Not that it kept the red head from voicing her muffled opinion throughout what followed.
Next, Lili had taken the ropes Seles had just escaped from and used them to tie the other girl up in the exact same way she had been only moments ago, but hadn't stopped there. With her prey secured, struggling and moaning impotently on the mattress yet again, the princess had stood up and drunkenly stumbled her way over to her pack and grabbed more ropes in order to ensure her personal body pillow wouldn't escape again.
First, she'd actually untied the red heads wrists from behind her, but only for a moment, and not nearly long enough for Seles to take advantage, before she retied them in front of her. Then, she'd pulled them up over her knights heads and tied a cord from those wrists to the headboard of the bed, were they wouldn't be of any use. Lili repeated the process with the other girls legs next, holding her ankles in place by securing them to one of the bed posts at the foot of the bed. With this, Liliana ensured her captive wouldn't be leaving of her own volition any time soon. But that wasn't the end of Seles' bondage.
Three circuits of rope now secured the red heads legs. The one around her ankles, and then another one above her knees, and one more just above were her long, thigh high socks ended, reducing her lower extremities into one, useless, flopping limb.
And then there was the harness Liliana had spared no expense in securing around poor Seles' chest. Thick cords went above, below, in between and all around the other girls plump, round breasts in every conceivable direction. The now thoroughly bound Aion couldn't help but wonder what the purpose behind the harness was, considering her hands were tied above her right now, so it wasn't like it was actually securing anything. Then again, she couldn't help but notice the way the ropes lifted and puffed out her already more than modest chest. She shuddered to think that maybe that was all the motivation her clearly still intoxicated friend had needed.
Couple all that with the princesses arms and legs also tightly wrapped around her, holding Seles close, and it was obvious she wasn't going to be doing any escaping any time soon. Liliana having gone back into a deep, undisturbed sleep almost immediately after she finished tying up her Royal Knight.
None the less, Seles couldn't help but squirm a little, testing her bonds slightly for any chance of weakness. However, her reward was the same as every other time she'd tried since she'd been rebound; Liliana's grip tightening around her, her leg rubbing up against the Aion's upper thighs.
"HHMMMPPPPHH!" Seles moaned in unexpected pleasure as she felt the other girls leg caressing her midsection.
Ah yes, how could she have forgotten? The other little addition Lili had made to her bindings to discourage such attempts at escape.
Her night shirt had been completely relieved of its duties. The red head was still wearing it fortunately, but the garment had been pulled up well beyond Seles' stomach, getting stuck under her chest bindings, and exposing the entirety of the red heads lower body.
That wasn't the worst part however. No, that particular accolade belonged to the damned piece of rope wrapped around her waist, with a strand going down between her legs, then going back up over her rear where it was pulled tight and tied in place on the other side.
Every time Seles tried to move, that damned crotch rope dug into her thin, white panties, stimulating her womanhood. Not at all helping that fact was whenever Liliana felt her try to shift her body even slightly, she responded subconsciously (at least Seles hoped so) and moved the leg she had curled around the tied up Aion upwards, where her knee would aggravate the infernal rope further, ensuring Seles wouldn't be able to fall asleep even if she wanted to from all the over-stimulation.
Taking in several deep breaths to calm her slamming heartbeat and repress the growing warmth in her loins, Seles let out a deep sigh. Lili had made all the bindings just as insufferably tight as her previous ones.
Seriously. What the hell was in those damn drinks!?
Well, this is what she gets for not leaving when she had the chance. Now there was no hope, only the eventual mortifying discovery when the others woke up tomorrow morning.
However, just as Seles was about to give up completely, she heard the creaking sound of the old wooden door of Liliana's room swinging open.
Her head popped up off the bed as far as her bound body would allow it. She looked towards the opening door excitedly. She wasn't crazy about being discovered like this, but at least it was happening now and not hours later. She wasn't even sure her body would hold out that long.
There, in the doorway of the room, Seles saw the unmistakable silhouette of one of her friends.
Chelsea!
The Aion had almost completely forgotten she'd left her on the swing outside!
Sure enough, the brunette stood in the open door, the moonlight from a window in the hall illuminating both Liliana and Seles in the bed.
"HNNNM! HHHMMMPPPPHHH!" The gagged Aion cried out, begging her friend to get her out of this embarrassing situation... discreetly if possible.
However, with one look at the twin tailed woman's swaying form and the far off look in her eyes, Seles felt her heart sink.
"... Sorry, wrong room," Chelsea muttered, barely coherently, before turning away, bumping into the door frame with her shoulder as she walked passed it, and disappearing from view, leaving the entrance open so Seles could just make out her muttering to herself about how, "Our place on this mortal coil was nothing but blip in the lifespan of the universe, and the fleeting moments of happiness we find in one another's company would offer us no comfort when we're finally laid to rest."
Depressing and unhelpful. Awesome.
An annoyed whine slipped past Seles' tightly gagged lips, earning her another (again, hopefully) involuntary rub from Liliana's leg against the crotch rope.
"HMPH!"
It was going to be a long night.
The first rays of the morning sun cast across Liliana's face through her rented rooms windows. The warm, inviting light stirred her from her slumber, making her eyes open briefly, before they quickly closed again in response to the stabbing pain it brought to her head.
Ugh... What... what happened last night?...
Bits and pieces began coming back to the still delirious princess of Iidra. There were drinks... Yes, she was drinking with her friends. That much was clear. Then... Aden was laughing? And Zhara was wearing... something? Then she remembered fighting someone... multiple someones? Then...
Argh.
The memories slipped away again as a fresh bolt of pain shot through Lili's head.
Nope. No. Back to sleep. Away from the light, away from the headache, and the stomach ache, and the everything else that ached.
She closed her eyes tighter and pulled her pillow closer.
"... hmph..."
A far away sound tried to drag Liliana the rest of the way awake, but the princess wasn't having it. Not yet anyway. Her bed was warm. Her blanket was warm. Her pillow was... well, that was peculiar.
The still half asleep blonde fumbled her fingers across the soft mass she has her head buried in. What she felt didn't seem right. It was flat, hard, but also not too hard, almost tight feeling.
"... Mmpph...
There was the sound again. Too far away for Lili to fully recognize, so she disregarded it again.
She reached a up bit higher and found something... soft? That was odd. What an unusually inconsistent pillow she'd found to sleep on tonight. She gave the strange, soft mound a few curious squeezes.
"... HMM MMMPH!..."
The sounds grew louder, almost... more insistent.
The slightly more awake princess moved her hand lower again, over the taught, warm surface until she felt her fingers get caught on something lower... something coarse and thin. What in the world was that? It seemed to be attached to something, pulled tight.
Experimentally, Liliana gave the strange thing a small tug.
"L-LHHHLHHH!"
This time, the very hung over princess was able to understand the sound. Someone was calling her name, but for some reason their voice sounded... muffled?
An ice cold realization filled Liliana's body as her eyes snapped open. She recognized that sound. She'd heard it many times in her adventures.
She finally saw what she was wrapped around, and it wasn't an inanimate pillow, it was a quiet animate person!
First she saw the taught, toned, exposed midriff she'd been previously rubbing her hand all over. The snug rope around the waist that wrapped around, over the persons white underwear.
Liliana quickly pushed herself up on her arms, looking towards the face of the bound woman she was half lying on top of.
"S-S-SELES!?" The princess half shrieked as her entire face lit up crimson.
From next to her, the also very red faced Aion offered her ward an awkward, embarrassed smile from around the knotted piece of cloth between her teeth.
"... H-Hhhhy..." Seles mumbled a greeting with an almost apologetic look in her eyes.
Liliana recoiled backwards, away from the tied up girl she'd been essentially straddling all night, falling off the mattress and onto the floor.
W-what in the world happened last night?!