I Enjoy Quality Service at Hotel Dungeon

Nikki finds herself imprisoned by very unusual captors.

Everything was sore; so terribly sore.
Nikki moaned as she lifted her head and managed to sit up. The room spun, like she was in a kaleidoscope that was in the hands of some obnoxious toddler. That leftover spaghetti must have been poisoned or something.
Wait a minute. This was not her room. Her room was not a cramped little box, with thick bars on one wall and dismal gray stone for the rest of the walls. Then it all came rushing back; the baby, the armored flying freaks, her capture.
Nikki stumbled over to the bars and held onto them to keep her swaying self steady.
"Hello?" she croaked, calling for someone, anyone. "Please? I just want to go home..." Some tears started to leak, and Nikki leaned against the cold bars. "Anybody?"
"Silence!" someone barked. Nikki raised her head hopefully, but banged them back against the bars when she saw it was only one of the flying people, armored and wearing a bored expression.

Nikki dried her tears-crying obviously wasn't going to help-and surveyed her surroundings. There was a small, low-to-the-ground steel slab that was held horizontally to the wall by chains at each end and a black mass that Nikki assumed was once a blanket (The steel cot must her luxurious sleep area). There was also a bench-like seat in one corner with a hole in the seat; Nikki didn't have to think about what that was. Instead, she thanked the heavens that she had gone to the bathroom last night.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a harsh shout at the cell door.

"Breakfast!" The guard was banging on the bars of each cell, while another guard followed behind him, slopping something from a bucket into cups that were held out from each cell by hands with unseen bodies.

When they reached Nikki's cell, they pulled out a cup, filled it with the bucket slop, and shoved it at Nikki with a sneer.

"Lose the cup and you get no food." he snarled, and moved on. Nikki stared in unconcealed disgust at her meal. It was a soupy oatmeal-like grey substance with unidentifiable black and brown chunks bobbing in the liquid. Sighing, Nikki set the untouched "food" on the floor.

Plopping down on the metal pallet, she rested her head in her hands, struggling to make sense of what had just transpired.

First: she had found a baby on her porch.

Second: weirdo winged men appeared in her bedroom at midnight and captured her.

Third: she ended up in a dungeon that had terrible food and spiteful guards.

Yep, she was officially crazy.

I must be asleep, Nikki brightened. She pinched herself; really hard. It hurt, but her prison remained as real as ever. Standing back up, Nikki went back over to the bars, feeling hopeless.

"Hello? Anyone there? I'm really sorry for kidnapping Princess What's-Her-Face, okay? I won't do it again, if only you let me go home." she pleaded to whoever was listening. "Please!" Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please." She sank down on the floor.

"Psst!"

Nikki straightened. Wiping her eyes, she gripped the bars. "Hello?"

"Don't cry, please."

"Who's there?" Nikki scrutinized the hall. Suddenly, a guard appeared, and he looked down at her.

"I'm sure it'll be okay." His voice was nervous.

"I'm in a cell, if you haven't noticed." Nikki said irritably. He wasn't the guard from earlier; they must have switched. This one could only be maybe a year older than Nikki.

"Well, yeah." he was silent for a minute, then sat down across from Nikki.

"Can you let me out?" Nikki asked.

"No, no! I'd get in huge trouble. I'm not even supposed to talk to you."

"Well, then, why not just let me out? It's just one more rule broken." It was hard to tell with the helmet, but Nikki thought he probably was frowning. He stood and started to leave. 

"Wait!" Nikki grabbed his foot. "I was kidding." she said hurriedly, not sure she could bear being alone anymore. Silently, the guard sat back down. For a minute, they just stared at each other. Finally, he sighed and pulled off his helmet.

"These things get so hot." he complained.

"Poor baby." Nikki said drily as she observed her captor. He was probably fifteen, with short brown hair and bright green eyes. "I'm Nikki." she added.

"Poxy." he grinned.

"Poxy? What kind of a name is that?" Nikki wrinkled her nose, and Poxy frowned again.

"What kind of a name is Nikki?" he replied. "Poxy is an excellent name; for fairies, anyway."

"Ha ha, very funny." Nikki brushed back a strand of hair. "I stopped believing in that stuff years ago."

"Uh, hello? Wings?" he gestured towards his giant wings protruding out his back. "You humans are so ignorant."

"Oh, yeah?" Nikki reached her hand through the bars and tugged gently on the wing closest to her.

There was a ripping sound, and Poxy immediately screeched and his body bent in half. Startled, Nikki jumped up and backed into her wall. Poxy stayed hunched over, gasping, tears rolling down his face.

"Rub it on the rip." he managed, dropping a small bottle on the floor. Nikki snatched up the container, squirted some of the lotion stuff onto her hand, and quickly located the inch sized gash in the delicate webbing. Slathering the goop on the rip, she stared as Poxy slowly regained his breath, then finally straightening with a grimace. Pulling out a cloth, he wiped the lotion off his wing, revealing a perfectly healed appendage.

"I'm sorry." Nikki whispered. Her situation hit her with full force. This was one hundred percent real. He was a fairy, Nikki was in a dungeon, and she probably was never going to see her family again. Oh, fabulous! Now she was crying again. Poxy proudly showed her his wing. 

"See? Good as-oh, pixie dust! Are you crying again? Seriously, it was an accident. Look, my wing healed already!" his anxious face made Nikki laugh through her tears. 

  "No, it's not that. I just really want to go home. And I don't think that's happening." she hugged her knees to her chest.

"No, probably not." Poxy agreed. "I mean, you kidnapped the princess!" 

"Surprisingly, this isn't making me feel any better, Poxy." she laughed again, sniffling and wiping away tears at the same time. 

"Oh. Sorry." he said sheepishly. "But it's true! Execution is your best shot!"

"Seriously? Anything is better than death, fairy boy." 

"They could give you years of torture, then a slow, painful, death."

"Fine." Nikki threw up her hands. "I don't even know what I did!"

"What?!" Poxy stared at her like she was totally insane. "You kidnapped Princess Vinessan!" 

"Who the heck is that?" 

"Uh, only the heir to the fairy throne, Nikki. She's the king's only child, and he would do ANYTHING to keep her safe. She's just a baby."

"You mean-" Nikki smacked her forehead. "Of course! She's the kid I found on my porch! Poxy, I swear, I didn't kidnap her. I found her!"

"Sure." Poxy looked doubtful.

"Do you seriously think I could break in here and steal a baby?"

"Of course not!" Poxy said huffily.

"Then how did I get her?" Poxy fell silent for a minute before answering. 

"Okay, here's the deal. I'm not supposed to tell you this, so the following conversation never really happened, okay?" Nikki nodded. "The Princess has like a millions nurses, but she has one constant; Filaria. Filaria is a normal fairy, except that she's cursed. She can't ever lie or hide the truth, ever, or she vomits out her insides." 

"That's gross." Nikki shuddered. 

  "Yeah." Poxy nodded in agreement. "It's not even her fault. Long ago, when Sasailya was being created," Nikki wondered what Sasailya was, but decided to ask later. "Karataura, king of the demons, refused to be moved to Zectactra, the dark half of Sasailya. So, Janarie, Filaria's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-and a couple more greats after that grandmother volunteered to persuade the wicked king, and refused to reveal her plan. Janarie was an unbelievably stunning fairy. Mere glances of her reduced powerful men to pathetic lovers that pestered her constantly. As it was later revealed, Janarie used her own beauty to convince the king to move to Zectractra, bringing his demon subjects with him."

"Janarie then planned to sneak away from the evil demon, back to Ellaria, the good half of Sasailya. But she made a mistake, and was sighted. She made it back to Ellaria, but not before Karataura was able to place the curse on her. The smallest lie will kill Janarie, even if she says something she thinks is true, but really isn't. The curse is passed on to her female descendants; thus we use Janarie's line of women to do the most important jobs in the palace." Poxy finished, and Nikki stared at him.

  "This has to do with Vinnessan's disappearance......how?" she prompted the fairy.

"Filaria can't lie, stupid." Poxy rolled his eyes. "So, when she told us that the Princess had disappeared into thin air, we believed her." Nikki expelled an angry sigh. Apparently, boys didn't have to be human to be infuriating.
"This is a fascinating story, Tinkerbell," Nikki stifled a fake yawn. "But what does this have to do with me?"
"You transported the Princess to you, silly."
"How on Earth did I do that?"
"With magic." Poxy said in a matter-of-factly voice.
"I don't do magic, Poxy." Nikki felt like crying. She was going to be executed for something she didn't do.
"'Course not. Humans are non-magical." Poxy lowered his eyes. "But the king said that it was you; the only other plausible explanation would be someone from Zectractra, and that would be an act of war." 

"Oh no, we wouldn't want that to happen. Here, I'll just be killed for something I didn't do." Nikk retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "No, no, I insist." Blinking back tears, she switched subjects. "What is Sassly anyway?" 

"Sasailya." Poxy corrected. "And it's here; our world." 

"I don't get it." 

"Well, it's like another world that's similar to your world, Earth." Nikki pursed her lips. 

"Do you mean like another planet?" Nikki asked. 

"Not really." Poxy thought for a minute. "It's like having two separate worlds, in alternate dimensions, side by side, and yet not even touching. The Portals connect the two worlds, and if you can access them, you have a way to both places." Nikki's brain slowly began to comprehend. Poxy shrugged. "It's kind of-" he suddenly jumped up and stood to attention against the wall. Nikki was about to call out to him when she also saw the guards, walking at a fast pace towards her.

When they passed him, Poxy stood up straighter, and made a snapping sound with his wings. Without even glancing at him, the others returned the wing snap and continued on until they reached Nikki's cell.

"Nikki Forrester." One guard boomed. His cold eyes glittered in the dark, and another guard jiggled a key in the lock on the bars. The door creaked open, and all the guards except for the speaker filed in. Their mere presence made Nikki shrink with fear. "Nikki Forrester, our beloved king, the almighty ruler of the Fairies, has demanded your audience. Come willingly, or face the consequences." Nikki was grabbed by two guards, and the squadron dragged her down the dungeon hall, headed to the King of the Fairies.

Author's Note

What do you think? I think I portrayed Poxy pretty well, according to my image of him. Anyway, enjoy! Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[paparapapa]

Another great chapter! I'm loving the way you describe everything - using similes and metaphors! The plot's really interesting. I can't wait to know more about Nikki and her supposed to be 'magic' :)). Oh and I love Poxy! :D Good job, Bella.

P.S. The titles of your chapters are awesome. =)))