In the middle of a dark night, with one precise incision with a dagger, he took off his victim's ear. He screamed in agony. "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Broekhart. I'm sure next time my employer contacts you, you won't be so hesitant to comply." He winked, wiping the blood off his hands. "Hopefully, we will not have the pleasure of seeing each other again under these circumstances." He left the man kneeling on the floor, clutching in agony the spot where his ear had been severed.

Suddenly the door to the Broekhart house burst open from the outside, "Don't move!"

The man with bloodied hands froze for a moment, bright lights from lanterns temporarily blinded him. Then he ran. He ran to the back of the house and attempted to jump out the window, unfortunately another team of soldiers had been waiting. They took him down just as he landed, making sure he stayed down, but he didn't go down without a fight.

"Enough!" A deep voice bellowed. The soldiers moved away, saluting at attention. "Austin Moon, you are under arrest for more counts of extortion, murder, and assault then I care to list. On your feet, you're heading to the palace." He nodded to the soldiers standing beside him, they lifted him up to his feet.

Despite his predicament, Austin smiled charmingly, "Ahh, Captain. Long time no see, I was almost beginning to think you forgot about me."

"Oh no, Moon. I've been tracking you for a long, long time now. Men, get this boy to the castle, I know a cell in the dungeon that has his name all over it."

The men tossed the assassin-for-hire in the barred carriage and let it go, all the way to the castle. Austin sighed, How am I going to get out of this this time? He tested the bars on the carriage, locked tight. He tried slipping through and almost got out, but his head was too big. Looks like my escape will be from the castle this time. Which will be a lot harder. So he sat and waited patiently to arrive at the castle.

The carriage bumped and rattled along the road up the hill to the castle where Prince Julian was planning a strategic route through the Uplands to the neighboring kingdom of Damask. "Our soldiers are spread thin across the kingdom, we cannot afford to take a whole team out to escort the Princess, my apologies your highness. The tribes will find the opening in our defense in a minute." The Commander of the Royal Guard, Commander Declan, said.

Prince Julian sighed, "How many can we afford then? I can't send her alone, and we definitely cannot delay this any further."

"I apologize sir, but at the moment we cannot spare a single soldier." Commander Declan responded regrettably. "Perhaps I can escort the princess..."

"No Declan. These men need a leader, and I know not much about military tactics, despite my background." Julian sighed, thinking over his predicament hard.

"Mi'lord!" A squire burst into the room, "Mi'lord, sorry for the intrusion. But the team on the night raids caught the man you've been looking for!"

"What?!" Declan and Julian both jumped out of their seats. "You mean, Sonata?"

"He sits in the dungeons as we speak, Mi'lord." The squire answered.

"Show me immediately." Prince Julian ordered. "We shall solve this predicament soon, Commander. I suggest we sleep on it. the answer will come in the morning."

The squire led the Prince to the dungeon, leading him down dark corridors and long passageways and winding stairs. Not that Prince Julian needed it, it was just for the formality of it, plus the squire appeared to be extremely jubilant that the Prince was by his side, who was he to deny the boy of that joy?

"Here we are, Mi'lord." The squire announced, they stood in front if the thick wooden door that would open to the lower levels of the castle that were moist, cold, and damp. Not a pleasant place to be locked up in 24 or more hours.

"Thank you boy, you've done well. Be on your way." Prince Julian dismissed. He opened the door and went inside. The guard saluted but before he could get a word out, the Prince asked, "Where is the prisoner the night raid just brought in? Sonata?"

The guard nodded with a slightly sadistic grin, "This ways, your majesty." Down two hallways of occupied cells and a left, was the cell door that contained the infamous Sonata. The vicious killer who came in the middle of the night to either escort you to the good Lord or make sure that you would try your best in the future to avoid such a meeting with him. Rumor said that Sonata could only come for you in the night because a demon possessed him to do evil in the night, and when daylight arrived, an angel would take the demon's place to only accomplish good deeds. Another rumor said that he worked for a very secretive black market ring leader and carried messages for him. But the main legend that claimed the killer was his name. Sonata, named for the sweet song that resembled a lullaby, his work to him was like a melody, and he moved with such grace and agility that his feet seemed to play an invisible instrument on the floor.

Julian set his jaw, ready to face this deranged killer and looked into the cell. "Austin Moon?!"

Austin smiled. "Oh hey Jules, long time no see."

"Leave us." Julian told the guard. He left immediately. Julian turned back to Austin, "You're Sonata?"

Austin winked, "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. You can't prove anything."

"Yes we can! My men caught you redhanded-" Julian took a breath to calm himself. "What have you gotten yourself into Austin?"

"Hey, don't get all lifestory on me. You decided to go clean-cut and marry a princess. I chose a different path." Austin defended himself, "One that's less pretentious."

"You can't get out of this this time." Julius told him. "How many people have you tortured? Killed? How many families have you put into poverty by stealing from them, murdering or chopping off the father's hands so he can't work?" He asked angrily.

Austin looked Julian straight, "It's not like I personally want to do this, it's my job. You can't tell me you haven't killed in your time, your majesty." He sneered.

"Those were soldiers." Julian answered defensively.

"Women and children were murdered! We burned down villages! And for what? The sake of our country? I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not to murder in the name of righteousness. At least I'm honest about what I do." Moon replied angrily. He turned away from the prince and sat in his cell. "However, I'm not going to pay the price for that just yet."

"Most likely you'll be sentenced to a public execution, it's that or a life sentence of working in the prisons. Either way, you're not going anywhere." Julian told him.

Austin shrugged, "If that's what you think."

Julian paused, an idea hit him. Even though he couldn't stand the thought that his best friend had become the person that stood before him, they still were brothers, a pact made long ago. And from their conversation Austin proved to him that he's still loyal to his word. So he asked, "Austin, what if I told you that I could get you out of here, and no one would be looking for you?"

"I'd ask what the catch was." Despite his nonchalant attitude, he was interested. He sat up straight.

"You remember my sister?"

"Ally?" Austin's memories took him back to when he and Julian were but 10 years of age and used to take sticks and fight each other like knights. Ally was 7 at the time and instead of stay inside and learn how to embroider, she would often sneak outside and try to play with the boys. They would make her the damsel in distress up in the tower (the tall oak tree substituted for it), Julian would pretend to be the evil king or sorcerer (either him or one of the pigs from their pen), and Austin would assume the role of the hero, and save the girl.

"The prince of Damask is looking for a wife. Our kingdom is in sore need of protection, so she will be what unites our countries, if the prince is pleased with her." It pained Julian to say this, he didn't want to give his sister away to a complete stranger, but as the prince (a title he gained through marriage) he had to make hard decisions. Besides, he rationalized to himself, I can make sure her safety by uniting our countries together. Damask is a rich country and would not like their queen dead. "We have no soldiers to spare. If you safely escort my sister to Damask then your slate is clean. Although, I don't think it'd be wise to return to Rathen immediately."

Austin thought about it. "How old is she now?"

"17."

"How would you get me out of the castle with her if I'm to be executed?"

"A disguise naturally." Julian snorted. "So do you accept?"

Austin considered his options, Hmm, so either immediate execution, a very slim chance of escape from the castle, or take Julian's sister to Damask. It didn't occur once to him that he could just escape anyways right after Julian let him go with Ally, he may have done some horrible things but he wasn't that cold hearted. the choice was clear. "I'll do it." He stood up and shook Julian's hand.

It felt like they were brothers again. "Thank you, Austin. I'll send a man here to give you your disguise in the morning, just wait here." He moved to leave.

"I'm not going anywhere." Austin shrugged, smiling. Julian grinned in return and left.

Even though he agreed, a criminal's habits don't break in a day. As soon as Julian was out of sight, Austin began trying to pick the lock to his cell with a small piece of very old twine.

Hey guys, so here's a heads up of the rest of the story: this fanfic is going to be a lyrical one, so the characters are going to be either singing songs half the time or simply quoting them. But I've seen other stories that do the same and somebody decides to call the author out because they didn't disclaim or something. I don't do that. I'm not going to be disclaiming in every chapter I write because...it's pretty obvious that I'm not stealing the credit and it's a lot of work. If a lawyer comes up on me, then too bad.

Hope yall like it! =P