#sorryforthedelayagainahhhhh

[rumalumasuns]

"I love you for all that you are, all that you have been, and all that you will be" (unknown) - With Alban Knox

Based (very loosely) on Robin Hood

Part of my Living in a Fairy Tale series

!- Reader is Gender neutral (if I made a mistake somewhere I apologize and I'll fix it as soon as possible!)

!- Mentions of slavery, abuse, stealing, shooting, blood, killing, super light cursing

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, Alban Speaking

Original work by rumalumasuns, 5,766 words (it's long sorry haha), unedited but I will do so when I have time later :)

Once upon a time...,

In the far corners of Inasinin was a small kingdom under the temporary control of the tyrannical Prince Moony de Xytcon, as King Legatus de Xytcon has been away for travel and diplomatic business for ten years.

Prince Moony was not always a tyrant. He was a decent leader for a year, until his most trusted advisor, Aide Viper, began to inform him of traitors and disrespectful rumors floating around. When Prince Moony confirmed these to be true, he started to doubt himself. Unknowingly, Prince Moony became more forceful and less tolerant when talking to others, and found that if he exerted more control, the traitors were easily dealt with and the rumors went away. Enjoying this newfound way to be powerful, Prince Moony became a stricter ruler, a harsher ruler, and, eventually, a tyrant.

Except for a select few, the people of the kingdom were impoverished or barely scraping by. Every couple of weeks, the soldiers of Prince Moony, known as the Lunar Battalion, were sent out to collect the scraps of money that the people had, despite their protests and attempts to fight back. Always, the soldiers overpowered the rebellious citizens, beating them up, almost to the point of death for the overly rebellious.

If money was unable to be collected, the Battalion took the people and enslaved them, making them work in the ore mines that were filled with iron and gems (although finding both was now a hard task due to the excess mining that was being done) until the people fainted, or died.

No one was safe from this fate unless they were the type of person to kiss the boots of Prince Moony (AKA they were a part of Prince Moony's nobility, or they served him). The people couldn't even leave the kingdom, as the gates of the kingdom were shut and guarded by the Battalion.

There was another, much more risky way, to survive the fate of enslavement: thievery. And one thief became the most renowned of all:

"FIND THEM!" bellowed Prince Moony, clutching the document that reported the shenanigans of a particular thief, who stole from all the nobility of his land.

"...But, my lord, we need to tend to our troops who got injured by the thief first do we not-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT TAKES! FIND THIS PHANTOM THIEF AND HIS ENTOURAGE, AND BRING THEM TO ME!"

"...Yes, Your Highness." With a sigh, the butler left the throne room.

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Alban didn't always want to be a thief: he just wanted a way for him and his sister, Alice, to survive in this harsh, cold world. He had to be able to provide for them since they were six, as at that time, their parents had both died to nobles harshly beating them up for no entertainment.

He learned how to pickpocket from nobles by using his nimble hands to swipe what would be in their pocket. If he was lucky, Alban would succeed in swiping small things from a noble's hand, such as rings or a few bits of cash.

Alban also began to swipe food from the stalls in the market. Although he felt bad for doing so, as most of the stalls were also struggling to make a living, he continued to take for himself and his sister to have something to eat that night, even if it was a small piece of jerky. Alban promised himself he would never take too much from the stalls and noted who to pay back if he ever had the opportunity.

Normally, Alban went to the market in the morning, when it was most crowded and the easiest to swipe something. However, after staying up late to take care of his sister who had a fever, he woke up late.

By the time he had gotten to the market, Alban found that it was too late: there were few people at the moment, meaning that he could get easily caught if he tried to steal something. He wasn't a professional at the age of eight, after all. Alban was about to head back to his makeshift tent, where Alice was, until he heard trudging footsteps. He looked around and saw the stalls closing, and people scattering off the street. Deciding to hide as well, Alban went into one of the nearby alleyways and hid behind a pile of garbage.

He waited silently as the trudging steps came closer and closer until finally, he saw it: the Trek of Slaves. Alban knew that if people weren't able to pay up the high taxes, they would either be forced into slavery or offer other people - children, in particular.

What was in front of Alban was a long line of children, guarded by fierce-looking soldiers of the battalion, with chains on their arms, and a ring on their necks that linked to all the other children in the line. Their faces were gaunt, hollow from starvation, with dull eyes. Their clothes hardly covered their bodies.

One of the children in line was a little girl. Alban unconsciously imagined Alice's face on that child. His eyes darkened.

After the slaves left, Alban came out of the alley and scampered back to his home. He felt something awaken in him. Something had to change. He figured that if his abilities could help him and his sister, his abilities could help others too.

So he did.

Instead of stealing from the food stalls that were also struggling to make a living, Alban began to plan heists against the wealthy and lead escapades against the enslavements.

He planned to steal from the rich and give to the poor, as well as save as many people as he could from their fate in the mines.

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Over multiple years, fewer and fewer slaves were taken, as Alban released them always before they ever could get in the line for the Trek of Slaves. He succeeded in pulling off multiple heists as he grew older. By the time Alban was in his early teens, he knew the basic layouts of noble homes, he had learned the best ways to conduct carriage and cart robbery, and he swindled multiple nobles, taking first their hearts and then their valuables. Some valuables he distributed to the poor, and others he kept in order to help his future heists. For instance, from a noble who loved theater, Alban gained a black mask that covered the entirety of his face while still allowing him to see, breathe, and talk normally. From another noble who was a mage, Alban managed to snag the mage's magic bag, with huge storage space, as well as her master key, which can unlock any type of lock. With these, thieving was much easier, and Alban felt empowered.

However, being empowered didn't mean that Alban was invincible.

One day, Alban was making his rounds for giving out valuables, which he does twice a month at irregular intervals to keep the Battalion off of his back. While passing through a narrow, shady alleyway, he overheard cries of distress. He headed over immediately and peeked in through one of the windows. Inside, he saw an old woman, who had her arms wrapped around who he assumed to be her grandchildren. A large soldier stood in front of them, flipping a copper coin with his thumb. One of the boys in the grandmother's arms was crying and reaching out to what was in the wolfish soldier's hand.

"You- you heartless being! How could you take all of our savings just like that. We've saved up for that birthday gif-"

"Yes, yes, yes, well, that's quite unfortunate isn't it," said the soldier, dismissing the old woman's protests before turning his attention to the boy. "Little boy, Prince Moony says happy birthday to you as well. Maybe next time I come in, I can take you to him," said the soldier with a wolfish grin.

Alban felt his blood boil at the soldier's implied threat of enslavement. The boy looked no older than five! He tugged his mask closer to his face, put on his hood, and took out a cane and a cup with two copper coins in it. He swung out and clattered the cane in front of him, acting like a blind man. He entered the small abode.

"'Ello there. Any spare change for this poor blind man?" asked Alban, imitating a croaky voice with an English accent as he shook his cup to jingle the coins in it.

The large soldier turned to him and scrunched his face in disgust before he saw that the cloaked figure had a cup with money in it.

"No, but I do believe you have some for me," said the large soldier as he laughed and snatched the cup out of Alban's hand, pushing away Alban toward the old woman in the process. While the soldier occupied himself with taking the money, the old woman helped Alban up. While doing so, Alban discreetly placed something in the pocket of her dress. The old woman looked up at Alban in surprise, before shutting her mouth and acting concerned for him, dusting him off.

"Hey, blind man. Got anything else in there?" asked the soldier in a rough voice, pointing at Alban's cloak. Alban didn't respond. The soldier smirked. "Or... do you have something else to hide? Perhaps... you're someone who's not supposed to be here?"

A moment of silence passed as the soldier slowly reached for Alban's hood before Alban spoke.

"Ah~, guess I got caught," he said in his normal, taunting voice, before bolting out of the home. His hood whipped off, revealing his mask. The soldier's eyes widened in recognition, and he snarled.

"OI! GET BACK HERE, YOU PHANTOM THIEF!" bellowed he, as he rushed clumsily out of the place.

When they left, the old woman checked her pocket and took out what seemed to be a small brown rucksack. She opened it, only for tears to suddenly pool in her eyes and soft sobs to come out of her mouth. She was staring at 5 gold coins, which would help her and her grandchildren get adequate food and live comfortably for a year or so. The grandmother held the bag tightly to her chest as she embraced her grandchildren who surrounded her in concern for her tears.

"Thank you...," she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alban whisked through the alleys as the large soldier, now joined by several others, tailed after him. To get them off his trail, Alban headed to the place where they prepared slaves for delivery to Prince Moony. While weaving through the confused slaves, Alban pulled out the master key he stole from the mage and waved them near the chains on the slaves. The chains unlocked, and the slaves were free. They exclaimed in joy before bolting out of the preparation area.

The soldiers behind Alban cried out in rage as some split off from the group to try and get the escaped slaves back. Meanwhile, the wolfish soldier almost caught Alban, his fingers centimeters away from grabbing Alban's cloak. He was about to get it, until he was interrupted by a stone to his head. The soldier stopped in his tracks, his hand going up to the side of his face, only for it to come away with blood. He growled and looked in the direction of the attack. His eyes met with those of freed slaves around Alban's age, holding heavy rocks and other heavy objects they could find. They cried out and pelted him and the approaching soldiers, knocking their swords out of their hands and making them bloody.

Not wanting to deal with the fierce barrage, especially when they didn't get paid enough to deal with them, the soldiers just groaned in frustration before running off. Although the wolfish soldier didn't want to, he knew he had to retreat. He looked at the boys, heatedly vowing to finish them off later before he ran in the same direction as his comrades.

After making sure the other soldiers were gone by not sensing other presences, Alban hunched over in relief, hands on his knees, panting, heart hammering. He stayed in that position until he saw a hand show up in front of him. He looked up to make eye contact with a boy around his age, with neon yellow hair and dark periwinkle eyes.

"Oi, I'm Sonny. This is my family," said the boy as he gestured to the other three boys behind him. One had steel grey hair with matching eyes, the other had dark blue shaggy hair with light blue eyes and heterochromia in one eye, and the last one had dark magenta hair with purple eyes that both had heterochromia.

Alban eyed them, then Sonny's outstretched hand, before taking it and giving it a shake.

"...I'm the Phantom Thief."

"I'm Yugo. I'm a huge fan! You-You're really the Phantom Thief, right?" asked the bluenette with sparkling eyes.

Alban hesitated slightly, but for some reason, he felt like he could trust these people, and then nodded.

The grey-haired older boy smirked before coming beside Alban and clapping him on the back.

"Hey, I'm Fulgur, thanks for freeing us back there."

"Yeah, of c-course, it's what I do...," said Alban, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. "Th-Thanks for helping me too..."

The purple-haired boy came up to Alban's other side, smiled, and patted him on the head.

This was the first encounter of the group Noctyx, a band of vigilantes led by the infamous Phantom Thief. The five boys wore matching masks with the forehead part painted with their Noctyx insignia, symbolizing hope to the poor and a nuisance to the rich. They plundered carts of snobbish nobles, provided safe hiding places for slaves, defended the weak, and some of them even provided underground soup kitchens for the hungry. Alice, Alban's sister, also wore a mask as she worked in the soup kitchens. After Fulgur taught her how to read, Alice also took up learning about medicinal plants from a book she found. She wanted to help with her brother's efforts as much as she could.

As Noctyx became more and more famous throughout the kingdom, Prince Moony grew frustrated because he was losing control over the citizens. So, he plotted with his loyal dog, Duke L/N, and commanded him to send in a spy to the land to break Noctyx from the inside.

Duke L/N decided to send his most intelligent child, Y/N Sol L/N.

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One day, Alban planned a heist on an incoming carriage that was said to be coming in. The carriage belongs to the L/N dukedom, one of the richest nobles because of how often Duke L/N assisted Prince Moony in conquests of land, expanding the kingdom, and attaining more resources.

In the trees above the road where the carriage was supposed to come down, Alban and his friends waited.

"Another day, another petty noble to rob," said Alban to his friends. All except Yugo nodded along.

"But, like, what if this person wasn't petty?" asked Yugo, as he tilted his head. Sonny patted Yugo's head before sighing and shaking his head.

"Yugo, we've been over this! Most nobles are, and Duke L/N is THE WORST type! He kisses the shoes of the tyrant and abuses his servants like there is no tomorrow. He is a terrible man!" exclaimed Fulgur.

"Yeah! We're going to go in, and be like hello you piece of sh-"

"Okay, Uki! Hush, now, we have to focus, please. How far away are they?" asked Alban.

Uki rolled his eyes in disapproval at Alban interrupting him before sighing and closing his eyes. He held his palms upwards in front of his hands, and a bright purple orb of energy showed up. When Uki opened his eyes, he peered into the ball with equally glowy eyes.

"...They're about two miles away, approaching fast," said Uki after the image in the orb focused for him.

"Alright, let's go to our positions," said Fulgur, as he patted Uki on the shoulder to bring him out of his glowing state. Noctyx then pulled on their masks and set out in the trees.

Once they were all in their positions in the tree branches, the slow rumble of a carriage and the clopping of hooves could be heard approaching them.

The moment the carriage was within their range, Sonny pulled out a shotgun he had stolen from a soldier a couple months ago and shot two of the front guards right off their horses.

"IT'S AN AMBUSH!" shouted one of the soldiers who was trying to reel in her panicking horse.

"PROTECT THE CARRIAGE!" shouted another, as he jumped off his horse and was trying to load his gun, before getting hit by Yugo's blue lightning.

Some soldiers started floating as they were surrounded by purple energy before they were thrown somewhere in the woods, and others were punched by Fulgur's fists, which were now glowing red.

Alban pulled out a bow and arrow, both embedded with mana stones. He shot the arrow, causing the mana stone on it to activate and set the tip on fire, burning the soldier it shot. When he ran out of arrows, he took out two knives with poison on their blades and went to the ground to fight alongside Fulgur.

After a couple moments of fighting, all the guards, except one that ran away on a black stallion, were killed. Cackling, Alban headed over to the vulnerable carriage, the others following him just as merrily.

"Now then, Duke... no, you don't deserve that title. Now, you trash, how do you like leaving your fate up to the very peasants that you hate so much?" said Alban viciously, as he grabbed the carriage's door handle gilded with gold, and whipped the door right open.

Expecting to find a terrified old man, he only made eye contact with a woman (a maid?) with light pink hair and purple eyes who looked at them unimpressed, and a man (probably a guard) with white hair and blue highlights, dark skin, and silver eyes who was trying to stifle his laugh.

“...Huh? The carriage- who're these people?? Where’s Duke L/N?”

“𝐇𝐚𝐡! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐚𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟?” said a voice from behind them.

Shocked because no presence was detected until then, the boys whipped their heads around. Alban’s eyes widened as he made eye contact with quite possibly one of the most beautiful people he’d ever seen in his life. They were dressed in a guard uniform, holding a L/N guard helmet as they sat atop the black stallion from before. The person descended the horse gracefully, secured their belongings on the horse, turned around, and smirked at the shocked Noctyx members.

“𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐍𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐲𝐱. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐘/𝐍 𝐒𝐨𝐥 𝐋/𝐍. 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦,” said the beautiful person, holding out five gold coins for each boy.

As soon as he heard the person’s name, all nice fantasies of them shattered and Alban scowled at the person from under his mask. His grip on the knives in his hand tightened.

“…What do you want?” he asked, growling as he prepared to ignore the person and just stab them.

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

‘…What?’

Sensing his hesitation, and seeing as they weren’t stabbed by him yet, Y/N relaxed as they opened their mouth again.

“𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬,” said Y/N as they opened the carriage’s trunk. Inside were all sorts of precious gems and coins. Noctyx stared in awe. Even on a good heist, they have never gotten that much.

“𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦’𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐲.”

“Your dukedom? Aren’t you just the child of Duke L/N?” asked Fulgur, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Yeah, and why would you help us? How do we know you're not pulling us into a trap?" asked Uki, coming up behind Fulgur as he glared at Y/N.

Y/N put their hands up in surrender.

"𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐋/𝐍. 𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐥����𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐣𝐞𝐫𝐤."

The boys looked at Y/N with doubt. Sensing it, they shuffled through the bag that was hung on their horse and pulled out two pieces of paper. Alarmed by Y/N's sudden movement, the boys prepared to attack just in case. Y/N held up the papers in their hands.

"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐋/𝐍'𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲'𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭."

Alban stepped forward to take them.

"No funny business," he warned, as he quickly grabbed the papers and examined them. He indeed saw the legitimate schematics of the L/N estate and Xytcon castle. He looked once again at Y/N, who was staring at him with expectation before he rolled up the papers and gave them to Fulgur.

"Fine, we'll work with you. But don't even think about betraying us."

Y/N nodded seriously.

"...Can we come out now?" said the maid in the carriage, who was glaring at them. The guard burst out laughing, still remembering the way Noctyx was so confused by their scheme. Y/N looked to Alban, who nodded. "Ugh, finally!" said the maid, and she jumped out of the carriage with a huff.

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Over a couple of months, Noctyx and Y/N worked together. Y/N's maid, Lady Alouette, and their guard, Knight Tenshi, aided in the discreet distribution of Y/N's wealth that they brought from the dukedom across the small kingdom, as no one really knew of their faces. The peasant people of the kingdom were advised to hide their valuables in a safe place, whether it was under their house or a secure place on their person.

Y/N had participated in some of Noctyx's heists, scamming a local gambling duke into giving all of his valuables, robbing a snobby duchess of the jewels she's so fond of because of the way she treated the sickly street children, and helping the stealing of some things from the kingdom's noble bank. They also got along well with Alice and helped her whenever she needed help with the underground soup kitchens.

Meanwhile, Noctyx and Y/N slowly plotted a way to get rid of Prince Moony and Duke L/N. Y/N sent regular correspondence to the dukedom (all fake information, of course. Uki would check over the letters Y/N sent all the time) so that the duke and prince wouldn't suspect anything. They believed they had Y/N, a "helpless" illegitimate child, in the palm of their hand, and their only replies back were to keep collecting information. Y/N scoffed whenever they got the reply letter and burned it in the fireplace in front of Alban.

Alban and Y/N had gotten quite close during these months. They chuckled together as they would plot heists that would topple the power of the nobility, and therefore weaken Prince Moony's support. They sparred together, Alban with his knives and Y/N with their sword. Eventually, they were comfortable enough to make jokes with one another as they were cooking their group's dinner, or to discuss the more personal parts of their lives. Behind them, Uki and Fulgur would smile at each other knowingly, while Sonny and Yugo made disgusted faces at the scene in front of them.

It was a peaceful, slow revolt against Prince Moony's reign, but this peace soon shattered.

The group was in the main square of the town they were temporarily staying in when a fanfare was heard. They turned their heads up, and Alban frowned when he saw the wolfish soldier from before leading a large army. His hand went to the knife on his hip, and he noticed the others next to him tense up and prepare for scuffle.

"We have received information that Noctyx, and more importantly, the Phantom Thief, has been residing here. Turn them in, or you will be terminated," said the wolfish soldier, who grinned with malice as he looked around.

Sonny shot a look at Y/N, who shook their head.

"It wasn't them. I can confirm it," said Uki. Sonny sighed in relief - he wanted to trust Y/N.

"But then who...?" asked Alice, as she scanned the crowd. She soon spotted an old uncle in the crowd, grinning maliciously while having his hand in his bulging side pocket. Sonny noticed Alice's gaze, and looked in the same direction before he scoffed.

"Is that the same person who demanded extras? That drunkard, he seriously did this, huh...," said Sonny, glaring at the man before turning his attention back to the wolfish soldier.

"Damn, that trash-," growled Yugo, who wanted to fight the old man before getting stopped by Fulgur.

"Don't make a scene. We need to be discrete if we don't want to get caught," said Fulgur, who glared at the army before them.

"𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞," said Y/N, who started to back away from the vast crowd that had gathered. But before they could get fully out of the street, the wolfish soldier cackled.

"VERY WELL! We'll find them ourselves...," he said, before raising his sword. "BATTALION! Take anyone who matches the description of the fugitives, and bring them to the castle!"

"YES SIR!" shouted the Battalion, as they set out on foot and on their horses and grabbed anyone - they weren't even trying to find those who matched the description of Noctyx. They grabbed old men, young children, tall women - practically anyone.

"They're trying to rat us out of the crowd by taking anyone - be careful not to get caught!-"

But just as Alban said that...

"Ah-," said Lady Alouette unenthusiastically when she was grabbed by the arm by one of the Battalion.

"𝐄𝐧𝐧𝐚!" exclaimed Y/N as they reached out for Lady Alouette, before she was taken farther away by the soldier who grabbed her. Knight Tenshi went after her, but he never came back.

"AL!" screamed Alice when she was grabbed by two soldiers, who snickered at her helplessness.

"ALLI! NO!" cried Alban, as he tried to fight against the soldiers who held Alice.

"Hello, girlie, you're coming with us," said one soldier, laughing heartily as he forced Alban off of him with the help of two other soldiers.

"Should we take him too?" asked another solider who was holding onto Alban.

"Nah, he seems annoying. Let's just leave him. He'll die soon anyways in these slums."

With that, the Battalion took multiple townspeople, as well as a crying Alice, leaving a half-empty town with multiple weeping people helplessly reaching out for the loved ones they lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After taking care of the greedy drunkard (AKA knocking him out and leaving him in a less forgiving town), Noctyx and Y/N regrouped at their temporary base deep within the nearby woods. They opened their strategy-meeting tent and headed inside to discuss what happened and what they should do next.

Alban was in despair. He had just lost his reason to live to the Battalion, but rather than feeling anger, he was in shock, and was scared of what they would do to her. Although he zoned out, he finally was aware of the conversation the rest of the members were having when Y/N started talking.

"𝐖𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭- 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨. 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬, 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐧. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐮𝐫, 𝐘𝐮𝐠𝐨, 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐤𝐢 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 - 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐧𝐨𝐰."

"But... Y/N... I'm just, I'm just some guy who gets lucky a couple of times with his heists, and that was going against a manageable group. I couldn't even protect just my sister. How are we, six people, going to be able to go against an entire castle??"

"𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲," said Y/N, looking at Alban with a gaze of expectation, which he shrank under.

"...Alright...," sighed Alban, who had a lot of doubt about the operation working. Ever since his sister was taken from him, he felt listless, doubtful, and incapable. He lost her. Sonny, noticing Alban's downcast face, patted him on the shoulder encouragingly while Uki began to stroke his hair soothingly.

Y/N witnessed it all, slightly amused but also touched by how close they were. They thought back to their own family, who easily threw Y/N into the dangerous situation of becoming a "spy", despite the fact that they could be killed in the process. They stepped forward and kneeled to Alban's eye level before they took hold of Alban's hand.

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲?"

Alban stared at Y/N, before taking a deep breath and nodding.

"Okay."

They smiled at each other, while the others around them shared a knowing look, and Yugo made a disgusted face.

"Well, we'll head out for a bit, you guys make our plan and just tell us tomorrow morning," said Fulgur as he opened the tent they were in.

Alban and Y/N nodded and engaged in a serious discussion while looking at the schematics of the castle map that Y/N gave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some time, the two finally finished planning and started to clean up the discussion table. Alban was feeling much happier after Y/N's constant attempts of making him feel better throughout their discussion.

Moments of silence passed before Y/N decided to open their mouth.

"…𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐧."

"Yeah, Y/N? What happened?"

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡-"

"DON'T SAY THAT! Why would you say something that brings such bad karma!? We're going to get through this operation well because we have a plan made by you and we'll make it out together!" exclaimed Alban, gripping Y/N's hand that was on his sleeve. He had just lost his sister, he didn't think he could lose anyone else. Y/N sighed.

"𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭… 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲?"

Alban was silent for a moment, before begrudgingly nodding.

Y/N hesitated before taking their hand off of Alban's sleeve and moving both hands to his cradle cheeks. Alban's cheeks warmed by the sudden closeness and contact.

"Uh-"

"𝐒𝐡𝐡.. 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧. 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐱, 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟, 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤… 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞."

Alban's jaw dropped.

"What?-"

"𝐘-𝐘𝐞𝐚��! 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄, 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐓. 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖, 𝐎𝐑 𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔. 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐁𝐘𝐄!"

After the sudden confession, Y/N placed a quick peck on Alban's cheek and quickly left the tent, leaving Alban speechless as he absentmindedly touched the cheek that was kissed.

"W-W-WHAT????"

Meanwhile, outside the tent on the side opposite the entrance, Yugo overheard the entire conversation, and almost dropped the firewood he was holding out of disgust.

"Ugh, lovebirds... when is it my turn too..."

:,^)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was dawn when everyone woke up and Y/N and Alban debriefed them all of the plan. They would raid Prince Moony's castle at night, taking down both Prince Moony and Duke L/N.

In preparation, Y/N sent a letter to Duke L/N to go to the castle so they could debrief him and the prince about what they found out from Noctyx. In reality, it would be a trap that would get Duke L/N and Prince Moony in the same place. They could be taken down together, and that would be the end of the duke and the prince.

“Uki, Fulgur, you two will be in charge of freeing the townspeople. Remember to stealthily do it - we want to cause as least noise as possible in the beginning.”

“𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.”

Uki and Fulgur nodded before squeezing each other’s hands in encouragement.

“Sonny, Yugo, you’re coming with me and Y/N to the throne room. You’re going to help us take down the Duke and the Prince.”

Yugo pumped his fist in the air, excited for an opportunity to take down the tyrant, while Sonny just loaded his gun with a blood-hungry smirk.

"𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐭? 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐨𝐨."

Everyone nodded grimly. It was a given that they'll probably get injured during this fight, but there was also a possibility that they might not come back.

Noticing the grim atmosphere, Sonny tried to laugh it off and clapped Y/N on the back.

"We'll be fine, everyone."

"Sonny's right, we pulled off infiltrations loads of times. We'll just treat it the same way," said Fulgur, also trying to laugh.

"Alright then!" said Uki as he clapped. "Let's get ready."

Throughout the day, they prepared by gathering supplies, like extra weapons and first aid, and making their own mana bombs to use for attacking the castle.

As soon as the last mana bomb was created by clicking the mana stone into place, Noctyx and Y/N were ready to head out. On the road out from the woods, the two teams (Alban, Y/N, Sonny, Yugo and Uki, Fulgur) split off to do their respective parts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(With Uki and Fulgur)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uki used his psychic powers to knock out the guards standing at the outside entrance of the castle's dungeon while staying under the cover of darkness.

"They should really learn how to be more secure," stated Uki with disapproval, as he kicked one of the guard's faces lightly. Fulgur laughed as he took the keys off of one of the other guards and used it to unlock the door.

"Yeah, but then our job wouldn't be as easy. You sure you have enough mana stored for this?"

"Yeah, don't worry Fu-fu-chan, I have the most mana out of all of us. Are you going to be okay, though?"

"Of course, I'll beat up anyone for you."

The two exchanged smiles before they pulled their masks on and continued to go deeper into the dungeon, with Fulgur knocking out some guards with his glowing fists, while Uki focused on seeking the right jail cells that had the townspeople.

Eventually, near the bottom of the dungeon, Uki stopped walking.

"Found them," he said, as his eyes started glowing to put all the guards surrounding the townspeople's cells to sleep. He then sent out a telepathic message to the townspeople.

'Hello, this is Noctyx's psychic. We need you to stay silent for this incoming message.'

As they were told, the townspeople remained silent, although Uki heard in their minds their cries of joy and the resurfacing of hope within the people.

'I need you all to stay silent while we are freeing you. Our combat warrior and I will help guide you out. We can only do this with your cooperation. If you agree with our condition, please say in your mind yes.'

After hearing an overwhelming chorus of 'Yes's in his head, Uki looked at Fulgur and nodded. Fulgur steadied Uki, as telepathy used quite a large portion of mana before he took out the magic key that Alban had given him and waved it near the locks of the townspeople. They opened the cell door as silently as possible and gathered to where Uki was. Once everyone was out, Uki told them telepathically that they were to follow him, while Fulgur remained in the back in case anything happened. Before they could start moving, however, a familiar female voice mind-shouted at Uki from behind.

'Uki!'

Uki turned around, only to meet eyes with Alice, Alban's younger sister. Next to her were Knight Tenshi and Lady Alouette.

'Where's my brother?' asked Alice, who was looking around.

'Your brother's in the throne room with the others. They'll be fighting the prince,' replied Uki. Alice's eyes widened.

'I- I need to help them! Please, do you have first aid materials?? I can help tend to the injured.'

'No, Alice. Alban would kill me.'

'Please, Uki! I'll take Knight Tenshi with me!'

Uki pondered for a bit. Alban did say to send Knight Tenshi to the throne room.

'... Fine, but you HAVE to stay with Knight Tenshi all the time, okay?'

'Yes! I promise!'

After Uki told Fulgur telepathically to give some first aid materials to Alice and told Knight Tenshi and Lady Alouette the situation, they did as told. Knight Tenshi escorted Alice to the throne room, as he had been there before, while Lady Alouette stayed with Uki and Fulgur, helping to light the way out.

The silent procession went up through the dungeon without much trouble. Uki, Fulgur, and Lady Alouette planted mana bombs in the areas of the dungeon where a lot of guards collapsed. They were set to detonate on Uki's command.

There was an area in the dungeon that branched off to the inner parts of the castle, probably because the royalty had to visit the prisoners at some point for interrogation or for deciding the fate of the criminals. Uki used his powers to make sure no one was around, and when there was the all-clear, Fulgur planted bombs in discreet areas of the castle where Y/N told them there would be weapons reserves for the Battalion. Lady Alouette contributed by showing Fulgur some more spots that she knew of and discovered while hanging around with the palace servants. Now, even if the guards in the throne room did need help, they wouldn't be able to get any.

Afterward, Uki, Fulgur, Lady Alouette, and the townspeople were able to leave the castle through the secret entrance for royal emergencies. All the townspeople were freed without a ruckus. No one from the castle suspected a thing.

It was a successful mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(With Alban, Y/N, Sonny, Yugo)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the other side, Y/N was in their carriage that was waiting in front of the palace gate, adorned in their ducal wear.

"Who goes there?" called out the guard in front of the gate.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞? 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋/𝐍 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐚."

The guard, who took a closer look at the carriage, realized who he was addressing, and almost yelped.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐘/𝐍 𝐒𝐨𝐥 𝐋/𝐍 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞," said Y/N in a snooty and cold manner.

"M-My apologies, my lord/lady. I will let you in right away!" exclaimed the guard as he hastily rushed to open the front gate.

Y/N's carriage almost went past him before stopping right next to him as they glared at him. The guard was still bowing, sweat going down his neck as he gulped. He heard that the L/N family's illegitimate child was the most intelligent person in the family and a genius of their time. What fearsome things could they come up with to do to him?

Y/N just scoffed. "𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜," they said cruelly, before continuing on past him.

As soon as they were out of hearing range from the soldier, Y/N sighed in relief, while the others in the carriage (Yugo and Sonny) laughed at them.

"That was some fine acting," said Sonny, who was still laughing.

"Wow, you are very good!" said Yugo in amazement and amusement. Y/N could even hear the slight chuckles coming from Alban, who was the carriage's horseman outside. Y/N flushed.

"𝐉𝐞𝐞𝐳, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬," they said as they put their hands on their cheeks.

"Just keep it up for inside the throne room. We'll get there as soon as we can," said Sonny, who pulled on his mask.

"Yeah, we'll be there soon, Y/N. Ganbare, it means good luck from my homeland," said Yugo, who also pulled on his mask.

Y/N nodded in thanks as the carriage pulled up to the entrance of the castle building. Standing outside was Duke L/N, who faked a smile at Y/N as they came down from the carriage.

"My dear child! Welcome back!" said Duke L/N, moving to hug Y/N when they put up a hand.

"𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲."

Duke L/N almost scoffed but remembered that he still needed information from his child, so he just grit his teeth in a tight smile and went back into a standing position.

"... Alright then, let's go inside. Quickly, now."

When Y/N got to the throne room, they were met with Prince Moony beaming at them excitedly from the throne.

"Welcome back, Y/N," said Prince Moony with a pleasant smile. He stood up and walked over to them, took their hand, and brought it up to his lips to kiss it in greeting. From above him, in the ceiling supports of the throne room, Alban scowled at the prince. Y/N told Alban that the prince particularly favored them, but Alban didn't believe it until he was looking at it directly. Prince Moony's smile was genuine as he looked upon Y/N. Y/N, on the other hand, just politely bowed to the prince and released their hand from his.

A look of disappointment flashed in Prince Moony's eyes, but Y/N didn't care as they opened their mouth.

"𝐌𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬," they said, as they subtly glanced upwards at where Sonny, Yugo, and Alban were.

"Yes, yes," said Prince Moony as he sauntered back to the throne and sat down. "Report."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩, 𝐍𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐲𝐱, 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬? 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚-"

"NEVER!" snarled Prince Moony, who jumped up from the throne in rage. After realizing his conduct, he cleared his throat and sat back down. "I apologize. My dear, we cannot back down. That would mean we are weak. I, for one, dislike that notion very much."

Y/N nodded solemnly.

"𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐌𝐲 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞."

Prince Moony took a while to process Y/N's words: it had been a while since they called him a friend, until he realized too late what they really meant.

"What-"

"YAH!" shouted Yugo as he descended down from the ceiling, his black mask tightly tied to his face and blue lightning shooting at the guards in the throne room below.

Sonny started sniping from his place in the supports and shot the guards that were farther away from Yugo's range, preventing them from trying to shoot at Yugo discreetly.

Alban shot a couple of mana arrows before he jumped down as well, knives ready. These knives were different: they were mana stone knives, which made them hardier than normal and had the ability to burn anything it comes in contact with.

"GAH!" shouted Duke L/N, who shot a look of fury at Y/N. "YOU, YOU LITTLE TRAITOR! YOU DIRTY-"

But before he could say anything else, Alban sliced the duke's neck and stabbed his heart, while Y/N looked at the scene without even flinching. To them, the duke wasn't a father, but a tool. They focused instead on Prince Moony, who now could comprehend everything and looked at Y/N with emotions of sadness, anger, and feeling betrayed.

"Y/N... Why..."

"𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥."

"..."

"𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲?"

"...That damned rat, the Phantom Thief, he threatened you to do this, didn't he?" said Prince Moony, clutching the hilt of the sword resting on his hip. "He- HE MADE YOU DO THIS, RIGHT? YOU WOULD NEVER BETRAY ME, WOULD YOU Y/N?! YOU- You... you would never betray me... no, not you," said Prince Moony as he drew out his sword, eyes full of madness and malice as he looked at the Phantom Thief, who looked back at him.

"𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲!? 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐲, 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐧𝐨. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢-"

"DIE YOU PEASANT!" shouted Prince Moony as he launched himself quickly to Alban's location and brought the sword down onto Alban.

"𝐍𝐎!" exclaimed Y/N, who ran just as fast towards Alban, and before Alban or Prince Moony could react, they went in front of Alban and put their arm up to block Prince Moony's sword.

Prince Moony regained his wits just enough to stall his sword so that he wouldn’t slice through Y/N’s arm, leaving only a long gash from their wrist to their elbow. Y/N cried out in pain before they gripped their elbow. Before any more harm could be done to them, Yugo was luckily close enough and pulled Y/N out of the way before Prince Moony could reach for them.

“No… I… Y/N, I didn’t mean to-”

“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THEIR NAME!” yelled Alban with fury, as he took his knives in his hands and pounced onto Prince Moony. From behind the prince, Sonny used his shotgun and pierced a bullet through Prince Moony’s right calf. Crying out in rage and pain, Prince Moony used mana to knock Sonny down, and Sonny lost consciousness, flying toward the ground.

“Sonny!” cried out Alban. During his moment of distraction, Prince Moony clutched his sword harder and did blow after blow on Alban. Eventually, Prince Moony’s sword and Alban’s knives met in a lock. Prince Moony grit his teeth as he continued to put pressure on Alban’s knives, which started to crack because of the great amount of force.

While Alban kept Prince Moony occupied, Yugo brought Y/N to a safe place at the corner of the wall.

"𝐘𝐮𝐠𝐨! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐲?!"

"My lady," said a deep voice from above Y/N. They looked up, and their eyes filled with relieved tears as they met with the silver orbs of Knight Tenshi. Next to him was Alice, who was carrying a first aid kit.

Sonny was treated first, as he had a large gash across his stomach from the prince's mana blast. Alice immediately began first aid, having Y/N apply pressure to the wound with their good arm as she brought together medicinal leaves to use for a covering of the wound, as well as wraps to use to secure the leaves. As she was doing so, Knight Tenshi went to Yugo and fended off the Battalion members coming their way.

While this was going on, Alban was still in the lock with Prince Moony. He was starting to lose strength in his arms. While holding his knives, he started to think about the current situation. Alban knew that the townspeople were safe because of Uki, Fulgur, and Lady Alouette’s escort. But the pressure on his knives was so great, Alban was starting to think they'd crack soon. If Prince Moony broke his knives, what then? Would the rest of them end up dying in here, while Prince Moony got to live on after killing off some of the strongest rebels he ever had to deal with?

They were totally outnumbered in this fight. How long would they have until Yugo ran out of mana and Knight Tenshi out of stamina? How long would it take for Uki, Fulgur, and Lady Alouette to come back and help them?

Though all hope seemed lost, hope called out to them in the last minute before Alban’s knives broke.

"MOONY! WHAT IS THIS RUCKUS!" shouted a booming voice from behind Alban. Alban looked into Prince Moony's eyes, which were wide from shock and fear. His grip on his sword lowered, allowing Alban to use his knife and flick it off to the side and point his other knife at the prince's neck. Alban then turned around, only to make eye contact with someone he had only learned about from tales.

King Legatus.

After his initial shock passed, Prince Moony cursed under his breath.

"Oi, I thought I killed you, old man. Aren't you persistent?" asked the prince with malice, and he almost moved to pounce on the king before he felt the pressure of Alban's knife on his neck increase. Prince Moony's eyes shifted to Alban, before he cursed again.

King Legatus laughed, as he nodded in thanks to Alban before descending the steps. A knight bearing the Legatus insignia came up from behind him and shackled Prince Moony's hands, restraining him in the process. Prince Moony glared at King Legatus, who only looked at him in disappointment.

As Prince Moony was taken to the dungeons silently, King Legatus turned to Alban.

"So... you are the infamous Phantom Thief," stated the king. Alban just nodded, still stunned by the fact that King Legatus was still alive.

The king gave a grunt of approval before bringing out his hand. Alban flinched but realized it was a handshake, so he tentatively took it and shook it.

"You helped save my kingdom. What can I do to repay you?" asked the king, who looked at Alban in curiosity. Alban pondered, before lowering himself to bow before the king. The rest of Noctyx saw him and followed his actions.

"My king, I only ask that you help us to reform this kingdom. We have traveled around the kingdom multiple times since we were young. The people are hungry, in need of jobs, and suffering. Please, feed them, provide new jobs, and shelter, and allow them to travel outside of the kingdom as they please. Additionally, the Duke L/N is now dead. Please allow his child, Y/N Sol L/N, to claim the ducal title. They were the only one to not have participated in the illegal acts of embezzlement of the royal treasury and the enslavement of commoners. "

The king looked at Alban, then at Y/N, and pondered, before nodding. It was his son's fault that the kingdom had become like this.

"I will issue my royal decree."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Hey."

"𝐇𝐢."

"How's your arm?"

"𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞."

"What face?"

"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞," said Y/N, as they pointed to Alban's worried and sulky expression. "𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐀 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞."

"Yeah, I know."

The two fell into silence.

After moments passed looking at the night sky, Y/N found their hand being covered by Alban's warm, scarred hands.

"Y/N...," said Alban, still looking at the stars.

"𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡?"

"Did you really mean what you said back there? The night before we entered the castle?"

"… 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞? 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰," joked Y/N, chuckling to themself.

Alban didn't laugh along, but instead turned his head to face Y/N, and take their other hand with his.

Y/N quieted down, before smiling and grinning widely before they took their hands out of Alban's and embraced him.

"𝐌𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐧. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬~."

Alban's face bloomed into a pink flush.

"W-Well, I just wanted to make sure! Jeez, I can't go against you at all, can I?"

"𝐍𝐨𝐩𝐞!" replied Y/N with a cheeky grin.

The two smiled at each other until they felt the air around them become hot as Alban's eyes flickered to Y/N's lips.

No one will ever know who made the first move, but the two leaned in together and shared a warm, gentle kiss.

They pulled apart, and giggled as they looked into each other's eyes, before leaning in again.

It's very safe to say that the two lived happily ever after~

The End.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue:

Alban and the rest of Noctyx were getting merry at the new pub that was opened up by Y/N, who inherited the title of Duke/Duchess L/N after King Legatus expelled the rest of the corrupt L/N family members.

It was just him and his merry men in the pub, as it was reserved for them for the rest of the afternoon. Knight Tenshi was off doing official business in a different county, while Lady Alouette was sent somewhere on an errand for Y/N.

Alban looked out of the pub's window in satisfaction as he saw children in the streets not trying to steal food or from passersby, but running around while laughing and playing.

"Excyuse me, sur. Are yuu pewhaps the famous Fantom Thief fwom the legen?" ("Excuse me, sir. Are you perhaps the famous Phantom Thief from the legend?") asked a small kid, who rushed up to Alban, her little friends rushing up behind her.

Alban chuckled before rubbing the child's head.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Now, run along. I'm sure your parents are worrying for you."

"...I don't have pehwents anymo- can I stay wid yuu, sur?" ("...I don't have parents anymore- can I stay with you, sir?")

Alban widened his eyes slightly, before gently patting the child's head again.

"Little girl, you shouldn't go after someone and stay with them just because you've heard of them once. You may end up in a dangerous situation. I can bring you to a nice home, though it won't be with me."

"...Will da nyuu home let me bwing my fweinds tuu?" ("...Will the new home let me bring my friends too?")

Alban looked up to look at her friends: they were 5 children in total. They reminded him of himself and his merry men.

"Yeah, I can guarantee it. No shady business, I promise," said Alban, as he held out his pinky to the girl.

Hesitantly, the girl brought her pinky to link it with Alban's, before she smiled in delight and her eyes brightened.

A giggle was heard from over Alban's shoulder. Quickly, Alban's head swiveled to the side, only for his cheek to make contact with lips. Y/N's lips. (don't ask how Alban knew lol-)

He felt Y/N smile on his cheek before they pulled back and turned their head towards the group of children, who gaped at them.

"Awe yuu a fairy, miss/mistah/mix?" ("Are you a fairy, miss/mister/mix?")

Y/N chuckled.

"𝐘𝐞𝐬~! 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲? 𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭."

The girl Alban made a promise with thought long and hard before speaking for the rest of her group.

"Somting wam to eet befow we goin to da nice hom the mistah pwomised us, pwease!" ("Something warm to eat before we go to the nice home the mister promised us, please!") exclaimed the girl while pointing at Alban.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧!" 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐘/𝐍 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛.

Alban sighed as he watched them work with the children in the kitchen to make the food.

...What would it be like if they could have a little group of their own?

:)