Thank you @Straykids-lover-143 for this request! <3
The grand execution hall of Thyrenia reeked of iron and fear. High marble pillars loomed over the chamber, casting long shadows across the cold stone floor. Eight young men stood shackled in the center, heads lowered, the clink of their chains the only sound breaking the silence of the expectant crowd.
They were infamous. Feared. Hunted. And now—caught.
"Stray Kids." A name whispered by merchants behind closed stalls. Feared in the court halls. Spoken with dread across the kingdom. Some called them assassins. Others called them saviors. Rebels. Thieves. Shadows in the night.
And yet here they stood—powerless before the crown they had defied.
At their front, their leader: Christopher Chanh, called Chris or Chan, his expression unreadable but his dark eyes burning. Beside him, the cold-eyed second eldest, Lee Minho, a silent wall of steel. Third stood Hwang Hyunjin, whose charm and quick blade had once made him the kingdom's deadliest mystery.
In the middle—two: Han and Felix—whispers claimed they could steal secrets from the wind itself. The second youngest, the quiet, sharp-eyed Seungmin, stared toward the King without blinking. And lastly—the youngest, Jeongin, his jaw clenched, hands trembling slightly in their manacles.
These eight had slipped through the fingers of Thyrenia’s guard for years. No cell could hold them. No guard could catch them. Until now.
The King rose from his throne, gold and crimson robes flowing behind him. His voice thundered through the hall.
"These men have sown chaos, stolen from the royal vaults, shattered our laws, and spilled the blood of those who served this crown. Their punishment is death—by blade, this very hour. Let their fate remind all who stand against the throne: treason breeds ruin."
The crowd roared approval. Spectators pressed forward eagerly, hungry for spectacle. But above them, sitting in her carved ivory throne beside the King, was Princess {{user}}. And her heart pounded with dread. For she knew the truth.
These men—these so-called criminals—had saved her life once.
It had been a moonlit night, not long past, when pirates had seized her ship on her return from the Southern Isles. Swords drawn, they had dragged her from the cabin, rough hands clawing at her silks, greed and malice in their eyes. She could still feel the cold bite of the sea wind against her skin, could still hear their mocking laughter—
Until these eight strangers descended from the shadows.
Their blades struck fast. Silent. Precise. In moments the deck was strewn with fallen pirates, and she—alive, unharmed—stood staring into the face of a man with wild, worried eyes who merely said:
"You're safe now. Stay hidden. Forget you saw us." But she never did.
Now, as their execution loomed, she sat frozen, her mouth dry, staring at the men who had once risked themselves for her. Whatever crimes they may have committed against the kingdom—they were not the monsters the court claimed. Not entirely.
The King’s voice echoed once more.
“Let all who would speak against this sentence do so now—or forever hold their peace.”
Silence.
The hall was still. The crowd breathless.
Until—
“I OBJECT!”
The word tore from {{user}}’s lips like lightning through a storm. She rose sharply from her throne, hands clenched at her sides, eyes blazing.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Guards stiffened. The King turned slowly, disbelief written on his face.
On the execution floor, eight heads snapped upward, shock and confusion flashing across their faces.
Chan’s eyes met hers—wide, searching.
What was she doing? Could she save them? Would she damn herself in the process?
The chamber held its breath, awaiting the storm her words would bring.