It was morning.

The birds cheerfully sang outside, while the sun climbed over the treetops to see the village. It was a fairly large village, with countless little houses and shops, seemingly carefree residents, all ruled by Queen Alila and her husband, King Lepo.

Safely hidden behind the castle walls, sleeping peacefully under her covers was the princess, their daughter. Princess Candy. She wasn't a secret to the rest of the kingdom, but her parents never allowed her in the village.

Fortunately for them, she didn't want to see it anyway, content with the view she got from her windows and the stories the servants told her.

Known throughout the castle as the sweetest young woman in all the kingdom, Candy was friends with almost all of the royal staff. Most of all, she was friends with the captain of the guards.

He was an older man, with a deep tan and broad shoulders. The captain was a strong man, but it wasn't obvious just by looking at him. He was one of the royal staff she saw frequently, given the fact that she often visited the dungeons underneath the castle.

Three years ago, for her twelfth birthday, the princess had asked her parents for only one gift - although they still didn't stop with just one. To be given permission to visit the dungeons. One of the ways she'd convinced them was by using her sweetest and most innocent voice and telling them she might be the one to make these criminals better people.

It took a couple of hours (straight) until they finally agreed, and even then they only let her visit the higher levels, where the robbers and thieves stayed. A few levels below these were where the murderers and assassins were kept. Her parents made her promise not to ever set foot in that place.

One important detail about this cheerful princess was that she was a dragon shifter. A human capable - from birth - to shift at will from a human to a dragon. She preferred staying in her human form, seeing as no other member of her family shifted forms.

Candy woke up, stretching her arms as far up as they could go. Today was going to be wonderful. She felt it.

Breakfast was delicious as ever, with freshly prepared food. Her all-time favorite was made, not by any of the chefs, but her absolute best friend, and gardener's helper, Joey.

He had deep brown eyes and curly brown hair that always seemed to laugh over his head, making anyone who saw it smile. He was slightly taller than her, and older too, with light brown skin that always looked flawless, and a dimple that went so deep into his right cheek, she thought it surely reached the inside of his mouth, if one looked far enough.

Despite the countless times the two of them (mostly Joey) had been told off, he still loved to sneak back into the kitchen and cook something up for her when the kitchen staff had their backs turned, or at least when the head chef was in a good enough mood to let it slide.

Today, the kitchen staff were so busy preparing food for the king and queen, Joey easily made it inside without so much as one wag of a finger.

"Today is going to be different, Joey. I can feel it."

"Is that so? Well, please, for my sake, tell that to the hedge outback that refuses to let me trim it."

His words drew a smile onto her face, making the small, hardly noticeable dimple of her own deepen in her chin. She couldn't help but feel bad eating the yummy food in front of him, as he just sat there, staring at her. She often offered him some, but he always refused.

"Joseph Doflinga! Get out of this kitchen this second!"

The two teenagers flinched as the head chef roared. Joey shot her a mischievous grin with a twinkle in his eyes before darting out of the kitchen into the garden outside.

After finishing her meal, Candy decided now would be a good time to visit the dungeons.

The captain was posted at the entrance - the only entrance if one doesn't count the barred windows - with the same expression as always. Candy had translated it in her head as I'm a real sweetheart inside but I want to look all tough and scary. Or if he was angry that day, go away.

He smiled down at her before unlocking the heavy door and slowly pulling it open.

"Hello, my lady. Watch your step and don't talk to anyone."

She nodded a yes before dipping into a slight curtsy and treading down the stone steps as gracefully as possible. When she got to the bottom, her heart sped up. Even though she had been down here about a thousand times, it never got old. Danger lurked around every corner (or every cell in her case).

I wish my parents could see how brave I was down here. They'd never call me 'sweet' again.

Candy was beyond tired of people calling her "sweet" or "innocent". She sometimes even wished her name was different. Something like Storm, or Rose.

The prisoners lingered in their cells, new arrivals hopeful that she would bring with her escape. But she never did.

She waved and grinned at the long-term residents - people who had been there ever since she could remember. Some of them smiled or even waved back, but many times no one moved, shooting dagger with their eyes.

The smile she plastered on her face only rubbed her feelings in. Maybe I am just sweet. Maybe there's nothing else to me than that. I'll die 'sweet little Candy, who wouldn't hurt a fly!'.

She let the smile fade and looked at the hard stone slabs underneath her. But I don't want to be that! She furrowed her eyebrows and squared her shoulders. She was going to prove it to her parents - to everyone. No more sweet little Candy and she had the perfect idea of how.

It took a moment before she made it all the way down all the flights of stairs. A pair of forgotten keys hung loosely on the wall beside the door. Perfect.

As quietly as she could, Candy pushed the door open, revealing to her all the secrets that lay hidden behind that door. The one she'd wondered about for so many years. And here she was. There it was.

It looked almost identical to the dungeon floor a few yards above her. But as she stepped inside, she could tell, the criminals here were very different. Some had chains clamped (what seemed like permanently) over their ankles and wrists, keeping them away from the cell doors.

Some looked eerily similar to the criminals upstairs, and some looked beyond murderous. They looked vengeful. Her throat went dry as her heart did its best to break out of her body. She tried to swallow or even smile, but something told her smiling at these people wouldn't make anything better.

As the other side of the room came closer, she wanted more and more to bolt back to the door and never return, but her feet kept going, step after step until she reached the last cells.

To her left, there was a bulky looking man, with a sparse beard that lined his sharp jaw. Seeing him sent shivers down her back so she turned to the cell on her right. It was much worse than she expected.

A boy was looking around the cell for something. He looked around Joey's age, with black hair somewhat close to his head on the sides and reaching the bottom of his eye on the top. He seemed almost desperate to find something, while at the same time calmer than she thought possible for his situation. He was at the door of the cell, bent over the floor until he noticed her feet.

It took a second for it to sink in before he stood up so fast his hair lashed back before flopping back over his forehead on one side. To her surprise, a smile curled his mouth and made his green-grey eyes little crescent shapes.

"What are you doing here?" he spoke without rudeness as if he'd known her all her life. Looking at him standing all the way up, she realized he was slightly shorter than her.

"I - my - my mother and father let me visit the dungeons sometimes. What are you doing here?"

He snorted, chuckling to himself as if the answer were obvious. Sure, okay, she was currently standing in a dungeons who-knew how many feet below the castle, but still. It didn't seem fair that someone so young should be here. She had to tell her parents about this - they would be furious.

"I'm a professional who got caught, does that answer your question?" She was surprised (for the umpteenth time) at how freely he spoke towards her. Knowing what her mother would say if she was there, Candy knew she should be offended at his being so comfortable, but strangely enough, it was refreshing how he was.

"Um, no. Sorry but, do you know who I am?"

He narrowed his eyes and made the most sarcastic, forced concentration face he could, adding drama by putting his fingers around his chin.

"Hmm, no, I have no idea. Oh wait, let me guess, the princess? Maybe? Oh but I wouldn't know, now would I? Being all the way down here in the dungeons, far away from society."

His free way of speaking was starting to annoy her now. Suddenly a comeback popped into her head and it slipped out before she could stop it.

"Oh, it's alright. I forgive you for committing a crime and getting yourself stuck in here. I have princess duties to attend to and I'm tired of talking to you," By the time she was half-way through the sentence, she didn't even try and stop herself, ending it with a little wave of her hand as she forced a smile at him with a tilt of her head, walking towards the exit.

It strangely pleased her to see his "all-knowing" smile fade and his hands tighten around the bars of his cell door. She could almost hear him saying it. Something she knew he'd never say; "Help".

But she wasn't smiling by the time she was walking back up the dungeon stairs. Someone had locked that boy in there with murderers and assassins, and she was going to tell her parents all about it.