The Abused Princess' Second Chance

In Ansel's Special Viewing Place, Gabrielle sat on a sitting stone. Staring at the fireflies that hovered over the water.

She hugged her knees, having flashbacks of cuddling with Ansel on their date.

A tear rolled down her cheek, dripping onto her dress. She glanced down at the teddy bear that sat beside her, remembering a promise Ansel made to her.

She picked up the teddy bear, looking into its eyes.

"No matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how far you are away from me I will find you. I will always come to your rescue from now on, and I will always make sure you are safe. Where you go I will go, you will never be without ever again," She recited.

Her eyes welled up with tears as she hugged the teddy bear closely.

"You promised me," She cried, "But now I don't want you to keep that promise. I don't want you to find me… I don't want to go back…"

She held the teddy bear up to her face, staring at it.

"Still in my heart I wish you were here with me… I wish you would whisk me away… I wish you would hold me tightly and tell me everything will be okay… I wish to hear you call my name again… I love you so much Ansel… But now I see…" She sighed, placing the teddy bear next to her.

She laid down, watching the fireflies.

'I'll only be here until the sun comes up so I can see better, then I'll go to the city and sell the ring… Then… I'll leave Kingdom Florian for good…'

2 days later

In The King's Office, Ansel sat at his desk. He shook his knees, his eyes puffy and red from sleeplessness.

He glanced down at a map that laid before him, crossing out areas close by that had been checked.

'Where are you my love… How could you have disappeared?'

He had a flashback, remembering Gabrielle's smile, he slammed his fist on the desk.

'How could I have been so dumb. I should've known something was up… I should've protected her…'

Knock, knock

He looked over at the door, standing up quickly.

"Come in," He said eagerly, watching Sir Harrison along with some royal guards enter the room and kneel to him (Ansel).

"You have news," He earnestly inquired.

"We've looked all throughout the northern side of the Kingdom and haven't been able to locate Milady," Sir Harrison informed, staring at the floor.

"Then look again," Ansel shouted, "Keep looking! Nobody rests until she's home."

"Yes Your Majesty," Sir Harrison nodded, leaving the room alongside the other guards.

Ansel turned around leaning over his desk, staring at the map.

He closed his eyes, having a flashback of his promise.

'No matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how far you are away from me I will find you. I will always come to your rescue from now on, and I will always make sure you are safe. Where you go I will go, you will never be without ever again,' He remembered.

He gripped the desk beginning to shake.

"I will find you," He whispered.

Knock, knock

Cobsworth and Jospehine entered the room, seeing Ansel hunched over his desk.

"Your Majesty," Cobsworth called out, watching as Ansel quickly dried his eyes and looked at him.

"Yes Cobsworth, you have news," Ansel asked, deadpanned, hiding his sorrows.

"Me and Josephine have gone over all of Gabrielle's things and it seems that a ruby ring from her jewelry box is missing," Cobsworth informed.

"Ruby ring? Are you sure," Ansel questioned.

"I'm sure," Cobsworth responded, "I've asked the maids who brought her the jewelry and they're sure that there was a ruby ring among the jewelry that was given."

Ansel's eyes widened in realization.

"Have the maids give a detailed description of what the ring looked like and have the description given to all the guards. We can use that potentially to track Lady Gabrielle's whereabouts," Ansel commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Cobsworth nodded.

"Your Majesty," Josephine chimed in, "Her teddy bear is also missing."

"You're sure," Ansel asked.

"Positive," Josephine answered, "I've searched the entire castle twice… She took the teddy bear with her."

'She took it with her… Does this mean she still wants me with her…' He wondered, looking at Josephine.

"Thank you," Ansel mumbled, "Please make sure everything in her room is cleaned and ready for when she comes back. I want her to have a comfortable setting to come back too."

Josephine nodded, leaving the room alongside Cobsworth.

'I'm coming for you Gabrielle and I won't let you go…'

In The Central Kingdom City Gabrielle stood, her feet aching from walking, her dress dirty. She gripped the teddy with one hand, tapping the pocket that had the ring in it with the other. She let out a sigh, watching townspeople walking around, going into different buildings.

'I finally made it… Now to sell the ring and get out of here quickly… I don't want to be in Florian any longer…'

She walked throughout the town, her feet heavied with pain.

'I can't stop now… I have to leave Florian as soon as possible…'

Throughout the town she walked, ignoring the growing pains in her feet.

An hour rolled by, she stopped walking. Standing in front of a building she looked at a sign next to the door.

"Trade Shop," She read aloud.

She pulled out the ring from her pocket, reminiscing on Ansel's promise to her.

'Good-bye Ansel…'

She looked at the door, putting the ring back in her pocket. She placed her hand on the pull down door handle, took a deep breath, and opened the door, entering the trade shop.

Inside the 1450 sqft Trade Shop was a large clerk shop desk and an elderly man standing behind it, light brown wood tables that had townspeople sitting at them, clothing hanging on racks, different shoes that sat on a shoe wall, a rack of towns paper that sat next to the clerk's desk, and weapons that hung up on the wall behind the clerk's desk.

The sounds of townspeople speaking to one another filled the room.

She looked around her, taking in the scenery, catching the attention of a man in his late 30s.

She took a deep breath, walking up to the clerk's desk, being watched by a man in the distance.

"What can I do for you," The clerk asked, giving a warm smile.

She pulled the ring out of her pocket, setting it on the desk.

"I want to trade this in," She responded, gripping her teddy bear.

The clerk picked up the ring from the desk, marveling at it.

"I'm going to go get some equipment," He stated, setting the ring down, "Wait right here."

Gabrielle stood, watching as he walked away from the desk.

She tapped her foot, listening in on the conversations around her.

"I can't believe His Majesty is offering a million gold pieces to anyone who finds that girl," A man said, walking up to the town's paper rack.

"If you ask me it's insanity…" A woman scoffed, "I mean a million gold pieces just to find a young lady, when he has dozens of women in the castle waiting to jump at his say so. I wonder what makes her so special."

"He must be in love," The man at the town's paper rack chuckled, picking up one of the papers, "And I can see why, she's quite a beauty."

Gabrielle's eyes widened as she looked over at the town's paper rack, seeing a picture of herself on the front page.

She quickly looked away, her heart beginning to race, she hung her head.

'Ansel's looking for me… Why is he looking for me? I thought he would be too caught up with Hattie to notice that I was gone… Maybe he found out I was gone and is only looking for me to keep his promise of keeping me safe… Either way it doesn't matter… I'm leaving Florian for good and Ansel isn't going to stop me…'

"I'm back," The Clerk announced, standing back behind his desk, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

"That's quite alright," Gabrielle assured, continuing to look down to hide her face.

The clerk placed his tools on the desk, taking out a magnifying eye glass. He put it up to his eye, grabbed the ring, and looked at it.

"This ring is an expensive ring, it's worth far more than what I have in my store…" He exclaimed, catching the attention of the man who was staring at Gabrielle. He set the ring and magnifying eye glass back down on the desk, looking at Gabrielle.

"You have a real valuable item. I've only ever seen a ring this valuable in The Castle," The Clerk disclosed.

"I'll take whatever you have to offer… I'm trying to get to the next Kingdom… So I'm in no place to set a price…" Gabrielle imparted, gripping tighter on to her teddy bear.

"Any price I would give you would be unfair and I'm no dishonest man… I'm sorry but I can not buy this," The Clerk reiterated.

She sighed, looking over her shoulder to see a man staring at her with a halfway smirk on his face.

She quickly snapped her head, looking back at the Clerk, she picked up the ring, putting it back in her pocket.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help," The Clerk apologized.

"I-Its al-alright," She stammered, "G-Good-bye n-now."

She turned around, walking over to the door, feeling the man's fire red eyes staring at her, she left the Trade Shop.

She gripped her chest, feeling her heart race. She looked around her, seeing empty sidewalks.

'I shouldn't be out here at night but I have no choice… I have to get out of here…'

She walked away from the shop, hurrying to get as far away as she could.

SLAM

She looked back, seeing the man who was staring at her with a group of 4 men leaving the Trade Shop.

"There," The man shouted, pointing at her.

She hastily turned around, running away as the men chased her.

'Oh Ansel, I wish you were here…'

Down the sidewalks she ran, trying to escape the men. She ran down an alleyway.

Down the alleyway she ran, making it to the end.

"Where do you think you're going," A man from the group snarled, blocking her path with two other men.

Her body jolted, as she took a few steps back. She turned around seeing the rest of the men from the group block her path.

She looked at the man who was staring at her earlier.

"What do you want," She shouted.

The man (who was staring at her) laughed, tightly gripping her wrist, he whispered in her ear, "You."

"Let me go," She fumed, trying to pull out of his grip.

"So weak," He mocked, laughing at her failed attempts.

"So Vincent, what do you want to do with her," A man in the group queried.

Vincent tightened his grip around her wrist, making her yelp.

He looked at his group, desire painted on his face, he looked at her, seeing her recoil.

"We were going to just steal the ring and run but after seeing you in the paper I have better plans," He smirked, grabbing onto her chin, forcing her to look at him.

She yanked her head away, turning her head to face the ground.

He smiled, letting go of her wrist, he stood behind her, grabbing on to her shoulders.

"Gentlemen, we have our cash grab," He announced, hitting her on the back of the head, causing her to pass out.

'Ansel, please, please save me,' She thought as she blacked out.