The Abused Princess' Second Chance

In Ansel's Special Viewing Place on a sitting stone stood Ansel. He looked into the pond reminiscing on his date with Gabrielle.

A picture of her smiling face flashed in his mind, weighing down his heart.

'Gabrielle, I miss you so much… I wish I could hold you again… These memories are not enough… I need to hear the sound of your voice again… I need to hear your laugh… I need you in my arms again… To feel your hand caress my face… How I wish you knew how much I miss you… How much I love you… Gabrielle why… Why did you have to leave… My heart longs for you Gabrielle… It burns for you… I promise when you come home I'll tell you everyday and never let you forget it… This time I won't let you slip away… I'll put all my love for you on full display so you'll never have to question if I love you or not…'

A Royal Guard walked behind him, the sounds of his footsteps crunching against dead leaves roamed in the air.

He kneeled before Ansel, giving a sorrowful sigh. "Your Majesty… We've searched this entire part of the forest… There is still no sign of Milady," He reported.

Ansel's body felt heavy as sorrow and exhaustion overwhelmed him. His body began to tremble, his eyes hard to open.

He collapsed on the sitting stone, the guard's calls for help echoing in his ears.

"I love you Gabrielle… I will find you," He groggily uttered, passing out into a deep sleep.

In a room, in the Kidnapper's Hideout sat Gabrielle, hugging her knees, in a corner of the room.

A rolled down her face, stinging her cheeks. The words Dom said played in her mind.

'If Ansel truly loves Hattie then how come he never cared that she ran away… How come he's pushing so hard to find me and not to find her… Could I have been wrong this entire time… Could Ansel truly love me…'

She had a flashback, remembering Ansel and Hattie kissing each other.

'No… Ansel has never kissed me… Not the way he did with Hattie… There's no way His Majesty loves me… He's in love with Hattie and I'm playing myself… I should've learned my lesson from Kenton… How could I have been so stupid…'

Knock, knock

Auggie entered the room holding a metal bowl of chicken soup in one hand and Gabrielle's teddy bear in the other.

"Hey, uh, I made dinner… You should eat up while it's still hot," Auggie comforted, setting the bowl of soup next to Gabrielle.

She turned her head, unwilling to look at him.

"Listen, I know this isn't an ideal situation for you. I promise you can go home as soon as we get some extra money," He assured.

She buried her face in her knees, quietly crying into them.

"Please don't cry Miss… Look I even found your teddy bear… Thought you might like it back," He pleaded, reaching out the teddy bear towards her.

She turned around, slowly looking up at Auggie's hand. She reached out for the teddy bear, quickly grabbing it.

She stared at the teddy, thoughts of Ansel holding her, playing through her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes as she held the bear tightly against her chest, her tears falling on to it.

"I'm sorry Miss… I'll leave you alone," Auggie turned around, heading out of the room, hearing Gabrielle whisper, "Ansel," through her cries.

He walked out of the room, being met with Zander's darkened gaze.

"Why are you feeding her," He snarked.

"Just because we kidnapped her doesn't mean we have to abuse her," Auggie snapped back, "I mean she's in there crying right now. She's already scared out of her mind. Why put more stress on her? There's no reason to starve her, she has enough stress on her plate."

"Are you sure it isn't because you have feelings for her," Zander jeered, walking up to Auggie, "Cause I get it she's really beautiful and if I…"

"Enough Zander," Auggie interrupted, pushing him out of the way, "You don't have to have feelings for someone to be a decent human being. Not everyone is as cold hearted as you… I just don't see the need to torture an already scared young woman, especially since the only thing we're even after is money."

"Oh come on, you haven't thought about how beautiful she is," Zander chuckled.

Auggie rolled his eyes, scoffing at Zander, and went to the kitchen while Zander watched him leave.

Coldness filled Zander's face as he turned away from Gabrielle's room.

'Auggie is going to ruin everything for us. He's way too soft on her.'

Gabrielle left her room, holding her teddy bear in one hand and the hot bowl of soup in the other.

She looked around seeing only Zander in the room, his back facing her.

'I have to get out of here… I can't stay here any longer.'

She tossed the hot bowl of soup over Zander's head making him shriek in pain, she hit him over the head with the metal bowl making him drop to the floor in pain.

Zander's shrieks filled the house, catching the attention of his brothers.

Gabrielle hopped over Zander, dropping her teddy bear in the process. She ran towards the front door. She opened the door, swinging it open. She tried to make her way out, being quickly grabbed around the stomach by Vincent.

"Where do you think you're escaping off to," He growled, trying to pull her back into the house.

She gripped the doorway, her fingers being filled with pain from trying to hold on.

"Let go of me," She screamed, being dragged back into the house by Vincent.

She watched as Dom slammed the door shut, locking it. A widened smile glued on his face.

She squirmed in Vincent's arms, trying to get out of his grip.

"Look what she did," Zander shrieked, holding on to his red face.

He stormed towards her, being held back by Burcer. "Let me get to her, she needs to pay," Zander lashed, trying to fight out of Burcer's grip.

"You see what you did, now Zander wants to hurt you," Vincent growled, tightening his grip around her.

"I don't care," She cried, "I hate you, I hate all of you. Let go of me."

Vincent set her on the floor, holding tightly onto her arms. "I can show you what real hate looks like," He snarled, foaming at the corners of his mouth.

"Alright," Auggie interjected, pulling Vincent away from Gabrielle, "Let's all calm down."

"Calm down? She just burned my face, Auggie. She burned my face with the soup you gave her. She needs to pay," Zander jeered, trying to get to her.

"You need to stop protecting her, Auggie," Burcer chimed in, "That girl is serious trouble."

"She never asked to be here. We kidnapped her and now she wants to leave. So to get angry at her for attempting to escape from a place she doesn't want to be in is stupidity," Auggie reasoned.

"It doesn't matter if she doesn't want to be here, we need the money," Dom argued.

"Well if we really needed the money then we should've just returned her and taken the million gold pieces instead of going through all this trouble," Auggie remarked.

"That's not enough," Dom disputed.

Vincent glared at Auggie, anger fired up in his eyes. "She needs to be tied up and watched," Vincent demanded.

"Okay, then let me watch her," Auggie suggested.

"Why because you're in love with her," Zander accused, anger arising in his body.

"No, because I'm the muscle of the group and unlike you I have my eyes on the real prize. Which is getting money to get out of Thieves Forest for good," Auggie retorted.

"Pathetic, really pathetic. Just say you're in love with her, at least that will make more sense," Zander provoked.

"Enough," Vincent shouted.

Vincent looked at Dom, his eyes filled with coldness.

"Go get some rope," Vincent commanded.

Dom left to the kitchen, getting some rope, and bringing it back. He handed it over to Vincent.

Vincent tossed the rope at Auggie, Auggie quickly catching it.

"Tie her up and watch over her for the night and if there's any more instances that will be your life," Vincent warned.

Auggie looked over at Gabrielle, giving a sigh, he walked up to her, tying her wrists together.

She looked at him, doe-eyed. "Why… Why are you doing this," She uttered softly.

"Let's go," Auggie sighed, taking her back to the room, while the other men attended to Zander's wounds.

The hours rolled past. Gabrielle sat in the corner of the room, facing a wall while Auggie sat at the doorway, watching her.

"Hey, why do you think His Majesty doesn't love you," He inquired.

She looked over at him, not saying a word.

"Listen I don't mean to pry but it seems like everyone else knows he's smitten with you, but you don't think so. So I'm curious as to why you think he's not in love with you," Auggie conversed.

"Because he not," She tearfully responded, "He's in love with Lady Hattie."

"Yeah I was wondering about that too. You see we all know he hates her on account of how many times she's, 'Ran away,' specifically to Thieves Forest and he hasn't even batted an eye. Yet you left and he's putting out a decree for a million gold pieces for your safe return. If you ask anyone, that's a clear sign that he loves you," He stated, looking for answers.

"I saw them kissing… He loves her," She mumbled, wiping tears off her nose.

"Kissing? Well did he kiss her or did she kiss him, because when I was working at the castle he wouldn't even go near her, let alone kiss her. I mean His Majesty hated her deeply and I don't see that hate going away, it's very deep rooted. Matter of fact I don't even think Hattie is even allowed to call him by his first name and you seem comfortable enough to say his name, despite it being a crime," He rambled.

"Y-You worked at the castle," She questioned, her eyes widened.

"Yeah," He chuckled, "I worked in the castle for 10 years… I was trained by Cobsworth. I was actually there when Hattie was first introduced to His Majesty. I saw how much he hated her. I know the whole story."

"You know the story about Hattie," She inquired.

"Yes I do… Let me tell you about it…"