When Maesi woke up on that beautiful Saturday morning, she found herself being overwhelmed with the feeling of not being in the right place. It wasn't as though she was literally somewhere where she wasn't supposed to be – this was her room and she was in her bed – but something was tugging at her chest, telling her that she wasn't supposed to be there, that there was somewhere else that she was supposed to be.

She knew that she had an appointment with her aunt about a dress that she needed for a friend's birthday party, but that wasn't until later in the day. As she slipped out of bed, she couldn't quite figure out why she felt this way. As she got dressed on autopilot, she began to realise that it wasn't just being in the wrong place that she was feeling, but it was also like something was missing. Something was missing and she wasn't in the right place to find it.

It was only when her maids, Brittany and Rachel, walked in that Maesi was able to shake herself out of her head and back into the real world. She greeted the two girls warmly before slipping on some jewellery and leaving the room to head down to the family dining room.

Upon entering the dining room, Maesi saw that her parents and her sister were already there. The three were laughing about something as the youngest princess walked in, grabbing her breakfast from where it had been kept warm under a heat lamp. She first approached her father who was sat at the head of the table, gently kissing his cheek, "Morning, Dad," she greeted. She then kissed her mom on the cheek and wished her a good morning as she sat down next to her.

"Morning Ellie," Lia said, smiling over at her sister.

"Hey, Lala," Maesi replied. As she looked at the empty seat directly across from her, next to her sister, the tugging she'd felt earlier returned. Her mouth suddenly felt dry and her stomach tightened as she longed for something that she couldn't seem to put a finger on.

"You okay, Maesi-Beth?" Mal suddenly asked, pulling Maesi out of her thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Maesi replied to her mother, before looking back at her meal and realising she hadn't touched it. Knowing that this would concern her parents, Maesi quickly stuck a bite in her mouth and chewed a little forcefully.

Mal gave a slight disbelieving hum but seemed to decide not to ask, "Well, your father and I have a meeting with Dylan today, but I think we should be done by the time Aunt Evie is through with you."

"Dylan's that kid who washed up on one of Charmington's beaches a few years ago, right?" Lia asked, as she took the last bite of her meal and placed her cutlery down. "I thought you guys usually visit him in his new home."

Ben nodded, "Yes, but he's currently finishing up his gap year and his travels are bringing him to Auradon City today, so he'll be coming here."

Lia nodded her understanding before quickly taking the last few sips of her drink. "I've got an assignment due soon. May I be excused?"

Ben nodded at her and the older princess gracefully stood from her chair and left the room. Ben then turned to his other daughter and looked at her with concern. "Are you sure you're alright, baby girl?"

Maesi nodded and ate a few more bites of her breakfast to try and look more convincing.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maesi noticed her parents exchange looks but neither said anything, which was a relief to her. She wasn't usually the type to hide what she was feeling from her parents, but she didn't know where to begin. The tugging on her heart, trying to pull her somewhere else to find this thing that seemed to be missing, was overwhelming. She didn't even know where to begin with figuring it out.

When her parents left the table a few minutes later, Maesi's plate wasn't nearly as empty as it would've been on a normal day. The feeling of something missing was making her feel slightly sick. She tried a couple more bites before giving up, thanking the servant who came to clean up as she left. Maesi headed straight for her room, where Rachel and Brittany were just finishing up with their duties. They quickly curtsied to her and headed off to complete some of their other duties. For once, Maesi was relieved that the girls had busy mornings and couldn't stop to chat until later that day. She simply wasn't feeling up to much of anything.

To try and distract herself, Maesi decided to get a head start on some of the homework she'd been given that wasn't due for weeks. It mostly worked, though she was still vaguely aware of the tugging as she put her mind to some of the complex maths problems she was asked to do.

Soon enough, there was knocking on her door.

"Come in!" Maesi called, putting her pen down and turning to face the door.

"Miss Evie is waiting for you in her studio, Your Highness." It was their butler, Webster.

"Thank you, Webster. I'll be down in a moment." Webster bowed and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

Maesi stood up and smoothed out her shirt, sighing a little at the prospect of having to make chatter with her aunt. She loved her aunt, dearly but she just wasn't feeling up to it. She took a few moments to mentally prepare herself and then headed down the studio that was near to the sitting room where they entertained guests.

The studio had been set up a long time ago, not long after Lia was born. Their Aunt Evie had always enjoyed making outfits for all of them (which Maesi suspected may have had something to do with the fact that she didn't have any daughters of her own. Just sons to dress up). Any time that there was a party or a ball or any of them simply wanted something new to wear, Evie would carve time out of her busy schedule to make something for them, especially for Lia and Maesi. Apparently, she was wanting to make them outfits so often that Maesi's parents had one of the rooms transformed into a small studio space for Evie to work in.

It came as no surprise to Maesi that when she walked in, Evie was already a flurry of activity, with the tape measure around her neck as she practically danced around the dress on the mannequin, scissors in hand and a sewing needle sticking out of a pincushion on her wrist.

"Mae!" she exclaimed in delight, as Maesi walked in, "Go try this on." She put the scissors down and carefully pulled the dress off of the mannequin, handing it to Maesi and shooing her behind the changing screen.

Maesi quickly changed into the dress and stopped for a second to admire it. It was a deep forest green with small black flower patterns on the bodice. It had a scoop neckline and three quarter length sleeves. The skirt fell to her knees in pleats that seemed to flare out from her hips a little. She stepped out from behind the screen and her aunt gasped in delight before pulling her up on to the stand and went around her, making small adjustments and putting pins in places where the bodice needed to be taken in slightly.

"It's beautiful, Aunt Evie," Maesi told her.

Evie hummed in delight. "You're going to be turning heads left, right and centre!" she exclaimed before she began chattering away about how Charlie (Evie's oldest son, who was a year older than Maesi) was beginning to look at vet schools and about how she keeps tripping over Charlie's cat, Topaz, and other things about Charlie's pets – Maesi lost track of the conversation after Evie told her that Topaz's new favourite spot to lay down was right in front of Evie and Doug's bedroom door. The tugging feeling was beginning to return and it was so much stronger now. Maesi almost felt like she couldn't breathe, like she just had to get out of there soon or she'd combust. She wasn't where she needed to be. She just knew that she wasn't. As Evie continued to talk, Maesi found herself feeling slightly dizzy and just focused on breathing her way through it. She knew it would be over soon. It was just the finishing touches.

Suddenly she heard Evie exclaim, "Oh, I must've left it in the car!" What it was, Maesi had no idea, but then Evie was telling her to stay put and she left the room in a flurry of blue.

No longer feeling like she could take being in the room, Maesi ran out. She didn't care that she had no shoes on, or that the pins in her bodice were loosening. She just ran.

She didn't get very far before she suddenly felt herself slam into something solid. She'd have fallen on the ground and completely embarrassed herself had a hand not reached out to steady her. Maesi looked up to see a young man, with bright blue eyes and honey-brown hair. He was considerably taller than she was but from the slightly winded look on his face, she had definitely collided with him.

"Maesi, Dylan, are you two okay?" Ben asked as he and Mal appeared by their sides, clearly having just come out of the guest sitting room.

Maesi nodded a little but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the guy in front of her. She vaguely registered her mother fussing over her, asking her if any of the pins in her dress had accidentally stabbed her. If they had, she hadn't felt it, but that didn't matter. Because as she locked eyes with the young man she'd crashed into, the tugging feeling on her heart stopped. It was like something slotted into place that hadn't quite fit before and by the way he was staring at her, Maesi was almost certain he'd felt that too.

"Sorry," she eventually managed to say, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, uh, no problem. I'm fine." He licked his lips nervously for a second before sticking his hand out. "I'm Dylan, by the way." Then he clearly realised that he was talking to a princess and that offering his hand to shake probably wasn't the best way to greet her, but Maesi took his hand before he had time to pull it away completely.

"Maesi." And just like that, the world around them seemed to fade into nothing as electricity seemed to jump from their hands. "Pleased to finally run into you."

Here you go, Eli201! I hope I did this really fun story justice! :D

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Response to Reviews:

wildflowerchildGrace: I can understand why you didn't like it. Not exactly your cup of tea. I'm excited to release the rest too!

disneyfan1968: Oh absolutely, but that's why she went to Adam first. If she could get him to agree, the others are far more likely to follow.

RPM Shadow: I'm glad you liked it. I'm not sure how Lonnie would've helped, though she definitely would've been a huge asset in Night Falls.

Dove Cameron Lover: Thanks!

Rock Mint Swirl 22: Thank you! I didn't want Adam to seem irredeemable and I figured if all the villains were getting a second chance, so should he. I'm definitely a little curious as to what the announcement might be! As for my instagram, I think that I know why you couldn't find it – the name is ever so slightly different than my one: sparkygurl227. Hopefully that helps!

Love you guys so much! Stay safe!

SparkyGurl

P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism. It helps me get better!