To be honest, I felt like I went ham when writing a few parts of this chapter, but I don't think this matters now. After all, I still finished writing it, and that's what matters to me.

Enjoy reading!

ฅ(^-ω•^)ฅ

After about 1 or 2 hours of training, Cloud announced that it was break time, meaning that the fighters could rest for as long as they needed. While Cindy and Cinder were with the leader, asking for tips on improving, Swizzle, Rancis, Corrina and Gloyd were on the bench, talking about whatever came to their minds. Gloyd didn't talk much, not that he had nothing to talk about, he just didn't feel like it, but he still enjoyed listening to what they had to say.

"I'm telling you, dudes. Minty's got a thing for me. I mean, she keeps chuckling whenever I'm attempting a new stunt." Swizzle said. Sure he was a respectful paladin, but when he's not doing royal duties, he takes his time to try out various stunts, making him quite a daredevil.

Corrina whistled. "Well confront her about this. Maybe you'll catch her blushing at you." She winked at the paladin as the boys snickered.

Swizzle blushed. "Don't even start, Corrina." He gritted his teeth as Corrina giggled. Gloyd could only chuckle at this, finding this kinda amusing.

"Jealous. You already got a girl swooning over you." Rancis smirked.

Gloyd looked at Rancis, confused. "Are you saying that you don't have one yet?" He asked.

"K-kinda, yeah. Man, if only Taffyta wasn't so focused on her royal duties…" Rancis sighed.

"Ooooh. Someone's got a crush on the royal advisor." Swizzle snickered and Corrina burst out laughing. The blonde paladin just blushed. Now this kind of conversation slowly started to bore the young prince.

"What about you, Corrina?"

The warrior stopped laughing. "Eh?"

"Have you caught your eyes on anyone?" He raised his eyebrow.

Corrina bit her lip, unsure of what to say. Her eyes flickered at the rangers for a moment before looking at the paladins. She saw Swizzle's smug expression and pouted, and she prayed that her already pink cheeks could hide the blush slowly forming. "Umm, well…I mean, Cinder is very cool despite his laziness, and also kinda…cute? But i-it's not like I like him or anything, okay? Don't get the wrong idea!" The warrior stammered.

"Tsundere!" The paladins said simultaneously, teasing her.

'Ugh…love…' Gloyd groaned quietly and lowered his head, running his hands through his dark locks. He didn't understand what this was all about. Then he remembered what Jubileena told him before he left. His dad wanted him to find a special someone…and marry her. He wasn't ready for this, and he didn't want to.

The prince looked up at the fighters. "Umm…can I be frank with you guys?" He asked nervously, rubbing his neck where the scar was.

Corrina stopped pouting and looked at him. "Go ahead, kid. What have you got to say?" She raised her eyebrow.

He gulped, as if he lost the words he was going to say. He stammered for a bit before sighing. "Nevermind…"

"Tch. Well that was a waste of time." Corrina mumbled to herself.

"I-i-it's kind of a private thing." Gloyd exclaimed and stood up. "I think I'll go take a breather in the forest." He said.

Swizzle and Rancis immediately stood up. "We're coming with you." The latter said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You've been doing that for 10 years." Gloyd said without care.

Swizzle huffed out of annoyance. "Oh, give me a break. We're just doing what King Gourdius tells us to do. You do realize that he's worried about you, right?"

Gloyd rubbed his neck. "Well, I can't blame him. The scar really did put an impact on him, didn't it?" He joked. Swizzle gave him an unamused look while Rancis facepalmed. "But…come to think of it, maybe I can tell you two what I wanted to say there." He hummed.

Swizzle shrugged it off. "Fine by me."

"Well, go!" The boys jumped and realized that Corrina was still here. "I'm still here, y'know?"

"Right, right! We're gonna go now!" Gloyd stuttered and left the training area, followed by Swizzle.

Rancis was about to follow when he stopped and look at the boisterous warrior. "Mind informing King Gourdious about this?" He asked.

Corrina shrugged. "Eh, whatever. I have nothing else to do, anyway." She stood up and left the training area. Rancis then left and ran after his friends.

The forest was peaceful that day. Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming. A perfect time for a nice walk. The air was filled with a melody of a guitar. There was an oddly awkward silence between the 3 boys currently walking in the forest.

"Eheh…great weather today, right?" Gloyd stammered, trying to break the silence.

"I think I can agree with you." Rancis hummed.

Swizzle swung his sword around before putting it away looking directly at Gloyd. "So tell me, dude. What has been up with you?" He asked.

Gloyd jumped. "Huh? W-what do you mean?"

"You're hiding something, aren't you? Otherwise, why say that it's something private back in the training area?" Swizzle pointed out.

"Right…" The prince hummed. "You didn't hear it either way, since you were training at that time." He said.

"Just say it." Rancis said.

Gloyd took a deep breath, gaining a bit of confidence. "So…Maid Jubileena informed me that I …I should find a special someone and marry her. And that's her message from dad!" He explained.

Swizzle widened his eyes at what he just said. Rancis, however, had a smile forming on his face. "Well, that's great. About time you get to it." The latter of the paladins said.

"Me? Getting married? No way! I'm not going to do that!" Gloyd huffed.

"Come on. You know you have to replace your father and become the next king of Sugar Rush." Swizzle folded his arms, glaring at the young prince. "And ideally, the prince has to be married to be crowned, no?" He added. The guitar melody was slowly fading at that time.

Gloyd rolled his eyes. "I don't care…I very much prefer pranks and fun, and hanging out with you two. No way will I ever get married."

"Don't start an argument…" Rancis hissed.

Before the argument could even escalate, the bush was suddenly rustling, startling the 3 boys. Rancis walked back, shielding the prince. While Swizzle took the bravery and stepped forward. Right as he took another one, a woman jumped out of the bush and attacked him by throwing a dagger. Fortunately, he barely dodged it. The dagger was mere inches away from his neck as it flew right past him and stuck to the nearby tree.

Wide eyed, Swizzle stumbled to the tree in a defensive stance, looked at the dagger, and then looked at the woman that threw the dagger, while she looked back at him, as wide eyed as he was.

Rancis and Gloyd peeked from behind the tree, looking at the woman. None of the boys seem to recognize her, but guessed that she was a bard, due to the guitar she was holding.

"Uhhhh…" The bard broke the silence.

Rancis looked at the fellow paladin. "Are you alright, Swizz?" He asked.

"I'm perfectly fine." Swizzle smirked and removed the dagger. He looked at it, then at the bard. "This must be yours." He said, tossing the dagger back to her.

"Thanks…" She said, catching the dagger and putting it back on her belt.

Swizzle looked back at Rancis and Gloyd. "I'm lucky that this chick got bad aiming." He cockily said.

"Excuse me?!" The bard angrily exclaimed. "I ain't got bad aiming! Be thankful that I never intended to aim at you." She huffed, hands on her hips.

"That was sarcasm." Swizzle said flatly.

"Didn't sound like one." She said, with an unamused look.

Rancis hovered his hand in front of Swizzle, preventing him from doing anything wrong. "Apologies for his behavior." He apologized, with a cheeky smile.

Gloyd curiously looked at her. "Do we know you?" He asked.

The bard looked at the prince, then at the 2 paladins. "I don't think so." She said, grabbing her guitar. "Name's Snowanna Rainbeau, a travelling bard." She then introduced herself. "So you 3 must be…"

"Swizzle Malarkey the paladin." Swizzle pointed a finger gun.

Rancis shook his head and looked at Snowanna. "I'm Rancis Fluggerbutter, one of the kingdom's paladins." He extended his hand to the bard. "I'm adequate to meet you, Miss Rainbeau."

Confused, she extended her hand and shook his. "Uhh, same…but, I prefer if you simply call me 'Snowanna' and not 'Miss Rainbeau'." She admitted.

"Sorry. Kind of my force of habit." Rancis chuckled.

"And this little dude is Gloyd, our kingdom's prince." Swizzle said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Ah, okay, stop." Gloyd swatted Swizzle's hand away.

Snowanna hummed when she heard that Gloyd was the prince. "Hmmm…sounds familiar…" She muttered to herself.

"What?" Rancis looked at the bard.

She shook her head. "Oh, nothing. It's just that…a good friend of mine had told me a lot about your kingdom." She said. "She lives here in this forest, and is quite a skilled druid."

Her last sentence had made a memory click in their heads. "You're talking about Adorabeezle, right?" Rancis guessed.

"Yes. How did you know?" Snowanna said out of surprise.

"Well, it's just so happens that we're also friends with her." Swizzle grinned.

"Just how much did she tell you about us?" Rancis asked.

The bard thought for a brief moment before answering. "Quite a lot, actually. She told me about that incident that happened 10 years ago." She said.

Shivering, Gloyd covered his neck scar as he remembered the hazelnut eyes that glared at him. All he could think of right now is The Candy Assassin that he met. He left the urge to go into the Deep Woods and see her again, but with the paladins here keeping an eye on him, he couldn't.

"Also. Is this true that both of you are always with him whenever he's in the forest?" Snowanna asked.

"That is very true. "Swizzle folded his arms. "Our king is just very worried about his son, y'know." He said.

"Figures." The bard shrugged.

A few minutes passed, and when Gloyd noticed that both paladins are distracted, talking to the traveling bard, he didn't show it, but on the inside, he was grinning widely. 'Yes! Now is my chance!' He thought to himself as he carefully took each step, not batting an eye from them. When he lost vision of them, he jumped up to the tree and parkoured his way to the Deep Woods, jumping from tree to tree, away from the paladins. He was ecstatic, knowing that he had a lot of agility, more than any other fighter. He couldn't wait going into the dangerous forest after 10 years.

Corrina looked at the door, took a deep breath and knocked on it. As she waited for a minute or so, the door opened.

"What brought you here, Milkery?" Taffyta raised an eyebrow.

"May I speak to King Gourdius?" Corrina asked. "It's urgent." She added.

Taffyta thought for a moment and sighed. "Wait here." Is all she said before leaving, and Corrina got to waiting again.

'She needs to loosen up a bit...' She thuoght to herself, folding her arms.

In less than a minute, the royal advisor came back. "You may come in. I'll lead you there." She fully swung the door open.

"No need to lead me. I know here he is." The warrior said and went ahead of Taffyta. Her intuition worked as she easily found her way to the throne room where Gourdius was. She bowed down the moment he looked at her.

"Stand up, stand up." He chuckled and motioned Corrina to stand up. She did as she was told to. "Now what did you want to talk about, Corrina?" He asked.

"Rancis asked me to inform you that Gloyed left to the forest." Corrina said.

Gourdius widened his eyes when she said that, and she knew what this meant. "W-w-with Swizzle and Rancis, of course. He's not alone." The warrior quickly blurted out.

He sighed in relief. "As long as they're with him, I'll allow it. Thank you for letting me know."

"No problem, Your Majesty." Corrina bowed again and left the throne room.

Before she left the palace itself, she looked at Taffyta. "Lighten up, will ya? You're too focused on your royal duties." She said.

Taffyta rolled her eyes and closed the door once the warrior left. She was sure that what Corrina said wouldn't change anything. Unless…

In the Deep Woods, a small black and red bat saw the prince heading to the forest and swiftly flew away unnoticed. It flew towards an abandoned mansion located in here and got in through the window. Inside the mansion, a girl was sitting beside a desk, sharpening her dagger. She looked older, though, still kept a few details, namely the hazelnut eyes, raven black hair, and the candy mixed into it. That's right, she was the same Candy Assassin that scarred the prince 10 years ago. Though, interestingly, when not doing any assassination and hiding in the abandoned mansion, she was Vanellope Von Schweetz. This was her real name that no other person knew about, except for one.

The small bat that entered the mansion landed on the floor and transformed into a young boy with pale skin, black and red hair, blood red eyes and a black suit. Additionally, he had long fangs, which means that he was a vampire. A playful vampire at that.

"Vanellope!" The boy called out.

Vanellope heard the vampire's call. She stopped what she was doing and headed to where he was.

"Hmmhmmhmm. Good to see you again, Liquero." She hummed, with slight sarcasm coming out of her voice.

"And you sound sarcastic as always." Liquero pouted childishly.

Vanellope chuckled and flicked her finger at Liquero's forehead. "Maybe I didn't mean to sound like that for once." She smirked.

The vampire rubbed his forehead, a little hurt. "Ow…?"

"Come on, Li. You're supposed to know me better than anyone else." She laughed.

'Li'. That was Liquero's nickname given from Vanellope, and she was right. He really did know her better than anyone else. He was practically her best friend.

"Heheh…right." He chuckled.

Vanellope went back to where she left her dagger, with the vampire following suit. Despite knowing him very well, she always looked behind her whenever he was following her.

"You're not planning to bite me, are you?" She glared.

Liquero flinched and took a step back. "Of course not! Why would I ever bite my best friend?" He stuttered.

The assassin playfully raised her eyebrow at him. "You're a vampire, no?"

"Doesn't mean I suck blood out of everyone." He shot back and folded his arm childishly. "And besides, I got my eyes on a particular tailor." He blushed as he said that.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop for now." Vanellope giggled and grabbed her dagger as he heaved a sigh of relief. "So. Change of topic. Did anything happen outside of the Deep Woods?" She asked.

That's when Liquero remembered what he saw as a bat. "Oh, right! I saw a boy parkouring to the Deep Woods." He said.

This caught the assassin's attention. "What did he look like?" She asked.

"He had brown hair and eyes…looked like a prince. And I also noticed that he has a scar on his neck." Liquero said.

Vanellope froze when she rephrased the details in her head. Brown hair, brown eyes, neck scar…she knew that it was the same boy she attacked 10 years ago. She was the one who gave him the scar, after all.

The vampire noticed the expression, and knew that something was wrong. "Vanel? Are you okay?"

Hearing her nickname coming from him, Vanellope blinked and shook her head. "Everything's fine." She grinned.

Liquero knew she was lying, but decided not to mention it. "Whatever you say…" He mumbled.

Vanellope approached the front door and put on her mask. "Alright. I've got some assassination to do." She said.

"Good luck!" Liquero smiled.

The assassin nodded in response and left the mansion. She knew that the prince was in the Deep Woods, and figured that this would be the right time to meet him, maybe attack him. While there was a bit of hesitation, she knew that she had to do what she had to do. As an assassin, she gave no mercy to anyone stepping into the Deep Woods, including the prince. She was sure that the moment she spotted him, her presence would scare him away, though oddly, right now, she was hoping for the best and was ready to face the worst that could happen to her, even if it meant…risking her life.

ฅ(^3w3^)ฅ

Alright, that was chapter 2. I assure you that the next chapter will finally have the interaction between Gloyd and Vanellope.

(Heehee, if you got keen eyes, you might have noticed something. Won't say what, though!)

Leave a review (or PM me) if you have anything to say.

This was Sugarii speaking. Peace out!