In a small town, a good way from Royal Woods, is a gigantic and beautiful mansion. Over on the second-floor balcony of the beautiful mansion, a sixteen-year-old girl with a light silver diamond tiara on top of her long flowing strawberry blonde hair that looked like it was pink and silver, her hair went just past her waist. She wore a magnificent dark blue dress that revealed her shoulders with a floor-length flowing skirt. The name of this beautiful lass is Grace, and she is a princess. Grace had a dream, and that was to travel all across the world, instead of having to deal with the boring responsibilities of being a princess. Grace looks up at the sky and starts thinking about everything she wants to do, all the new places she would explore, and all the new and exciting things she would try, but she can't because of her responsibilities as a princess. Grace enjoys being a princess; she just wishes there weren't so many responsibilities and pressures of being a princess.
"I long to be able to see the entire planet. I wish I wasn't constantly expected to behave properly." Before returning to the mansion, Grace sighed as she continued to take in the breathtaking night sky. Grace was welcomed by her father when she returned to the estate. He is a tall man who stands at around 6'7", has a short beard, and has strawberry blonde hair that is beginning to gray. He had a stylish dark blue suit on with golden buttons. He approached his daughter with a welcoming smile on his face.
How are you finding our brief holiday in the United States? Grace's dad inquired.
"It's fine." Grace sighed. "Dad, did you ever want to travel the world?"
Grace's father laughed as he recalled how much he had wanted to travel the globe when he was younger and how much he had wanted to escape the obligations of being a prince and then a king. His daughter reminded him of himself when he was in Grace's position. "Yes, I did. I had fantasies about escaping my obligations and embarking on journeys to explore the world in search of hidden gold."
So why didn't you do that? Grace questioned her father.
"Grace, I've learnt to embrace my obligations. Like me when I was younger, I understand that you desire to see the world, but you must realize that your obligations come before whatever naive aspirations you may have."
"That doesn't seem fair."
"I know, I know."
Grace and her father walked across the long hall as they passed by multiple silver doors. They kept walking down the hall and then down the stairs. Once down the stairs, Grace was greeted by her mother. Grace's mother was a beautiful woman with long light blue hair that went down to her waist. She had on a yellow dress that hid her shoulders, and a yellow skirt which was slightly wider than that of Grace. Her skirt touched the ground, and on the lips of Grace's mother was red lipstick.
"My sweet little girl, Grace, and my handsome Reginald." Grace's mother hugged them two and kissed her husband.
"You're always so kind, Bella."
Reginald told his wife.
"Grace, how are you handling your skills at being a princess?" Bella asked her daughter.
"Just fine, mother." Grace told her mom.
"She was outside dreaming about exploring the world again." Reginald stated.
"Oh, Reginald, let her have some fun. She's only sixteen and besides, she has two older siblings who will rule before her. Let the girl explore the world if she wants."
"I know, it's just that." Reginald stopped and had him and his wife walk into a different room for a private conversation. "I don't want her to get hurt. She's my little girl. If she goes around exploring the world, people will try to kidnap her."
"Hello little sis." A young man with red hair said as he gave Grace a noogie.
"Get off of me, you smelly ape." Grace chuckled, trying to push her brother off of her.
"Ouch Grace, I'm hurt." Grace's brother said in a sarcastic tone of voice.
"She's right though, you do smell." Grace's sister holding her nose. Grace's sister was about the same height as Grace, she had beautiful hair that she had dyed pink, her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that went down to the neck, she also had on a light blue dress and on the dress were beautiful pearls that sparkled like the stars in the night sky. She was also wearing a short skirt.
"You two, Charice?" Grace's brother asked, pretending to be hurt. Grace's brother had short messy red hair, and a red uniform with silver buttons on them.
"Yes, me too." Charice responded. "And stop trying to take your tie off."
"I wasn't doing anything." Grace's brother chuckled as he took his hands off of his turquoise necktie.
"Yes, you were. You always try to take it off." Reginald stated.
"Why does everyone always side against me?" Grace's brother asked, annoyed
"We don't always side against you, George." Charice told her brother. "We only do it when you're being an idiot."
Grace and her siblings laughed as they left the room and walked into a different room of the mansion.
"So you were thinking about traveling the world again?" George asked his younger sister.
"Yes, sometimes I wish I didn't have these responsibilities as a princess. It's so hard to act proper all the time." Grace sighed as her brother just laughed.
"Oh Grace, you have it lucky." George told his youngest sister. "All you have to do is smile and wave. You do not know all the responsibilities I have as the oldest child."
"And I have more responsibilities than both of you combined. I have to keep our brother in line." Charice said, causing Grace to let out a small chuckle.
"Still, Grace, if you wanted to travel the world, I'm sure mother would let you." George told his sister.
"And Father?" Grace asked.
"That's easy. Just don't tell him." George stated, which caused his sisters to look at him deadpanned. "Never mind bad idea, but Grace, you should try to ask them."
"Do you think our father would let me?" Grace asked.
"I don't know." Charice said as she shrugged her shoulders. "But it should be worth a try."
Grace left her sisters and walked into the main room of the mansion where her parents were talking with each other. Walking closer to her parents, Grace gulped as she got the courage to ask them if she could travel the world. "Mother, Father, may I ask you two a question?"
"You can ask us anything, Grace." Reginald stated.
"After this vacation, can I ... travel the world?" Grace asked. "Just for a bit, and I'll bring a guard to protect me."
"Yes Grace, you ..." Bella spoke before Reginald interrupted her.
"Absolutely not!" Reginald yelled out in fury. "You will not leave. You have responsibilities, plus it is not safe!"
"Father, please." Grace begged.
"No, you are not leaving." Reginald ordered.
"Reginald, please, I think we should let her." Bella spoke, trying to convince her husband to let their daughter travel. "She did say she would bring a guard with her."
"No, she has responsibilities." Reginald argued.
"I know she has them, but let her enjoy her life." Bella argued.
"Father, just this once, please let me." Grace tried to speak up, but her father wouldn't let her.
"I am your father and I forbid you. This argument is over." Reginald stated sternly.
"But Father."
"I said this argument is over."
"This isn't fair!" Grace yelled, pushing her father, which caused his crown to fall off of his head, and as the crown hit the ground part of it shattered off. "Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
Reginald looked down at his shattered crown, then back at his daughter. "That is it! Young Lady, you are now forbidden from ever traveling anywhere! This will be your last time you will ever leave our home country or even our home city! This vacation will be your last!"
Hearing that, Grace started crying as she sprinted out of the mansion as fast as she could. Bella glared at her husband angrily. Grace ran past both of her siblings, who looked confused as she ran past them and out of the castle.
"Now look what you did." Bella scolded her husband. "That was too far."
Reginald, seeing his daughter had run away, felt awful. "You're right, dear, it was. I only hope she comes back home before anything bad can happen to her."
Grace continued to run. She looked back and couldn't see the mansion. Anymore, she kept running and running until she stopped and fell. Down; she got up and saw that she had ran into a large tree. There were thick trees all around her. It seemed she had run into the middle of a large forest. Walking for a bit across the forest, she heard what sounded like footsteps thinking it might be an animal Grace began to run trying to get out of the forest as fast as she could running and running she kept running until she fell down. Grace looked and saw part of her dress had gotten stuck twig sticking out from a bush.
"Stupid dress." Grace muttered as she pulled her dress out from the twig which unfortunately ripped part of the dress. "I'll fix it later." Grace kept walking through the forest staying on guard in case anything tried to attack her.
Lincoln laid down still asleep hidden in the bushes when he slowly began to open his eyes and wake up. As Lincoln awoke, he started to think about his friends and family in Royal Woods. He wanted he could return to them, but he couldn't right now since Joyce and those police officers were pursuing him, especially that one officer who appeared to be in control of the others. Lincoln checked his phone in an effort to divert his attention from these thoughts and discovered that more than fifty texts from his sisters had been received, including inquiries about his well-being, whereabouts, and other topics.
Lincoln was lying in the bushes when he started to hear unusual noises coming from all around the forest. Unable to determine where they were coming from, he got to his feet and began to walk. Lincoln accelerated his pace as he continued through the forest because he could hear more odd noises and footsteps, and as the noises grew louder, his pace became a full-on sprint. Lincoln could hear terrible growls as he hurried deeper into the forest twigs breaking under his feet, and insects swarming all about him.
Moving and running as quickly as he could, Lincoln tried to leave the forest as soon as possible. He wanted to get away from the unusual noises, any deadly creatures, Joyce, and the police officers who he thought might probably be there. As quickly as he could, Lincoln continued to run. As Lincoln ran he was so focused on trying to get out of the forest that he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him so he ended up slamming into something causing him to fall on his back.
Lincoln slowly got up from the ground and saw he had run into an older girl who had a magnificent dress with tears all around. Lincoln watched as this girl rubbed her head as she got up from the ground and dusted herself off. Lincoln and the girl both got a look at each other as they both got up.
"Umm Hi." Lincoln said in a friendly yet nervous tone of voice. He didn't know if this girl was working for Joyce or not. Lincoln saw the girl staring at him, which made him nervous until she ran up to him and grabbed him.
"You're so cute!" Grace squealed as she hugged Lincoln tightly.
"T-thanks." Lincoln awkwardly said as he was still being hugged by this unknown girl. Lincoln started to feel like he couldn't breathe as the girl kept hugging him. "Can't breathe." Lincoln said as it was getting harder for him to breathe. Hearing this the girl chuckled sheepishly as she let go of Lincoln.
"Sorry." Grace apologized as she let go of Lincoln. "Anyways I have to ask, what is a cute little boy doing out in the forest by yourself?"
"I sort of ran away." Lincoln said still not knowing if this girl was trustworthy she seemed nice but he didn't want to risk this all being an act, especially with Joyce and those cops still after him.
"Why did you do that?" Grace asked concerned.
"It's complicated." Lincoln quickly stated. "So what are you doing in the forest?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Grace quickly said as she turned around as she looked down at the ground. Grace didn't want to talk about the fact that she ran away after she and her father's argument, wanting to stop this adorable kid from asking another question about why she ran away she decided to change the subject to something else. "So I guess we're both lost in the middle of the forest."
"I guess so." Lincoln responded.
"I think the two of us should try to get out of here, before anything can get us." Grace stated.
Lincoln didn't know if he should go with this girl, he didn't even know her name yet how could he know if he could trust her? Grace looked at the boy and saw he was most likely thinking if he could trust her or not. "Don't worry kid, you can trust me." Grace said trying to reassure the albino boy she was trustworthy.
Thinking about it Lincoln realized he might have no other option this might be one of his only chances at getting out of the forest, because right now he had no idea where he was. Hopefully this girl knew the way out, so he would have to trust her. Not having any other options Lincoln followed the girl as they walked through the forest.
"So what's your name kid?" Grace asked in a friendly tone.
"Lincoln, Lincoln Loud."
"Cute name, mines Grace." Grace stated as she and Lincoln marched through the forest.
The pair walked through the forest with neither one seeming to know how to get out, neither one could even tell where they were all they could see was gigantic trees all around, bushes on every corner, buzzing bees, birds singing, and the growls of different animals. They walked and walked but no matter how much they walked it seemed they would never get out of this forest that seemed to be almost infinite in size.
"How did your dress get so torn up?" Lincoln asked as he walked over some leaves that had fallen from the trees.
"It got stuck on a couple of branches." Grace stated. "A lot of branches actually. I might not have any experience surviving in the wilderness."
"You've never been camping or anything?" Lincoln asked.
"No, I always wanted to but my parents mostly my father would never let me."
"Why not?" Lincoln asked, "Being out in the wilderness and camping is amazing, especially with your family. Why wouldn't your father want you to go camping ever?"
"He doesn't want me to get hurt." Grace stated before thinking to herself. 'Or our family's image as the perfect royal family.' Grace thought to herself.
"Well even if he is a bit overprotective, at least he cares about you." Lincoln stated.
"Yes, cares about me." Grace snorted. 'He wouldn't want me to act like a doll if he truly cared about me, thus he would let me pursue my aspirations.' Grace pondered as she and Lincoln continued their stroll through the woodland. Continuing to march through the forest Grace and Lincoln began to hear loud growling neither one knew what it was coming from, but the sound began to get louder and louder the two of them walked slowly and carefully as the growling seemed to be getting even louder.
"I see something." Lincoln whispered to Grace as he saw a grizzly bear walking around looking for food. The duo tried to stay as quiet as possible as the grizzly bear kept trying to find something to eat, backing up as slowly as possible Lincoln didn't notice a rock behind him that ended up causing him to trip and fall down.
As Grace helped Lincoln up the bear turned and started walking towards the pair, it intended to eat them it was hungry and saw them as food. The two started to run as fast as they could as the grizzly bear chased after them the two ducked up low hanging tree branches as the bear kept chasing them. The bear was getting closer and closer by the second both of them knew they couldn't out run a grizzly bear.
"Up here!" Lincoln said as he started to climb up a tree. Grace quickly followed and climbed up the tree as well. The bear on the ground let out an angry bark as it watched its prey climb up the large Northern Red Oak. Lincoln and Grace both sighed in relief until they saw the bear climbing the tree it seemed that Lincoln had forgotten that bears are very capable climbers. Seeing the bear climbing Lincoln and Grace started to panic and jumped off the large tree causing them to hit the ground hard as they fell. The fall was extremely painful, but both of them knew they had to keep moving otherwise the bear would get them.
The bear slashed at Lincoln, severing a portion of his back and ripping the back of his shirt off. While continuing to run, Lincoln yelled in anguish. He could feel blood flowing from his back. For either of them to feel secure, the bear was much too close. When the bear tried to claw Grace while she was fleeing, part of her hair was torn out by its strong claws.
"We have to get away from this bear!" Grace shrieked as the bear clawed her but was only able to grab a little portion of her garment. "Before it kills us both," She and Lincoln were slashed by the bear causing both of them to be knocked down. The bear charging at them the two quickly got back up and kept attempting to get away from the bear, however the two started to fear that this might be there end.
Running An idea came to Lincoln when he spotted some shrubs. "Jump into the bushes!" Grace followed Lincoln in hiding in the underbrush as he shouted and leaped. The two of them instantly held their breaths while remaining silent. The two of them wanted to breathe after the bear had been looking around for a time, but they continued to hold their breath until the beast had moved on.
The two of them emerged from the thicket, exhaling in relief. "Thank you, Lincoln; we would both be dead if you hadn't thought to leap into that bush." Grace replied, praising Lincoln for his fast thinking.
"Thanks." Lincoln said, feeling tired from all the running he did, plus his back still hurt. Lincoln suddenly felt Grace grab him. "Umm, what are you doing?"
"You're hurt, plus you deserve to rest for a bit." Grace said as she carried Lincoln in her arms.
Lincoln smiled at Grace as she carried him. Maybe he could trust this girl.
Somewhere in the same forest that Lincoln was in Joyce and the corrupt police officers were trying to find Lincoln all of them searching around the area.
"Look footprints!" A male African American officer yelled out.
"He's right footprints!" A female Caucasian officer said.
Joyce looked at the ground and smiled when she saw the footprints. "Seems that brat was here." Joyce looked and could see that there now seemed to be two pairs of footprints. "And it seems he's not alone."
"Follow these footprints!" Norman ordered as he and the other officers followed Joyce who was looking down at the footprints. They kept following the footsteps until they saw some even larger footprints the African American officer looked down at the footprints carefully.
"What are they, Justin?" a female officer asked.
"Bear foot prints, most likely Grizzly we have to be careful." Justin stated. The officers and Joyce started walking as carefully as they could until they saw the bear not that far away from them. The bear begun to charge as Joyce and the officers all fled and tried to hide all except for one.
The bear charged at Norman who put his hand out and stopped the bear from moving, Norman smirked as he pinned the bear down.
"Pathetic animal." Norman stated as he snapped the bear's neck before finishing it off with his pistol. "Keep moving." Norman ordered as he walked past the dead animal like nothing happened.
As they walked by the dead animal Joyce was shocked, and she had to wonder if hiring Norman was the right thing? She didn't know if she could survive if he ever decided to betray her.