Saving Her: Chapter IV
Summary: Carter knows this is a good idea. She really does, because she's going to be saving Rosie, and anything after that just doesn't register. CarterxRosie
Author's Note: Yay Tuesday Update! Woohoo! I can't say I'm happy with this chapter because I had majour issues with what was possibly the most important scene I had written so far and it took me ages to make kind of satisfactory but oh well…XD Anyhoo, I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Rosalinda/Rosie Gonzalez, Carter Mason, or Princess Protection Program and all affiliated characters and environments. They are the property of Disney in conjunction with Annie DeYoung :]
"Carter? Carter where are you?"
Rosie scanned the crowd, the cold in her chest growing as she couldn't see her best friend in the mass of people looking back at her. She caught Ed's eyes, his worry a direct reflection of hers. Where was she?
The music started up again as Rosie quickly descended from the stage. She was about to take off running when a hand latched onto her forearm. Relief flooded through her, thinking it was her lost friend, but Carter's name died on her lips as she turned and was met with Margaret instead.
"Rosie that was beautiful!" The bespectacled girl gushed. Rosie adopted a polite smile, nodding in thanks.
"Thank you Margaret." She was clearly distracted, looking over the girl's head in the hopes of spotting her elusive friend. "Have you seen Carter?"
Margaret shook her head. "No, sorry. Not since before we were dancing."
The cold dread was back.
"Please excuse me, I must go find her."
Rosie turned to go without waiting for a response, (and only a little guilt at being so impolite), but was met with another person blocking her way. She let out an impatient breath before she realized who it was.
"Ed!" She exclaimed; if anybody would know where Carter was, it was he. "Where is Carter?"
Ed shook his head, his brow knit. "I don't know Rose. She disappeared like, thirty minutes ago and I haven't seen her since."
Rosie frowned; her heart pounded once against her chest.
"Why, what's going on?"
The princess paused. "I am not sure. I feel…I…just feel like something is…"
…not right; judging by the look on the tall boys' face, he understood.
"Okay, I'll go look outside; you check here and ask around if anybody's seen her. I'll meet you by the door, kay?" He smiled, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll find 'er."
Rosie gave him a small smile in return, turning at once to begin her search. She made her way through the throng of students, stopping any familiar face for Carter's whereabouts. There was a hole in her chest, one that grew with every apologetic shake of every head she questioned. No one had seen her.
Rosie didn't understand; she was standing right there, just a few steps away but a handful of minutes ago. How could she simply vanish into thin air? How could no one have seen her go? Where did she go?
Rosie's eyes inadvertently found Chelsea in the crowd, dancing with Donnie in a way Rosie found to be highly inappropriate. A memory darted into her ears.
"Chelsea's the one you really gotta watch out for. She's been on my butt since Kindergarten; she would do the most horrible things just to humiliate me at school…There's no telling how low she'd go to get something she wants…"
Her eyes hardened.
The princess moved forward, slapping a hand onto the Asian girl's shoulder and none-too-gently spinning her around to face her. Briefly she looked surprised, before a smirk found its way onto her face.
"Well look who it is! Princess Rosalinda."
Rosie didn't bat an eyelash, even with Donnie smiling at her over Chelsea's shoulder in a way that Rosie could almost hear her best friend describe as 'creepy.'
"I am not going to play games with you, Chelsea. I need to know where Carter is. And I think that you know."
Chelsea lifted one eyebrow in amusement. "Aww isn't that cute, Donnie? The little runaway princess can't find her guard-dyke."
Something flared inside Rosie then; something red hot and angry. She stood to her full height, a stormy expression on her face as she stood very close to the other girl, voice dangerously low.
"You will not speak of Carter in that way ever again, do you understand?" The Asian girl didn't reply, trying to take a step backward. Rosie followed her foot. "I may still be a Princess but soon I will be Queen, and when I am crowned I will make sure you are given severe punishment for your wrong-doings to Carter and myself."
Chelsea scoffed, her voice raised slightly in pitch; intimidated. "You can't do that. News flash Dorothy, we aren't in Costa Luna anymore!"
Rosie allowed a simple smile to grace her hard features. She leaned in to talk into the popular girl's ear. "That may very well be true. However, you are currently withholding information that is imperative to a high caliber security threat to my country. You are then by default released from all protections under the United States law, and I am free to do with you what I wish."
Rosie let the last syllable of her word drag on through her teeth, drawing back to meet the girl's wide-eyed stare with a blank nonchalance.
"Now," she began, "I will ask you again, where is Carter?"
Chelsea wavered, her fear exploding. "F-fine! She was talking to that weird security guard!"
Rosie moved so that she was almost nose to nose with the girl. "What guard."
"Th-that crazy guy with the cape and the accent!"
Donnie chose this moment to butt in, nodding lazily. He swayed before finding purchase on the mean girl's small shoulder. "Oh yeeaahh, yeah I remember him. Barret guy, right?" Chelsea nodded quickly. Rosie peered at him with mildly contained disgust.
"Are you inebriated?"
He grinned in response. "Saw Carter go off with him and a buncha burly dudes a while ago."
That cold dread that had been filling Rosie all night finally exploded in her belly.
Without another word she whirled around, practically clawing her way out of the crowd. Suddenly it was very warm, and there were too many people crushing in around her on all sides, and her mind was whirring around almost as fast as the room seemed to be. Her chest heaved as their words swirled franticly in her mind, dancing in front of her eyes. It was like the puzzle pieces fell into place, and she stumbled to a stop, her hand flying to cover her heart as it hit her. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, couldn't wrap her mind around it. Because Rosie could see only one image left when every word had fallen into place.
General Kane.
He took her.
Rosie's world dimmed. And then she felt hands, grasping her elbows gently as she swayed on her feet. She looked up into Ed's concerned eyes, peering down at her curiously.
"Whoa, easy there Rosie. You okay? Did you find her?"
The princess swallowed thickly, nodding furiously. On the verge of tears, she clutched one of Ed's large hands with both her own, desperate.
"He took her!"
Ed's eyebrows shot upward. "What—"
"General Kane!"
"Who—"
Rosie's ears roared as the tears built and finally fell, spilling over her eyelids. She had forgotten; Ed didn't know.
"A man…a horrible man…he-he was coming for me, he was supposed to take me!"
Ed started as the small girl in front of him burst into tears in the middle of the dance floor, and he quickly ushered her to the side, gathering her into an awkward hug. He hated how useless he always seemed to be when girls cried. He took a deep breath, trying to quell the rising alarm in his stomach.
"Rosie…you think Carter was kidnapped?"
She sniffled into his chest, flicking her tears away with her index finger. She nodded.
"I do not think, I know."
Ed's mind spun. The 'who' and 'what' and even 'why' pressed heavily into his mind. He was confused. They were just at a dance, a school dance, how could she possibly be kidnapped from a school dance? Why? And moreover, why would Rosie be kidnapped from a school dance? He had figured this girl wasn't who she said she was but then who was she that someone would want to abduct her? But he guessed that now was not the time to be asking those questions. If his tomboyish friend really had been taken then they needed to get help. Now.
Rosie tugged on his arm. "We must go tell Majour Mason."
Ed led the way. "I'll drive."
By the time the two teens had reached the bait shack, Rosie was in such a state of frantic distress that nothing Ed could do or say would calm her. The princess was out of her seat and running before Ed had even stopped the car.
"Majour Mason! Majour Mason!"
Majour Joe Mason stumbled as the panicky princess barreled into him, clutching the hem of his shirt with trembling hands. He was alarmed, to say the least, supporting Rosie by her forearms. He glanced over the head of the jittery princess to find an equally anxious Ed coming up behind her.
"Rosie, Ed, what—"
"Carter is missing!" The hysterical girl finally reached her limit as she sunk to her knees, a choked sob bursting from her lips.
Majour Mason's mind went into protective overdrive. He let Ed take Rosie in his arms to try and soothe her as he tried to make sense of 'Carter' and 'missing' in the same sentence. He was all business as he got the story out of the tremulous girl.
"Rosie." He placed his hands on her shoulders gently. "What happened."
"It is my fault!" She cried, and then proceeded to reiterate the events that had taken place since Chelsea and Brooke had showed her the article that day in their shared bedroom up until an hour ago, when Carter had disappeared.
"—and now she is gone and I fear that she has done something foolish! I am sorry Majour Mason, I am sorry!"
Rosie's sobs broke his heart almost as badly as the news that his Carter was gone; in the time she had been in Louisiana Mason had come to think of her as a daughter as well. One of his daughters was already missing; he didn't need the other one kicking herself for it.
"Rosie, listen to me." He started, gently but firmly. "This is absolutely not your fault, do you understand?" Rosie's tears died down into sniffles, digging her teeth into her lower lip. "We are going to find her. We are. I promise, but for that to happen I need you to calm down and help me. Can you do that?"
He smiled at her hesitant nod, helping her to her feet and wrapping his arm around her shoulder in reassurance. Briefly he turned his attention to the extremely confused and highly distressed videographer still kneeling on the floor. He waved him along. "I'll explain everything to you on the way, Ed." At Ed's wordless assent he nodded, turning back to Rosie.
"C'mon Pal, let's go find her."
Rosie stopped and looked up at the Majour in awe. "You have called me 'pal.'" At his smile she continued. "But that is what you call Carter."
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing the nickname."
Rosie looked down, smiling as Majour Mason led her and Ed out to the jeep.
For the first time in a long time, she felt hope.
Author's Note: Look for an update either on Saturday or on Monday. I'm not too sure yet. So! Thoughts? :]
