Chapter 9: The Princess Has Arrived

-x-

Gannon looked up from his meal as the phone began to ring throughout his quaint and quiet home. Standing up from his seat, he casually trotted over to the counter and picked up the curled wired phone, answering, "Hello?"

"GANNON!" A loud woman's voice bellowed through the phone, leaving the carpenter's ears ringing as he gawked in disbelief at the familiar screeching voice.

"Mother? How did you -?" He winced as his ears pounded. "Um… Is something wrong?"

His mother's voice suddenly reverted to a normal soft spoken tone. "No, my son. Nothing is of matter. I just wanted to tell you that Eliza will be coming over to the island, seeing that life there is as good as you explained."

-x-

Chelsea took off her hat and ruffled her short "man hair", then adjusted her hat on. This process has been going every other 5 minutes or so. She scanned around the shop and found the place to be so empty and silent, as if a tumbleweed could just cross the horizon of the wooden floor with nothing to interrupt its… tumbling.

As she continued looking around the shop, she found the round wooden table nearby the book shelf and a dark brooding animal dealer reading an oh so interesting book… as he says.

"Whatcha reading?" She asked casually in her modified "man voice".

Vaughn looked up from his book. "What are you doing here?"

Chelsea sighed and answered, "Remember? … I'm baby sitting you."

"Excuse me?" He snorted.

Julia and her mother, Mirabelle, decided to go to the city to get some special orders come in for their shop. So they asked Braden if he could help out Vaughn at the shop, hoping that the two would become good friends while they were out of the way, but the progress of that wasn't getting very far.

Chelsea stepped out from behind the counter and walked up to the table, seating herself across from him. "Is business always this slow here?"

"Sometimes." He answered shortly.

Chelsea lowered her head to the table to get a good look at the cover of what he was reading. "…. THE DICTIONARY? You've got to be kidding me, Vaughn."

He looked up from the word idiot and replied, "It's a good book."

"No, that's not even a book." She said not even noticing that her voice began to sound like her normal non-modified voice.

He looked down at the dictionary again and read, "Other words to replace idiot are… stupid, nitwit, dumb, hard-headed, pea-brain - "

"Okay," Chelsea raised her hands to plead her innocence. "I know, I can be quite the idiot at times, but you don't have to point it out. Sheesh. Let me have my pride."

He chuckled and continued going along the list of words, that is.. Until Chelsea interrupted again.

"Read me something…" She noticed he was about to raise his dictionary and quickly added, "Not from the dictionary.. Something else."

He raised a brow and stood up, picking out a book from the shelf. "Pride and Prejudice?"

"No, already read it." She answered.

"The Ugly Duckling."

"Nah… too kiddish."

"The rest of the books would be too hard for you to understand…" He decided, sitting back down.

"Oh yeah, so I can't understand 'Alice in Wonderland'… Why do you have those books anyway?"

Vaughn shrugged, staring at a speck of dust that floated before him.

More silence fell upon those two.

"Well," Chelsea started not knowing how far this start of a conversation would go. "Let's make up a story on the spot."

"….."

"Okay then… I'll just do the story telling then." Chelsea sat back and began thinking. Vaughn just stared at her, wondering what she was thinking as the gears and her brain began cranking.

"There once was a lovely princess that came onto an island by the decision of her grandmother. The princess's father already lived upon the island to see whether or not the land was suitable and it was…" The farmer looked at the animal dealer wondering if this beginning was.. Satisfactory.

"Why a princess?" He remarked.

Eliza stepped off the boat, finding her father already waiting for her on the sand of the beach. She smiled brightly. "Daddy!"

"Ahh, there's my little girl." Gannon scooped her up with one strong arm, having a big grin on his face. "How have you been at Granny's?"

"Good like always." Eliza peered around. "Is this the island Granny told me about?"

"Yeah, but this isn't all of it. Let's go into town."

"Well, why not a princess, Vaughn?" Chelsea replied, thinking she came back with a good response.

"I just wouldn't expect a guy to make up a story on the spot with a princess in it. I would be thinking that such a manly guy as you call yourself would make a violent story with splatter and gore? Or am I just missing something?" He smirked, leaning on his elbows.

Chelsea crossed her arms and tilted her head side ways. "Talk about descriptive. Okay, you're turn…"

Vaughn shrugged continuing on with what continued in his head. "Okay, so every princess has a prince right? So there was this prince who was just waiting, helping his father, the king, with the daily and royal chores of the kingdom. The princess's father, whom was also a king… was good friends with this king. They expected their son and daughter to be… good friends.."

-x-

Charlie dropped the stack of crates nearby the corner of the room. "Right here, Dad?"

Chen nodded. "Yes, that's good. Charlie, come here."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I heard that Gannon's daughter is coming around today, You'll be having a new play mate now."

"What? It's a girl? Ew…"

-x-

Vaughn stopped… Allowing Chelsea to continue on with the pathetic fairytale they were making up.

"Somehow the princess gets into a heap of trouble by following a dark mean crow to the witch who tries to capture the princess… probably having jealousy over the princess.."

"Then of course the prince comes to save the day right?" Vaughn finished. "It's always at the crucial moment that the hero comes to save the day."

"Right."

-x-

Eliza continued walking alongside her father until her eyes fell upon the sight of Kuu, the black bird.

"Eliza I'm sure you'll like it around here. The weather is so nice. The people are friendly. It isn't as loud around here. And there's some other kids that you can play with around here." He chuckled , walking up to the Chen's door.

Knock Knock.

Chen opened the door raising his brows with expectations. "Good day to you Gannon. What do you need today?" He moved aside to let Charlie through the door.

Charlie looked around, expecting to see the girl that his father was talking about, but she was no where to be seen.

"So my daughter finally came to the island today.." Gannon started.

Chen chuckled. "You seemed to be happier than usual. It must be nice. I've never parted with Charlie before, but it's not like I would want to anyway… So where's daddy's little girl?"

Gannon blinked and looked around, the frantic fatherly instincts quickly clicking on. "Eliza? She was just here a minute ago…? Eliza?"

-x-

"Should we add any details to that to make it less boring?" Chelsea asked, watching Vaughn continue ignoring her by continuing to read his dictionary. "… Vaughn…" She continued calling his name, but no response was coming from him which left her confused. "um… Vaughn? Yoo-hoo earth to Vaughn?"

She sat back on her chair understanding it was useless to get his attention. Fiddling with her fingers, she said out loud, "I would probably be freaking out if I were that father of the princess. Then I'd ask for the prince of the town and gather some townspeople to find my daughter until they reach the ends of the earth to find her…."

Vaughn looked up from the dictionary and stated, "What kind of daughter would she be since you love her so much?"

Chelsea's eyes shined with fanatical content. "She has to be really cute and chubby when she's a baby. Oooh, then when she grows up she'll be as beautiful as me -" A pause… "Ahem… As beautiful… as her mother, or course…" She added quickly.

"Hmm..." He chuckled silently.

-x-

Gannon was on the brink of going haywire if it weren't for Chen's and Felicia's solace. He wasn't the type to sob and weep, but surely was one to worry and pace.

"Oh, what kind of father am I? To neglect my daughter and not watch over her like a father should. This is terrible!" He told himself.

Felicia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey now. Don't bring yourself down."

Natalie came from the kitchen with a cup of water in her hand, handing it to Gannon. "She couldn't have possibly gone far, seeing that she just came here, but man, I wish I could've been the same, having the courage to suddenly turn up gone in a seconds notice."

"Natalie!" Felicia darted. "You shouldn't say that."

"Well I would." She shrugged.

Chen nodded in agreement. " Natalie is right though. She wouldn't have gotten far unless she had already mapped out the island which I doubt."

Taro came in the room with Elliot following behind. "What's going on here?"

Felicia stood up from Gannon's side. "Eliza, Gannon's daughter, has gone missing, father."

"Missing?" The old man repeated hoarsely. "What a predicament. We must search for her. Elliot!"

"Y-Yes, Grandpa?" He answered.

"You are to look for this Eliza. Bring Natalie with you as well." The Senior ordered. "Now hurry up. We don't have all day."

"Tch." Natalie walked passed Elliot toward the door. "Of course I'd have to tag along with you." Elliot recoiled to the comment, but said nothing in response for nothing came to mind.

Gannon sipped on the warm water, feeling his nerves and muscles loosen. Looking around, he asked Chen, "Where's Charlie?"

"You're telling me the Prince goes missing as well?" Vaughn questioned.

"Yes, to find the Princess, of course. Isn't that what all Princes do anyway? In their silver shining armor and glory…" She stood up posing with her hands on her hips. "Standing before the sunlight radiantly dramatizing their entrance to save the damsel in distress."

*GLISTEN GLISTEN*

"Good glory it's blinding…" Vaughn responded.

"But you know it's true.. " She sat down again. "But probably we should just let the prince totally miss the Princess to let the suspense build up…."

-x-

Charlie hopped over a large tree root thinking to himself, "Probably it wasn't a good idea to go inside the forest on instinct."

He recalled the time when Big Brother Braden came from the forest with the other two elder brothers. There was scratches and bruises all over them, especially the huge bite marks that Braden had received from being attacked by a wild dog.

The boy shuddered and jumped as he heard rustling from a bush nearby. He never felt this frightened before in his life…

"Maybe I should turn back…." He said out loud beginning to turn around. A sudden howl came from the direction he was facing and he froze. "Or not…" He continued on the path that led deeper into the forest.

So yeah, it wasn't the greatest idea to go in the woods, but it was only natural that a girl at his age would somehow get caught into trouble. It was easy to remember all those girly girls back then in the city. They always like Cinderella and ponies and stuff. Girly stuff. It wasn't all to interesting to Charlie, but he guessed from what he knew, it was natural that this was to happen if this was one of those girls he observed.

Charlie then began to wonder what the girl looked like. Was she pretty? Nice? Or rude and snobbish like those rich girls he would cross paths with on the street? Was she cute? Friendly? Or just plain mean? As those ran through his mind, he failed to notice that he just passed by Eliza herself.

Now, Eliza was cute and pretty, but the attitude was a different story. She was stylish and had a thing for romance, advanced when it came to social and life situations. Especially when it came to… Romance. But how things were going now didn't seem as romantic as necessary.

Her dress was covered with filth, with matching shoes and hands to go along with that. Then there was the reason for it all in her hands. A black little bird whom she guessed was named "Kuu" since that's all what it said.

It was annoying, frustrating, and she was lost, going around in circles because of her bad sense of direction. The bird was no help either as it seems that this was also its first time in the shady woods. But as how nauseating it was to be alone with the sun still yonder in the sky, her nose fell upon a smooth scent of cookies that her nose had never smelled before.

It was a nice smell, flavors of who knows what wafting through the air in harmony. As she continued following the smell, she found that the smell led her to … a candy house.

She paused with eyes as big as plates. "Wow, this is…weird."

Eliza was known for as being one with fanatical and dramatic fantasies of living it out like a princess should.. Or at least one with an amazing love life that leaves people in awe as they hear about it in generations to come. But she'd never expect it to actually come true. Not had she thought about it coming along this way.

Her first thought…. Maybe this island is magical? No, she doubted it at first, but now tells a different story.

Going back to Charlie and his whereabouts….

He was lost. Yeah that's basically it. Well, also to mention that he was scared, horrified, jumped at every sound, but no one is supposed to know that right? Especially since he's the hero. I mean sheesh, cut the guy some slack.

Charlie wasn't one to go off alone and abandon his daddy like that since he wanted to become like his father. It was unusual for him since he was the … "obedient kind"… and he was sure his father would be surprised by this sort of action from him.

But he couldn't leave a girl to fend off for herself when alone all by herself. His father always told him to be a gentleman to the ladies. Well, wouldn't a gentlemen be like a prince and find the missing damsel in distress?

………..

.Ugh…

Charlie absolutely hated this role. What prince was to be found here anyway? He didn't want to be the one who fit those shoes… (or at least not yet…)

-x-

"What kind of castle does this Witch have anyway?" Vaughn asked, flipping to the next page which showed the list of letter M words and their meanings.

Chelsea thought about it, taking off her hat. She considered the Witch Princess's house with all the beady eyes of the bears just watching your every step. It gave a shiver down her spine as she even remembered stepping on the wood floor of the wayward house. "Candy Castle." She simply answered. The thought reawakened her sudden fear of being claustrophobic around teddy bears

"I thought this was a prince and princess story.. Not Hanzel and Gretel."

"I'm getting there… " She raised a finger. "So where were we?"

-x-

Eliza slowly opened the door, feeling the good scent grow stronger. The door creaked to her dismay and she silently scolded the door as she quickly tried to close it. The door against her back, she looked around to find that it was unusually dark in the inside, a purple glowing light far off from where she was.

She decided to take some steps forward but found the wooden floor to be creaking as well. Trying to get through the creaking quickly, her foot stepped upon something squishy making her jump and run into something soft, out of her expectations..

The lights suddenly went on and Eliza found herself to be surrounded by teddy bears… Lots of Teddy Bears.. Too many Teddy Bears of shapes, sizes and varieties.

"What the -? Who's there?" A woman's voice bellowed throughout the house. The Witch Princess stepped out to the open, her boots echoing after her every step.

Eliza jumped as she felt something jolt, forgetting that Kuu was still in her arms, frozen stiff as well. "Um.. I'm here…"

The Witch Princess turned to Eliza, hands on her hips and her voice demanding, "What is a girl like you doing here and knocking down my bears?"

"Eh?" Eliza blinked. She thought that the woman before her was very pretty, seeing her wavy hair fall to her sides and her red eyes sharp upon her. Eliza concluded that she was as pretty as a princess, but the style of her clothes made her think otherwise.

"Answer me." The Witch Princess brought out her wand from under her black cloak and zapped at Eliza, raising her off the floor. "What are you doing here? How did you find my house?" She studied the girl and found Kuu in her arms. "What's that?"

Kuu jumped, having the feeling that "that" referred to itself.

"Is that… THAT'S THE LAST INGREDIENT!" The Witch Princess cried.

"What?" Eliza blinked having no idea what the witch was talking about.

The Witch Princess set Eliza down and grabbed for Kuu. "Give that to me!"

Kuu struggled as it was suddenly grasped by much larger hands.

"Nooo! He doesn't wanna go with you!" Eliza cried, pulling Kuu away from her hands.

"Kuuu!" Kuu screeched in between the two girls.

BAM!

The three pairs of eyes turned for the door and there stood a dark figure, the light from behind shining brightly by the dawning sun.

"Eliza? Are you here?" A small boy's voice called out. The light died down, revealing it to be Charlie. He looked around, also weirded out by the amounts of bears around and walked up to Eliza. "Are you Eliza?"

Eliza blinked and turned back to the Witch Princess to yank Kuu out of her hands. "Yes, that which I am."

Charlie looked at her and blinked, concluding that yes, this one was like one of those girls from then…

The Witch Princess jolted back from the sudden pause and said, "Enough with this! Big Bear, GO!" She pointed her wand at the largest bear which sat in smack-dab in the middle of her house and it was absorbed in light. The light around the bear quickly disappeared and the bears arms began to move. "Big Bear! Attack those two kids, Now!" The Witch ordered.

Both children irst didn't know how to respond by the bear that was now standing up before them.

"Um.. We better run…" Charlie suggested. Eliza agreed.

"!"

The two ran hysterically around the house, knocking down everything in their path. The bear's speed was faster than the two had imagined which immediately led them to running for the door.

-x-

"So how does the Princess and the Prince reunite with the two kings?" Vaughn interrupted.

"Somehow they find their way back?" Chelsea suggested.

"Then shouldn't they have done that before?"

Chelsea sighed. "Well, if your being chased by a super huge and creepy monster being controlled by a witch, you wouldn't care where you ran… probably as long as you get away from them. Then just by doing that they end up back in town. Simple as that."

"Whatever… It's not like we're going to publish this story anyway."

Chelsea looked at the clock and gasped. "Oh, time to close up the shop. I might as well go now." She stood up and reached for her rucksack. "This was a nice time we had here. We should do this again next time."

"If there is a next time…" He added.

"Yeah. Yeah." Chelsea laughed, heading for the door.

"Hey."

She paused with her hand on the doorknob and looked Vaughn's way. "Yeah?"

She heard him draw a breath before he said, "Next time.. Think of a better story. I'm actually interested what happens next time." His voice was softer than usual to her disbelief.

She blinked. "Really now?"

"The end to this story…" He stood up and walked her way. "May not end up the way it seems though."

"Huh?" She felt stupid for a moment as he stood right in front of her.

Chelsea didn't know what's was going on, but she felt his warm hand place itself on her back and his other cover her hand on the door knob. It was an odd position… awkward since her back softly grazed along his chest.

"Um.. Vaughn?" Suddenly his hand pushed her back and she found herself standing outside the shop.

"The shop is closed, You're too slow. Leave." He shut the door at her face, leaving her gawking at the door.

She stood there for a moment, quite phased. She couldn't help but notice that probably he just smiled for a second there in that short and curt moment. … But that didn't really cross on her mind yet.

"Fine then! I'll take my imagination ELSEWHERE!" She roared back. "The nerve of that guy!" Chelsea turned her heel and paused thinking '…Girls only say that… geh..'

Taking one final look at the shop, she decided to finally head home. It was tiring being with a monotonous guy all day who does nothing but takes care of animals, reads, and makes known his existence… but then again he could have his shining moments, but that doesn't happen often… Very rare…

Looking ahead, she found a crowd in the middle of town. Curious she scooted nearby the crowd and poked in asking, "What's going on?"

In the middle of the crowd she found Chen talking with Charlie and Gannon holding a cute little blonde girl in his hands. Both children had dirt plastered all over them, looking quite wary.

Chelsea had never seen Gannon so happy in his life, but then she recalled from then that Gannon had mentioned that he had a daughter, which instantly made her wonder if his daughter had inherited the macho muscular and ripped body that Gannon had… Apparently not… As the little girl in his arms had absolutely no resemblance to the man whatsoever… The farmer wouldn't be surprised if someone accused the guy for stealing the cute little blonde.

"Hey who's that?" The light voice of the little blonde asked, pointing straight at Chelsea.

Gannon smiled calling, "Braden, come here! I want you to meet my daughter, Eliza." He waved.

Chelsea pushed herself through the crowd and walked slowly up to them. "Uhh.. Hey?" She felt like she was intruding with the father-daughter moment that the two had.

The carpenter let his daughter down saying, "This is Braden, a good friend of mine. He's the farmer around these parts." He looked up to Chelsea, with a quick wink. "I won't tell her a thing."

Chelsea nodded with a smile and bent down, leveling to Eliza's height. Extending a hand, she greeted, "So you're Eliza… Very cute indeed. Nice to meet you - I'm Braden."

Eliza, who took the hand, didn't say anything - just stared at her which somewhat intimidated poor Chelsea.

Chelsea stood up straight, chuckling. "She looks like she could be a princess or something." Gannon laughed out loud.

"Daddy?" Eliza asked quietly.

"Yes, something you need?" Gannon answered.

She pointed at Chelsea again. "I want him to be my prince."

"What?" Gannon and Chelsea blinked.

"What?" Charlie echoed, walking up to Eliza. "What do you mean you want Big Brother Braden to be your Prince?"

"Well, why not? He's cute and cool." Eliza defended, standing before Chelsea with pursed lips. "I don't see anything wrong with it…"

"But he looks like a GIRL!" The boy emphasized loudly.

- Girl.. - Girl…- irl… -irl..

…The word echoed throughout the island. Some knew the secret behind that. Some had to agree. Some didn't say a thing even though they would admit it.

"Charlie, you shouldn't say that." Chen scolded, holding down his shoulders.

"But it's true!" Charlie defended himself.

"Well, even so.. I want Braden to be my Prince!" Eliza piped in, holding Chelsea by the arm.

"B-But…" Chelsea started.

"He didn't do a thing! I'm the one that saved you!" Charlie roared.

"U-Um…" Chelsea tried again.

"Oh.. Psshaw… It's not like the prince charming always has to be the one saving the princess, Charlie."

-x-x-x-x-

Hrrrmmm.. I've got nothing to say. Another admirer from Braden. Woop woop.

- Do Jo