Hello! So I had to divide chapter two and this apart because it was just too long but finally some action is in this one! Eventually we will get to the huge plot of the story but like everything good it takes time! Alright chapter 3 go!

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3 years later:

A horse pulled carriage travelled the path into town. Three travelers were inside the carriage waiting to reach its destination. Maura, who had grew in height about three and half inches and had her honey blonde locks shoulder length as it flowed through the wind. Looking out the tiny window revealed a new world in which her hazel eyes tried to remember by memory. It had taken a few years but she had finally been able to experience what was beyond the castle walls and into the kingdom she was born into. She was so nervous she continually twisted her favorite ring with ladybugs crested on that her father gave her. So caught up in the sights she did not realize that the carriage had stopped and her parents were getting out.

"Come on Maura. This way." Her mother called to her.

The girl exited the carriage quickly and began to follow her family. Many people stared at them and point at her which Maura wasn't use to. Maura did not understand what the sudden fascination with her that occurred with these people but she wanted to know why. "Mother why are they staring at me?" she asked curiously.

"My dear you are the princess and they are just as curious to see you as you are to see them" Hope whispered to her.

Maura was curious about the people. Living in a castle with no siblings or any children was difficult for her. Her mother mostly played with her, especially when her father was busy. But even at times her mother too would be needed which would leave Maura all alone. This caused Maura to go out and explore, mostly with the animals. She was curious to have friends her age that would play with her. She would find joy in playing with frogs, lambs, fishes but her favorite was ladybugs. She would observe them asking her mother countless questions. Maura was curious about life and how it worked but she also wished for the simple interaction with children her own age.

After the shock of the princess in town ceased, people got back to work trying to sell commodities to those who were in the marketplace. Hope and Maura walked around observing the assortment of items that were on display. A woman came out and gave Hope a hug and they began to talk.

Maura who was waiting for her mother caught something in the corner of her eye. She saw five boys playing with sticks and trying to hit each other. Getting lost in her curiosity Maura walked onward to the excitement that was occurring. When she was close enough she saw that these boys wore dirty, wore older clothes that were unlike her beautiful clean ones. Her mother told her that most of the town's people are poorer than we are and they do not have as nice of things that we do but they were still people.

As she continued to observe one of the boys took notice and walked up to her. "Hey who are you?" the boy asked.

Maura looked at him. He had jet black hair, dark brown eyes, and was about the same height as her. She finally spoke back, "My name is Maura. What's yours?" she asked politely.

The boy spoke back, "I'm Thomas but everyone calls me Tommy" he said beaming at her with a huge smile. "So why were you just standing there?" he asked.

Maura was surprised by his questioned but answered none the less, "I was watching you and your companions play with your sticks. What is that called?" she asked curiously.

"Oh we were playing hero. Do you wanna play? Usually we don't let girls play besides my sister but she fights too. You can be the princess I protect!" Tommy said excitedly.

Maura like this boy and she had finally found a friend her age to play with. "Okay sure" she said going along with Tommy.

Tommy told his friends about the girl and all the boys wanted to protect the princess so they would have duels to win her heart. Tommy was winning and was fighting his last opponent when chaos erupted. A tall man with crazed eyes and face burning red started to yell.

"Thomas Rizzoli!" the man exclaimed moving closer to the boy. "What are you doing here?! You were supposed to be getting what I pay you! Now where is my order?!" he was now a foot from him and Maura.

Maura could smell the man and he reeked of what her father's friends sometimes drank. Ale she thought it was called.

Tommy looked nervous and began to explain, "No sir. I went to Mac's and he said they weren't in yet but I already told you this."

The man grabbed Tommy's collar and started screaming, "Don't smart mouth me boy! I know you are lying and you took them yourself you little thief! Now tell me where are they?! he began to shake the boy aggressively.

Maura was in complete shock while the rest of the boys ran away when they saw trouble coming. She could not take any more of this abuse she was witnessing and she stepped in. "Sir please he doesn't have it. You must be mistaken" she replied calmly trying to get the man to relax and let go of the boy.

The man looked at Maura and his face turned close to purple, "Who the hell are you little lady? Stay out of this if you know what's good for you" he threatened.

Maura tried again and began to pull at him, "Please if he had it he would've given it up already. Please you're hurting him!"

This made him angrier, so grabbed Maura by the hair and started to lift her off the ground and screamed, "Shut up you! Now you're in trouble!"

Maura was petrified at what was happening and didn't know what to do. Suddenly a force came and knocked all of them completely on the ground. Maura was unsure what was going on but moved away from the man as fast as possible. When she looked back at the scene she saw the wild locks of someone's hair that was currently attacking the man, full of anger.

"Tommy get out of here!" the stranger screamed having a deep voice that started Maura herself.

Maura sat frozen as they continued in the struggle as Tommy crawled away. One minute the stranger was winning but the next they were being thrown through the air and landed heavily on the ground. When the stranger arose Maura realized it was in fact a girl fighting a grown man. Maura knew she had to do something before this girl got hurt so she did the first thing she thought of. She began to run through the alleyway to the place she had originally left her mother searching for her and then she heard a scream.

"Maura Doyle! Where have you been? What happened to your face?!" her mother bombarded her with questions trying to figure what had occurred.

"Mother I…." she began but was interrupted by her father.

"Maura! What were you thinking running off by yourself! I am never bringing you back here…." Her father started rambling off but she had no time to hear of this lecture.

"Papa please I know I'm sorry but I need help! A boy and girl I was with are being attacked by man! Please they need help father!" Maura begged like she never had before and she watched her father's face change to stoic.

"Where sweetheart? Take us there" her father told her. She did not need to be told again and raced past them trying to get back to Tommy and that girl.

When they finally reached the location it was a horrible scene. Tommy was under the older girl who had created a defensive stance and was taking the man's powerful blows all over her body. She had blood running down the side of her head and her face and arms had red marks along the side as well.

Finally father stepped in and grabbed the man by the front of his collar moving him away from the two kids. Doyle spoke in a growl, "What do you think you are doing Ardan? Are you out of your mind?!"

Ardan spoke, "Those kids deserved it, that one stole from me while the other attacked me. Oh and that one over there was getting involved with business so I showed her who was boss" he said pointing at Maura.

Patty looked at Maura, "Did he hurt you?" he asked softly to his daughter but he was holding off his rage.

Maura looked down and nodded her head in shame.

Doyle's face changed to pure fury and punched the man hard in the face knocking him down and then got lower and continued to punch him. Hope knew where this was going and grabbed Maura and went to the kids that before were left forgotten.

When they got to them it was a sad sight to see. The girl was lying on the ground while Tommy was sitting and he had her head in his lap. The blood on her face increased and it had covered the majority of her face.

Hope stepped in, "Hi honey my name is Hope. Can I look at your friend for you?" she asked full of gentleness.

Tommy sniffed, "She's my sister. And she was trying to protect me…..this is all my fault" he said shaking.

"It's ok sweetie. It's not your fault. How about you stay with my daughter while I help your sister ok?" Hope tried to convince the boy. He nodded his head and went to sit with Maura.

"Maura honey clean up his wounds" Hope asked and Maura obeyed.

No words were spoken for several minutes until Maura had finished cleaning Tommy's wounds like her mother taught her long ago. She told Tommy to stay there and she'd be right back and made her way to her mother.

When she reached her mother she took a closer look at the girl. She too shared the dark brown hair as Tommy and had similar bone structure. She was tall and lanky but had to be close to Maura's age but probably a little older. "Mother is she going to be alright?" Maura asked hesitantly worrying for the girl's safety.

Hope looked at Maura, "She has some deep cuts and a broken nose that's all I can tell. Hopefully she wakes up soon so I can review the full extent of her injuries" she said calmly.

Maura looked at the floor and spoke, "She has to be alright….She saved me from him, she has to be…." She started to ramble.

Hope looked at her daughter with a sad smile, "Well I will make sure she is ok baby."

As if in that moment she heard them the girl groaned and started to stir on the ground. Maura got close to her trying to somehow get her to open her eyes. Suddenly brown met hazel in an intense gaze lasting for several minutes.

Hope finally noticed and spoke to Tommy's sister, "Hey sweetie, everything is fine. My name is Hope and I am cleaning your wounds. This is my daughter Maura. Can you talk to her?" Hope asked wanting to know how bad the girl's injuries were.

The girl again looked right at Maura then began to look around for the smaller boy. Then Maura realized what she was looking for, "Don't worry about Tommy he is fine. He's over there see?" she asked nicely and the injured girl looked at Tommy then back at Maura.

Maura again begins to speak, "How are you feeling?" she asked attentively.

The girl opened her mouth but had difficulty speaking. "Okay. Body just hurts." She said slowly. Then she spoke again, "Youu..okay? Not…hurt?" she asked timidly.

Maura was shocked. Sure she was grateful for her saving her but Maura assumed it was only because her brother was in danger. Maura was confused why a complete stranger would care if she was ok. She finally spoke back with a hint of a smile on her face, "Yes, I am thanks to you. You're a hero."

The girl smirked back at her but cringed from the pain inflicted upon her. "It was nothing" she said nonchalantly.

Hope finally entered the conversation, "Well Miss your wounds seem to be cleaned up. How do you feel?" she asked softly.

"Sore but better. Thanks to you ma'am" the girl relied politely finally sitting up.

Maura was enthralled with her savior and she couldn't stop looking at her. She was really out of the story books she read about with the brave knight saving the princess from the evil villain. Well, all except that she was a girl rather than a boy but Maura didn't seem to mind.

Patrick finally came back from handling Ardan. "Hope how are they?" he asked his wife.

Everyone stood up as Hope answered, "Everyone's fine just some cuts and bruising but nothing life threatening. It seems like your daughter has a ladybug of her own Patrick, apparently since she protect her from that vial man" Hope adds with a smile.

Patrick looks surprised but looks at the brunette heroine, smiles and puts out his hand. "Well thank you for protecting my daughter" Patrick says humbled by this girl's actions. The brunette simple smiles and shakes the man's hand.

Doyle then looks to Hope, "Hope why don't you take Maura home. It has been a long day for all of us. I'll take care of everything here and meet you back at home."

Hope wanting the same thing agreed and took Maura by the hand. "Come on Maura let's go home."

Maura looked at her hero and walked up to her. "Thank you again for saving me" she said again then had pulled off her ring, grabbed the other's hand and placed the ring in the palm of her hand closing the girls fingers around it. She looked her in the eyes for the last time and left a friendly kiss on her cheek. "Thanks for being my ladybug" Maura whispered in her ear, backed away, and walked toward her mother. The carriage had been waiting in front of them and they both entered. Maura looked at the small window at the fearless girl who protected someone she didn't even know and that formed an important bond. Even if they would never see each other again she would always be her hero, her ladybug.

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Okay 3rd chapter everybody! Wow this is the longest chapter so far but I am just getting use to this. For all those who write fanfics very often I give you props because it is a lot of work. But it works especially when people enjoy the story. Ok so chapter 4 is next and hopefully will be soon! Ok bye!