Umbrella is privileged to be one of the princesses of the Canopy kingdom. She knew a lot of children had it far worse. The little girl wasn't a monster, she knew her life is really nice and that a lot of people wished they were her. That made her feel bad and guilty every time she felt like complaining. Stuff like how nobody really gives her that much attention since they are busy, how she is lonely and bored almost all of the time, how she isn't allowed to leave the castle. That last one was probably the thing she hated most. How she wasn't allowed to go outside and make friends like any other kid. The only person Umbrella would call a friend is her big sister Parasoul, but even she barely has any time for her. She says its because she has a lot of work and princess duties but the little princess was starting to doubt some of that. How come she was allowed to go outside but not her? Why? Umbrella has always been told that it's too dangerous for a little girl like her and that people might try to hurt her. She would always counter with the fact that she has Hungern. She can fight, maybe even better that her skilled sister.
All of these thoughts were bothering her for a while. That's it. She was going to leave the castle on her own or at least try. The guards were honestly the biggest problem. But Umbrella came to the conclusion that even if they caught her it wouldn't matter that much. She could just try again.
She woke up really early one morning and got dressed in her cute little raincoat. She wore it all the time. It's a part of her. Even tho she's a princess, she hated wearing fancy clothes. Fancy events were one of the things she hated. Stressful, loud and uncomfortable dresses. So many people yet no one giving her the attention she wanted. They are all filled with boring adults. Tho she did enjoy the many compliments they give her about how adorable she was.
Enough about that. She went into the big hallways of the castle. The kid sneaked to the front door. The guards were sleepy since they had just woken up. Umbrella was just peeking past the corner, hiding herself, waiting for a chance to sneak by them. One of them went to get coffee and the other one seemed out of it. The kid found a perfect chance to leave. Success!
She was now out of the castle.
Now where to? Umbrella just ran off to get away from the castle to avoid getting caught. She thought as she was walking and looking around " Where should I go now? We usually go by car but I cant drive. And I don't have one. So… bus or train it is then!". Umbrella started looking around for a bus or train station. She didn't know the difference between the two, let alone what one looks like.
Umbrella started to get worried. She couldn't find one and its not like she could go back now. The child wasn't particularly smart and wasn't gifted with a good memory. Already forgot the way back to the castle. Good thing the streets were crowded with people going to school and work. The little cutie walked up to a girl that looked like she was in her early twenties. She tried talking to her but turns out she didn't speak English. Only French. The kid walked up to a serious looking man to ask him but he just ignored her. How rude. She walked up to a teen and he just started picking on her. On how little she was, asking why she was wearing a raincoat mockingly and making fun of her weird looking umbrella. She stayed quite at first but got frustrated so she just tripped him up with the handle of Hungern.
Umbrella was about to give up, looking franticly around, worried as hell. But gladly a nice blond lady which refused to open her eyes for some reason walked up to her. " Are you lost child? Why are you alone?" the woman asked. Umbrella's eyes lit up. "Yes! Could you point me to the nearest bus stop miss?". The kind lady tells her the way. Umbrella gives her goodbyes and runs off happily. She never got the name of the nice lady tho. The woman just smiled as she looked at the kid running off.
Umbrella found the bus stop and there wasn't a bus, she had to wait. The dummy thought to just get on the first bus that came, but Hungern said something in his garble language that she somehow understands. "Yeah! You are right! That is pretty dumb.". But what else to do? She looked over to a board next to the benches that had the names of towns and cities on it. Umbrella stood up and walked over to it to have a better look. Almost all of the names of the places are ones unheard to her, but a couple stood out, one of them being New Meridian. She had been there a couple of times but couldn't seem to pin point when. Every time her and her sister went to a place outside of Canopolis, she was confused, lost and never really knew where exactly she was. But she decided that it's better to go there than in a city that she couldn't even pronounce the name of.
Umbrella panicked a bit when she saw you have to pay for a ride. It was written on the board. She had like 10 bucks with her. But gladly children her age rode free. The girl sat back down on the bench and started talking about random stuff with a stranger that was sitting next to her.
He probably thought she was pretty odd but it didn't matter, he was still sweet enough to listen to her rambling.
After around 15 minutes her bus came. Umbrella said her goodbyes to the person and hoped on the bus. It was pretty empty. She just sat away from anyone with Hungern in her arms. It was so busy around just like half an hour ago but now it was empty. The kid didn't know when people went to work, since her sister just worked at different times. Coming to think of it, she didn't even know what exactly Parasoul did for work and what princess duties even meant.
After a while the bus stopped at a stop and a couple of teens got on. They had their school backpacks and were wearing uniforms. Why weren't there any other students around? They were probably just late. Something about them gave Umbrella a bad feeling tho. Some of them sat behind her, but one sat right next to her. Should she talk to him? Well before she could decide, he poked her cheek. He started making comments on how little she was and that she looked stupid, stuff like that. Why did teenagers keep doing this, she thought. Umbrella just tried ignoring him.
"Why are you alone twink? Where's ya momma? Did she leave to get milk or some?" kept asking. "My mom is dead." Umbrella answered. She didn't like when people bringed up her mother. He didn't seem to have any sympathy for her and just kept poking fun at her but eventually got bored. Umbrella just ignored him and stared out the window. Not many people realized that she was a princess. As she looked out the window, she realized that she didn't know at what stop to get off. She already was in New Meridian. "I'll just get off at the next stop" she thought.
As she was waiting for the bus to stop, she started getting worried. What if Parasoul noticed she was gone? What if she got lost? What if someone kidnaped her? Wait no, that's exactly what Parasoul wanted, for her to be scared of the outside. " Well that's not gonna work on me" Umbrella thought.
The bus stopped. That made the little girl surprised. She got off the bus, but what to do now? Her stomach rumbled. She didn't eat anything for breakfast. There were tons of pop up shops for food. She pulled up her skirt and took the money out of her pocket. A pop up bakery appealed to her. She looked at the window of sweets and had her eyes on the chocolate croissants. The man at the window was ready to take her order, but he only spoke French. But he could understand what she wanted by her pointing. He gave them to her and took some of her money.
Umbrella walked up to a bench and sat down to eat. She was starving and taking big bites. Her thoughts took over to entertain her while she was eating. Thinking of what to do next after she was done. She hadn't realized how many people in the kingdom speak French. No wonder Parasoul knows it. Before that, Umbrella just thought her sister was a nerd. Well she is still a nerd actually. No matter what she does, Umbrella will forever call her a dork.
Before she knew it, she had finished her food. Hungern growled. Crap, she'd forgotten to get him something. Well, he could wait a bit. "Sorry Hungern! I'll get you something later.".
Umbrella got up and started looking for something to do. After a bit, she saw a bunch of kids playing. She didn't even think before walking up to one of the girls and saying hi. All of these kids seemed about her age, maybe a year or two older. "Hello!" said Umbrella. "Oh hello there! How are you? What's your nam- OMG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" said the girl before screaming when she saw Hungern. "Wait wait calm down! He doesn't bite, he wont hurt you-" but the other girl just continued to scream and ran off. Almost all of the other kids were also disgusted by her best friend and just left. Man, kids could be so rude without even realizing it. Umbrella was bummed out that the others didn't like her friend. But gladly a couple of the little boys stayed behind and didn't seem to mind Hungern. They actually thought he was pretty cool. One of them came up to her. "I'm sorry about them. They are really big scaredy cats. I think your umbrella is pretty cool. What's your name?" said the boy. Umbrella soon forgot about the kids that ran off when the boy asked her. Maybe he and the other kids wanted to be friends with her. " Hi! I'm Umbrella and this is my friend Hungern. What about you?". " Oh well my name is Geno. So your friend is an umbrella and your name is Umbrella? That's odd, but kinda cool. Wanna play with us? We were about to play tag.". "I'd love to pay with all of you!" Umbrella answered. The kids seem to like her immediately. All of them walk away far from the other kids. They started playing tag for a while. Umbrella was way faster than she thought she was, but the others were better than her. Looks like they played games like this a lot. After they got bored of that, they started playing hide and seek. Umbrella was quite sneaky so she hid in a tree. She thought she was so smart for coming up with that, but it was one step ahead of her. The boy named Alex climbed up the tree and scared the little cutie. Both of them ended up falling from the tree, but gladly, none of them got that hurt. They giggled a lot. She had never played with kids her age like this.
After a couple rounds of hide and seek, she ended up getting separated from the other kids. They'd probably think she was rude for just leaving but she couldn't do anything about it. She tried but couldn't find them. The morning was bright and sunny but it started getting gloomy.
The little girl finally left the forest she was playing games in a bit ago. She started walking around again to find something else to do. She ended up in a pretty shady place. As the kid was walking, she saw a man dressed as a wolf yelling at a camera. He seemed like an absolute lunatic. Why was he being filmed? She just walked past him, but he noticed her and said hello. Umbrella turned around. "Hello sir. Why are you screaming at a camera? Are you a news person?" asked Umbrella. "No kid. You see, I'm famous." said the wolf man. She had to admit, he sounded pretty charismatic and he had big muscles. "Really? I've never heard of you in my life. Are you a cosplaye-" Umbrella asked before getting cut off by a loud yell. "OMG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!". Why does everyone get freaked out by Hungern? Personally, Umbrella thought he was the most adorable thing in the world. Forget about kitties and puppies, Hungern was enough for her. She truly loved him, second to Parasoul. The wolf man insisted on fighting her and "saving" her from that horrible monster.
They start fighting. The man seemed to be a wrestler. Not the best match for a little girl, but Umbrella had gotten better at fighting. She was especially skilled for her age. Her sister said its because of her curse and that she has a power she shouldn't use because its dangerous. But how could she avoid it if she didn't even know what it was? But besides that, she won, probably making the man ashamed of the fact he got beaten by a seven year old.
The man walked away in shame, apologizing for trying to fight her and her "cute" friend. When he left she looked to the corner of the alley and saw a cat. Wait no, a girl. Omg a cat girl! Umbrella sat down next to her and the started talking on how weird that dude was. The cat girls name was Fortune or so she told Umbrella. " I think you are the second purrson who didn't scream or freak out when you saw Hungern." said Umbrella. "One, nice pun. Second, I'm way freakier than that." answered Ms Fortune and showed off her ability to split her body parts apart. Umbrella found that really cool. "What are you talking about? That's like super duper cool!" she said with excitement. Umbrella asked how she did that. "Well you see, I stole the life gem from the Medicis and I swallowed it." Answered the cat lady. "But isn't stealing bad?" asked the innocent child. "Well not when you're stealing from bad people" Fortune said knowing full well she'd steal from anyone. "Oh well that makes sense!" replied the naïve girl. "Hey, wanna come to lunch with me. Its on the house! And your friend there looks hungry.". "That be great! Thank you! And don't worry about Hungern, he doesn't eat
living things. Well except that one time he tried to eat a cat but he wasn't serious about it so…" Umbrella started rambling like she always does. "Yeah I remember… Uhh lets just get going." said Fortune. She fully knew who that cat was, she still has scars from it.
The cat girl and the little princess left the shady place and went to a restaurant where some of her friends worked. She would often get food on the house but still felt bad for it. Not paying for their hard work felt terrible. She's a criminal, not heartless. Anyways they sat down and quickly got their orders. Their waitress was a cute fish lady with what looked like a leaf for hair. Umbrella thought she was really pretty and interesting since she hadn't seen any fish type people in her life. As hey were eating their food, Hungern already finished his in one bite, the waitress walked by so Umbrella gave her a compliment " I like your hair!". Minette quickly replied " Thanks but its not hair." and just walked off with the pile of dirty dishes in her hands before the kid could ask any questions about what she just said.
After some chatting, joking and cat pun sharing they both finished their food and said their goodbyes. Umbrella left the restaurant feeling happy from the new friend she just made. She just started walking around again aimlessly to find what to do to entertain herself. After a bit she got scared a bit because she thought she heard the voice of her sister. Maybe she just imagined it. The kid walked past the corner of a building but immediately jumped back. There was her sister with Adam and Molly. She was scared they were here looking for her. She peeked past the corner to listen in. A weight came off her shoulders when she realized they weren't here for her, but for some work or whatever they do. Honestly, the girl never got what exactly Parasoul and the Egrets did. She just ran off so they wouldn't notice her.
A couple of minutes ago, she saw a big clock. Its around 3 pm now. The girl hadn't even thought of when or how she is going to go back to the castle. Umbrella wouldn't consider the castle a home. Its not that she hated it, she loved her big pink bedroom filled with toys and her big comfy canopy bed. But it often felt like she was always in a public place, like she had to be presentable at all times, like she had no privacy, even in her own room. The privacy part wasn't a big problem now that she was little, but it will be when she's a little bit older. Teen girls have needs.
As Umbrella was walking she came across a big school. Tons of students were outside the school, talking and chatting. Others were just coming out of the school, probably after extra classes or club activities. She had some opinions on teenagers. Either really mean or really cool like her friends Filia and Caro- oh wait there she was! Carol was sitting on a not so long staircase under the shade of a couple of trees. Umbrella walked up to her to say hi. She didn't know Carol went to school, since she was part of the labs and all. "Helloooo!". That seemed to snap Carol out of her train of thought. "O-Oh hi Umbrella. What are you doing here?" she responded. "You know, just walking around. Why are you just sitting here?" Umbrella diverted the attention from the fact she just snuck out. "I'm just waiting for Filia. She had to help out some teachers with moving desks and other stuff." Carol answered. The little girl noticed the cello case next to the brunette. "When did you start playing the violin?" she asked, clearly not knowing the difference between the two. To her it was just a big violin. Carol shushed her mischievously and opened the case slightly, just enough to show the kid that she was just hiding the big blade that was made to attach to her back. Little princess though that was pretty clever.
Filia finally arrived. The school girl offered for them to go get ice cream, since she knew how much Umbrella loved that dessert. The child had some money left, but she wasn't going to get ice cream for herself because she just ate a lot, but she was going to get some for Hungern of course. The girls got their ice cream and sat down on a bench to talk. The umbrella ate his in a bite as he always does. "Ey Embry, why are ya walkin alone around here? Where's that milf of a sister ya got?" Samson remarked. He isn't the type you should usually allow near kids just because of his language. "Samson shut it! Here, take this," Filia hissed at him and just threw the cone to let him finish it. The hairball seemed chiller now. Umbrella often didn't understand a lot of the words Samson said, but just assumed it was part of is accent, even tho that didn't even make any sense. She had no idea what a milf was but didn't bother to ask. "Don't tell anyone, but I snuck out. She doesn't know I'm here " the kid whispered. "So what did you do today since you were alone? Carol asked. "I went to lunch with a Frankenstein cat girl after I fought a crazy dude dressed as a wolf." Umbrella answered. "That's odd. Did you win?" Filia asked. "Of course I did!" she proudly responded. "Surprised no other creepy dudes tried to pick ya up-" Samson remarked before Filia cut him off. "Shut it or I'll use the conditioner on you!" she threatened him. "Not again…" he quietly whimpered like a dog. "So anyways, Carol, can I stay over at your place tonight?" asked Filia as if nothing happened. "Of course, my parents love having you over." the girl answered without any hesitation. "Heeey, you having sleepovers without me?" Umbrella giggled. "No no no. I just don't have anywhere else to stay." the school girl waved her hands. "What do you mean?" the princess asked. Filia though of how to say it without being so blunt. "Well I'm kinda… homeless." she explained. The little girl felt really bad for her. How come she didn't say anything before? They even had a sleepover and she still didn't know one of her few friends was homeless. It didn't even cross her brain whether or not Parasoul knew about this. Samson seemed to be getting annoyed, probably just wanted a nap. "Don't worry your little bratty head. Not like you'd understand you little spoile-" he started going off before Filia had it. "Carol, I'm coming with braids to school tomorrow." she said calmly. Damn, Samson's most hated hairstyle.
They chatted some more before the two students had to leave because they had a lot of homework to do since their teacher is really harsh. Umbrella just called them nerds and also left. She started strolling around, admiring the big skyscrapers and the cute houses next to them. Some tiny, others not so much. The little girl came across a house that was almost as big as a mansion. It looked gorgeous. She wanted to look inside but had more morals than that. Oh how she wished she lived here instead of the castle. It looked so big and homely and welcoming. The castle was cool but not very welcoming. Big dark and gloomy. So many rooms she couldn't enter, including her own sister's bedroom. When Umbrella was allowed in there when she was a bit younger but now not. Parasoul never really gave her an explanation to why. She said something like you should never be able to enter someone's room without their permission. That didn't make any sense to the kid, since Parasoul always entered her bedroom without even knocking first. Do adults just need more privacy? What's so bad they do in there? Umbrella just came to the conclusion that her sister was just scared of her cathing her watching Annie of the stars. The little princess had outgrown the kids show a while ago, not like she was that big of a fan anyway.
She came across a place where she was once again alone but something wasn't right. She started to feel lightheaded and dizzy. After a little bit, she ended up falling back on her butt. The kid tried to get up, but just ended up passing out. An unknown time later, she woke up. Oh no, that wasn't good. She started to panic when she didn't find Hungern next to her. The worried girl started looking around for him without any luck. It started raining. Umbrella ran to the nearest building she could see, a church. Good thing she wasn't that soaked because of her rain coat. There weren't any people in the building, it was empty. Last time she was in a place like this, it was packed with people. Places like this were boring to her.
Umbrella got lightheaded again and her head started hurting. Was she tired? I mean she did stay up late last night drawing under the covers. But suddenly she heard a growl that sounded like it came from Hungern. She looked around and spotted a blue haired lady. She was clearly a nurse.
"Hello there little girl." said the nurse. "Who are you and why did you take Hungern?" Umbrella asked. "That doesn't matter right now." the woman responded. That made the kid confused on what to do. "Well could you give him back?" begged the child. "We'll see about that. I'm not done with you. I didn't follow you just to mess with you." explained the nurse. This woman just made the little princess mad. She wanted her best friend back so she tried to fight her, but she wasn't any good without her weapon. Umbrella tried kicking her but was too short and tiny to do any real damage. Valentine started talking to her in a baby voice "You are so adorable. You're just sooo cute.". As she was talking, she pulled down the collar of Umbrella's rain coat and stabbed her with a needle filled with "medicine" that made her pass out once more.
Umbrella woke up in a dark room. she was in a lot of pain. Especially in her head and chest. All of that distracted her from noticing the many cuts on her arm that were dripping with blood. The kid was basically blind in this room of unknown size, it was pitch black. She put her hand to her face, she wanted to cry but noticed a light red glow that appeared to come from her eyes. It doesn't do much to light up the room tho.
Valentine opened the door of the dark room. Umbrella realized she was laying on a bed that wasn't comfortable at all. Might as well have laid on the floor. The little girl felt weak. The nurse took some of her blood.
"When are you going to let me go? Are you going to let me go?" Umbrella asked. "Don't worry, no one will notice you are gone. Your family would probably be glad you are gone. Just another burden off their shoulders." answered the nurse. Umbrella was surprised. Why was she saying such things? What was her problem? "What are you talking about. That's really mean! You don't know that!". "You know nothing. To them, you are just some useless child. I feel bad for your sister. She has to do so much while you are a little bratty waste of space to her…". All of these words were really starting to get to Umbrella. Was this rude lady trying to make her mad? Why? "What are you talking about?! Parasoul says she loves m-" she tried to protest before getting cut off. "*short laugh* And yet another one of the many lies your sister has told you.". The little princess knew her sister was hiding a lot of stuff for the simple reason that she wasn't old enough. But she didn't think Parasoul would actually lie to her, especially for the matter of whether or not she loved her. "Why does this matter?! I just want to know why you kidnapped me!" the girl angrily demanded. "Fine, I'll be straight with you. I'm just really curious about your curse. ". Umbrella staid silent. She didn't know what to say to that. "I mean, I don't have a lot of time left to study you. You probably wont live past your teens.". "What do you mean!?" screamed the child. "Yes, shame your mother cursed you. Probably hoped her mistake of a child would at least be normal. Instead she got death and a daughter who would share the same fate.". "What do you mean mistake? I'm not!" what was this lady talking about. Umbrella was getting furious. "Did you think an 18 year age difference was a planed thing? " Valentine smiled widely under her mask holding back a laugh. That was it. Umbrella was angry, furious. She grabbed Hungern from the nurses hands with far more strength than she had before. Long story short, she beat the shit out of her and ran away.
It was dark outside. She ran for a while and started crying. Eventually, she got tired so she sat town in an alley. Being basically kidnapped just sank into her and she just couldn't help but ball her eyes out. Just at this moment had she realized her bloody hand. The girl just rubbed it on her water proof coat. And all of the stuff the nurse said. Were they true?
Umbrella heard some foot steps near her. It was Parasoul and her Egrets going back to their car after their mission they had been on all day. But the older princess had heard cries and had to investigate. It turned out it was her own little sister. What was she doing outside the castle? "Umbrella? Why are you crying? Why are you out here?" she was worried and confused. Parasoul just brought the crying girl to the car so they could go home. The woman assumed that the kid was crying because she was lost and it was dark. It eventually came out that Umbrella had snuck out. The red head was really mad about that. Her little sister could have gotten hurt, she did. She didn't notice the bleeding cuts on her arm because she was hiding them with her sleeve. The little cutie even had bruises on her legs but those were probably a result of her being a hyper active kid. Umbrella explained what had happened that day to her sister and the other two in the car through her sobs. But she left out the bad things the mean nurse had said. She didn't feel comfortable with sharing that with anyone except her sister. Parasoul informed her that once they got home, she'd be in big trouble.
The rest of the car ride was quite as the child had stopped crying even tho she still needed to. After a long ride they finally arrived at the castle, it was way past Umbrella's bed time. Parasoul and her little sister went upstairs to the kid's bedroom. She got ready for be, brushing her teeth and getting dressed in her pjs. She was ready for bed and for a scolding. The woman started going on and on about how that was really bad and that she could have gotten hurt. Umbrella asked what exactly she meant by grounded. Parasoul was going to respond before she stopped herself. She didn't even know. She had never been grounded as a child because she was too good to do anything bad. She heard that for normal kids it was stuff like not letting them go outside or not allowing the kid to watch TV. That's what she had heard from people that came from far more normal families. How could she ground her? She didn't allow Umbrella to leave anyways, that was the whole reason she was in trouble. And she couldn't really stop her from watching TV. It wasn't like she had much to entertain herself. All she did was read comics, draw and play with her toys. Parasoul said out loud that she would think about it later in an angry tone. But there weren't many other punishments she could lay on her besides beating, which she would never do. She loved her little sister too much to do such a thing.
Meanwhile Umbrella was thinking back on the things the nurse said. They were about to bring her to tears again. As Parasoul was about to leave, the little girl called out for her again. She turned around and saw the little girl sad and teary eyed. Her pink eyes just sparkled. Her fury immediately disappeared as she got on her knees to hug her sister. Umbrella just cried her eyes out in her sister's shoulder, saying all of the things the nurse had said. Parasoul just felt bad for her and the thought of punishment left her head. The little girl ended up showing her the deep cuts on her arm. It was clear, she had paid for her bad behavior. As she hugged her tiny sister it came to her. Was it really that bad for a little princess to want to play outside and make friends?
She would have to think about it later, but for now all she needed to do was comfort her sister. Parasoul offered to sleep with her tonight. Umbrella agreed. She continued to cry while hugging with her sister but she soon fell asleep after the long and tiring day. The little princess had tons of plushies but always preferred cuddling with her sister.
Maybe Parasoul would change her mind on Umbrella leaving the castle on her own?