The Princess of New York

[TearsoftheWorld]

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** 20 years ago**

Eribourne

As Queen Elizabeth lay in bed with her newborn daughter, her husband, Richard, paced about outside. Under any normal circumstances today would have been a day marked full of celebrations. It would have been full of festivities. A grand party. But instead... the day was full of uncertainty. Just days prior to the birth of the princess, the Royal Family had received several serious and credible threats aimed at their unborn child. And now that she had been brought into the world...

Her Royal Highness, Elizabeth Marie Winchester II, named after her mother, would never know the life of a princess.

At least not until she was older, and the threat ended.

Arrangements had been made, and it was decided that Elizabeth would live with an American family, far away from the troubles plaguing their kingdom.

** Present **

New York City

2:45 P.M.

Sarah Whitmoore slammed the door behind her and ran down the concrete steps leading up to her apartment. She was pissed off. She never got pissed off. But she was pissed off right now… and Sarah needed to get away for a little while. Letting out a loud sigh of frustration that had long been coming, Sarah continued on down the sidewalk while moving through the masses until she reached the one place where she could truly be alone: Halfley's Coffee Shop. Her only companion was the leather bag that she had strapped around her shoulder, and inside were some of the tools she would need to survive her latest ordeal.

The door pushed open and a tiny bell rang, alerting those within that a new customer had arrived. Yet hardly anyone paid Sarah much attention as she walked inside, and they continued sipping down their coffee beverages while going about their various tasks. An elderly man was seated alone at a small, square table reading the newspaper, and not far away from him a small group of local college students had gathered around at a much larger table to go over their study notes for the week. Seated at the counter near the register was a pair of middle-aged women, no doubt gossiping about work and those they worked with.

Sunlight poured in through the windows and created a sense of warmth in a city that was starting to feel very, very cold. Sarah walked over to one of the cushioned chairs that had been positioned next to the windows, put her shoulder bag on the floor and sat down, and while she could see the people walking outside out of the corner of her eye, Sarah paid them no attention. She closed her eyes for a few moments and gathered herself.

“Can I get you anything?”

“A pumpkin spice latte and a weapon of some kind,” Sarah said as she opened her eyes, her vision focusing on the waitress that had approached her. The girl, a few years younger than Sarah, cracked an appreciate smile and jotted the order down in a small notepad.

“I’ll be right back,” the waitress said before walking away, and Sarah let out another sigh, only this one was a little bit lighter than before. She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, the smell of exotic gourmet coffee wrapped all around her. Leaning over the side of her chair, Sarah opened up her bag and pulled out a thick book, its soft-cover binding slightly worn from being shuffled around. Her latte arrived moments later, though it seemed that the coffee shop was fresh out of available weapons.

Reclining in her chair, Sarah pulled her legs up, kicked off her shoes and tucked in her feet as she opened up her book, setting her coffee aside on the small table next to her. The chair directly across from her was empty, as was the two-cushion couch directly to her right. Sarah was lucky to have found a vacant area in the shop, as the place was usually pretty packed by three in the afternoon.

But for now she was alone, her nose buried in her book (save for when she paused in order to indulge herself in her hot pumpkin spiced latte).

[AgntSmth]

Despite the onset of autumn and the cool breezes that came with it, Ryan Landers had worked up a bit of a sweat by the time he found himself back in the neighborhood surrounding Gotham Martial Arts, the school he ran with his friend Don. He'd spent most of the early afternoon trekking about the city, dropping off fliers advertising the school with every martial arts supply store he knew of, along with a smattering of other random shops and teahouses in Chinatown.

With just a handful of fliers left, Ryan set out on a quick circuit of the establishments around the school, mostly delis, take-out joints, and coffee shops. Unlike the martial arts supply stores, which were mostly one- or two-person operations where everyone who worked a given shop had a good rapport with Ryan, the places nearby the school were all hit-and-miss. Sometimes he would get the opportunity to speak with the same employee (or, if he was really lucky, a manager) more than twice and build up a decent working relationship, but most times, it was always a new face.

When he got into Halfley's Coffee Shop, it was, of course, a new face. Although the girl working the counter was a little hesitant at first, she eventually gave Ryan permission to leave a small stack of fliers near the register, next to a few assorted advertisements that the shop had for other places around the city. As he turned to leave, he was stopped by a gentleman who appeared a few years older than the girl at the counter - probably the manager working at that particular hour.

"Sorry about Jen," the man said with a warm smile, "she's new. If you want, you can tack a couple of those up on our bulletin board too."

He gestured to a small corkboard hanging from the wall, situated between the door and the large windows that made up the front of the store, where a dark-haired young woman sat by herself amongst the large, cushioned chairs. The manager followed Ryan over to the board, reading the flier over his shoulder as he stuck a pushpin right along the top edge.

"Martial arts, huh? I've been thinking about getting into it, but I dunno if it's for me."

Ryan grinned, handing the manager one of his extra fliers. Marketing was not his strongest suit, but he still welcomed any opportunity to talk up the school.

"You should come by sometime," he said. "Great atmosphere, everyone there is really friendly. People of all ages. It's good for fitness, and hey, we all need to let out a little steam now and again. You work in the middle of Manhattan - don't you ever just want to punch someone in the face at the end of the day?"

While the manager pondered what he'd said, Ryan suddenly became aware again of the young woman seated by the windows. Now that he actually paid attention, he could almost feel the tension radiating out of the windowed seating area. She certainly looked like she was ready to punch someone in the face -- and he hoped it wasn't him.

[TearsoftheWorld]

Sarah lifted her eyes up from her book when she sensed people walking over towards her general vicinity, and sure enough two men had walked over, though they not coming over to bother her. At least not intentionally. Sarah was still a little unnerved from the altercation she had with boyfriend Michael earlier, and just having people within a five foot radius around her caused her ire to flare up a bit.

Well... her former boyfriend, at any rate. Sarah was mentally kicking herself for ever even going out with him. He was ungrateful. Self-centered. Jealous. Over-protective. Punkish. Ungrateful. Even more ungrateful. Piggish.

Not to mention ungrateful.

Sarah recognized one of the men as the manager of the coffee shop, and he seemed to be showing the other man where the message board was. Though already laden with dozens of other fliers, the other man managed to find enough space at the top to post his bulletin. By that point Sarah had genuinely lost interest in their conversation, and she resumed reading her book. Her bookshelf at home was jammed full of various epic fantasy and historical novels, though this time she decided to go with something a little more... unique.

The Princess Diaries. It was fiction, to be sure, but with ties to the real world.

The genre, she supposed, would fall under chick-lit, and the story itself followed after a young girl named Mia that discovers she is actually the Princess of a foreign land called Genovia, and that she is the only living heir to the royal throne.

It was an easy read, and one that took her mind off her own problems at home.

Sarah felt as if someone was constantly staring at her, and raising her eyes up out of her book she discovered that the second man from before, the one posting the flier, was still looking her way. Although her thoughts were far away from admiring his physical qualities, she did have to admit that he was rather handsome. In a very strange strangerly way.

"Yeah?" she asked, a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

[AgntSmth]

Ryan must have let his gaze linger toward the windows for too long, because just as he was turning to leave, the young woman seated there looked up at him.

"Yeah?" she said, more of a statement than a question, with a hint of a snap in her voice.

Although he wasn't entirely sure what he'd done wrong, Ryan felt as if he had just been caught red-handed. Part of him wanted to get defensive - what right did she have to question him so fiercely in a business open to the public? But he decided that getting defensive wouldn't help. Maybe she was just having a bad day, or maybe she was purposely picking a fight with him. Either way, being defensive would only makes things worse.

"Hmmm?" he replied, not bothering to turn his body to face her. "Oh, nothing. Just watching people pass by the windows."

Still, the fighter in him couldn't resist a little dig at her, and the businessman in him couldn't resist a marketing opportunity.

"Somebody's got their claws extended all the way out today, huh?" he said with a smile. If she was a New Yorker to the bone, he knew his smile wouldn't do a thing to save him. "You should pop by my martial arts school sometime. You seem like you've got a lot of stress bunched up that needs to be let out. I'm Ryan, the head instructor. What's your name?"

Still holding his smile, now he turned to her, offering his hand. If the young woman did decide to blow up in his face, he was fairly confident his training would enable him to survive the encounter, though he might have to go the rest of his life without the use of his right hand.

[TearsoftheWorld]

"Oh, nothing. Just watching people pass by the windows."

"You're a terrible liar," Sarah said as she returned to looking down at her book, and she blindly reached over to her side and picked up her drink. After taking a sip she gingerly tapped her index finger along the side of the cup, as if thinking hard about what to say next. It would be Ryan, however, who would be the first to speak up, and, despite her negative attitude towards him so far, continued to smile at her.

"Somebody's got their claws extended all the way out today, huh?"

Sarah actually smirked, and she silently conceded that round to him. She set the cup down next to her and relaxed into her seat.

"You should pop by my martial arts school sometime. You seem like you've got a lot of stress bunched up that needs to be let out. I'm Ryan, the head instructor. What's your name?"

Persistent... that was for damn sure.

"Sarah," she said after a moment. "I'll keep your offer in mind," Sarah added.

Later that evening
~ ~ ~

Sarah fumbled for the keys in her pockets as she walked up the steps towards her apartment, and getting to the top she discovered that the door was already open. He was standing under the doorway, having apparently waited for her to come back after she had stormed off earlier that afternoon. Jason back up out of the way as she moved inside, and then closed the door.

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk."

"Well I don't," Sarah said quickly as she dropped her bag off next to the couch. "I'd prefer it if you just left, actually."

"Hey, this is my apartment too."

"Wrong!" Sarah snapped quickly, her anger swelling. "It's my apartment. You just happen to live here when you're not fucking with some prostitute."

Jason threw the empty cup he was holding at the adjacent wall, and the resulting collision sent the shattered glass pieces flying all over the room. Sarah instantly froze and then winced as if she had been struck by one of the shards, and she only relaxed once Jason had stormed off. After the door slammed shut behind him, she sat down on the couch and cried.

A sudden knocking at her door caused Sarah to snap out of her emotional state, and rising to her feet she wiped away the tears that had streamed down her face.

She knew it wasn't Jason at the door.

He wouldn't have knocked.

"Mr. Jerrin..." Sarah said with surprise after she had opened the door and saw her neighbor standing there. The old man seemed immensely concerned, having apparently heard the commotion from next door.

"Is everything alright?"

Sarah nodded her head, though she was still visibly shaken.

"Jason and I just had a bit of a fight... but it's over," she said.

"Do you want some company? In case he comes back?"

Sarah smiled warmly, but she shook her head. "I think I'm going to go for a walk, try to clear my head. But thank you," she said. Once Mr. Jerrin had left, Sarah retreated back inside and closed the door. She spent the next couple of minutes cleaning up some of the broken glass, but that only caused her emotions to flare up again.

She needed to get out of the apartment.

For whatever reason... Sarah suddenly remembered the invitation that... guy... gave her back at the coffee shop. He said he was a martian arts instructor, and that she was free to show up and vent some of her frustrations.

Why not?

After grabbing her jacket and keys, Sarah locked the apartment door and headed off in search of the studio. After a bit of wandering around, Sarah remembered that she had no idea where the damned place was. Taking a slight detour at Halfley’s, Sarah found the address off of one of the fliers that Ryan had posted on the window, and she went from there. It took her a little while to get there, and she walked in just as a class was already in session. The only familiar face she saw was that of Ryan's, though his name was still escaping her for the moment. Everyone seemed so into what they were doing... that Sarah almost felt like turning around.

[AgntSmth]

Ryan was just a few minutes into leading his class through their forms when he heard the door to the school open and then close again. He didn't think much of it; walk-ins were quite common at the school despite the fact that the website and flyers all encouraged prospective students to call and schedule and introductory class. Usually an assistant instructor or Don would intercept any walk-ins and get them set up for an intro on a later date, allowing Ryan to continue teaching his classes without interruptions.

For some reason, though, Ryan turned his head to glance over at the entrance just as Don, who'd also noted the door opening and closing, began to walk toward whoever it was that had come in. It took Ryan a few seconds, but he recognized the girl as the young woman that he'd spoken to briefly in the coffee shop. She looked a bit intimidated just by the mere fact that she was there. Don, despite being tall and well-built, was usually pretty personable and didn't really intimidate or scare away any walk-ins, but Ryan could tell that this girl -- Sally? Sarah? -- was scanning the room in search of a familiar face.

Putting one of his intermediate students in charge of leading the others, Ryan headed over to the entrance, intercepting Don before he reached Sarah.

"I've got this one," he said, waving Don off before turning to Sarah. "Glad to see you here. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you in so soon, but there's no problem with that. Do you have some comfortable clothes to train in?"