"What am I gonna do?" Princess Jade moaned as she paced around her rather large room in the castle. Beck and the guards had been gone for what felt like hours and they'd sent no word if they caught up with the mystery girl or not. Jade had never felt more in suspense in her entire life. Here she was waiting nervously for her dream girl to return and no one even had the courtesy to bring her to her. She had no idea where she could have gone; she'd been out of her sight long before she even left. Jade hadn't stood a chance, especially after nearly escaping those mob of girlie fans with her life. It was a miracle she was even still in one piece. Some of the things they tried to get from her...she shuddered just thinking about it.

Cat was sitting down on Jade's bed, unable to do much but watch her circle the room nervously. "Don't worry Jade. I'm sure Beck will come back with her soon." she said loyally.

"You don't know that." she sighed. "For all we know she's long gone."

"You don't know that either." Cat pointed out. "We live in a small kingdom so it's not like she could have gotten very far."

"There's plenty of places to hide." Jade shook her head. She sat down on a nearby chair and put her head in her hands. "What if she's not coming back because she doesn't like me? And this entire night was a lie?"

"Jade." Cat sighed, not allowing her friend, princess or no princess, to put herself down like that.

"I finally found her, Cat. I found the one girl that I actually wanna marry and can make my dad shut up about saying how important it is to get hitched and give him grandkids. And now she's gone." she confided in her.

Cat shook her head. She stood up and walked over to Jade, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let yourself get down because of one little setback. We'll find her and we'll bring her back. I saw you two dance through the crowd. And she looked like she was having the time of her life with you. Don't go thinking she wanted to leave."

"But she was in such a rush to get out. She lied about wanting to meet the Princess." Jade replied.

Cat folded her arms and stared at her. "You never told her the princess was you." she guessed.

She slowly picked her head up to look at her. "What gave you that idea?" she asked a little too quickly.

Cat couldn't help but roll her eyes and shake her head. Yeah, Jade was worried about her missing girl and she had no clue who her mystery woman was. Does anyone think anymore?

Beck slowly poked his head into Jade's room, attempting to get Cat's attention. Cat looked and saw Beck. He looked like even more of a nervous wreck than Jade, if it were possible. Not to mention scared like a little puppy. That could only mean one thing - it did not go over well. The best way to get through this was to do it as quick and painlessly as possible. Cat turned back to Jade.

"Becks here."

Jade looked over to the door. She noticed that Beck was giving a toothy yet very weak smile and waving his hand slowly. Jade sighed and stayed seated, knowing already she wasn't going to like it. "Alright, what is it?"

Beck gulped and slowly stepped into the room. How was he supposed to tell his one and only sister that her girl had disappeared into thin air?

Sensing the tension, Cat cleared her throat. "I'll just leave you two to talk."

Beck's mouth dropped as he saw Cat approaching the door. "What? I need help here." he whispered to her.

She shook her head. "This is between you and Jade. I don't want to get in the middle."

"What am I gonna tell her? I need your help." Beck pleaded.

"Tell her the truth." she answered. "Don't worry, you'll both be fine." Leaving Beck with that, she departed the room, closing the doors behind her.

Beck groaned and slowly turned towards Jade. As much as he liked Cat, he hated it when she was right - and when she left him to do something himself.

Jade raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer from Beck. "So? You gonna tell me you found her?"

Beck slumped his shoulders. "I don't know how to tell you, Jade."

"Just tell me." she replied. "I need to know."

"Yeah but do you really wanna know like this?"

"I gotta find out sooner or later don't I?"

"Yeah but... But don't you want some hot tea or something? You're probably really stressed."

"I don't want tea, Beck."

"But you love tea. Especially the ones with those tiny lemons we cut into squares..."

"Lemons, shlemons."

"What about some nice...?"

"Beck!"

Beck nearly jumped back as Jade raised her voice. The poor girl was even more of a wreck than Beck thought. And he thought Jade would be as much of a wreck as Beck was. Beck was pretty much a wreck, having waited for his men all night to come back empty-handed. Alright, his father's men but really, they all followed the same family. Beck hadn't even gotten any sleep knowing his father wasn't going to be pleased with this. Granted, Beck was the younger sibling so was allowed to mess things up once in a while and put the blame on Jade, but they weren't little kids anymore. Beck couldn't be some goofy younger brother, and not just because Jade was normally the goofy older sister. Beck had a big job to do so he had to be responsible. He felt like he'd not only let his father down, but his only sister down. And now he had to come clean about it. Letting out a sigh, Beck finally let the secret out.

"She's gone, Jade."

"Gone?" Jade repeated, blinking.

Beck nodded. "I'm sorry. The guards chased her miles away from the castle. But there was a point where she just vanished from sight."

"So you have no idea where she is?" she replied, hoping there was some way to find her mystery girl.

Her brother couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Dude, you're supposed to be older and more responsible here. Didn't you learn anything about her tonight?"

"Well yeah...I mean, I learned plenty..." Jade tried her best to keep her composure while folding her arms, but that earned her a more than doubtful look from Beck. Jade then dropped her arms and sighed heavily. "I know a little about her. She has two sisters and works really hard. She knows how to dance and she likes to read..."

"So you know just little things about her. But not something important like, oh I don't know...her name?" Beck questioned.

Jade shrugged innocently. "I got lost in her big brown eyes?"

Beck laughed. "I'm sorry sis, but do you really expect me to believe that?"

"You use that excuse to me about Cat all the time." Jade smirked.

Beck's face fell. "That never leaves this room."

Jade chuckled. Even though she was a total wreck inside, she was just glad Beck could do something to lighten up the mood. She did feel a little bit better. She may have lost her dream girl, but at least she still had family. That was really all that mattered. Jade knew better than anyone that she could count on her family for anything in the world. But still, it would be nice to have that girl. That tall, brilliant, smoking hot girl with him.

Beck could tell that even through Jade's laughter she still had her on her mind. "You can't stop thinking about her can you?"

"I guess not." Jade shook her head. She just kept playing the night over and over again in her head. Wondering why she had to leave her so early. And why she wasn't smart enough to ask her name.

Beck patted his sister on the back. "Don't worry sis. We're gonna find her."

Jade nodded. She knew they would, eventually. She just hoped that it could be done before someone else could put the moves on her. She looked to Beck a bit worriedly. Even though she knew most of the time Beck had an idea of what Jade was thinking, sometimes they didn't always see eye to eye with how to handle something. And right now, Jade needed her brother's help more than anything in the world. That was not an exaggeration.

"Will you find her for me?" she asked.

Beck blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Jade sighed, "What if she doesn't like me? She'll find out I'm a princess and think I was just using her or I want someone else or something. How am I supposed to walk right up to her face and tell her everything?"

"No way she'll think that." he shook his head.

"What if we don't ever find her?" Jade asked, starting to involuntarily lose hope. One little piece of doubt in her mind was making her start to question everything. Luckily, Beck knew his sister was overreacting.

"Jade, no need to worry. We have the one clue to finding your dream girl." he said.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "A picture?"

"Not that one clue." he shook his head. He pulled out the glass slipper that Jade's mystery woman had left behind. "She left this on the steps. She didn't even pick it up, she just left."

"She had that bad of a time with me?" Jade asked.

"Of course not. You two were totally head over heels." Beck insisted. "All I'm saying, is that she really had to have been in a rush to get somewhere or else she wouldn't have left a trace behind."

Jade took the shoe carefully in her hands and looked it over. She held it with great delicacy, knowing if it slipped even once, she would lose her chance to find her girl again.

"So this is all that's left of her?"

"In a sense." Beck answered. He sighed heavily. "Now I'll just have to figure out how to break the news to Dad."

"He'll tell you exactly what to do, won't he?" Jade guessed.

"That's Dad." Beck shrugged his shoulders. "He has some kind of answer for everything."

"So you'll tell him everything?" she wondered.

"I guess I have to. I'll be dead for it in the morning though." Beck responded.

"Thanks for handling this, Beck." Jade said.

Beck smiled lightly and pat Jade's shoulder. "We'll find her, Jade. Don't you worry about a thing."

Jade nodded. "I owe you one. Especially if we find her."

"We will." Beck promised. He took a deep breath. "I'd better go tell him."

"Good luck." Jade said. "If this works out in the end, we'll have a game of ball."

"If I survive long enough to play." Beck said himself before exiting the room.

The next time the clock struck it was into the early hours of the morning. It was still dark outside and most people remained sound asleep. But since his talk with Jade, Beck hadn't gotten much sleep at all. As a matter of fact, he was lucky to even get in five minutes of sleep. He'd been planning exactly what to say to his father and break the news to him. King Gregory's eagerness of Jade marrying and having kids excited him so much, Beck knew his father's heart would get broken when he said the mystery girl ran away. But of course, King Gregory was a war hero; he would take his broken heart out on anger. Maybe a little bit of violence. On the bright side, due to the fact that he had gotten on a little in years, Gregory's aim was very much off. Beck couldn't remember the last time his father had actually hit someone with a sword. And that one time the sword just slashed through the guy's clothes causing him to run through the castle in his underwear. Very dark day that was. Beck still got the shudders thinking about it. Who even wore Hello Mousey underwear? Or was it Hello Kitty? Hello Puppy? Oh well, it was something like that; Beck didn't even remember anymore.

As the clock dang once more, Beck decided to go over a final time what to say to his father. He stood in front of his father's quarters. The doors were closed and Beck opted to speak quietly as to not wake King looked like he was ready for the real deal, standing defiantly as he rehearsed his speech.

"Your majesty, I see no point in beating around the bush. I regret to inform you, dear father, that the young lady has disappeared. The only thing she left behind is this glass slipper." Beck paused for a moment to pull out the shining slipper from the safety zone of his pocket. Beck then opened his mouth to speak more, but then realized that it was the end of his speech. Yes, for quite a while he worked on coming up with exactly what to say and all he got was a mere three sentences. Some super special speech. But it got the point across. Sure it sounded a bit fancy for his taste, but he was sure his father would get the message "Alright, I'll do it." he decided to himself. Beck turned to face the door and reached for the handle. His hand was so close to grabbing it, but he stopped and his hand shook. He felt a beat of sweat drip down the side of his head and heard the faint sound of his teeth clacking. Beck sighed and slumped into a chair in the hall.

"No I can't. I just can't tell my dad that. It's gonna kill him." Then he shook his head and looked to the door once more. "But what choice do I have?" He stood up and peaked through the key hole to see if he could get a good look at his father in the bedroom. Inside King Gregory was sleeping soundly and snoring quite loudly as usual. He had quite a large room, the biggest thing in there being his bigger than king sized bed. But boy, was that one cazy king. He was just sleeping the night away. King Gregory was cuddled up to his pillow chuckling in his sleep. It was easy to tell he was having such a nice dream. While not about what some people may think it was, it was actually about his future grandkids. Dream Gregory was chuckling, giving the prince and princess a little piggy back ride. He hopped around and let them enjoy themselves, only to have the young prince take the king's staff from out of nowhere and bok him on the head. As that just happened in the dream, Gregory awoke to hear a knocking at his door. Coming out from his sleep, the king then realized he had moved to the edge of his bed. Hearing another knock, Gregory then fell off the bed and onto the floor. Why did someone always have to interrupt his dream, especially when it was so close to becoming reality? He'd have someone's head cut off, he just knew it. Or maybe just rip their clothes off again. Whichever was easier.

Sitting up on th floor, Gregory turned to the door irritated. "Who is it? Come in." he insisted.

The door opened merely a crack, and King Gregory could not get a good look of who it was.

"Come in already, man!" he bellowed.

Hearing the sudden yelling, Beck gasped slightly and jumped right into the room. He took a deep breath and quickly composed himself. "Um, Dad...there's something important I have to..."

The next thing Beck knew, King Gregory was on top of him all happy and chuckling. Gregory led his son into the bedroom shaking his hand with a big smile on his face. "So she's proposed already!" he exclaimed. "This is wonderful, son!"

"Actually, sir..." Beck started. He gasped when King Gregory came behind, causing Beck to fall into the seat which the king procided for him.

"Where does she live?" the king asked eagerly.

"I didn't get a chance to..." he tried again.

"Oh well, that's no big deal. We've got more important things to talk about." king Gregory said as Beck quickly hid the glass slipper behind his back. "We got so much to plan. Wedding arrangements, invitations, a parade, national holiday..."

"But sir..." he replied.

"Here, have a cigar!" King Gregory cheered as he took one for himself. "No wait, take a bunch of cigars!" he exclaimed, stuffing as many as possible into Beck's jacket.

"But I'm not old enough to..." Beck said.

"Oh sure you are, I'll make a law out of it! Here, take the whole pack of cigars!" the king insisted, dropping the whole box onto Beck's lap.

The longer this went on, the more nervous Beck got. How was he supposed to break such horrible news when his father was so overjoyed? It was going to be horrible. Not just for the king, but for Beck. What help could he be to the castle or kingdom being all headless?

"But...but...but..." he began to stammer.

"And for you, my young son..." the king said as he picked up a sword.

Beck's eyes widened. Oh yeah, here it came. He collapsed off the chair and fell onto his knees. Oh well, if he had to go then there was only one way he was going to go...not like a baby.

"A knighthood!" King Gregory exclaimed. He then tapped the sword to Beck's shoulder. "With this mighty sword I hereby dub you Sir...um...Sir..." Dang, the king had no idea what kind of title to give his own son! how could he be so pathetic? But Gregory couldn't let him know that. Removing the sword from Beck's shoulder the king then asked, "You know what, you tell me. What title would you like?"

Alright, it was now or never. Better get it over with while he could still speak. "Sir...she got away."

King Gregory scratched his chin. "Sir She Got Away? Hm...that's an interesting title. But if it's what you want," he cleared his throat, "I hereby dub you Sir She Got Aw..." Before even finishing that last word, Gregory's face began to heat up. His cheeks grew red with anger and steam was almost completely visible coming out of his ears. "SHE WHAT?" he screamed.

"Dad...in all honesty I did try to tell you..."

"You...you...YOU TRAITOR!"

"Dad, wait! Your blood pressure!"

"TRAITOR!" Gregory bellowed once more. Aiming the sword, the king then ended up slashing the cigar in Beck's mouth in half. Beck instantly spit it out and ducked behind the chair.

"Dad I just need a minute to explain..." he panicked.

"SABOTAGE!" The sword came in contact with the chair, breaking it in half. He then chased his son around a table. "I should have known this was a trick by you! You wanted to be the favorite! Oh you sneaky, sneaky boy! You're going to get it now young man! Prepare to meet your maker!"

"That's not true..." Beck replied as he crawled under the table to the other side, avoiding Gregory and his weapon.

Gregory then sliced the table into two. "STOP FEEDING ME THESE LIES, BOY!"

"I don't know what happened to her, she vanished into thin air!"

"A LIKELY STORY!" King Gregory rolled his eyes as his sword connected with the back of Beck's jacket.

Beck tripped and fell onto the bed, starting to jump up and down on it thanks to extreme softness and bounciness. "But it's true, sir!"

Gregory jumped onto the bed and began boucing up and down as well, though every time he tried to hit Beck with the sword he ended up missing. Gotta love the father/son bond.

"The whole thing was a plot!"

"She left behind this glass slipper! It's all true!"

"It was a plot, I say!"

"But Dad, she does love her! Jade won't rest until she finds that girl!"

"You weren't even smart enough to get her name! What kind of a royal advisor man are you?"

"Jade plans to marry her!"

Gregory's nightshirt worked like a parachute as Beck said that, causing the king to lightly fall back onto the bed. "Say wha?"

Bouncing on the bed once more, Beck managed to get tangled up in the chandelier on the ceiling. He stuggled to pull out the slipper as his father landed on the lights with him. "Jade swore she's not gonna marry anyone except the girl who fits this slipper."

"She said that, huh?" King Gregory grinned widely. He snatched the slipper from Beck and kissed the heel.

Beck raised an eyebrow at his father. "Dad, do you even know where that slipper's been?"

"By jove, we've got it!" King Gregory exclaimed, waving his sword in happiness. The sharp end met with the wire holding the chandelier, causing it and the men to fall onto the bed once more, but to also have the chandelier mark a large hole in it. But the king didn't even seem to care. Even as he fell onto the busted bed he couldn't help but scream with pride, "YA-HOO-HOO-HOOIE!" Oh great, now he thought he was Goofy. Not like he wasn't goofy enough. Definitely had something to do with the blood pressure.

Beck slowly sat up, rubbing his head after falling. "Off the record Dad, that slipper can fit any number of girls."

"That's Jade's problem." King Gregory replied as he rubbed the slipper, which was miraculously not damaged in the fall. "You said that she said she'd marry whoseever shoe fits that slipper. All we have to do is find the first girl the slipper does fit. We're just doing what Jade wants."

"What if the shoe fits a guy?" Beck inquired.

"Well..." King Gregory rolled her eyes and shook her head before tossing the shoe back to Beck, which he luckily caught. "That's still his problem. And it'll be your job to find that girl...or possibly guy."

Great, Beck had to go and open his big fat mouth. He set the slipper down back on a part of the bed that was still soft and undamaged from the chandelier. "I'm sorry Dad, but I won't have any part in this. Beck was head over heels in love with that one girl, not any girl. I'm only gonna help her find that one. She'd do the same for me."

"Well that's very noble and brotherly of you," Gregory nodded, "but I'm going to make this nice and simple." He picked up the sword once more and slipped it into the soul of the shoe, picking it up and practically stuffing the slipper in Beck's face. "You'll be personally trying this thing on every maiden in my kingdom! And if the shoe fits then bring her in. Jade can do the rest. Understood, man?"

Beck gulped, having the slipper and the sword come in such close contact with him. How did he even get mixed up in this again? All he was trying to do was help Jade. But now he was getting into even more than he bargained for. This would not end well, Beck just knew it. It was going to take forever to find the right girl. As much as he wanted to back out now, Beck couldn't. Sure he did get thrown off with his father's glood pressure and mood swings. Sure maybe sometimes he had a slight tendency to be scared easily. And sure, even he couldn't talk to the girl of his own dreams without sweating. But he couldn't let Jade down. And especially not King Gregory. The king was the one that started this in the first place, setting up the ball and having Jade meet every young woman in the kingdom. Heck if it weren't for that then the princess would have never even known the girl existed. So really, Gregory was the matchmaker. Boy that was a scary thought, a man like him in a diaper with love arrows. Not a pretty picture. But the bottom line was, Beck was doing this for Jade. Not for anyone else. Just Jade. And if he got out of this alive then Jade owed him big time. So all he could do was deal with what he had to and nod at his father's...insistant request.

"Yes, your majesty."