Can I Be Your Hero, Please?

"You are to bring the Princess back at once and rescue her from the tower The Count placed her in!"

This was an order given to Prince Grayson- a prince not very experienced in "Saving Princesses" as it is put. Upon hearing this order, Prince Grayson was very nervous, for he was not as brave as other princes and never thought of himself as a hero.

But his father had given him an order. And his father was the King, and so it was all the more important to listen to his order.

Grayson was to travel to the dangerous woods, and find the tower where the wicked Count had locked Princess Pretty Precious away. There he would climb up the tower, and heroically save the Princess, so she could return and they could live happily ever after.

But, truth be told, Grayson did not think he could be a hero for any Princess. Especially after what happened last time.

It was only a few months ago that Grayson searched for Princess Isa Gem. He searched high and low, and low and high. For seven days and seven nights, Grayson searched and hoped and hoped and searched. But in the end, he could not find her.

Grayson was sad, for he so truly wanted to be Isa Gem's hero. He had met her once, and she was truly the nicest princess he had ever met. "If I can be a hero," Grayson thought to himself sadly, "I wish I could be Isa Gem's hero."

And now, he was ordered to help another despaired Princess? Grayson did not think it was fair to these princesses that he was sent to rescue- he was such a lousy prince after all.

Still, Grayson would not give up hope. He knew a fair maiden's happiness was on the line, and so he would help her.

Grayson journeyed through many obstacles for many weeks. He ran through quicksand, snuck past sleeping wolves, and fought off pesky bees. And after many travels, Grayson was amazed to find that he had reached the tower where the Count had taken the Princess.

Grayson took a deep breath. He was ready to face the Count and save the Princess. He took one step towards the tower and...

"So what are you doing here???"

Grayson jumped at the voice, surprised, and looked over his shoulder. At first he was afraid that it was another bee. Instead, it was a pretty dragonfly.

"Um, hello," Grayson said confused, "I did not know dragonflies talked."

"And I didn't know princes came around these woods!" The dragonfly laughed.

Grayson looked at the dragonfly blankly, and the dragonfly seemed to sigh.

"Oh, I'm sorry... was I interrupting..."

"Yes, but it's okay. I was just going to save Princess Precious," Grayson explained.

"Oh," the dragonfly said, almost sounding hurt. "I thought you were..."

"Thought I was what?"

"Never mind, I suppose she is very special," the dragonfly answered quickly, almost angrily.

"But miss dragonfly," Grayson said with a frown, "I don't understand"-

"Go on!" the dragonfly said, annoyed. "Go save her, and don't let me stop you!"

Grayson walked to the door, sad that he had made the dragonfly upset. Before he went in, he turned around and looked at the dragonfly. "But you should know that you are clearly very special too. And I'm sorry if I made you sad."

The dragonfly turned to Grayson again, and Grayson smiled at her, and then went inside.

After climbing the tallest tower that Grayson had climbed, he finally reached the top. He was nervous, but he was also excited.

"Evil Count," Grayson said in a whisper, preparing what he would say, "you will not be victorious. For I"-

"I have now SAVED you, Princess!!!"

Grayson frowned, his sentence finished by another person's voice. He noticed it had come from the room across from him. So he walked inside... and saw Princess Pretty Precious run up to a different Prince.

"Oh, thank you Prince!"

Grayson stood in the doorway, very surprised, and very upset at what he was seeing. Because he was very surprised and very upset, he could not stop himself from saying out loud, "What is going on???"

The other Prince looked at Grayson puzzled, "I, Prince Victor Valor, am in the middle of rescuing this Princess. I have just sent the Evil Count downstairs for a timeout, and now we are rejoicing."

Princess Precious looked at Grayson annoyed, "Yeah, so who are you?"

Grayson stammered, "I- I"-

"Well if you don't even know, then go away," Princess Precious said in a very mean way. "You are ruining my perfect rescue!"

Grayson didn't argue anymore as he sadly left the Princess alone with Victor Valor. Again, he had failed to rescue a princess. Only this time, another Prince beat him to it.

When he reached the bottom of the tower, he was surprised that the dragonfly was still waiting for him.

"What are you doing here still?" Grayson asked.

"I was leaving, when I heard the Princess shouting at you," the dragonfly answered. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well I'm even sorrier," Grayson said in a tired way as he sat down on a tree stump. "I just wanted to help a princess once, just so I could be her hero."

The dragonfly looked at Grayson nervously and hesitated. Suddenly she right up to Grayson and landed in his hands.

"Kiss my wings," the dragonfly said plainly.

Grayson looked at the dragonfly in a funny way, "What? That sounds silly."

"I know, but just do it," the dragonfly persisted.

"Do I have to?" Grayson said in a whiny way.

"If you want to be a hero," the dragonfly said seriously, "Then do it."

Grayson knew now that he had to, even though it sounded sort of gross. He closed his eyes and quickly kissed the dragonfly's wingtips. As soon as he did, the dragonfly began to transform...

And became the beautiful Princess Isa Gem.

Grayson looked at Isa Gem surprised, and she looked at Grayson with a smile as she folded her hands together daintily, "Thank you, Prince Grayson."

"How... why... why didn't you tell me before?" Grayson asked.

"I thought you had forgotten about me when you were saving Princess Precious," Isa explained.

"Of course not, I was only doing what my father said," Grayson said with a smile as he walked toward Princess Isa. "I wanted to rescue your, Princess Isa. But I wasn't a good enough hero."

Isa smiled, "Of course you are a hero, Prince Grayson. You were always my hero, and now you are my Prince."