The Numberland Princess

Being Human

Brooke stared at herself in a large mirror. The celebration in honor of her return had lasted the whole day, and in the evening she was officially given her crown as princess of the kingdom. She and the Numberblocks had all been given rooms to stay in the castle, and right now she was standing in her own room, taking in the sight of herself with a crown.

    "That crown looks lovely on you!" One called from Brooke's bed. She and Two were snuggled together, happy to keep Brooke company for the night.

    "Thanks, but I feel weird wearing this," Brooke admitted. "I've only known I'm a princess for two days, and I'm just now realizing how unprepared I am!"

    "Yeah, I understand how you feel," said One. "Having a huge responsibility suddenly thrust upon you is pretty scary. Guess you now have an idea of how I felt when I decided to raise you."

    "Heh, yeah." Brooke placed her crown on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. One and Two crawled up to sit on opposite sides of her. "At least I have my mom to prepare me for ruling the kingdom."

    "You have us too! We'd never let you down," Two reminded her with a reassuring pat on the back.

    One placed herself in Brooke's lap and allowed herself to be picked up and hugged. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise."

    "Thanks guys." Brooke lay down on the bed, snuggling with the two Numberblocks. "With all of you on my side, how hard could things be?"

---

    The next day, Brooke went to explore the town some more. Adrien accompanied her, knowing she'd most likely get herself in trouble due to not understanding human world norms.

    Indeed, she ran into trouble at the first building she entered. It was a shop full of fine antiques, and one plate in particular caught her attention. The plate was red with a white circle in the center, reminding her so strongly of One she just had to get it as a gift. So she grabbed it and was about to head out of the store when Adrien stopped her.

    "You need to pay for that plate," he informed her. "With money."

    "Money? But I don't have any of that with me!" Brooke sighed and put the plate back. "I guess I'll have to come back later."

    "It's okay Brooke, royalty is always stinking rich, you could probably buy this whole store if you wanted," said Adrien.

    "I just wanted a nice gift for One. Why do we even have to pay for things here?"

    "Because if you don't, it's considered stealing. You understand how bad theft is, right?"

    "Of course I do!" Brooke recalled all the times the Terrible Twos snatched her toys just to torment her. "I've had it happen to me before."

    Just then Adrien realized something. If the only bad Numberblocks out there always caused minor problems, did Brooke know anything about more serious crimes? "Do you know just how bad crime can get?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "There are a lot of serious crimes that happen in this world. What's the worst thing anyone's done in Numberland?"

    Brooke thought for a few seconds. "Octonaughty tried to permanently arrange everybody into wonky shapes one time."

    Adrien blinked. "Wow. Brooke, I hate to tell you this, but there are people out there who are willing to kill other people. You know what killing means, right?"

    Brooke was shocked. "Of course I do! And why would anybody want to kill someone else?"

    "Some people are just messed up." Seeing Brooke's frightened face made Adrien feel bad. "Don't worry, most people wouldn't think twice about hurting someone else. And you're royalty, so you'll always have protection."

    Brooke was still shaken by this news. And it made her worried. She knew Numberblocks couldn't die permanently thanks to Number Magic, but what if somebody tried to kill one or more of them?

    As she and Adrien went outside and continued walking through town, her fears were only heightened as she began to overhear people muttering to each other.

    "I've seen them combine with each other. Some of them are so big, imagine if they fused to become even bigger! They could destroy the whole kingdom!"

    "I don't trust them at all, they're so freaky. I don't care if they raised the princess, imagine what kind of ruler she'll be after spending her life with those things!"

    Brooke gulped. There truly were some people who wouldn't accept the Numberblocks. Would anybody be so cruel as to try to harm them?

---

    Meanwhile in the castle, King Andrew was making plans. Specifically, he was planning on what to do with the Numberblocks. They clearly had some sort of magical power, how else could anyone explain their ability to split apart and fuse together? He had to know their secrets, and find a way to control them. After all, he couldn't let anything threaten his rule, especially not strange alien numbers who could easily grow to massive proportions.

    He looked through the files of information that had been gathered on the Numberblocks and their world, and one page caught his eye. It was about a certain group of troublemakers who might be the perfect pawns in the plot that was beginning to brew in his mind. After all, with so many humans already distrusting of the Numberblocks, it shouldn't be too hard to turn the public against them.