🎀 Grace's Page!! 🎀

Who is Grace Monroe?

Warning for spoilers. Obviously :P

Grace Monroe is the main protagonist of the third season of Infinity Train. She is the leader of the rougue group of kids known as the Apex. Grace has been on the train for about 8-10 years.

Pre- Book 3

Ever since she was young, Grace's parents emphasized the need for Grace to "learn from the best" which meant she was always put in private classes to learn. This meant she was isolated from her peers her age. Her parents themselves didn't seem to have much time to interact with her, prioritizing their jobs as hosts. They handed Grace off to multiple caretakers through the years.

At some point, one of Grace's dance instructors placed her in a class with other students. Not only did her parents fail to show up to her recital, they other girls in the class excluded and mocked Grace when they went out for ice cream together. This prompted Grace to instigate a fight between the girls before leaving smugly.

Boarding the Train

One day, Grace was arrested for shoplifting and her parents had to be called in. While her parents argued how their daughter would never steal nor have a need to, young Grace sat there sadly. Suddenly, a beautiful train arrived in front of her, the door opening up and letting out a red carpet.Hooked, Grace decides to board the train.

Grace and "The Conductor"

When Grace first arrived on the train as a little girl, she found herself traveling alone with no denizen around to guide her. At some point, she was chased by the Stewardess in the Pumpkin Car. The Stewardess lunched at her, but was stopped with what Grace assumed was the conductor of the train with an arm decorated with numbers. Her savior. (This would later be revealed to be Amelia redirecting the Stewardess from within her robot.)

Meeting Simon

At some point, Grace came across Simon being chased by a ghom along with Samantha. Samantha accidentally left him behind at the mercy of the ghom. Grace quickly knocked the ghom to the side and pulled Simon away. While Grace comforts him, Simon asks her why her number was so high. Not knowing what it meant either, she simply said it was beccause she was "good" at the train. The two decided to stick together, eventually forming the Apex.

Raid Gone Wrong

After a raid goes awry, Grace and Simon are launched far away from the rest of the Apex. The two set off to head back. On their way, they meet Tuba and Hazel, a denizen and her ward. Grace and Simon attempt to recruit Hazel into the Apex, but she is too attatched to Tuba. Grace and Simon decide to let Tuba and Hazel tag along on their way to the home base of the Apex, deciding to get rid of Tuba when the time is right.

Grace, Simon, Hazel, and Tuba

The four of them travel through the train cars together, Grace and Hazel growing closer with every episode. She was even starting to warm up to Tuba a little. But something was wrong. She noticed her number was going... down. The Apex ideology emphasizes that a passenger's number is relative to their power. Being that Grace has the highest (known) number at the time, she led the Apex alongside Simon. For her number to go down, it meant she was losing her power (at least,it seemed that way to her). Ergo, she decides to hide her number with purple gloves.She was also growing hesitant about getting rid of Tuba, and urges Simon not to do anything to her yet.

Grace Learns the Truth About Hazel

Against Grace's wishes, Simon took the first oppourtunity to "wheel" Tuba and make her fall to her death. She is understandably angry after Simon brags about what he's done and sends Hazel running away in tears. When she goes to comfort Hazel, she is revealed to be a denizen. Hazel freaks out once she realizes she's a denizen and that means Simon would "wheel" her too. Grace assures her that she won't let anything happen to her, so long as they don't tell or show Simon anything.

Grace and Hazel hold a funeral for Tuba, singing the song that Tuba would sing to Hazel. Grace is moved to tears.

Eventually, Hazel's true nature is exposed, but instead of defending Hazel, Grace lies and pretends to be shocked along with the others. She even refers to her as a "null" at some point. She would soon regret the way she treated Hazel, but by the time she decided to come around, Hazel was resolved to go with Amelia to find out more about who she really is.

Grace's Tape

Grace is distraught by Hazel leaving, but Simon seems estatic that things would go back to normal. The two start to argue, resulting Simon trapping Grace into her own tape. Here, she witnesses some of her most emotional childhood memories, leading up to where she ends up on the train and met Simon. Simon eventually leaves Grace's conscious in her tape, and her physical body left on the ground to die.

Grace's tape turns into a nightmare scenario where an apparation of Hazel confronts her about what happened to Tuba and calls her out for failing to protect her. Grace attempts to make excuses, but it is pointed out that the concept of "wheeling" came from both her AND Simon. Eventually Grace is forced to acknowledge that she was wrong, and that everything she did was to avoid being alone. Despite it all, that's exactly how she ended up. She apologizes to Hazel and acknowledges that she deserved better. This manages to jolt Grace out of her tape and make her come to.

Back to the Apex

When she returns to the Apex, she finds that Simon has turned the Apex against her. She is considered a "void" for her "betrayal" of the Apex. Simon orders the Apex to wheel Grace, which the kids reluctantly attempt to do.

Grace and Simon fight on the bridge, all while Grace attempts to talk Simon down. Simon nearly falls to his death, but Grace saves him at the last second. Grace says she doesn't know why she saved him, prompting him to kick her off the train anyways. She is saved by the oragami paper cranes that fly her to safety. Unfourtunately she is too late to save Simon from getting dissolved by the ghom that showed up. Grace holds his ashes, crying profusely.

Post Book 3

After Simon's death, Grace makes the decision to dissolve the Apex and opts to focus on how to work on herself and get her number down.

Headcanons

Grace is autistic.

She has a collection of ballet shoes she hoards in her room, never opened.

She enjoys reading, but she always hated assigned reading, and flaked out on doing reading assignments until her parents threathened to pull her back into private one-on-one tutoring instead of going to school with others.

Grace falls under the "B" Cluster of Personality disorders.

There is a Chicken Choice Judy shirt in her room.

The "friends" Grace was caught shoplifting with were the ballerina kids who mocked her at the ice cream parlor. She wanted to seem cool and badass to them, so they went to the mall attempting to steal something small and get away with it. She got caught because the other kids left her high and dry and ran away.

Lucy is the last person from the Apex that Grace sees off when she takes her exit. Her eye has fully healed by then. Lucy gives her a hug before she goes.

She is bisexual.

If Grace were to dress up as a MHA character, it would be Toga, La Brava, or Miruko.

She is a second/third gen immigrant

Grace kicks people in her sleep which is why she typically sleeps alone or by herself on the bed during slumber parties.

Art

TBA.

My Thoughts

Warning for spoilers. Obviously :P

I've already stated this but I love love LOVE Grace Monroe. I'm not gonna say she did nothing wrong, because she did a lot of things wrong, I won't sugarcoat it. But this makes her character arc so much more impactful.

Yes she was misguided but her actions hurt a lot of people. She grew up thinking she had to step on others she deemed lesser to remain on the pedestal she's been placed upon. She turned to manipulation and more of a "clique-y mean girl" persona as a coping mechanism for the loneliness and isolation she experienced as a child from the adults in her life. Her actions obviously don't excuse starting what is essentially a cult and harming numerous train denizens for kicks, but it humanizes her in my eyes. I understand why she did the things she did and why she acted the way she did. Plus Grace's mom reminds me of my own mother sometimes.

Another aspect of Grace's arc that I love is that it hammers home the lesson that while you can repent and make amends for past wrongdoings, the people you've hurt have the right to distance themselves from you. As much as I want Hazel and Grace to see each other again, it hurts my heart to say that having Grace go back to Hazel and be forgiven would undercut the important lesson she (and the audience) learns. The reason why this aspect is so important to me is that you don't really see that aspect much in character redemption arcs. Not that there's anything wrong with people forgiving those that hurt them, it's their right. But it's refreshing to see a character experience actual consequences of their actions and not just the chracter being "sorry" and "feeling bad" for themselves and then everyone forgives them.