SUMMARY: Alyssum. Lucy's a girl which used to be the beloved daughter of a wealthy family, but it all ends when her mother dies. She lives with her evil stepmother and stepsisters who treat her as a servant. Lucy doesn't feel like she belongs there anymore. At the same time, right before the ball when he is to chose (reluctantly) a wife for himself before taking over the kingdom, prince Gray - a young and using his life and position - learns from the king and the queen he's not their biological son. That makes him feel like and outsider. He learns the truth about his extraction. The meeting of those two changes everything in their lives. More or less;P
This is a story which I started writing a while ago, but ittotally sucked. But, since I started reading a fanfic ofpunkbear1999I decided to edit it and start over. So, big thanks to you for inspiration, and I hope you'll all enjoy it.
The story's a crossover from the Walt Disney's Cinderella, but the main characters – okay, okay, to be honest, all the characters, I'm crazy over them! – are from Fairy Tail.But. The action is not going to be like in the fairy tale, and there's going to be…
Oh, wait. YOU'LL SEE :D
Note: I. Do. Not. Own. Anything.
Once upon a time, there was a country named Alyssum. There was a small girl living there. She was a happy child with long blond curls on her tiny head, always smiling rosy lips, good natured, and with a head full of strange and crazy ideas. Her name was Lucy Heartfilia.
Lucy was living within a wealthy and respected family with her parents. Jude and Layla Heartfilia were good people, but her father did not have that much time for his daughter and wife due to his obligations. It was only natural that Lucy was spending most of the time with her beautiful mother who was considered by many the best person in a world. It did not matter if the weather was dreadful, or Layla was feeling bad, or there was something else for her to do on the request of Jude. Her daughter was a paramount thing in the woman's life and there was no way she would have ignored Lucy's ask to play.
Lucy reached happily the age of eight when her beloved mother fell ill. The medics were helpless. Jude started looking constantly worried, he even reduced his duties to minimum. Layla was suffering, but she never stopped smiling. Until the last day of her life, the last hour and the last words she said to Lucy she was cheery. The moment the woman stopped breathing was tragic for Lucy and her father. They both loved her and then she was gone.
Despite the circumstances, Jude did not move out and stayed with Lucy at the same place, burying his wife in the backyards of the possession. Lucy started a lonely life since Jude never had any time for her. What was worse, he became inaccessible and cold towards Lucy. The girl did not understand his behavior, he had been so loving before! But the worst was yet to come.
One day Jude came to his daughter's room and announced her she was going to have two sisters and a new mother from then on. The girl did not understand at first and asked him if he was joking. "Not at all!" her father was outraged. Lucy learned that he was going to remarry soon for her to have a mother and a company to play.
What was said, happened quickly. In a week, Lucy was living with a nasty stepmother Minerva, who made her call her "Mother" and two stepsisters: Jenny and Sherry. They were almost the same age as Lucy, but from the very beginning treated her like an unworthy person.
The blonde who was not used to that kind of treatment was suffering and did not understand why they were making her feel like nothing. However, after a few years, she got partly used to it since there was not a thing she could have done. Soon, Minerva started calling her Cinderella, plus Jenny and Sherry followed their mother steps.
Not in a long time Lucy's real name had been forgotten and she became a mere Cinderella who was doing everything in the possession of Heartfilia family: cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, taking care of the animals, and doing everything to make the cruel stepmother satisfied with humiliating her stepdaughter – because that was exactly the main point of it. Nevertheless, receiving from the fate her mother's character, Lucy never complained, doing anything her new 'family' told her to do. Jude was never at home, working himself to death and not taking care of his once beloved daughter and the only living memory of Layla.
The girl did not have any social contacts anymore so books and imagination became her best friends. When she had some free time, she used to sit in her small room and read the romances she had found in a library when Minerva was absent. Jenny and Sherry never seemed to be interested in any kind of literature, well, maybe in the news from the fashion world. Both of the sisters were pretty, nonetheless, they were completely spoiled by their mother who was treating them like princesses. They enjoyed being treated better than Cinderella and soon started to use her the way Minerva did.
One day, when Lucy was going to the town to buy some things in a market, she found a little white dog which was yelping quietly. The good-hearted girl decided to take care of it and took the dirty dog with herself. At first, Minerva went furious, yelling at Cinderella for bringing the filthy piece of scrofula to the possession. She threw the dog out, although it was not a day when it came back. The stepmother did not hesitate to outplace it once again, but it eventually got back again. And again. After the fifth time Minerva hissed to Lucy she could have kept it since there was nothing else she could have done. And that was the only reason she accepted the dog. The girl named it Plue. When she washed and brushed him it turned out to be quite cute and agreeable. It was pretty graceful as well and always followed Cinderella everywhere.
Jenny and Sherry made a huge fuss over the fact Cinderella got a dog. How come had she received something and they did not? So Minerva decided to buy them a cat which they named Carla, more of a royal name than Plue. Carla was always looking on everybody from the top, being full of herself. And the person she definitely hated was – for sure, to the Reader's surprise – Cinderella.
And that was the general sketch of Lucy Heartfilia's life which changed from heaven to the complete opposite.
Many years had passed. Lucy, alias Cinderella was 17 by then and nothing really changed since the arrival of the evil stepmother and the stepsisters. Well, she maybe had more duties since she was older and more responsible.
She was still in her room, getting dressed in an old dress and an apron. She put a dark babushka on her long, straight blond hair for them not to get in the eyes and looked outside of the window. She sighed. What a beautiful day…
"Cinderella, to my room! Now." Cinderella heard a subdued sharp voice and sighed. Minerva. She had been calling her sometimes to her room in person when there was some bigger event coming and she wanted to asseverate the details of every little thing to be done. And she had dared to think that was a pretty day just a moment ago…
The blonde refined her clothes and went out of the room. She ran down the stairs, hooking against the kitchen to grab a glass of water with a joice syrup for the stepmother and headed back, then turned into the second corridor. She went by the pair of doors and knocked on the third.
"Come in."
"Good morning, mother." Said Lucy with a slight smile, bobbing. She approached half-laying woman with the glass. "You called me."
"Of course I did" said Minerva with a smirk from her bed, showing her stepdaughter with a chin a night table, then crossed her arms. Lucy put the glass down on it and turned to the mother. She eyed up the girl and shook her head. "Anyway. Cinderella, do you know the news?" When Lucy shook her head, she knocked with her fingers on her arm. "Where do you live, you foolish child! This is the event of the year…! Hmpf. The king in three days organizes a ball for every lady in Alyssum. The whole kingdom will gather there. But that's not the thing."
"Yes?" Lucy asked, knowing well it was better to show interest.
"The prince is going to pick a wife for himself. And my plan is for him to marry Jenny or Sherry!" Minerva smiled evilly and smirked again. "That's why I want you to pay attention to the food you're preparing, not too fat for the girls. Moreover, take a look at their best dresses and wash them delicately, iron them, and fix every flaw. Understood?"
"Yes, mother." Answered Cinderella.
"Oh, and go to the town to buy some things. You will find a list in the kitchen." The woman said and took her glass of water. "Now, go. I don't want you here anymore."
Lucy nodded and left the room, closing the door. Well, if she wanted to make everything in time, she should have made some tea for her sisters, should have woken them up and after that the blonde needed to pay the town a visit. As Minerva had said, the full list of shopping was in the kitchen in a visible place. She smiled and turned the kettle on. Later she came closer to the corner of the room and leaned over the white dog. "Plue, wake up and keep me company as always!"
The dog moved and got up, overrunning. It barked and wagged its tail. "Good, Plue, let's have some breakfast, shall we?"
Lucy heaped some dog food into Plue's bowl and started humming to herself a well-known melody of a waltz. The water boiled, so she made the tea and put it on a salver. Then she winked at the eating dog and left to bring the tea to her sisters. When she reached the door of Jenny's room, she knocked and opened it.
"Hello, Jenny. Mother's saying you should wake up and take care of your toilette. Also, I brought you some tea." Lucy spoke up and entered the dark room. She left the salver on a table and approached the window. She caught curtains with both hands and moved them in the opposite directions to let the daylight in. Jenny, a tall and skinny young woman with long waved blond hair shrieked and moved her arm on the face.
"That hurt! Cinderella, you moron. Turn it off! My beautiful eyes will get affected and…"
"I cannot turn off the sun." Answered Lucy and took down one of the cups with tea. "Here is your tea, Jenny."
"Yeah, yeah, now get out." Was the only reply and the blonde left. As every day. Not wasting any time, she opened the door on the opposite side of the corridor.
"Sherry?"
"What is it, Cinderella?" She heard a sleepy voice of Sherry. "Don't move the curtains. I don't love the sun."
"Yes, I remember. Here's tea for you." Lucy put the tea next to Sherry's head and quietly went out of the room. She noted that she would have to clean it up. As soon as she reached the kitchen, Lucy got rid of her babushka and the apron. She hung them on the hanger and patted Plue. "Do you want to come with me on a walk?" The obvious answer was a bark and wag of the tail. The blonde smiled on the enthusiasm of her friend. Oh, well. At least someone was truly happy to be with her.
Lucy sighed and looked into the sky with sad eyes. She could not help the feeling that she did not belong to that world where she had used to live anymore. It had all stopped when Layla died. At one moment.
"But, Gray, you need to understand that it's important for papa and mama!" Growled a pink-headed man with a strange expression on his face. "I don't like the idea of giving the kingdom especially to you, but if this is something you need to do for the sake of the country… I'd gladly do that."
"Please, stop that, Natsu. It's ridiculous. I know you would, but I'm not you." Said rudely the man called Gray, rushing through the corridor and ignoring the people around him and the second man who were bowing down. "And thank God I'm smarter, if you think this is some kind of a game or fun…"
"Gray. We are the princes. PRINCES. We should be getting into the arranged marriages and, see, papa loves us too much to chose for us. And he's giving the ball for us to find a wife ourselves. Isn't it great?" Natsu was excited and tried to pass some of his energy towards Gray, but failed miserably.
"But I don't want to get married! I am a young man who wanted to taste some life before becoming a tangled husband with a bunch of noisy and beastly brats." Gray shook his head with angriness and barged into his room like a thunder. He threw himself on a bed, making a mess out of his tidied raven hair. "I just would like to be ready."
"Are you not?" Chuckled Natsu and sat down beside him. "Look, I know that you want to use some life, but frolic with the maid – what was her name again, Juvia-chan? – is not something a prince should do."
"Said the guy who banged Lisanna-chan who's, oh, right, a help from the kitchen." replied Gray harshly.
"S-shut up! How do you even…"
"Oh? Have my ways of getting information." He smirked. "Anyway, Natsu, don't be so optimistic about it. And I'm sorry, but there's no way I would chose a girl for the rest of my life now, on the ball, or in the kitchen. So stop bothering me and getting your ass everywhere."
"What did you say, you stripper?!"
"Who's a stripper?! Water-brained!"
"Squint-eyed!"
"Get out, idiot, before I kill you." Hissed Gray, sitting with no shirt on his bed. The pink-headed man stood up and with an expression of angry prima donna he left the room of his brother. The brunet sighed and fell onto his sheets.
The law was wrong. And cruel. It was telling the prince should marry before he turns eighteen. What an idiot had ever come with such an idea?! But there was nothing he could have done. So he had to go on that stupid ball, had he not? Oh, why am I the prince… The sudden knocking on the door threw him out of his thoughts.
"Prince Gray." A bluenette maid blushed and bowed down. "The king orders you to come immediately to his chamber."
"H-have I done something wrong?" He shuttered, frowning.
"Juvia has no knowledge of that. But he looked seriously worried over something…"
"Thank you, Juvia-chan. I'll be going in a minute." He nodded and the girl left, visibly disappointed. Gray seemed not to notice, he tousled his hair and stood up. He put his shirt on and did a few rounds in his room. Then the brunet took a deep breath and went out.
"Erza, I don't think we should be telling him now." Said the king, playing with his wife's hand and looking on the ground. "Why now? Why at all?"
"Because, Jellal, my love," Erza, the queen started, taking his face in both her hands and making him look at her. "He deserves to know. And he deserves to make decisions on his own."
"But how will he even take it?"
"Don't worry, Gray's going to get over everything." The queen laughed and kissed slightly her husband. He growled when she broke the kiss, but Erza shook her head and her lips went with the soundless word: later.
"You're right, Gray's coming any moment."
A few minutes later the door opened and the servant announced prince Gray. The king and the queen looked at each other and straightened a little, smiling with nervousness. Jellal was visibly anxious and could not find the right words to tell his son what he had to. What if he would have turned from them? Or do something stupid? The king sighed and spoke up. "Gray, good that you're here. Sit down with us, would you?"
"So formal, papa." The raven black-haired muttered, sitting in front of his royal parents and examining their faces. "What's the matter? You make it sound like I killed somebody!"
"Gray. It's not time to be joking." Erza gave him a scolding glance.
"I'm sorry."
"You see, son…" Started Jellal, rubbing his blue hair. "We want to tell you that we really love you before we say anything more. You are our child, our first son, you are our light in the eye."
"And it will not be easy to tell you the truth." Added the queen, caressing her husband's hand. "But. Gray, we were living here for a long time. When we were younger, we were walking around the kingdom very much. And we had one place where we loved coming to…"
"A small lake." Filled the king. "One day we heard a cry of a baby. It was truly extraordinary, so we explored and found a small boy in a basket, crying and probably starving. We were moved."
"So we took him." Erza's face lighted up and became softer when she smiled with tenderness. "We raised him as our son, and he will always remain like this. He is going to take over the whole kingdom, and rule the country as Jellal is doing now. Together with his wife."
"So, what we're trying to tell you, Gray…" Said the king. "Is that you're not our biological son. No matter how it sounds like, because in reality you are our beloved child."
The royal marriage fell silent, waiting for the raven black-haired man to say anything. When the silence was getting longer, they started to glance at each other with worry and question. Finally, the brunet spoke up.
"So I am not your son."
"Not exactly…"
"Okay. But why did you tell me?" He frowned and looked at his mother. "Mama?"
"Gray. You are a grown up man. You are capable of making your own decisions and getting along with any problems. On top of that, you are going to get married and rule the country. I think it's time you knew. You deserved it. The truth," Answered slowly Erza, rising her head and holding back her tears. Her son was there and she knew she could not have hugged him. That was something he had to endure on his own. "I know that right now you may not understand, but one day…"
"I understand. Excuse me." The prince said and got up. He slowly walked out of the room, leaving the door half-opened.
Jellal stood up and went to close the door. After that he turned around with painful expression. "You still think it was a wise decision?"
"Absolutely. He had to know." She answered, but her lips quivered and one of the holding tears went down her cheek to the chin and fell on her knee. The king approached her and embraced with his comforting arms and warmness.
"I hope you're right, Erza."
Hmpf. It's completely different than what I wanted to write. But it's your opinion which matters! Sooo, what do you think? :) I didn't want to make it too "epoch" so I made it in quite a present world. Huh.
Thank you all for your time reading this and if you review – thanks twice! :) Every feedback matters.
