Note: I wrote this about a year ago for my Mythology class; our teacher was so cool that he literally asked us to write Disney AUs with preferably darker twists. I also did one for The Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.
Tiana was a humble, poor laborer who toiled upon the farms owned by the lord of her region alongside her family and the fellow workers she'd come to know as dear friends. She'd been born into the kind of poverty that had been her family's way for centuries prior, yet her vision was not tainted by jealousy when it fell upon the wealthy landowners and nobles who visited the richer inhabitants of the city. She remained a very content, peaceful woman despite her misfortune, and those that knew her held great admiration for the courage it took to do so; the admiration was so vast that it even affected one of the visiting nobles. He would come to see her nearly every day, idly chatting with her as she worked in an attempt to draw her attention toward him, and Tiana felt flattered by his efforts. He would sit down at dinner with her family, visit her by moonlight and speak of the future, petition, even, for her release as a free woman, and soon enough, it seemed that he himself was a member of their community just as surely as if he'd been born into it.
This noble was an impatient man, though, and sought Tiana's hand in marriage with ever-increasing fervency; Tiana didn't wish to be hasty, and it was this discord that caused him great ire. It was his one flaw, but it became very obvious that it was a flaw Tiana could not overlook, and she eventually began to shun his endeavors, his attempts at conversation, and his presence altogether, fearful of his aggressive insistence.
This nobleman, scorned, retreated to his wealthy home of riches and high company, but felt tainted with the memory of Tiana's rejection. It was a horrible coincidence that he had hidden a great and terrible secret: he was a sorcerer. He'd acquired his wealth years ago, with his magic and wit and undeniable charisma, and had kept the secret shrouded quite well for nearly all his life.
In the next few years, he felt haunted by her refusal, felt angered by her audacity, and felt entitled to have her. Frustrated that none of his wishes would come true, he snatched from the lake outside his home a small, bright green frog and cursed it with the human appearance and mind of a prince, creating a spell that would kill Tiana if ever her lips met the frog-prince's own, though the prince himself was ignorant of that fact. The sorcerer was sure that, if the prince wooed Tiana in all the ways he had been unable to, if she felt the affection for the prince that she'd never felt for him, then surely she would be punished by her own heart and he would finally be free of her memory. The sorcerer ordered the prince to go and earn Tiana's affections and, certain that the sorcerer was his friend and meant no ill-will, the prince obeyed.
The frog-prince, going by the name of Naveen, appeared for all intents and purposes a handsome, cordial royal with dark eyes and tousled hair that always seemed to be just a bit damp, and when he finally made the tedious journey to Tiana's home, he introduced himself with exaggerated flourish and a wide, convincing grin, hoping to catch her eye upon arrival, but Tiana was a very polite lady of a class she didn't belong to and merely curtsied in response; it was inherent in her. This surprised Naveen.
Naveen's astonishment didn't end there, either. The more he became acquainted with Tiana, the more he felt touched by her honesty and compassion, watching her help the elderly laborers despite her own heavy workload, witnessing her uplift the children's spirits after a long day of toiling beneath the sun's unforgiving heat, and seeing her keep a heart of kindness despite her hardship. He was so moved by her, in fact, that he began to work alongside her, abandoning his blatant attempts at seduction and instead only wishing to aid her with her burdens.
In this way, Naveen and Tiana became very close friends and, as all things go, Naveen found himself completely in love with her, hoping to ease her labor and comfort her during hard times. Tiana, in turn, began growing especially fond of the prince, and soon she was absolutely smitten with him. One wintry day, then, they shared a chaste kiss, and Tiana gasped with pain as she collapsed before him while he collected her in his arms, distraught and uncertain, just before his form reverted to that of a small, bright green frog, tiny body falling atop the tattered cloth of her dress as it laid against the cold stone floor of her home.
Far away, the sorcerer felt his curse enacted and laughed with merriment, eyes alight with a dark glint, and remained evilly satisfied for half a decade more, as Tiana stayed in a peaceful slumber that she would not wake from, her chest rising and falling with soft, relaxed breaths as her family doted upon her, keeping her fed and cleanly and alive as she rested serenely upon her bedding. The laborers all wondered what had happened to Prince Naveen and knew nothing of how Tiana had fallen into her cursed sleep, and there was the unquestioned presence of a small frog on her pillow, resting just beside her head. It would not move from that spot, and in the first year of Tiana's curse, they had attempted to shoo it away. Their attempts had failed, and they'd given up, resigned to bringing it food and water instead.
In the fifth year of her curse, the family had abandoned their efforts, and soon after, the thin, frail skeleton of a frog could be found lying against her pillow, just beside her face of unhealthy angles and still eyelids, and Tiana's chest, then, at last stopped rising, a tear catching on the jutting bone of her cheek as it slid downward.
This was really short and rushed and all sorts of ehhh things. I had the idea but I didn't have the time to really flesh it out like I did the other two, and I tried a different kind of style-sort of like if someone was explaining someone's background at the beginning of a movie- but I hope it was ok maybe?
Feedback of any kind is always appreciated.