A Twisted Fantasy
Chapter One - The Forgotten Truth
You all know the tale of Snow White, correct? Or, at least you think you do. See, my life story has been fantasised over the years. It wasn't all tiaras, dresses and a magic kiss. Humans like optimism, they look on 'the bright side' of life. Everything isn't always happy endings. Especially my tale. So if you decided to read my story because you hoped for a happy ever after, I suggest you stop reading now.
Snow White's dress extended elegantly behind her on the floor. Her father stood in front of her, a smile upon his face as he looked her up and down, admiring Snow's white dress. The dress suited her figure perfectly, clinging to her upper body before floating outwards at her waist. She looked like an angel, the white of her dress complimenting her mildly tanned skin and ebony hair. The dress was gorgeous, the upper half decorated in a silver floral design, while the skirt was simply plain.
"You look beautiful my darling." Snow's father spoke in his usual soft voice, his greying hair and beard shifting ever so slightly as he spoke, the family pocket watch jingling from his trouser pocket due to its broken hinge.
"Why do I need to do this Father? Why do we need to host a masquerade ball? We are already the rulers, I shouldn't have to marry a prince that I do not love, just to make our land respect us." A tear slowly ran down Snow's face. Her father rested his hand on her cheek, swiping the tear away gently and reassuringly.
"I promise you that it will be okay. We need to avoid war in our lands and the way to do that is for us to unite ourselves with the neighbouring kingdom. I know you don't want to but please do this for me." Snow nodded silently, taking a deep breath as she straightened her posture.
"For you Father." Snow whispered before she took another deep breathe and walked elegantly out of the room.
The entire ball room admired silently as Snow made her way down the spiral staircase. When she reach the bottom step, her people and the neighbouring land's people applauded her, as many usually did. She hated the applause, she had simply walked down stairs and yet people found a need to congratulate her for it. She smiled at the people before making her way to the front of the room and perching herself on the family throne, like her father had instructed her. She could see her father watching from the top step, smiling proudly at his only child, his most precious possession. As soon as the room went back to some sort of normality, Snow rested her white mask on her face and joined her people, weaving her way through the hall, looking eagerly for Red Riding Hood, one of her only loyal friends.
As the song stopped and another one began, Snow saw a poor male civilian walk into the ball room in a poorly stitched black tuxedo, taking one of the masks from the servant on the way in, probably to hide his face. Snow had memorised the guest list, it consisted of only people she knew from this land and only the neighbouring prince's family so she knew he did not belong there. Snow glided across the room towards the mysterious stranger, stopping him in his track.
"Would you like to dance?" She asked the stranger the question in her confident tone, the one her mother had taught her when she was only young. Before she died.
"Aren't you even going to ask my name?" The stranger tried to judge her expression but she simply smiled, leading him by the hand towards the middle of the room.
"So, what is your name?" Snow asked once they had begun to dance. She was surprised at the strangers dance skills, it was obvious that he was one of the homeless but yet he danced flawlessly, as if he were a professional.
"Who is asking?" He replied with a cocky smirk causing her to raise her eyebrows at him in interest.
"I'm surprised you are unaware."
"I do not know everyone in this room, why should you be an exception?"
"Well aren't you charming. So I go back to my earlier question. What is your name?"
"I guess you can just call me charming. For now." Snow was about to quiz Charming more but her father placed a slightly wrinkled hand upon her shoulder.
"My dear Snow, you should be talking to your prince. We will lock this criminal where he belongs, he should not trespass in to our castle. Our property." This was the first time Snow had ever seen her father raise his voice, he was usually so gentle and calm.
"Please Father, he was doing no harm. Just let him leave peacefully and have it end there." Snow rarely begged her father, she was raised to be patient, kind and always abide to her fathers requests. All her instincts screamed at her to let her father do what he pleased but yet she felt it necessary to save the mysterious stranger. Charming stood amazed behind her, no one had ever tried to help him before. Most regarded him as poor and worthless, therefore his life and his needs were unimportant. The stranger he had known for less than five minutes shouldn't trust him in the slightest, he was trespassing after all. So all he could think about was why she was willing to defy her father. People had already begun to gather around the scene, interested in seeing the young princess rebel against her father.
"Snow White, he is a criminal. He is scum. He must be locked away immediately, he could have harmed you!" Her father rarely shouted at her or used her full name, she knew he loved her and that he had her interests at heart but yet she couldn't help but feel like he was trying to control her.
Before she could argue with her father again, Charming spoke, "It's okay Snow. I've committed a crime, your father is right. I deserve to be locked up, I do not deserve your kindness though. Your prince is very lucky." He looked down at the ground, avoiding the eager eyes of the people. As the guards placed the thick iron handcuffs on the stranger, he still did not look up: he allowed the guards to drag him away to the castles prison.
Snow White was escorted by her father to meet her prince. When she finally laid eyes on him, she realised he was beautiful. He had dazzling blond hair and gorgeously bright green eyes. He was her perfect match. He smiled at her and bowed before they engaged in a wonderful conversation but Snow felt pressured, like it was all an act. Her smile felt false, her posture felt too perfect. She felt like a robot being controlled by her father. It was too fake. Snow couldn't help but remember when she was talking to Charming, how natural it felt to be with him, how calm she was. Her father smiled at her as she continued through the night with her prince.
At 11 o'clock, Edward (her prince) gathered the whole rooms attention. He held her hand gently and when silence filled the room he turned to look at Snow with a warm smile. "My dear Snow." He said confidently, "I may not have known you for many hours. I may not know you perfectly. I may not know all of your imperfections, if there are any at all. But what I do know is that you are amazing. You tried to save a random citizen after all. I know that you are going to make me and my people very happy. I know you will make an excellent ruler for both of our kingdoms. So I must ask." He slowly sank to one knee, pulling a small rectangular box from his tuxedo, "Will you marry me?"
Snow's heart sank and for reasons she was unaware of, she thought of Charming. Then she looked up towards her father who stood proudly smiling at her and mouthing 'well done' to her. She looked back at Edward as a tear of sadness cascaded slowly but steadily down her face. She knew what she had to do, what she had to say. She looked towards the ground, hoping not to show the sadness upon her face. She mumbled softly, "Yes."
Hey everyone, this story is a bit of a risk for me as I don't tend to write about an existing character and their life, sticking vaguely to the actual story. So I would love it if you lovely people could review and just tell me your honest thoughts. This story will get a bit more twisted and dark as it goes on though. And I promise you that the evil queen will enter soon :) Thank you to everyone reading this and I hope to look forward to your helpful reviews. Thanks x