A/N: Here's my piece on Elena, based off of the song "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes" from Cinderella. Enjoy! xD


"A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep…"

One of the earliest memories Elena can actually pinpoint an age on is at two years old. She's siting on her mother's lap as her mother reads one of her favorite books to her. It's a book about a princess who must save her kingdom from a dragon, and who ultimately falls in love with a prince in the end. She realizes now how cliché and predictable the story is, but back then it's the most exciting, fantastical story she's ever heard. At night, her dreams are filled with images of herself as a fierce, valiant princess, who will protect her kingdom from all the supernatural horrors of the world. She isn't too interested in romance at the time, but supposes once she's older, marrying a prince will be nice too. She can't wait to grow up and have adventures of her own, and she wishes every night that she can be just like the princess in her favorite story.

"In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep…"

At six years old Elena receives the most exciting news of her life – she's going to be an older sister. Immediately she begins planning all the exciting adventures her and her younger sibling will have together, and thinks of how great it'll be to finally have someone besides Esteban to play with. The day her little sister is born all the adults are in a frenzy and Elena isn't sure whether to be excited or scared about what's happening. Thankfully her abuela is there to hold her and give her comforting reassurances that everything is just fine. Later that night, Elena gets to see her sister for the first time, and is struck by wonder at how small and wrinkly she is. Yet Elena loves her, and even at six years old she knows that her and her little sister will be the best of friends. When Isabel grows a little older, Elena decides it's her job as a big sister to read to Isa and entertain her, so she grabs her favorite book and tells her sister all the same stories her mother did to her when she was younger. She isn't sure if Isa understands them yet or not, but Elena loves revisiting all her favorite old fairytales, and still pictures herself as the brave princess who will one day save her kingdom.

"Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through…"

Elena is sixteen when she begins to believe that the future has no hope. She doesn't know how long it's been since Shuriki has trapped her in her amulet. A day? A week? Maybe even a year? Time is nonexistent in her prison, and Elena has exhausted herself trying to break down the crystal walls surrounding her. She doesn't know whether to scream or cry or try to stay calm, but she knows she can't do all three. Her parents are dead – she watched them as they were enveloped in Shuriki's mystical spell and taken away from her forever – and she has no idea what's happened to the rest of her family. Did they survive, or was their fate the same as her parents'? Elena blocks out the thought before she can dwell on it anymore, but she knows she can't escape her mind forever. She's trapped, and there's nowhere she can go, nothing she can do. The future, which once seemed so bright and hopeful, is now bleak and depressing, and Elena can't think of any way to change her circumstances. Grief begins to overwhelm her, and as curls up on the floor, sobs wracking her shoulders, she can't help but think of the dreams she had as a child; dreams where she was the fierce princess who could overtake any evil she was faced with. She clings to those small slivers of her old dreams, and hopes that maybe one day, they can still come true.

"No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing…"

Elena is ready to end Shuriki once and for all by the time she is nineteen. The evil witch has been plaguing Avalor for long enough, and Elena knows that if she and her friends don't stop her now, no one ever will. Her heart is still heavy from the loss of her parents and everyone else she's lost along the way, and she needs closure. She wasn't able to defeat Shuriki all those years ago, but now, with Mateo, Gabe, Naomi, and the rest of her family on her side, she confidently tells everyone that they can drive the witch out of Avalor forever. Yet her outward confidence doesn't stop her from worrying, and wondering if she's leading all of her friends to their death instead of deliverance. Her chance to be the hero from her dreams all those years ago is finally here, and she is terrified inside. Her life is not a fairytale, where the princess easily saves her kingdom and gets the man of her dreams; she's discovered just how much more complicated life is, and that it doesn't always have a fairytale ending. Yet she can't stop herself from believing it can happen, as long as that's what everyone strives for. With her and her team, plus the whole Kingdom of Avalor helping them, they might not be able to stop the monster as easily as her favorite heroes did in her stories, but they can sure try their best.

"The dream that you wish will come true

It will come true."

She can't quite believe she has a daughter of her own at the age of twenty-two. She's already lived out the adventure she imagined for herself as a small child and even found her prince charming, but parenthood is a whole new adventure on its own, and nothing could truly prepare her for it. Thankfully she has Mateo by her side to face this new adventure with her, or else she would truly be lost. It's at times like these she wishes her own mother was here to help give her advice on how to raise a child and be a good parent, but she knows she'll just have to remember her mother's example and try her best to live up to it. If there is one clear moment she can remember form her childhood though, it was how much she loved to be read to. So, every night, before she and Mateo tuck in little Ana Lucia de Alva Castillo, Elena reads to her; she reads her stories about princesses who save the day and find true love, and as little Ana eventually drifts off into a deep slumber, Elena hopes her daughter will someday learn that even though it may seem impossible, sometimes even the most fantastical fairytales can come true after all.