Hello my dears! This will be a story inspired by the Princess Diaries Films, so that should be fun. I own nothing of course, except the writing itself, so I hope you enjoy. Also majority of this was rewritten, not to scare you!

I actually want to add a trigger warning that wasn't here before, because I want everyone to be aware that in the course of this story, I will be mentioning, and even writing heavy topics such as domestic and sexual violence, death and such. I just wanted to let you guys know without stumbling across anything that may upset you.

But thank you for taking interest in this story, I really appreciate your thoughts. So, shall we move ahead?

March 20th, 1998

Moreise

Fireworks exploded across the sky, cries from all directions, "Hail to the King! Hail to the Queen," filled the air at their loudest, passing along their drinking songs. The sun was blaring it's last ray of sun, until dawn came, rising to the occasion, marking the nation's independence day, and the birth of an heir.

A castle was atop a hill, inside, their Queen had just given birth.

Queen Leila struggled in catching a breath, her shivered coughs were blocked behind an arm. She felt the streaks of sweat, but looked down at her newborn baby girl.

She felt the sweat glistening on her body, but ignored the tears. Just sweat, she would say, but trails had already been made down her cheeks. Just smile, she offered her child one, tried making everything okay, but she coughed again. On instinct, they were covered with an arm, afraid of exposing her daughter to anything of her terrible sickness.

Sickness she said, no infection, no disease, but a sickness she picked up, but her doctors feared worse.

The door swung open. From the shadows stepped out a figure that hovered behind a cane. Painted cherry lips, a wicked smile was spread across. Her darkly lit features were meek in comparison, but there was no doubt she was dangerous. "Ah!" She mockingly cooed. She only had given a second's glance at Leila's daughter. "I see you have given birth to the little beast!" The woman, this princess, retorted in a cruel delight. "I know you were going to make a mistakes in your years as Queen, but never did I imagine this early!" She chuckled grimly.

Leila could only cry as a defense, too weak to hold up a trembling hand with a "No." Queen or not Queen, her sister didn't care. She moved on to ridicule Leila, declared "Long live the Queen!" with a twirl of a finger that wore a glittering ring.

Leila's honey locks shifted, as she looked down, her hair was spooled in her child's blanket, bloodied, somewhat, but she was brought into this world crying. Healthy apparently, but was held to a nap.

Her doctors, midwives she'd trusted dearly were off to find her husband, boast about the baby, the best news Moreise would have.

And that's it. An heir with precious golden hair twisted into a curl and sapphire eyes like crystals. Such an old fashioned state, locking daughters to marriage, children they would raise, a child Stefan and Leila would ideally raise, only for her to be gone for the next kingdom.

But it wasn't Leila's ideals. Midwives were celebrating proudly, and everyone would just stand by while her daughter would have a lifetime pass. It wasn't, shouldn't be something her daughter, Aurora, should experience. Especially without a mother to guide her.

Leila had her coughing fits, afraid of her child being infected. But she had to burn all dreams of a future, feeling an iron taste in her mouth. No more balls, no more dancing, never seeing Aurora's first smile, her first step, first word.

It looked like a bloody murder scene.

She felt blood spilling from her insides, her womb, all drenching the blankets. A rose was blooming, was the prettiest thing. She wanted something good, so maybe they were petals, but her body ached.

"Mallory," she managed to choke out, in her broken tone. And maybe her words did shatter her, and cut her throat. But she wanted to keep being alive. Maybe she was praying to God, please dear lord, let me live another day. She wanted to still hang on the tightrope.

Mallory couldn't hear her prayers, but she heard her voice, which was enough. She was still alive. The brunette steadied her gaze on the blonde, her green eyes were warming, she still saw color.

"Please get my daughter out of here," she commanded in whimpering emotion, guaranteed that she could still feel.

Mallory's eyebrows furrowed, in midst of confusion, she asked "What?" In that strict tone of hers. But granted, Leila was one to ask for the random. But in her heart she desired for her and her daughter to be in safe haven.

She couldn't feel Mallory's voice almost cracking into laughter, or her confusion.

Leila continued groaning, clutching her child into a hug. She was cold, she felt it from a distance. Her throat was feeling like a fire, straining. "Stefan...he can't, he can't be a father." She wanted to explain more, but her mind was now in constant headache, sleep didn't feel so far away now.

The cold beauty rolled her eyes. "Of course not, he doesn't have the mental capacity to do so."

Leila's fallen face cautiously perked up. "Tell me," she begged softly, wanting to reach out to Mallory. "Whatever happened between you two?" Her voice was a fading tone, yearning for an answer. Maybe she was dying, her teardrops on her child that she held close.

Stefan wasn't even at her side.

But her sister was. The princess leaned to Leila's side, and whispered. "He took everything from me." She whispered like it was a secret no one should hear. Except a dying sibling.

Leila stared at her. A small blaze was there, burning green fire, gold dusted ashes sprinkled. Her green eyes. Mallory. Stefan. It made sense now, Mallory looking away, Stefan having this guilty longed look. How she would run off without navigation. Hurt herself by taking light steps. How he convinced Leila to trust in him, stand against her sister's threats so willingly.

But now there was Aurora. Fights would break her pure heart. Arguments on end. And no mother who just couldn't take her time.

"Please, please, I'm begging you. Don't let her grow up like this." She pleaded with her limited will. "You're her Godmother!" Please allow her the best life.

Mallory's eyes were carefully trained on the infant, sleeping soundly midst of the world falling around her. "And why should I care?" She defended. "You're the one who made a mistake. You're the one who brought this thing here!" Testing the volume of her voice, wanting to fight back, but tears were made.

Leila couldn't take the yelling. Not anymore, not with the blood, not with Aurora sleeping. The doctors would come for her. Stefan may or may not pass through the doors. Her head was hurting, and she wanted to sleep, but not into death. Not yet, but soon. The voices echoed, Mallory's threats were the loudest amongst them, sixteenth birthday, one would say, as a drugged sleep would follow. They were stabbing her.

"Stop...stop…" she tried through her last breaths. She felt useless, feeling life leave her.

Mallory pierced her gaze on Leila as she cried. Maybe praying, but she weren't the sort. "You're the one who let herself be fooled by her council, by her husband. When all you wanted was a child, they wanted an heir!"

"Mallory, please I'm begging you...stop…

Please as my dying wish to you. I want you to protect Aurora.

I named you her Godmother."

The princess snapped. "I know that already!"

Leila's breaths were slowing, her chest rising up and down, her shaking hands grasping her baby. She was dying. Sweat glazed her flushed skin, going pale. Going cold.

Mallory looked away for just seconds, until she looked confident. Her glittering finger traced her bottom lip in final thought. She shifted a bit. Forward a few more steps, weak ones. Then, reluctantly she took the baby. Aurora was now gone from her life, Leila was gone.

The Queen panicked. No she just can't leave, she shouldn't accept this, her heart was way too strong. But even the strongest fall.

"Wait!" She called. Her voice was probably loud, but she only heard a whisper. She didn't want to do this. She just couldn't. Not when her tears had fallen, not after she fought back. She wouldn't cough. She didn't want to. "I want to see my daughter first."

Mallory limped. She was carrying Aurora like a fragile thing, kept her away, like she would break her. She was again at Leila's side, dropping to the floor in wincing pain.

Aurora was rocked shakily into her mother's arms. And Leila saw her face. Such a precious one. She tried beaming. Everything was okay, you'll be safe, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to sing. Anything to make this pain go away. Her smile was interrupted by tears but she no longer cared. "My precious Aurora." She hiccuped. Her flower, her rose, her darling child. Her world. "Goodbye." And that's all. She would explode. She would die. But that was all.

There was a gentle kiss on her forehead, tears stained her kiss, but she was able to see once more. Her baby was passed on, Leila coughed. Alarmed of course, Mallory was coughed on. Her sister, her best friend would be the last face she sees.

She wished she thanked her. She wished for too much now. But seeing her daughter carried away made it enough. But Aurora wouldn't recognize her mother's voice. Nor her face. Nothing would be remembered.

Leila would die as Leila, not a Queen, and perhaps alone. She slowly closed her eyes, hearing the fireworks. All the cheerfulness. A welcoming sign that would leave her behind. She was only sleeping.

Only sleeping. And she drifted off. Slowly, until there was nothing, no dreams or thoughts. Just a light.

Her heart stopped. And a single glittering ring hung from a silver chain, no longer beat with her.

Mallory pushed her way through the door. No hospital would Leila die in, but her own bed. Stefan's bed. Their bed. And she wanted to cry, she wanted to fall in silence, just fall. But she was too exposed, on a mission.

Aurora would wake up, then cry. Everyone would hear. Everyone would know. Then what? Throw Mallory out? They couldn't even get to their Queen, they don't know she's dying.

Mallory pressed her fingers together. It was enough to cover her sorrow, enough to wake her up, she had to leave. But where? How? She's never gone out farther than the forest, Diaval's apartment. The city. But that would be too easy.

And she couldn't hide. She couldn't coward to these men, these people that work hard to see her fall. She had to stand up, protect. Aurora or the country? She didn't know.

Perhaps she was afraid. She's scared.

A dark figure was sulking by. Black boots to match his hair. Diaval, her servant. He looked up from his state of mind. He was calm. Too calm for what happened several feet ahead.

But he looked at Mallory in deep concern. "What happened?" Was the obvious question. She walked away, he followed to a corner, hearing Leila's doctors. Stefan was behind them. They opened the door, and there were mortified gasps.

Mallory died along, feeling faint. She felt tired. She felt sad. She just couldn't.

"Mistress, what happened?" He asked gently.

They were out of sight. Fireworks were still displayed as the sky was blue with cotton clouds covering it. They were still merry. They were still hopeful.

Diaval looked at the direction behind him, hearing their strangling cries, rejecting it, Aurora, where was she? He looked down at her arms, Mallory was holding a baby. The sunshine that glowed up Leila's face during her pregnancy.

He was saying something, trying to, but Mallory didn't let him.

"I need your help."

He waited on her. It wasn't a question, she was commanding it, through her vulnerability. Her eyes no longer burned, rimmed red, she'd been crying.

"I need your help." He repeated in his mind.

"Aurora, we need to get away. Find those three." The trio she was directing attention to was the Queen's ladies in waiting. "Find them." Please. "They'll need their passports. Whatever they can pack right now, clothes, money." Go.

He left her. Should've had him carry Aurora with him. She trembled. It was going to be fine. Everything. She just needed a few things, looking down at Aurora's flushed face, one of a newborn babe.

Hold her tight. Protect her. She just needed to protect her.

In her corner, she saw a few servants, assistants waiting for something good. The princess was missing. Gone from her dead mother. Her dead sister.

Her dead sister who married to someone miserable, who took away all opportunities from her, from Mallory. In her arms was Stefan's child, his product of so called love. And she hated herself for carrying it, holding on it tight, but it wasn't just Stefan's. Overall, Aurora was Leila's child.

But Stefan gave his love to Leila. He choose Leila. She wanted him to suffer. To know she was giving away his daughter. Let him regret her. Let him die with her.

Seeing opportunity, she limped away. Faster. Run. You can still run. She stumbled into a dash, her tears were running down, mascara was running down, she tried blinking away the burning feeling, she shouldn't cry. She can't.

It's a nursery where she stops. Aurora's crib was in one corner, dangling down was a unicorn and other golden figures. But there was many books. Fairytales, songbooks. A dollhouse she imagined would be for her later years, and a blanket hung on a rocking chair.

She's seen Leila on it. Rocking, humming to one of those songs from the nursery rhymes. Touching her stomach like she was embracing her growing baby. She could've been the same thing.

Mallory set Aurora in her crib.

On instinct, she reached for the blanket. Something no one would notice was taken. White with a silvery pattern. It was best to wrap her in something more cleaner. Something without blood stains from her mother.

There was a suitcase, tiny, a whimsical feel about a toddler going off to adventures. At random, she threw clothes in there, that songbook, diapers. Anything that would keep a child alive.

She had to leave. Aurora had to. Just before she cried.

Diaval sat by the bank. Flora, Fauna, and Mary demanded answers to questions he couldn't answer. Suitcases were packed, their eyes were tired, waiting for the baby. They must have not heard.

"What is going on?"

"Diaval, if this is another prank…"

"We need to attend Leila. Right now. She's giving birth."

They were arguing with him, their voices were loud, swirling in his head. But he continued looking towards the stream. The first day of Spring, and it didn't come so merrily. It was still a bit cold, but the sun was shining, and all the birds were carrying this tune. A mourning song, he realized. They just entered mourning. There weren't fireworks, or anything anymore. Everything was grey.

He watched his Mistress, rushing, stumbling on her feet, but she still holding on to Aurora, holding on to her like she had nothing else with a suitcase and cane dragging behind her.

Her look was more intensified, she looked all business. "Diaval. Ladies." But she meant rabble. "I'm pleased with your participation."

They all glanced at each other. "Participation in what?" Flora, the oldest in a red suit asked, clearly disgusted, but looking down at her arms. A baby.

Diaval decided to step away, but Mallory only shot him an accusing face, Her eyes were staring at him, she was playing. "You didn't tell them?" She said in a false sense. "Well. My sister gave birth. But she didn't. She didn't survive."

She left out all the gory details, caught herself before she heard her voice tear apart. Diaval heard it, but the three sisters almost fainted. "What? She didn't? She didn't, she didn't survive?" Flora struggled, Fauna immediately buried her face in her hands, Mary stood still, mortified like the others, just couldn't respond, couldn't find a way to say anything.

"And the baby?" Fauna asked in a small voice. The baby who won't grow up with her mother.

Diaval couldn't look at them anymore, not when everything seemed so delicate. Mallory was stiff, but earlier, he saw she was hurt as well. A few cars were off in the distant, and he wondered when it would become national news, when they would too listen to their podcasts and radios, and everyone would scream death.

He looked at the calm water, the grey skies, how it would probably start raining. He didn't know what Mallory was up to, he didn't know what was in her mindset. But out there in the fields away from the castle, suitcases packed, he just knew they were going to leave.

His Mistress explained to them shallowly, a last wish, how Leila died. Despite how she argued with them or cut them off, she cared. They've raised her, they were her only mothers when her own died.

They were calling a cab, he realized. They were the only people she would trust. They stepped inside, Mallory gave them a package of money, savings that would go into Aurora's well-being.

Suitcases were pulled, and they were going to leave. They've agreed to be part of this scheme, whatever they had to do for Leila. Their poor charge, their daughter. Where would they go?

Maybe Diaval wanted to cry as well. Leila was kind, loyal, graceful. Motherly. His friend. His Mistress was probably thinking similarly, as they stood by, hiding their faces, in silence. After the cab pulled away from the curb, she started speaking again. He didn't catch what her first sentence was, but she repeated herself.

"Go."

Diaval turned, shocked. "What?" He inquired, seeing no expression or care in her features.

"Go." She repeated once more, though this time she was louder. "Find out where they will live, and report back to me." She continued staring at the streets, where they were left.

She wasn't kidding he realized. She actually wanted him to leave. And he always obeyed order, everything, it was in his instinct. He wasn't going to stop now.

He bowed politely, and chased the vehicle, trying to find his own ride to the airport. Wherever he was going.

It started raining.

Mallory watched as he faded from her sight, and there wasn't any need to worry. She's done it. She's protected Aurora. She's done it all.

She caught herself staring at Diaval a bit too long. But she decided it was something that had to be done. It will be a while until she saw him again.

Aurora was in Fauna's arms, crying loudly.

The young woman tried lulling her, rocked her gently.

"Don't worry Aurora," She wiped a tear away. "We got you."

The crying worsened after.

Again, this chapter has been revised, not only to improve the quality, but the literal emotions and story.

If you guys want me to add any elements or scenarios, please let me know, I appreciate all types of feedback.

But thanks guys!