((Fate of a Fairytale))
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Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Hikari.
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((Chapter One))
In the town of Fatum, the streets were filled with the strangest of diversities. The town where beggars and common people walked on the same ground as the rich and elite. Although one area was reserved for the mansions and flashy buildings, while the rest of the town was for the middle to lower classes. Old, run-down buildings and homes were common there.
One of the largest mansions belonged to the Unmei family. Containing over fifty rooms with four stories and its garden with hundreds of varieties of greenery, it was considered one of the most extravagant dwellings in the entire town. Near the top of the mansion was a tiny, triangular-shaped attic with cobwebs and dust resting within its corners. In the center of the 'room' was a single cot where a flaxen-haired girl slept every night.
Before the sun was able to meet the horizon, the girl would awake to prepare for the day's chores. She wore a pale, worn-out blue dress that stretched to the middle of her thighs with sleeves that reached just above her elbows. She would tie a navy colored piece of cloth below her chest into a bow behind her. She wore a white ragged bandana, pulled back enough so that her bangs were visible. Her hair was unevenly cut, for she cut it herself, with most of the longer tufts of hair resting on her shoulder.
She opened her window slightly enough to let the morning breeze roll into the room. She looked at her reflection. She had never liked the way she looked. She thought her nose was too skinny, her face was too long, her skin was too pale, dirt was always smeared across her cheeks, and the list went on and on. She sighed and slipped on a pair of flat, white shoes and lit a small lantern, which she took with her before exiting the attic.
The girl tiptoed down a series of long spiraling staircases with the lantern dimly guiding her way. She was careful not to awaken the other women in the house as she continued to tiptoe down the stairs. Eventually she reached the ballroom in the first floor and headed towards the kitchen.
She set the lantern down on the cold marble counter and switched the lights on in this room. She filled a kettle with water and placed it over the stove. While waiting for the kettle, she set up three trays with three smaller kettles and silver cups with bags of tea resting within them. She unwrapped a loaf of bread from a plastic bag and began slicing pieces off. She placed three pieces on each plate and set them on the trays with small scrapings of butter on the top of each piece of bread.
The kettle began to scream and the girl quickly took it off of the stove. She poured the water into each of the smaller kettles and the dye of the tea bags quickly began to mix into the water.
The sunrise's orange glow began to show through the horizon by the time the kettles were filled with enough of the tea's flavoring. She poured the ready tea in the cups began putting sugar into them. The first cup had the least sugar, while the second had a bit more, and the last had the most sugar in it. Half of the sun was visible by the time she began to climb the flight of stairs again, one tray in each hand while the third balanced on the middle of the first two.
After about two stories worth of stairs, she walked through a hallway and stopped at the first door. She pushed it open gently using her foot and set the trays down on a dresser. She opened up the curtains halfway and grabbed a tray and placed it so it stood above the person's lap on the bed.
"Good morning, Stepmother. It's time for your breakfast." The girl greeted.
The lump on the bed suddenly came to life and sat up. She scratched her short blonde hair and rubbed her emerald eyes. She took a sip of the tea. "Eek, Naminé could you have least used better water? It tastes like this came from a puddle in a muddy street!"
"I'm sorry, Stepmother. I'll do better tomorrow."
"You do that. Now get back to work!" The stepmother commanded.
"Yes, ma'am." Naminé grabbed the two trays and left the room. She climbed another story's worth of stairs and walked into another hallway. She entered another dark room and set one tray down. She barely opened the curtains, enough it barely light the room up and set the tray on the bed.
"Wake up, Kairi. It's breakfast time." The young girl stirred a bit, but sat up reluctantly. She yawned and closed her eyes again.
"Ughh…It's too early, Naminé!"
"I'm sorry Kairi, but it's time to eat."
"Fine, whatever. Just leave me to my peace…"
"Yes, ma'am." Naminé picked up the last tray and headed for the room across the hall. When she entered it, she opened the curtains fully and laid the tray on the bed. The youngest child, who was about nine years old, immediately woke up without a wake up call.
"Hi Naminé!"
"Hi Olette! I already set up your breakfast. I even put a good amount of sugar in your tea this morning!"
"Gee thanks, Naminé!" Funny how the only person who thanked Naminé among the three women was a nine-year old.
"Well, I got to be getting to my other chores to do. I hope you enjoy your breakfast!"
"'Kay! See you later!" Naminé left the room and began to climb down the stairs. By the time she past by the second story, her stepmother was already dressed in a casual daydress.
"Naminé, you must scrub the floors spotless today and clean out all the rooms. The gardeners will take care of cleaning the outside areas. We must get ready for tomorrow."
"Umm...may I ask what's happening tomorrow?" The stepmother rolled her eyes.
"Ignorant girl. I've been planning tomorrow for weeks now! Well if you must know, one of the elite families from the town of Lumen is searching for a bride for their son. They are coming here tomorrow to see if my own Kairi should fit their standards and shall be staying for a couple of days in two of our guest rooms. So I will need you to really clean up those two rooms in the east wing."
Huh?! Kairi, a bride at seventeen?! Whoaaa— In Fatum, it was considered inappropriate to marry before reaching the age of at least twenty. The stepmother began to ascend the stairs while Naminé still stood there, lost in her thoughts.
"Ahh yes and Naminé?" She quickly snapped out of her trance and looked up to her stepmother.
"Yes?"
"I will need you to wash Kairi's new dresses and let them dry before tomorrow morning. They need to be perfect to impress those Hikari's. They're lying in my closet, so you can go in my room to get them. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Naminé decided on doing that chore first, since she wanted to take a peek on Kairi's new dresses. She entered the mother's room and slid open the closet door. The dresses sat neatly in a stack on top a couple boxes. There were three of them: one was pink, the second was lavender, and the last one was white.
The pink dress was a sort of halter dress that would drag slightly on the floor if Kairi were to wear it and the area from the chest to the waist was replaced with a white shiny fabric. The lavender dress was strapless and it a dress which really hugged someone's curves, but it was loose and frilly from the waist down.
But the white one was the best of them all. It had the same halter-style as the pink dress, but crystals adorn all of its hemlines and they created a flowery design throughout several areas of the dress. Silver glitter was lightly scattered around the dress to give off more of a shine. Naminé smiled as she fingered some of the crystals as they glittered and sparkled.
Naminé brought the dresses outside to where the washtub was. On the way, she brought along the dirty laundry so they could get washed too. Oddly the tub was already filled with clean water. "Huh?" She mumbled.
"I knew that woman was gonna make you do a LOT laundry work!" The gardener walked up to Naminé. "So I got some water for you from the well."
"Thanks Marluxia." Naminé set the clothes down on the grass and began to soak some of the other clothes in the pile.
"Gosh darling, you always work like a dog everyday for more harsh treatment from that 'family.' You're seventeen, my dear! You shouldn't be working this hard at this age! You don't even get paid! And that's NOT even you're REAL family!" Marluxia always was concerned about Naminé's work ever since she first came to live in the mansion.
"At least I am sheltered and fed. And that is good enough for me…" She paused for a moment. "…I guess." She began scrub the clothes on the washboard.
"I don't see how you can always keep your head up like that…" He shook his head. "Well I'm sorry, dear, but I must get back to work on the garden for everything has to be 'perfect.'"
"Okay, see you later!" Marluxia left and entered the garden in the front of the house.
Naminé hung some of the wet clothing on the clothesline and clipped them down with a couple of pegs and then started with another batch of clothes. It was like this until all of the casual clothes were washed along with the dresses too. She was especially careful with the white one, avoiding scrubbing the crystals too hard so they wouldn't be scratched or even removed.
In the end, the washtub was filled with loose glitter and her fingers were as pruny as a raisin. She placed the tub near a rose bush in the back for Marluxia and the other gardeners recycled the old water for some of the plants.
"I guess I should get started on the floors." She filled a couple of buckets with water from the well and filled one with soap. She decided to start on the first floor and work her way up. Naminé had to kneel down and bend all the way down just to scrub the floors, sure her back ached for hours after scrubbing, but she would nonetheless continue cleaning.
She dipped her scrub-brush and began brushing the floor in circular motions with her hand. She did this over and over, switching hands now and then when one would get cramped up.
After hours at work with the floors, Naminé decided to take a break and walked out to the garden. Outside the gardeners were still busy at work. Aerith was picking some of the roses to use as decorations for the mansion, Demyx was watering several of the plants, and Marluxia was straightening out the hedges with a giant pink scythe-type weapon.
Naminé sat one of the stone benches and Marluxia and Aerith automatically walked up to her.
"Hello Naminé, is something the matter? It seems like something's on your mind..." Aerith said. Naminé thought for a second, but then spoke.
"Well, do you guys know anything about this family that's coming tomorrow?" Naminé replied.
"All I know is that their last name is Hikari!" Demyx yelled over from another side of the garden.
"I hear they're just a your ordinary rich, political family from Lumen. And obviously they plan on having their son marry Miss Kairi." Marluxia added. "Why do you ask, dear?"
"Just wondering and all..."
"I guess we'll find out more about them over the next few days..." Aerith said and the rest of the group nodded.
"But what about Kairi marrying before she's twenty? That's like going against all of our morals!" Naminé asked.
"There are several exceptions considering to that rule, especially how one of the to be spouses is from a different region with different morals." Aerith replied.
"Well, I dunno! Just...all of this is just confusing me."
After a couple more minutes of talking, the workers resumed back to their jobs, and Naminé returning back to scrubbing the floors.
By the time Naminé finished, it was evening (The stepmother had hired a chef to cook for them for tomorrow, but he came a day early and gave Naminé meals while she worked) and her back was aching for some comfort. But she smiled, accomplished by her work, for the floors were really spotless.
But she still wasn't done yet, she still had to dust and clean up all the rooms. She sighed, Well I can do both at the same time I guess. She went throughout the mansion with a feather duster in hand, lightly brushing almost everything in the house. Of course she didn't clean ALL the rooms in the house…that would of taken centuries. She only cleaned the rooms where the family used most often.
Naminé kept working until she had to use her small lantern to get around the house. She never liked the mansion at night, for the eerie dark hallways and rooms seemed just plain scary.
It was around midnight by the time Naminé had finished and with a satisfied sigh, she trudged up to her 'room' and leaned against her window sill. She softly sang into the night,
"Donna toki datte,
tatta hitori de,
Unmei wasurete,
ikite kita no ni..."
I've always lived alone. Destiny forgotton.
When Naminé awoke the next day with the heat of the sun burning her face, she sat up and realized it was about mid-morning. "WHAT! I overslept?!" She immediately got up and straightened out her dress. To her surprise there was a plate near her door with some bread and tea. What the? Oh yeah that's right, the chef's here…
She quickly ate the bread and gulped down the tea and headed down the stairs. By the time, she reached the third-floor mark her stepmother stopped her.
"About time you've awaken and you also forgot to bring those clothes in from yesterday! They would have been stolen by now if Aerith hadn't brought them in yesterday! I would punish you but right NOW, but I'm more preoccupied with matters other than your disobedience! Now I need you to help Kairi with her dress…be sure that she wears the pink one."
"I'm sorry, Stepmother. And I'll get straight to work!" She quickly rushed to Kairi's room and saw she was sitting on the bed, impatiently waiting.
"About time you showed up!" Wow, where have I heard that before… "Now help me get my dress on! It seems almost impossible with all those things Mom makes me wear!"
Kairi stripped down behind a clothing screen to only a tank top and shorts and Naminé helped tie on a corset on her. Kairi wasn't fat at all, but her mother still ordered her to wear one. Naminé slipped a hoop skirt around her waist and placed the pink dress over it. The hoop made the dress really pop out and made it more noticeable. Personally Naminé thought it looked better without that contraption.
Next Naminé helped Kairi with her hair, bringing it up to a bun with Kairi sat in front of a mirror.
"So Kairi—it doesn't bother you at all that you might be arranged to marry some guy you've never met before?"
"Well I would rather much choose my own husband, but Mom'd be furious if I said that to her. I guess I just have to accept it…and hope we get along eventually." Naminé saw in the mirror that Kairi's eyes hinted that she was depressed.
"But why arranged? Can't that family just wait for their son to choose someone to marry on his own?" Kairi sighed at all of her questions.
"It's tradition for sons from Lumen to get married when they turn eighteen. It proves they are worthy enough for a wife and it basically shows royalty. Those who cannot find wives are considered outcasts and are shunned from society."
"How do you know all of this?"
"Mom told me…"
"But—"
"Are you done yet? I bet the Hikari's are going to come any second now." Naminé stuck a clip in to secure the bun. Kairi's bangs were still loose and covered her forehead, but the rest of her hair was pulled up and Naminé let a few strands of hair casually fall to the back of her neck.
"Here, this will help." Naminé put in a clip with a plastic flower similar to a Lily magnolia in her hair just before the bun.
"Oh I really hope this guy will like me…" Kairi sighed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Finally she stood up. "Well I guess I should go now."
"Good luck, Kairi!" Kairi paused at the door. She shook her head and then left.
Naminé walked outside and leaned against the railings and watched Kairi gracefully descend the steps. She saw from above that her stepmother paced about in the ballroom, apparently nervous and impatient.
"OLETTE!" She yelled. "OLETTE, COME DOWN HERE ALREADY! IT'S ALMOST TIME!"
Naminé heard a door open; then slam shut. "COMING MOM!" Then she saw Olette scurry down the steps in a pinkish-orange frilly dress with her hair tied up messily in a ponytail.
There were a couple of newly hired butlers in the ballroom, also awaiting for this family to arrive. The stepmother immediately began to redo Olette's messy hair while Kairi just stared at the floor, lost in a trance.
Naminé walked down the stairs, quiet enough so that her stepmother wouldn't notice her, and casually walked into the kitchen.
"What are YOU doing here?!" The stepmother asked angrily.
"I'm sorry, Stepmother, but I am simply...helping the chef with preparing the foods for this lunch. You see, we DO need everything perfect for this family!" She glared at her with a suspicious face, while Naminé just smiled sweetly.
"I suppose you're right...Well, off you go! Make sure every last detail is made into perfection! And don't even you DARE to show your face to the Hikari's. I can't have them know that I foster this filthy girl!" Foster, right...
"Yes, Stepmother." Naminé walked off into the kitchen, but then peeked from behind the kitchen wall. She had a perfect view of the ballroom and as well everyone inside of it. Well, you can't blame me for being just a little curious about this family!
Suddenly a loud banging coming from a doorknocker echoed throughout the room. "They're here!" Kairi gasped.
((Chapter One))
Long Author's Note: Not sure what made me want to do a short story inspired by a couple of Disney movies...Wait-one movie is Disney (which is apparently Cinderella) and the other movie isn't Disney, but which movie exactly? Well, if I told you then that'll give out the some of the plot, right? And that's no fun for me!
If you read my profile earlier, then you know that I don't plan on making this story too long...I would of made it into a oneshot, but I cannot fit all of the plot into one story chapter thingy (Well maybe I can but I'm not gonna try) and I'd be lucky if this story reaches five chapters.
Naminé's stepmother wasn't even being mean in this chapter just if you thought she was a little too 'nice' for an evil stepmother...Heh, I bet you can easily guess who she is (I won't have any OCs in this story) And I don't plan to have the stepsisters totally evil, but like kinda annoying in a bratty way. Marluxia isn't some child molestor, just in case if that popped into your mind. He's just really overprotective of Naminé because he watched over her ever since she first came to the mansion. Oh yeah and I can totally imagine him slicing down a choppy hedge into perfection with his scythe!
I tried to make the dresses that Kairi has more modern, but have an old-fashioned sense to it. (the hoopskirt/corset) I would of made the dresses old-fashioned too so I wouldn't be jumping around time periods too much in this story, but c'mon I couldn't imagine Kairi with gigantic, puffy sleeves...
And I tried to do I rough translation of that small part from Hikari that Naminé sang (I'm not Japanese at all) So if you noticed I made a mistake with that translation, please tell so I can change it. Thanks!
By the way, if you don't know what a lily magnolia is then think of that flower clip that Mulan has in the beginning of the movie... (I'm gonna mix together little tid-bits from other Disney classics and if you notice them then I'll be happy)
Reviews are great.