I do not own Disney. I only own Tracy and Serena.
Well, I'm back sooner than I thought I'd be. Just a short little one-shot of our favourite ex-cons. Sort of a mini-sequel to Cons of Disney.
Cons of Royal Balls
"Why are we here again?"
Serena Lockhart rolled her green eyes and gave her best friend an annoyed glare. "I've told you a hundred times. Since we're under Mickey's care we get an immediate invitation to all royal balls in the Kingdom."
"But we're not even royalty!" Tracy Adams complained. "And I hate wearing dresses!"
Tracy tugged at her flowing sapphire blue dress in distaste. Silver studs lined the hem of the dress and sparkled with every step she took. Her blonde hair was tied up in a fancy curly up-do and the springy curls that fell into her blue eyes were quickly becoming irritating.
Serena let out a sigh. "We should just be grateful that we've been forgiven enough to be welcomed into Cinderella's castle."
"I know...but I still wish Mickey would stop insisting we attend every event that's held in the Kingdom." Tracy glanced around the spacious ballroom and sighed. "I'm not a big dancer."
Various princes, princesses and kings were mingling among the edges of the marble dance floor. Couples twirled and swayed in the middle of the floor, completely oblivious to those around them. Red and gold cloth draped the wide buffet-style table, balconies and windows. A crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the domed ceiling, casting diamond glimmers on the gold-coloured walls.
Serena pushed up the sleeves of her own forest green dress with a gold sash. Her raven locks were tied up in a high ponytail and gold glitter dusted her cheeks. "You can just decline when someone asks, you know."
"But I hate to be rude."
Serena let out a snort. "You? Afraid of being rude? Aren't you the one who threatened to box Donald if he kept waking you up before ten?"
"That's different. It was a joking threat," Tracy said dismissively.
The thirteen-year-old arched an eyebrow. "Trace, you threw your pillow at his head and cursed like a sailor."
"Well, we've been living there for nearly six months. They ought to know that I have a strict no-nonsense policy when it comes to waking me up in the mornings. And after all those punishments we had to do I deserved to sleep in!"
Serena rolled her eyes and scanned the ballroom once more. The normal guests were all there, from Snow White to Tiana. A few of the younger royal members were there as well, but Arthur and Eilonwy looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but at a fancy, expensive dance.
"Let's go."
She whirled around to face her best friend. "Whoa, what do you mean by that?"
Tracy sighed in exasperation. "Let's get out of here, is what I mean!"
"But...we can't just go wandering about Cinderella's castle!" Serena hissed. She was horrified at the idea of being mistaken for crooks and being hauled to the dungeon by the many guards patrolling. The last thing she wanted was to face a disappointed Mickey. "Come on, Tracy! We've been on our best behaviour for the past six months! Can't we keep this streak going?"
"You're a bit dramatic. It's not like we're going to kidnap a prince or set the place on fire. And I'll keep my hands to myself, I promise."
The blonde didn't wait for an answer and casually headed for the exit. Serena stood alone and looked around nervously before darting after her stubborn best friend. Tracy was capable of almost anything, and Serena would rather be around to stop her antics then to mill around a humid ballroom and not do anything.
Tracy grinned when Serena caught up. The two strode down the tiled corridors, passing old and antique paintings and pottery locked in glass cases. "Nice..."
"Look, but don't touch," Serena ordered. Out of the two of them, Tracy was the one who still had some trouble resisting the temptation when it came to pick-pocketing and conning. It was a hard habit for the blonde to get out of, having used both as a means for survival for so long.
"I won't," Tracy promised. "Seriously, we just spent six months doing various chores, tasks and punishments doled out by over fifty lands. I am so not going to risk anything worse."
The two rounded the corner and Tracy stumbled to a stop, blue eyes growing wide with excitement. Serena groaned and pressed the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Tracy, leave them-"
The blonde rushed down the red-carpeted corridor they had entered and halted in front of a deep purple stand that had a red satin pillow on top with golden tassels. Resting on top of the pillow were two shimmering glass slippers; one perfect and one that was glued together, the cracks visible.
"Tracy!" Serena snapped in warning.
"I'm just going to try them on!" Tracy complained, her fingers hovering over the attractive shoes. "Please!"
"No way!" Serena cried. "Trace, I love you, but you destroy almost everything you touch."
"I do not!" the blonde snapped indigently. She reached out and plucked the broken shoe from the pillow. "I'll try on the broken one, okay? Then I'll put it right back."
Serena held her head in her hands as Tracy kicked off one of her midnight blue flats and slipped on the glass shoe. "A bit big..."she mused.
Indeed, the shoes were one size too big for Tracy's dainty feet. "How do they look?"
"They're gorgeous. Now put them back!" snapped Serena.
Tracy rolled her eyes. "Alright! Geez, you sure panic easy." She swung her leg up to take off the shoe and both girls shrieked in horror when the glass slipper flew off her tiny foot and smashed against the wall, shattering into many jagged pieces.
"You idiot!" Serena howled, fighting the urge to strangle her friend. "How are you going to explain this to Cinderella?"
"What do you mean me?"
"I am so not a part of this! I tried to stop you, but you wouldn't listen."
"You weren't aggressive enough!" Tracy snapped back. "You're going to be in as much trouble as I am for being a pushover!"
"I am not a-!" Serena took a shuddering breath to calm the fury rolling through her blood. "Okay, now is not the time to argue. We need to find some glue, and we need some now!"
Tracy gathered up the pieces of the slipper and put them in her dress pocket. The two girls took off and separated in a desperate search for glue.
"I'm going to kill her," the panicked raven-haired girl muttered as she tore around a corner and grabbed the handle of a random door. She opened it slowly and peeked in. Guest room. She raced to the next one. Another guest room. Scowling, she tried another door.
"For the love of Disney!" Serena yelled as she tried her tenth door. "How many freaking guest rooms does this place need?"
Deciding that the other doors wouldn't be of assistance she ran for the next set of stairs and charged down it. She spotted the wooden doors that led to the kitchens and quickly entered. Most of the chefs and servants were at the ball, catering to the guests.
"Glue...glue...glue," Serena chanted as she dug through various drawers and finally came upon the precious tube located in the miscellaneous drawer. "Whoop! Victory!"
She was about to begin her search for Tracy when low mutterings could be heard coming towards the kitchen doors. Panicked Serena looked around wildly and found a collection of barrels at the other end of the kitchen. She yanked the lid off of an empty one and clambered inside, shutting herself in.
The kitchen doors slammed open and the two men continued to chat about insignificant things as they each picked up a barrel and brought them outside to the horse cart waiting for the load of compost. Serena kept as silent as she could and realized with dread that she was trapped unless a miraculous distraction happened in the next five minutes.
I am so going to kill Tracy.
...
The blonde had no luck in her search for the glue and nearly got mauled by the palace cat. Panting and sweaty, Tracy hurried to the servants quarters for a last ditch attempt at finding glue. Surely someone would have missed them by now.
She was just about to run past the kitchens when two servants started to come out. Tracy hastily turned around and dove behind a suit of armour. She peered around the side and watched the two carry out a wooden barrel...that had one green eye staring out at her from a crack in the side.
Gaping, Tracy could not begin to fathom how Serena ended up in that predicament. But it was up to her to get her friend out of it.
The rescue came in the form of two brown mice.
"Jaq! Gus!" Tracy called out softly to the two mice that were scurrying down the corridors.
"Trace-Trace!" Gus greeted happily. "Whatcha doing out of the ballroom?"
"Was it boring for you too?" Jaq asked.
"Er...yeah. Um...can you guys help me rescue Serena from those two?"
The two mice followed Tracy's finger and stared at the two servants carrying a barrel down the corridor. "She's...in the barrel?" Gus asked in confusion. "Duh, why?"
Jaq frowned at her and Tracy flushed. "I promise I'll explain later. Can you help a girl out?"
They agreed and ran towards the two servants. Gus climbed up one servants pant leg while Jaq climbed up the other servants pant leg. The two men dropped the barrel as a sudden nipping attacked both their legs. The barrel rolled down the corridor towards Tracy and she stopped it with her foot. Serena clambered out and glowered at her. "You so owe me."
...
Mickey wandered the corridors, growing increasingly anxious when he couldn't spot his two charges. It wasn't unusual for the both of them to get up to mischief, but they never left his sight when they attended important social events. He trusted them, but he also knew that temptation was very hard to resist.
He paused beside a marble pillar when he spotted two panting guards and a run-away barrel. His gaze landed on the two mice that were running away from the exhausted servants. "May I ask what happened here?"
"Trace-Trace needed a distraction so Ser could escape from the barrel," Gus explained. Mickey arched an eyebrow and Jaq shook his head.
"I don't think Trace-Trace wanted anyone to know, Gus-Gus."
"Whoops," the plump mouse said sheepishly.
"What are they up too?" Mickey muttered. "Come on, we better find those two rascals."
...
Both girls raced back to where the slipper was displayed. Tracy emptied out her dress pocket and Serena brandished the glue like a sword. Tracy matched up the glass pieces and Serena sloppily glued them together. Both were so engrossed in fixing the slipper they forgot to keep watch.
"It's fixed!" Tracy cheered. Serena quickly placed the freshly-glued slipper back onto its stand and let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh man...can you just imagine how much trouble we would have been in?"
"You can correctly assume it would be a lot."
Both girls jumped and whirled around. Mickey stood a bit behind them, arms crossed and a stern frown on his features. Tracy coughed nervously and Serena winced. "Um...how long were you standing there?"
"Long enough to decide that you deserve a two-week confine to the castle," Mickey informed both of them. "Do I want to know the part about setting the mice on the servants and the barrel?"
Jaq and Gus smiled sheepishly from their place on Mickey's shoulders. Tracy and Serena glanced at each other before Tracy turned to Mickey. "Er...you'd probably live a better life if you didn't ask."
Mickey nodded and sent them back to the ballroom. He decided that it was one of those moments in life where it was probably a good idea not to ask too many questions.
Sometimes things never change.
I have an idea for a sequel. Mind you, I'm not sure when I'll put it up, but I have an idea. So MysteryGirl, if you happen to be reading this, you ready to make up another diabolical and awful villain?
If anyone else is interested, every good villain does need a sidekick.