Disclaimer: I definetely do NOT own this fairy-tale.

Agonized tears welled at Cinderella's eyes, time having stopped for her where she waited at the top of the stairs. That delicate glass shoe -her shoe!- had fit... but it wasn't her that it was sitting upon. Why? Why had it all gone so wrong? It shouldn't have, couldn't have fit her wretched step-sister, and yet with her very eyes, she saw that it did. Why wasn't her love pure enough, great enough, to conquer this?

Surely it was a mistake; they'd realize that soon enough, wouldn't they?

No. No, there her sister -false sister- stood, accepting the prince (he seemed so... happy? Why? She and her sister didn't compare. How could he possibly mistake them for one another?) in joyous dance, for finding his "true" love.

"I don't understand. I'm the one who loves him. Really loves him. Didn't he love me? At the ball, didn't he love me?" Her thin whisper died off with the onslaught of her tears, though they quickly dried when a familiar presence crept calmly behind her.

"Oh, but he did. You wished for it, remember?"

The elderly female voice, still heavily accented with old magic, seemed eerily darker than Cinderella remembered. "Then... why is he with her?" The last word caught in her throat like a curse. The once comforting smile now appeared to be more like a sinister smirk, and Cinderella became all too aware that something was amiss.

"Because for every wish, there is a price to be paid. An equivalent exchange, so to speak. You wanted to become beautiful enough to attend the Prince's ball, and in exchange, you gave up his love for you."

Cinderella backed away, horrified. "You... you monster!"

A tilt of the wrinkled head allowed the light to gleam off skin that now showed her true nature: a bewitching demon of the shadows that preyed upon man's desire, and the young girl had been ensnared.

"Monster? I only carried out our agreement; it was you who never bothered to ask about the details, merely assuming you were entitled to your dreams. Live on, fool, in agony. If you still bear ill will at death's door, then I will gladly settle this in Hell." The wicked smile faded with the rest of her into the realm of the unknown, leaving Cinderella shaking in her mixed emotions, with only her step-mother's harsh glare to awaken her from her stupor.

Trembling, she made her way to the tower, considering the long drop as her salvation until she dreamt of the witch she never wanted to encounter again. With no more control over her fate than before her fairy-tale experience, she resigned herself to a maid's life, learning to forget about the light that had once upon a time been her prince.

A/N: Done for school, and thought it was kinda neat. Feedback appreciated, but not required.