S.U.R.V.I.V.E. by Shadowgirl416

Hi! Just wanted to say that the word on the title doesn't have to do so much with the story.

But this could explain a lot-

Start your life anew

Understand your problems

Redefine your priorities

Verify yourself worth through commitment

Ignore your detractors

Value your loved ones

Embrace everyday as if is it your last

I don't own it, I took from the Saw 7 movie - so it belongs to them.

But those phrases have a lot to do with this story, so that's why I decided to name it that way.

Also the story is inspired on the Shrek Forever After movie - any characters are used in this one though.

Hope you like it!

Chapter 1: Out of line

"Good night-" Barbie said, standing beside the light switch of her little sister's room. She smiled and moved her hands towards it to turn it off. Her sister gave her a sad look, followed by a whine.

"I'm not sleepy…" Barbie giggled and sat on the edge of Kelly's bed.

"Tomorrow you have to go to school-" the oldest blonde started saying, the youngest interrupted her.

"I don't want to go to school!" she complained, crossing her arms on top of her little chest.

"Why?" Barbie asked.

"Because… I don't like doing homework" her older sister laughed, and looked at her in a maternal way.

"You'll have to work and study to be someone in life and to literary have a life" she tried to explain to her young sibling.

"Then how come you don't have to do any homework?"

"Because I already graduated-" Barbie took Kelly's nose between her knuckles, making her giggle.

"Still, I wish I could have just one more day to myself… before school starts again"

"You know…" Barbie smiled and raised an eyebrow "-Those words remind me of a story" she 's face lightened up, she loved her big sister's stories!"Do you want to hear it?"

"I do!" she giggled.

Barbie smiled and laid more comfortably on Kelly's bed, staring at the ceiling while her little sister cuddled besides her."Do you remember that story about the princess and the pauper?"

Kelly instantly nodded.

"Let's start this story with a problem that surged before princess Anneliese agreed to get married with King Dominick… okay?"

"Okay" Kelly squealed.

"Once upon a time there was a very ill king, who was in charge of two young men. One, his nephew Frederick, the other one, his only son Dominick. He had very little time to decide which one of his two boys was going to be the new king, so he told them that the first one to find a good wife was going to be the new ruler of the kingdom. He didn't have any preferences, but he was hoping that his son won the challenge.

Frederick was evil, cruel and selfish - marked by a very sad past - though Dominick was the complete contrary of king knew the kingdom was going to be better in his son's hands, but Frederick wanted the crown and he wasn't going to give up so had his own plan to be king with his girlfriend who was the kingdom's witch - he could marry her but his uncle would never approve a sorcerer in the queen's place. So, they were going to trick the King to believe Frederick had another love interest, and then leave Dominick expulsed of the kingdom and make Frederick the new king-"

"How?" Kelly interrupted, Barbie laughed.

"The evil witch and Frederick were going to find a woman to pose as his new bride, to make Dominick's father believe that he had found a good wife faster than his son. And they almost got away with their plan - but when the king was about to declare his nephew the new king, a messenger broke in and told them that a princess was willing to marry Dominick-"

"Anneliese?"

"Yeah, you do remember." Barbie smiled.

"What happened next?" Kelly whined.

"Well, the story I told you before… Since Dominick was going to marry Anneliese, Frederick had no other choice but to accept his destiny. Now we're going to start with the real story, are you sleepy yet?"

"Nope, I want to hear the story, please."

"Alright… Let's start with a different prologue -

Erika had longed for a day for her and only herself.

Even when she was free and was singing out in the world she had work to do. Singing, signing autographs, making concerts when she was really tired…

Then she married Dominick, and she thought her life would change. She didn't have to sing with a sore throat or a tired body for money anymore and she had the man she loved at her side. Erika thought that being a queen was going to be an easy task and more with Dominick with her, but she was wrong.

She had to organize and watch everything that happened in the castle, she had to give exact orders to the maids, and she had to help Dominick with the kingdom's needs, also help him take decisions. She had to receive all the people that came to visit the palace -poor or rich- and attend their requests. And along with these and many other things she was desperate, then they were overjoyed when she discovered she was pregnant.

"She had a baby?" Kelly interrupted, again. -Making her older sister loose her concentration in the story.

"Kelly please" she chuckled "I can't tell you the story if you don't let me concentrate" she continued.

Her life seemed perfect and complete; since she was pregnant she barely did anything. But not even in this condition she felt like she couldn't have a day for herself, she would vomit, be dizzy all the time, and felt like sleeping all just was not what she was expecting. Then the most important day in her life arrived, she gave birth to twins.

The birth wasn't what she expected either, it was painful and exhausting. But then her babies would make her day happy…and after those sucking-energy days - they weren't allowing them to sleep at loved them, but sometimes she pretended not to hear would help, but she went almost all the times.

He was the king and needed that rest to face the days she didn't give up - and as they grew they got more and more mischievous. Little Erika would babble and scream all the day playing with an old dirty rag doll that once belonged to her mother. She wouldn't let her wash it or change it and it made a special sound when you squeezed it. Little Nicolas or Nick was very easy going - but when Dominick had to leave he would start crying and screaming, not to mention he always had his index finger stuck in one of his nostrils.

They were different, but they were twins and they did have things in common. They would both cry when it was bath time, when the food was of their dislike, when they were going to the doctor, when Erika brushed their hair, when it was raining, when there was too many noise around them, when the maids attempted to help with their care…Both parents were exhausted, especially one of the biggest tests of their lives was only a couple hours away...

Erika fixed her daughter's light brown hair as the little girl kept moving her head."Please sweetie, stay still-" she had managed to make a ponytail adorned with a big blue bow "Now look at me-" her daughter turned her big baby-blue eyes towards her, hugging harder the dirty rag doll making it squeak "Promise me that your ponytail will still be there at the end of the day" Erika raised an eyebrow, the little girl responded with a slight nod.

Erika tied another bow her little blue dress had in front, and fixed her sleeves."Mommy loves you." she hugged her baby girl as she giggled. Dominick entered the room, opening the door and standing with one of his arms behind him.

"Ladies, may I introduce you the new and refreshed Prince Nicholas." then the little boy entered the room, he was dressed in the same form that his dad was. Some blue elegant and formal clothing, similar to the red one Dominick as always, he had his index finger digging for gold in one of his slightly chuckled and helped her daughter get down of the chair she was in.

She sat to give herself some finishing had made some adjustments on her appearance; she had removed the braid that crossed her head to replace it with an elegant golden crown. Her eyes reflected nothing but tiredness; bags were starting to form under them - though she managed to make them came closer to her, admiring her reflection in the mirror. Erika felt some embarrassment, she was the queen and she looked awful. Or so she thought, he kept saying in his mind how beautiful she felt like if maybe she was getting old for her husband - that he was growing bored of wasn't correct at all, he loved her as much as he did when they got married. It's just that with children, and a kingdom to take care of, they didn't have much time to show love to each knocked at the bedroom door.

"Come in" Dominick called, as he fixed Nick's hair.

A maid opened the door."Your majesties-" she bowed, "I told them to wait for you to go down but she insisted on seeing you before the party-" the black-haired woman explained.

"Who wants to see me?" Erika asked, standing up from the chair as she fixed her hair.

"King Julian and Queen Anneliese" she replied, just in time when the duo entered the had a big happy grin on her face, though she looked different. Her hair was so much straighter and shorter, on top of her shoulders to be exact. Julian looked the same as always, but happier since he was escorting the woman he loved - his wife.

Since they were kings and queens, their meeting should have been more sophisticated and elegant. But they were friends, they had been through so much together that their reaction was stretching their arms to each other and greet with happiness and not with formalness.

Anneliese ran towards Erika, wrapping their arms around each other. Julian smiled at Dominick and they shook both blondes were baffled at how big the twins had grown, it hadn't even been 4 months since they last saw took little Erika in her arms, looking at her in a maternal way.

"So nice to see you guys!" Erika commented"It's so good you could make it" Dominick added.

"We wouldn't miss this for anything-" Anneliese kept looking at the little girl, Julian making faces to make her laugh. Both parents watched their friends playing with their children.

"Hey little guy, you shouldn't do that" Julian chuckled as he kneeled beside Nicolas who was picking his nose. The little boy giggled, Julian felt something in his heart when he heard that sound.

"So-" Erika started, all looked towards her. "When are you guys thinking of… adding someone to your family?" she dared to laughed as she put Erika down on the floor.

"Actually-" she walked closer to Julian to take his hand and placed a hand over her abdomen - Erika hadn't notice it before but it had increased in size since she last saw her!Julian continued.

"That's why we wanted to see you before the party…" Anneliese grinned along with Julian.

"I'm pregnant." she said, though Erika's reaction wasn't what she was expecting.

Erika and Dominick grinned, but showed no… excitement. They knew what was ahead of Anneliese and Julian's life when their baby was born.

Dominick smiled - but Erika thought that maybe waiting a little and enjoying more time together alone with your partner would had been better for her, and her best friend was going to join her club.

"I'm so - happy for you" Erika walked closer hugging Anneliese.

"For you too-" then hugged Julian.

"Congratulations" Dominick smiled, he was more… shy to show affection towards them.

Dominick had always felt some kind of respect for them - he felt guilty and ashamed for a while when he discovered he was going to marry somebody who was already in love.

He felt like if he had interfered with their love, he was going to marry by force the woman Julian loved. He was going to have a stranger for a wife who'd probably never love him and he would never love back - not to mention the hatred Anneliese was going to be collecting inside of her towards Dominick for making it impossible for Julian to be with her.

Thank God he met Erika!

His heart warmed when he remembered when he first saw her - he knew she was different the moment when she tripped in front of him returning to the castle after she had 'runaway'.

And the first day they spent together - the best day of his life.

The birthday party had started.

All the guests had arrived - the balloon-covered room was crowded by people. Their murmurs and chattering made it impossible to hear their own thoughts.

Erika took a deep breath to calm herself, she could say that day wasn't going to be a good day.

Nick resting his head on her shoulder, as she greeted some people at the party - Dominick carrying his daughter. Everywhere she passed, someone stopped her and greeted her - she didn't mind talking to them, but Dominick should have told her that he was going to invite people she had never met before.

Then mayhem started to grow-

"Your highness- the cake has arrived" a maid informed her, Erika nodded and followed her servant.

Erika eyed the cake, it was pink. She glared at the man who delivered it to the castle.

"It's pink" she commented, the man with the huge mustache shrugged.

"I know"

"This cake is suppose to be for a girl and a boy, that's why blue is more suitable"

"Look your highness, I don't make them. I just deliver them"

Erika's head started to throb as the desperation grew inside.

"It's my kid's first birthday" she looked down at the cake "-And this cake is addressed to 'Mary' and it says 'Forgive me for the beans'…" she blinked several times "- that doesn't even make sense!" she said, the man sighed.

"Your majesty, I already told you - I only deliver them."

"Look, you should have known you were bringing the wrong cake since you saw the box. I ordered a three-story blue colored cake - this one is pink, it wouldn't even last for half of my guests and it has a stupid thing written on it"

"Your majesty I'm sorry-"

"Leave with it - I'm not paying for it" Erika turned away and returned to the room where everybody was.

Dominick came closer to her.

"Where's the cake?"

Erika sighed "There isn't going to be any cake-"she frowned in confusion.

"What? What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes she was way to mad to respond in a good manner to him.

She walked over some chairs where her daughter was and placed Nick beside her.

Erika's expression wasn't the happiest, and it made Dominick worried.

"What's wrong?" he stopped her, she glared at him and continued walking.

"Wait-" he grabbed her arm, she pierced him with her dark blue eyes.

"Look, just go make yourself useful and tell the maids to serve the food for the guests" her tone full of discontent and anger.

He was baffled, she pulled away.

"Hey, could you go to the nearest bakery and buy the largest cake you can find?" she asked one of her servants he nodded and started walking away.

She looked back and saw Dominick again; he was serious and kind of mad.

Dominick crossed his arms on top of his chest "Are you sure you locked away Wolfie and Serafina?" he asked, she nodded.

"Of course I did-" she assured

"Well I think you only locked them-" he pointed towards the table were all the food for the guests was on.

On top of almost every plate and bowl - a kitten had its head dug into the food it contained.

Serafina and Wolfie were not there to watch their kitties; maybe they were too big to pass through whatever their babies did to go there.

Maids started to remove the cats from there, but the food had to be thrown away.

Erika felt like fainting, but instead she got angrier.

She walked away towards her kids to clear her mind; she sat on a chair near by and sighed.

Another servant approached her-

"Your majesty-" he started, the queen looked up to him "-I'm afraid the fools you contracted to assist today aren't going to be able to arrive"

The brunette sighed, again. Her cheeks burning with redness, her head wanting to explode - Then she started to hear her daughter's rag doll squeaking all over her ears.

She yanked it out of the grasp of the infant and she started to cry - very loud.

"Shut up, Erika" she said as she put the rag doll on her pocket.

Suddenly, everybody in the room gasped and the room went dead silent. Erika walked through the crowded room to look for the source of the surprise and she saw Dominick standing in front of another man - Frederick.

She had heard very little of him but she knew enough to identify him.

His brown eyes fixed upon Dominick, whose face was turning red with anger.

"What are you doing here?" the king asked through clenched teeth.

The other man smirked "I just wanted to meet my little cousins"

Dominick walked closer and grabbed the man by his collar.

"How do you dare coming here after what you did?" Frederick chuckled, and showed no fear at his cousin's actions.

"Why so angry cousin? Look at all you have-" he pushed Dominick away, and then his eyes met Erika's.

"You have such a beautiful wife…" the brown-eyed man had never seen her before but he recognized who the queen was because of her crown.

Dominick struggled to control himself - he swore that the next time he saw him it would really be the last time.

Frederick's gaze found Anneliese in the crowd.

"And she has a twin sister, I see. Maybe my little cousin can learn to share with me by presenting her-"

Julian got out of the crowd and stood in front of his wife in a protective manner. And before he could talk to defend Anneliese, Dominick talked.

"Guards! Get him out from here!" he called, in a matter of seconds guards grabbed him by his arms.

"I don't want you near my family or my friends or my kingdom! Have I made myself clear?" Frederick smirked once more and nodded, the guards carried him away.

Dominick took a deep breath to calm down.

As soon as the intruder was out of sight, everyone in the room started talking and chattering.

For Erika this only meant a stronger headache - then the world started spinning around her…

The voices only grew louder…

Spinning faster and faster and faster…

She buried her face in her hands… but nothing could control her exploding stress.

And she took as much air as she could-

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The room fell into a complete silence again, everybody staring at her.

She was panting; Anneliese dared to walk to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Erika, it's okay-" Erika pushed Anneliese away from her, making her fall to the floor.

Julian rushed to her side as his wife winced, and looked at Erika who had no sign of remorse for what she had done.

"It's not okay, Anneliese…" she walked a few paces away, and then turned back facing the pregnant woman on the floor.

"Oh! And by the way, it that fall causes you worse things later - you should thank me - I've just made you a big favor" Erika's expression reflected anger -

Anneliese's eyes started to fill with tears as she hugged Julian, they didn't respond - they didn't had anything to say to her.

Everyone baffled at the queen's behavior, they just couldn't do anything she was the queen.

Dominick ran behind her, he didn't saw what happened but understood the situation because he was able to hear it.

Author's note:

Just wanted to thank my beta reader for this story: Avatarfan445 ! Thank you so much for helping me correct the spelling and helping me with this story! And I also wanted to thank Barbiegirl2435 for all of her support as well :D!

So, this first chapter was supposed to be longer but I decided to keep the tension in the story a little longer ;D

Sorry for the poor attention Anneliese and Julian get - the first two chapters won't have a lot of these two L. Anyway, Erika and Dominick fans I hope you really enjoy this and please don't freak on me - everything happens for a reason ;D

Please review! Let me know what you think about it.