Hey everyone! This is a story leading up to a Cinderella x Terra fanfic I am going to write. It takes place when they are children so no romance yet. ^^ Well enjoy...and tell me if you run into any bad errors.


A tall well dressed woman and her two daughters walked along the streets of town with their much less fortunate young step sister trailing behind them.

"Cinderella!" The step mother called out to the girl. "Pick up your pace. Must you be so slow?"

The little girl sighed and began walking faster.

This time of the year always made young Cinderella very sad. It was winter, which meant one thing to children: Christmas. The season of love, happiness, and presents made every child squeal in delight. All children but Cinderella that is. The entirety of her life she was raised by a very cruel stepmother and stepsisters. They treated her very poorly and made her work, day after day.

She was not allowed to have toys or play with any other children. The only thing she was allowed to do was dress in rags and does chores around the house.

Being young and not understanding why her sister's where treated better than herself she often questioned her stepmother." Stepmother why must I always work?" she asked with pleading eyes looking up at her. The woman gave her an icy glare back. "It is because you are not my real daughter. You have no parents left alive so I take care of you. Child, you should be grateful that I am giving you a roof over your head and a meal to eat."

So her first eleven years of life all she did was work. Christmas being a season of happiness was something she didn't understand. As a matter of fact, the little girl probably didn't understand what the word "happy" even meant.

The group of four continued walking until they reached a toy store. The two stepsisters squealed in delight.

"May we go inside mother?" one of the girls pleaded. The woman nodded in response and the two sisters scurried into the store.

Cinderella looked up at her stepmother "May I also go inside?"

The woman shook her head. "You may not. I've told you that you are not allowed to have toys." the cold heated mother said following her daughters into the store.

Cinderella sighed and looked up at the sky. A light snow was beginning to fall. Lifting up her hands and letting the snow land into her thin hole filled mittens the tiny pair of hands shivered.

She watched the people walk by without a thought in her head. Some of them laughing and hugging their family members. Others leading their children into various stores.

After a while of watching, Cinderella began to shiver from the cold. The thin rags rapped around her body barely held in the heat. But the obedient girl continued to stand in the very spot she was left, not moving an inch.

A few more minutes passed and another little girl holding a large fluffy teddy bear, along with her mother, walked out of the toy store. The girl stopped in front of the store and tugged on her mothers arm.

"Can you buy us some hot chocolate?" the little girl asked.

The mother smiled and nodded. "Okay Suzie, wait right here and I will go buy us some."

The little girl clapped her mittens together and smiled. "Thank you." she said hugging her teddy bear tight. Then the mother walked away for a moment.

Cinderella fixated her eyes on the teddy bear the girl next to her was holding. It was a fairly large bear with very fuzzy looking brown fur and black buttons for eyes. The bear also had a pink bow tie.

The poor girl smiled from ear to ear looking at the bear. For some reason it gave her a warm feeling just seeing it.

Suzie spotted Cinderella looking at her and smiled. "Hello there. My name is Suzie how are you?"

Cinderella shyly put her head down and turned away. Suzie scooted closer to her and giggled.

"You don't have to be afraid. All I said was Hi."

Cinderella nodded in response and the girl smiled.

"You look cold why don't you go stand inside the store?" Suzie offered

The poor girl just shook her head. "I'm not allowed to." she said in a very quiet voice

"That's no fun! Don't you want to look at all of the toys?" the friendly girl asked

Cinderella nodded "Yes but I can't."

The cheerful girl took Cinderella by the hand and walked her up to the store window.

"Well at least look inside from out here." the girl suggested

So Cinderella looked into the window. What she saw inside the store was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid her eyes on. Toy train sets, baby dolls, blocks, doll houses, teddy bears and colorful lights flashing in every direction. The girls small eyes lit up with the sights she saw.

Suzie chuckled seeing the expression of the girl next to her. "You look like you've never seen toys before."

Cinderella hung her head down. "I don't have any toys." she said sadly.

Suzie frowned and looked at her. "That must be awful." she said.

She continued to look at Cinderella then she looked at the teddy bear in her arms.

"How would you like to have mine then?" the girl said smiling and holding up her bear.

Cinderella's eyes widened "Really?"

"Yes, I want you to have my teddy bear! His name is Joseph; please take good care of him." Suzie said placing the bear in Cinderella's arms.

Cinderella smiled and hugged the bear tight. "Thank you." she said happily

"No problem!" The kind girl said with a grin.

Suzie turned her head in the direction her mother was standing. "My mom just called me, I have to go. Bye Bye!" she shouted running off.

"Bye." Cinderella said waving to her, and then she watched the girl and her mother disappeared into the distance.

She looked down at the large bear in her arms and hugged it tight. She felt so warm inside that it was overwhelming. Tears came to hear eyes and she wept. "I-I'm happy." she said, for the first time understanding what it meant to feel the emotion.

She continued smiling and rocked back and forth on her feet humming softly to herself, while occasionally looking down at the bear.

After a while the stepmother and her two daughters walked out of the store, each carrying large bags full of toys. Cinderella greeted them with a smile and a hello.

"It's time to go home." the stepmother said.

The older stepsister gave the ragity girl a snooty glare. "Why are you so happy? It's discussing."

The younger stepsister looked over at Cinderella and spotted the bear in her arms. She walked over and pulled it out of her grasp. "What do we have here?" she asked curiously looking at it.

Cinderella grabbed the bear and tried to pull it away from her. "That's mine don't take it away!" the poor girl begged.

The older stepsister walked over and pulled the bear from her younger sister. "What a nice bear, I think I'll keep it." she said

The younger girl glared. "No I saw it first!" she shouted yanking it away. And with that both girls began tugging on the bear, ripping its fur off and pulling its limbs apart.

Cinderella fell to her knees and sobbed. "No please stop it!" she weakly yelled.

Then the stepmother jumped in between her daughters pulling them apart. "How disgraceful! I will not have my daughters acting like this in public." she shouted at them

Both girls stopped tugging on the bear and apologized to their mother. One of the sisters turned her head and stuck her tongue out at their young stepsister.

Cinderella laid on the ground and started sobbing uncontrollably.

The stepmother pulled the girl to her feet and slapped her across the face. "Stop this at once or I will not give you dinner tonight."

Cinderella tried to stop her tears but they would not cease, so her angry stepmother shouted at her again. "You're making a scene in public so I will not allow you to have dinner tonight." she said dragging the girl away by her arm. The stepsisters just laughed and followed along.

When they arrived home the stepmother threw her stepdaughter into her room and locked the door. "You will not come out of this room until tomorrow." she said in an icy voice before walking away.

Cinderella crawled up on her bed and hugged her pillow in between her knees while crying. She cried and cried until she had no tears left. Then she sleepily stood to her feet. Feeling something sticky on the bottom of her shoe, she took it off and looked to see what it was. It was the pink bow that was on the bear she had earlier.

She wrapped in her hand tightly and walked over to her window. It was just not fair that she wasn't allowed to feel happiness like all the other children she saw. So she decided that she would leave her stepmother's house. She didn't know where she would go, but anywhere would be better than somewhere that made her feel miserable.

So she put on her thin winter jacket and opened the only window in the room. She stood up on her tip toes and jumped out of it falling into a bush. Standing up, she brushed the snow off herself and immediately took off running into the woods.