A/N okay, so here's chapter one. I hope you all stick with it for a few chapters before really making a decision on whether you're gonna stay till the end. This story is very AU, so no curse. And it's captain swan in case you couldn't tell. I love hearing what people have to say, positive and negative, constructive criticism is welcomed. Please follow and favorite and all that stuff I love to get emails about. Alright, now start reading.
Disclaimer- I obviously own nothing.
Bang!
Queen Snow nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of a large palace door being slammed. Snow shot a worried look at her husband, who responded with a heavy sigh. Soon they heard the loud sound of leather boots stomping down the staircase, followed by the soft scurrying of multiple pairs of cloth slippers. But no sound of heels, the only sound they were hoping to hear.
Seconds later the wooden double doors to the main room were opened. In came a tall, strong young man who seemed to be very angry, behind him were three maids eager to help in anyway possible. The man stomped over to the king and queen, his face red with fury.
"Please sir is there anything-" one of the maids began to ask for what was probably the nineteenth time, but the man cut her off quickly.
"NO!" He yelled and stomped his foot, not turning to face her.
"Ladies you can leave now, thank you." The queen said to the three maids, who seemed quite shaken by the man's harsh tone. They all nodded and curtsied before scurrying away. The king and queen watched as they ran off but the man kept his focus straight ahead of him. Once the doors closed again their Majesties turned their attention back to the young man. He stood there with his eyes closed tight, taking deep breaths and moving his arms slowly up and down, yet still his face remained bright red. To anyone other than the three in the room, this might've looked comical, but on the contrary this was no laughing matter to them.
"I have tried and tried again. I sent flowers, and letters and chocolates and all sorts of extravagant gifts." The young man started, clearly struggling to stay calm in front of the royalty. He took a deep breath before continuing, "she is impossible! She is rude, inconsiderate, snobby, and excruciatingly-"
"Hold your tongue boy! That is my daughter you're speaking of." The king interrupted him with anger in his eyes but a calm voice .
"And I am truly sorry for you, sir." The young man said, not caring how rude that sounded. "However I do not regret telling you this: I will not- no, I can not marry that, that... child! I hope this will not cause problems between our two kingdoms but I simply will not lower myself to that..." He paused for a moment taking more deep breaths and anxiously tapping his foot before opening his eyes and addressing them once more, "I have the majority of my things packed already, I should be ready to leave early in the morning."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for breakfast?" The queen asked sweetly.
"Not if she is going to be there, no." He said curtly before bowing and walking away.
The door closed with a thud and the king and queen were left alone. The queen sighed, slouching down in her chair in an exhausted sort of 'I'm ready to give up' way. She looked over at her husband with barely any hope left in her eyes.
"He was number nine, David, I've only got eleven on the list before we have to use the back up plan." Her majesty said.
"I know," her husband said exasperatedly and with a heavy sigh. "Why is this so hard?" He asked his wife, taking her hand. They sat in silence for a moment before the queen sat up straight.
"I'm going to talk to her." She said sounding rather determined.
"Are you sure now is the best time for one of your mother daughter talks, Snow?" David asked, "they never tend to go very well and I think number nine gave us quite enough yelling for the day."
"This isn't a joke, David, the girl needs a husband and we are running out of options!" That of course was the end of the conversation and Snow, as usual, got the final word.
...
Emma sat quietly in front of her vanity, carefully combing her hair with her favorite silver comb while she lightly hummed to herself. She of course had been listening as Prince Gregory ran down the stairs after their little fight. She heard him yelling at the maids to leave him alone, but once he got past the first flight of stairs she couldn't hear anything. Not that Emma really cared or was curious, she knew what he was doing, the same thing all the rest of them did. Running down to her parents, telling them about how terrible she had treated him, blah, blah, blah.
But Emma honestly had no care for what they thought of her. She didn't like any of them, and didn't want to. In fact it had almost become a sort of game for her. Find out who the next suitor was, find out what bothered him, get him to hate her all while convincing her parents that she tried her best. Or rather convincing her father who thought she was a perfect angle. Emma smiled to herself at how clever she was, putting down the comb and taking a moment to admire herself in the mirror, then turned to her jewelry.
"Miss, your mother requests an audience with you." The sweet maid said in a whisper when she entered the room. She stood in the corner near the door almost as if she were hiding. And if you looked closely it almost appeared as though she was shaking.
"Speak up! You sound like a mouse with that squeaky little voice!" Emma said in annoyance as she held two different earrings up to her ears, trying to decide which to wear the next day.
"Your mother wishes to see you." This time another maid spoke, she was older and not at all intimidated by the "royal brat" as the palace help liked to call her highness behind closed doors.
"I see my mother everyday three times a day, not to mention the millions of horrid portraits hanging on our walls. Why should I waste more of my time speaking with her now?" Emma asked sounding rather bored.
"You should do as she suggests because she is the queen, which means she has authority over you, the little princess." The maid snapped back. Emma sent her a sharp glare in the mirror before standing up and walking towards the door, not once looking at the maid on the way there.
"You will have no place in this palace when I become queen." Emma hissed as she walked past the maid.
"But you are not queen yet." The maid snapped back just as the door closed.
"And with the way men go running and screaming from her I doubt she ever will be." The quieter maid added with a little snicker.
...
"Mother, daddy!" Emma said with a wide sweet smile on her face as she entered the room.
She ran over to her dad and planted a large kiss on his cheek before turning to her mother and giving a polite curtsie. Emma had done this every time she saw her mother since the day she turned 15. She did it only to spite her mother knowing all too well her mother hated for her to be formal if there was no need.
"Shall we sit?" David asked, sensing the tension between his wife and daughter. Snow nodded and began heading towards the table that sat out on the balcony. Emma quickly took the seat next to her father, forcing her mother to sit in the lone seat on the other side of the table.
"You wished to speak with me mother?" Emma asked, her voice was sweet and polite but there was an air of defiance and rebellion that just seemed to naturally happen when Emma spoke to her mother.
"What happened today?" Snow asked calmly, her voice truly was sweet, but still the voice of a disapproving mother.
"Mother, you can't expect me to relay my entire day to you, you really must be more specific when you are talking. 'A vague ruler is unclear and an unclear ruler is a bad ruler' page 172 of The Proper Way To Care For Your Country." Emma recited the quote without a problem. She had spent three years reading all sorts of books on ruling countries and etiquette and history and memorizing every word in them. Emma smiled at her father who seemed a bit amused by her ability to just come up with a quote out of mid air. His wife however did not seem satisfied at all.
"Alright, what happened with Prince Gregory? Why did he come to us screaming about how terrible you were?" Snow revised her question.
"Prince Gregory is far too over dramatic for my taste. Don't you think daddy?" David was about to respond but stopped himself when Snow shot him a small glare. "Anyway it was nothing really, I merely thought that I had dropped my glove during our ride. I asked him to pick it up for me but it turned out I had it all along. Then our horses got spooked, so they both started to run off, back to the palace, with me still on my horse, obviously. Anyway we made it all the way back to the palace but poor Greg was still way back in the forest- which I just found out he's not very fond of. But, anyhow, it was the strangest thing really because no one was in the stable so I had to take care of the horses and make sure they had everything, all by myself, might I add. By the time I got to my chambers I was so exhausted that I completely forgot about The Crowned Prince of Over Reaction. So I suppose he must have had to walk all the way back here, from that deep, dark, scary forest. But it was barely two miles, in fact he was rather slow, wouldn't you agree daddy?"
"I..." David stated but trailed off as he caught his wife's gaze. "I think it was very inconsiderate of you to not have one of the guards go find him as soon as you got back here." He looked over to his wife for approval and she gave him a slight nod.
"I suppose you might be right..." Emma agreed, hoping this might get her out of whatever punishment had been waiting for her. "Well, if that's all then I'll just be heading back to my room, I'm awfully tired." Emma said as she stood up and got ready to leave.
"Wait,"
Emma froze in her place then turned slowly to face her mother, plastering on her fakest smile. "Yes mother, what is it now?"
"We will be going on a trip in one week, to the gold kingdom. It's much warmer there this time of year so I'll have the dressmaker stop by tomorrow to make you a few nice dresses for the hot weather." Snow said with a smile. Emma face softened when she heard this and for the first time in a long time the smile she gave her mother was a real one.
"Alright, then I'll just be heading off to bed. I want to look good for my dress fitting." Emma said feeling all sorts of excitement at the thought of new dresses and a trip to the exotic gold kingdom .
