All mistakes are mine and mine alone but I hope y'all enjoy this. Just a little heads up though Miranda is not nice in this story, like at all.
She glides across the inky marble flooring, a midnight Valentino off the shoulder gown clinging to her taut body like saran wrap and full crimson lips spread into a bright gleaming grin. Smile for the cameras, Andréa. Smile to all the little people, Andréa. Be presentable, Andréa. And, oh how she performs the illusion flawlessly feeding them her charms on a silver spoon by the mouthfuls. With a twinkle of an eye and pull of the lips she draws them in like moths to a flame because it was her dance, after all, a dance her mentor had taught her well. Her partners although unique and different as snowflakes were all certain to lead but in the end, it was her dance.
Never make the first move, Andréa. Let them come to you. And that she did; feigning shyness, staying close to her 'protector', sipping sparkling champagne quietly and eventually they all find themselves in front of her staring in awe, basking in her glow, trying to find the courage to speak or question whilst being watched carefully nearby.
Yes, to some she's a living breathing happy, happy, Disney princess. To others, the ice dragon's fledgling just learning how to breathe fire. Both parties, however, hadn't a clue that both were correct.
That years ago, she fell into Miranda Priestly's clutches willingly, eagerly letting the legendary woman mold her like a bit of clay into what she is today. The old Andy was a sweet naïve all American girl whom wouldn't hurt a fly but she was dead now replaced by Andréa. Who despite all appearances, was far from being that girl. Over the years she's fired people, snapped at them, even threw a coat at one girl all the while piercing sapphires watched onward with pride flashing in them.
Yes, it was her dance, but always, always, Miranda led it.
Three years earlier(Four after Paris)
Curled into a tight ball, with crinkled faded newspapers covering most of her emaciated form, the young woman slumbered deeply against the grimy wall. Her constant shivering and ragged breathing rattling the papers so much that some slipped to the ground below but still she slept, sheer exhaustion adding onto malnutrition putting her into a nearly catatonic state. Her thick greasy hair clung to a pale cheek provided enough protection against the frigid mid-winter air while the ratty torn clothing upon her person do the same.
A sharp pain within her lower abdomen echoed throughout her body wrenching her from Morpheus' embrace back to reality. Heavy eyelids opened owlishly and Andy Sachs groaned as the discomfort within her stomach intensified with consciousness. She lowered her hand, placing it just above the navel and rubbed gentle circles. Food; she needed food. How long had it been? She couldn't recall although truth be told it was getting more and more difficult to remember anything nowadays.
With all the strength of a newborn kitten, she pushed herself upward into the sitting position and reclined against the wall. She closed her eyes tightly, inhaling and exhaling deeply, patiently waiting for the world to stop spinning on its axis before pushing herself upon two unsteady feet. She wobbled a bit keeping hands behind her back touching the bricks for balance. Finally, when some sort of stability was reached she began to walk clumsily from the alley into the buzzing streets of New York.
They all ignored her, the people passing by chattering away on their cell phones or the person next to them. She was nonexistent, a ghost floating in the realm of reality.
She trudged into an alley and over to a large dumpster where she knew from experience contained a wealth of food. Climbing up the side of it, she peered in and began her search.
The brunette was halfway through the pile and had made several 'good' finds when a voice called out startling her.
"Andréa?"
Andy's head snapped upward, blurry chocolate orbs immediately darting to the source, she clutched the wrappers closer. A white-haired woman was standing some distance away scanning over her from head to toe she lingered on the various items of trash held in filthy hands before darting to the smeared bits of food around the girl's mouth.
The woman's lips tugged into an unpleasant smile as she reached down into her purse and fished out her cell phone. "Emily, cancel all my appointments for today. I won't be coming in today." A pause and thin pink lips pursed. "Yes." Click. She hung the phone up and tossed it back into her purse.
"Well, my, my, what do we have here?" She stalked forward, her heels sounding off like a machine gun on the concrete. As she drew nearer and nearer, though, Andy's eyes grew wider and wider in fear. "Mir..Miranda?" The brunette rasped her voice neglected for months now sounded like she had a horrible case of phenomena.
"Hello, Andréa." Her voice was the same smooth low tone that used to give Andy nightmares four years earlier. She made a show of looking directly at the wrappers. "I see you're enjoying your breakfast this morning." Lips quirked and eyes glinted with something that made the hairs on the back of the younger woman's neck stand on end.
Andy whimpered and clutched them close to her chest unconsciously trying to hide them. "Wha..what do you want?"
The quirk of the older woman's lips grew into a deadly smirk. "Oh I don't know, lots of things as of right now."
The way she said it made an unpleasant shiver go down Andy's spine and an enormous part of her to all but screech out RUN. Still, she remained frozen in place by those chilling sapphire orbs.
A couple of long heavy seconds passed with the two women just staring at one another. One like a cornered doe the other like a predator sizing up its prey until it was finally broken. "Come along. I have a car waiting."
Andy didn't know why she followed but she did. Like an eager puppy at its owner's heels, she trotted to catch up. Once they entered the car the younger woman nearly plastered herself to the other side while Miranda sat stoically as always with her usual pair of expensive sunshades in place.
They rode in an uncomfortable silence all the way to the townhouse. When the car came to stop Miranda looked over, locking eyes with Andy then jerked her head her to follow. Timid as a mouse Andrea complied stepping with cautious steps behind the woman with her eyes glued to the ground.
The unlikely duo walked into the enormous house through the hallway which Andy noted hadn't changed a bit since the last time she'd seen it. Miranda then lead her farther in until finally, they came to a modernized kitchen decorated with mostly black and steel applications that looked as though they'd never been used.
"Sit," Miranda commanded motioning to a medium-sized oak dining room table sitting beside on by the far wall in front of a huge window out-looking the backyard.
Silent as a ghost, Andy obeyed. Slumping into the nearest chair, she had to resist every instinct driven into her from months on the street not to curl up into a ball. In the background, she listened to Miranda moving around, wrappers and plastic crunching followed by the sound of liquid pouring into a cup. Andy sniffed smelling strong coffee of the stench of her own self and briefly wondered how long had it been since she'd tasted it.
She was suddenly snapped out of her inner musing by a thump of a plate being placed in front of her, looking down she found what appeared to be a ham sandwich along with a pile of Doritos off to the side. Her stomach snarled its approval urging her to devour it like a starved hound.
But somehow Andy managed to resist and looked up at the older woman, waiting. Was this a test? Was Miranda going to wait until she went to grab for the food only to snatch it away? "Eat," Miranda said giving the younger woman a hard look before taking her place at the head of the table with a cup of coffee clutched in her right hand.
Keeping suspicious chocolate irises glued to the older woman, Andy reached out, snatching the sandwich from the plate before bringing it back into her chest protectively as if frightened it will be snatched away and began to nibble.
Miranda quirked her lip in amusement as she took a sip of scalding brew. Gone was the beautiful, clumsy, doe-eyed woman from before now she was replaced by this sad little thing which truthfully pleased Miranda to no end.
The older woman watched, resisting the urge to chuckle when the girl picked up speed and nearly swallowed the rest of the sandwich whole. Hungry little rodent. "It took me a long while to find you." She placed the porcelain cup down onto the table with a clink. "Longer than what I expected." Miranda admitted, not taking her eyes away from the younger woman.
Andy startled, almost dropping the chip that was heading toward her mouth.
"I tried everywhere. I even called your parents and oh my the things they had to say about you." She chuckled cruelly, watching with barely contained glee as Andy crumbled.
Traitorous hot tears prickled at the corners of dull chocolate eyes before sluggishly beginning to fall down dirty alabaster cheeks, washing away the grim in their wake. Her parents had practically disowned her once she got back from Paris as did her friends. She had no one now. They all left her all because of the woman sitting a couple of feet from her.
Miranda leaned forward though Andy could not see her with her eyes cast downwards. "Time and time again I heard them warn you not to cross me, Andréa and yet you did. Why is that?"
The brunette curled up farther into herself and muttered something under her breath.
"Has eating out of dumpsters all this time suddenly made you mute? Speak up, Andréa."
Not lifting up her head, Andy repeated herself. "Because I didn't want to be like you."
"Didn't want to be like me?" A scoff and Andy felt those cruel sapphires burning into her but dared not lift her head up."Was being me so horrible that you'd reduce yourself to this? I mean just look at what you've become, Andréa." Darkened sapphires swept over Andy's body. "You're filthy, stink of rotting garbage and probably have been living on the streets for months if not years and you have the sheer gall to sit there and say it was because you didn't want to be like me." Miranda spat, making the girl whimper and hunch over in frightened anguish.
"M'sorry." She sobbed.
"Sorry?" A delicate humorless snort. "Now you're sorry? Because of your juvenile delusion of what is right I was left in Paris with no assistant and missing vital papers that cost me thousands."
Silence fell over the room only being interrupted by the sound of the girl breaking down.
Miranda got up from her seat and languidly circled around the girl. She lightly grasped the joint that held Andy's right arm to her shoulder then moved around until her entire arm was draped over her. "But there is something that you could do to fix all this." Her voice low, melodious, full of dark temptation.
Andy's head whipped up, her round chocolate eyes looking into Miranda's, shimmering with hope and desperation. "Please, Miranda. I'll do anything."
A tense pause. "Anything?" Miranda damn near purred and licked her lips. Oh, how she loved that word. It held so many possibilities, so much power. "Are you quite sure about that, Andréa?"
No, she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure at all but the promise of getting her life back was just too great of an opportunity to pass up. So she did the only thing she could do in that moment.
She made a deal with the devil herself.
Andy swallowed thickly and nodded hesitantly.
The smile that came next was purely predatory. "Very well, you are to do anything and everything I say. When I say jump, you say how high? When I say fire someone, you say who? When I say put this on, I don't care if its John Wayne Gacy's clown suit you do as you're told. Understood?"
Once again, Andy nodded stiffly.
"Excellent," Thin pink lips pulled into a shark-like smile. "I must say it thrills me to no end that you at least kept some of your brain cells whilst on the streets. You will start work back at Runway in exactly two weeks. That should give you enough time to...recover." She said it as though Andy had been a minor accident.
At the mention of Runway, Andy's eyes widened. "But-ah ah no arguing." Miranda reprimanded smiling in satisfaction when Andy's mouth slammed shut and eyes dropped down to the table once more."Good, now you need a shower because that hideous stench of yours is ruining the paintings on my walls not to mention my sinuses."
Andy silently stood up all the while keeping her now reddened eyes cast downwards.
"Come along." Miranda commanded, turning and heading out of the kitchen while Andy followed in her wake like a faithful puppy.
AN: Okay so some requested a fic where Miranda truly was cruel instead of just pretending to be. Don't know if I should continue this or just keep it as is. Anyways as always I take prompts no matter how insane they may be so don't be shy drop a review or PM me.