"A/N: This is the story of Cinderella. Oh, no, this is not the version you're familiar with. This story is based off of Serena Valentino's spin on it when she wrote it for Nightmares & Fairy Tales. Risa and Mio will be the two wicked sisters, Riku will play the role of Cinderella, Daisuke will be the mystery man Riku will dance with, and Dark will be the Prince.
Just as a little background to help keep you from getting confused, in Nightmares & Fairy Tales, there is a doll named Annabelle who tells all of these stories and she's in most of them. She's in this story and Riku's stuffed teddy bear will play the role of Annabelle. Lines by Annabelle are in italics."
Once upon a time, there was a harsh woman named Rio Harada, who was unfortunate enough to have three daughters who did not share her intellect and sophistication. However, she did share something with two of her daughters, Risa and Mio. They all had a hatred for Riku. Perhaps it was envy, or malice, but whatever the reason, Rio and her daughters treated Riku like servant and not the princess she really was.
Then, one day, a young boy came to the door, and changed young Riku's fate forever.
"May I help you, kind sir?"
"Hello, Lady Rio. I have a message from the Royal court. It seems only two of your daughters are on the list of attendees for the Royal ball: Risa and Mio. But we understand you have three."
"Yes, the third is my middle-child, Riku. I'm afraid she will not be attending. She's an out-of-control, wicked child, I'm sorry to say. "
"Regardless, we will be expecting her at the ball, as decreed by the king. You do know the consequences for-"
"Yes, yes, I understand. I will make sure she attends."
"Thank you, Madame."
A few doors down, on her knees and scrubbing the bathtub, was none other than Riku. Her two sisters had barged in just as she was about to finish her cleaning.
"Are you done yet?"
"I will be in a minute, Mio."
"Well hurry up. Risa and I have to get ready to go into town this afternoon. Mother is going to buy us our dresses for tomorrow's ball."
"There's a ball?"
"Did I hear you correctly? We've only been talking about it all week! Where have you been?"
"Can I go?"
"Of course not!"
From down the hall, Rio called out to Risa and Mio. They turned and walked away from Riku, heading out to where their mother was waiting patiently. She had an upsetting look on her face. The two girls stood in front of her, Riku quietly walking in after them.
"I don't recall asking you to join them. However, since this involves you, you might as well stay."
Riku lowered her gaze and let her bangs lightly hang in her eyes as her mother went on.
"The prince has asked that every available maiden attend the ball tomorrow. That includes you, Riku."
Her head bobbed back up with an excited expression, only to go unnoticed when her sisters chimed in.
"But mother, we don't want her to go!"
"I don't make the laws, girls... not yet, anyway. There's no way around it. She has to go."
Riku's excited demeanor took over as she repeatedly thanked her mother. She was smiling brightly, but her mother would not have it.
"Do not thank me. If it were up to me, you'd be locked away in the basement. But I do not wish to be punished. Now, girls, why aren't you ready like I asked?"
"It's Riku's fault! She wasn't done cleaning the bathroom."
"Well, I suppose you can use my private bath while she finishes up. You two hurry up and come outside. We have a long day ahead of us."
As the girls walked upstairs, Riku meekly interjected.
"Um, what about me? Do I get to go dress shopping?"
"Absolutely not! I'm only required to make you go, but I do not have to buy you a dress! Find your own."
Riku walked into her room, once again depressed. As she opened the door, she looked to her bed and saw her stuffed bear sitting on top of a white dress. It was old and dirty, obviously in need of repairs, but Riku quickly saw its potential. It could be absolutely beautiful.
"Oh, thank you! You're the answer to my prayers!"
After directing the comment towards her bear, her mother waltzed in and informed her that they were leaving.
"Riku! What have I told you about going through your aunts' old trunk? She left these things behind to me and your sisters when she died, not you!"
"It was lying on my bed when I got in here, though."
"Stop your lying. You won't have time to mend this with all your other chores, anyway. I expect this house to be spotless by the time we get back."
With that being said, Rio tossed the gown aside and walked out the door. Riku grabbed the stuffed bear from her bed and hugged it, complaining of how she wasn't going to get to go to the ball after all.
Don't worry, sweet one. You'll be going.
After straightening out her room and placing the bear back on her bed, Riku went downstairs to start cleaning. She went into the kitchen to tackle the dishes first, hoping to get her least favorite chore out of the way. Unfortunately, when she got down there, her sisters had left a pile of filth-covered dishes overflowing in the sink. As they snickered and giggled, their mother called out for them to come along. Riku hung her head and sighed as she cleared out the sink to fill it with hot water. It was going to be a long night.
At the store, Risa and Mio tried on several dresses, still indecisive about which they liked best. Rio assured them both that whichever dress they chose would be perfect, because the prince would surely pick one of them for his bride.
"But mother, if Riku goes-"
"I'll kill her myself if I have to!"
"Girls, girls, calm down. I can assure you that she won't be going."
When the girls arrived home, they noticed the house was spotless. It was exactly as Rio had asked it to be. However, Rio walked over one of the tables and violently pushed it aside, knocking the giant vase full of flowers off. It had made a loud crash and now broken porcelain and water were everywhere.
"Mother, what are you doing?"
"It seems Riku has neglected to clean this room."
Now catching on to their mother's plan, the girls went into the next few rooms and did the same. They trashed them as best they could and when Riku came in to check on the noise, she was in shock. All of her hard work had been destroyed within mere minutes. She looked up to her mother and sisters and saw evil smirks on all of their faces.
"Come along, darlings. It seems Riku still has some work to do."
All Riku could do was stare in disbelief as they walked upstairs. She knew there was no way she could re-clean those rooms and still have time to mend her dress for the ball. She let out a sigh of defeat and went back into the kitchen to get a rag and broom. It was quite clear that she would be getting very little sleep tonight.
"Riku. Riku! Riku, wake up! Since it's obvious you won't be attending the ball, you should at least come and help your sisters and I dress!"
She will be going!
As Riku rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake up, her mother came in and stared in awe at the beautiful white gown hanging by her bed. Her eyes filled with horror and anger and she saw it sparkle and glimmer when the light touched it. Riku looked over and was also in blissful shock at the sight of her dress. It had somehow managed to be mended while she was sleeping.
"I don't know how you did it, you wretched creature, but I can assure you that you will not be going!"
With that, Rio turned and slammed the door. Riku stood in front of the dress, eyes radiating with joy, and she grabbed her bear. She squeezed it tightly and thanked it over and over, somehow knowing that it was her bear that had fixed it for her.
Up a flight stairs and down the hall, Rio stood in her room, conversing with a mysterious figure. It had come from an apple that Rio had placed in the middle of the pentagram she made on the floor. It had no definite shape and it was shadowy in appearance. Some might even go so far as to call it a monster. Rio begged and pleaded for the thing to make Risa and Mio divine beauties and to make Riku even more hideous than she already was.
"And what will I get in return?"
"What you always do, my love."
"Then it shall be done."
"When?"
"By the time they walk into the ballroom tomorrow evening. I shall be back at the appropriate time to collect my payment. Have it ready."
Then, all of a sudden, the figure dissipated back into the apple.
Later that evening, Riku could hear her mother calling for her. She was trying on her dress at the time and had asked her mother to allow her to change before responding. She allowed no such thing and Riku scurried up the stairs, careful not to ruin her dress, and waited in her doorway.
"Yes, mother?"
Her mother and two sisters were dressing and when she entered the room, Mio walked up to her and screeched in her ear.
"Riku, where is my necklace?"
As she searched around the room, Risa yelled at her from the other side of the room.
"Riku, this isn't the right shade of lipstick!"
As she looked at her other sister, Mio grabbed her by the arms and started shaking her, screaming for her to find her necklace. Risa came over and grabbed at the hem of her dress, tearing it while crying about her lipstick. With a few tugs, Risa had managed to rip the fabric. Mio and her stood back and gave each other satisfied looks.
"Oh, my. It's seems your gown is torn."
Riku looked down at the tear in horror when her mother walked over and told the girls to finish getting ready so they could leave. She looked down at Riku's torn hem and shook her head.
"Oh, honestly, Riku. You're not going like that are you? Why, your dress is torn, your hair is a mess, and you haven't even put on any make-up. You will not leave looking like that."
Riku began to beg her mother for a few more minutes to get ready, but she refused. She said that if she wasn't ready in five minutes, that they would leave without her. So she ran down to her room and began to frantically get ready. She ran a brush through her short, red hair and put some powder on her face. She grabbed her shoes and ran out to the carriage.
"How nice of you to join us."
"Yeah, but too bad your dress is ruined. Though, I do think it's kind of brave of you to go so... unprepared."
They went the rest of the ride in silence. Rio stared out the window while Mio and Risa grinned evilly as they stared at Riku, who hung her head in shame and embarrassment. When they arrived, they were helped out and the carriage drove off. They entered the ballroom and everyone turned to stare at Riku. Her dress had been magically repaired, her hair loosely curled, and her face glowing. She was a picture of true beauty. Then, when Mio and Risa walked in, they were given looks of disgust. They both looked hideously deformed and their dresses were trashed.
Rio turned and looked at her daughters, wide-eyed and horror-stricken. She shrieked and grabbed Mio and Risa's hands and began to drag them away. She outwardly questioned how these things kept on happening.
She went back out to where the carriage was waiting and had the driver take off. Back at home, she placed the apple back in the pentagram and re-summoned the mysterious figure from before. She yelled and cursed at him, asking what he had done.
"What's wrong? Are you not pleased, Rio?"
"No, I am not! You've turned them into monsters!"
"Is that what you think of me? I'm just a monster!"
"No, of course not! You know I've always loved you."
"You've become stale, Rio. I crave a new beauty for my bride. Hm, I wonder which one I'll pick..."
"Wait, you don't mean-"
"Yes, I just might take them both."
"No, you can't!"
Rio stood in front of her two mutated daughters in an attempt to shield them from the creature she had summoned. However, he easily cast her aside and grabbed Mio, pulling her into him and making her vanish.
"No, Mio!"
"I shall settle for her, for now. If you can find a way to marry off your other precious daughter to the prince, then I shall spare her and consider Mio payment in full. If not, I take them both."
Back at the ball, Riku had bumped into a very tall, lovely gentleman. They were dancing happily until the Royal family's messenger interrupted them.
"Prince Dark would like the honor of dancing with you."
"No, thank you. I'm happy with my current partner."
The messenger got an irritated look on his face and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I must insist."
Before anything further could happen, the young gentleman she had been dancing with had cut in and assured him that she would be happy to dance with the prince once the current song was over. As he walked away, clearly unsatisfied with such an answer, Riku spoke out.
"I will not!"
The young man grabbed her gently by the shoulders and told her that she couldn't speak to the royal family that way. She refuted by saying that they were evil and cruel.
"Well, then I'm leaving!"
As she turned to walk away, the gentleman told her that it wasn't possible.
"I think he's chosen you as his bride-to-be."
"How can that be? He doesn't even know me! He can't make me marry him!"
"Unfortunately, he can. Didn't you know that this ball was set up so he could find a wife?"
"No!"
"I'm truly sorry. I wish I could help you, but-"
Before he could finish speaking, Riku took off running, one of her shoes falling off in the process. Before he could do anything, the prince had walked over.
"Where is that lovely young lady you were dancing with?"
"...She left..."
"What! She promised to dance with me!"
He walked over to her discarded shoe and picked it up.
"I will find this girl. When I do, I shall make her my bride. But not before she suffers for dishonoring me and my family. She will be punished."
At home, Riku had thrown off her gown and redressed herself. She fell asleep that night curled up with her bear while looking out the window. She woke up to her mother screaming in her ear.
"Wake up, you horrible, nasty thing! Where's your other shoe?"
"I lost it on my way home."
"Then it seems it is you the prince has been looking for. I will not let him find you!"
With that, Rio grabbed Riku's wrist and drug her down the stairs. Riku tried to reason with her, but Rio wouldn't allow it. She threw in her in the basement and locked the door. Once doing so, she called for Risa.
"Yes, mother?"
"It seems the prince wishes to marry whoever fits in this shoe. Try it on."
As she did so, she noticed that the shoe was way too small.
"It's too small."
"No! I will not have both of my daughters taken away by that monster!"
Rio leaped towards Risa and wrestled and fought with her until she got the tiny shoe to somehow fit her foot. Within the next few minutes, there was a knock at the door. Rio answered it and let in the messenger boy from the day before. He told her that he was instructed to find the woman whose foot fit this shoe. Rio led him over to Risa, whose face was writhed with pain. She did her best to seem fine, but the young man took no notice. He placed the shoe on her foot and said that it was an exact match.
With that, Risa leapt up and hugged her mother, screaming of how happy she was to become a princess. All of a sudden, though, the young man had ordered two large men to shackle her and take her away. As they did, Rio protested, but the messenger would not hear of it.
"We have orders to take her away. She is being punished for her crimes against the prince."
"What crimes? I thought they were to be married!"
"Good day, my lady."
"No, you've got the wrong girl! You're looking for Riku!"
Rio jumped up and ran over to the basement. She ran in and grabbed Riku by the hair, cursing her and demanding to know what she had done. Riku tried to explain, but it did no good. Rio drug Riku out to the street and screamed at the messenger.
"No, you've got it wrong! This is the girl you want!"
The young man, obviously annoyed, looked back at the pathetic sight. He turned back to the men who had Risa and ordered them to grab Rio as well. She could suffer along with her daughter.
As the carriage pulled away with Risa and her mother in tow, Riku stared down the road in awe and confusion. Mio had been taken hostage and her mother and sister were arrested by the Royal family. She blinked her eyes a few times and then pumped her fist in the air. She grinned from ear to ear and cried out in overwhelming joy.
And she lived happily ever after.
"A/N: Wow, this took forever to write! I really hope you liked it. I was hoping for romance between Riku and Daisuke, but there's hardly even a hint of it. Still, it's so like Riku to reject Dark, even though she doesn't call him a pervert in this story. It just seemed to fit. Yes, I'm aware that Mio isn't related to Risa and Riku, but I needed a third sister, and she was my best option. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought. I kind of feel like it was too rushed..."