So,just to let people know, this is totally AU, okay? No royalty or magic, and the characters are older and their roles may be shifted and stuff. Plus some might have been cut out. And Riven and Darcy might be slightly OOC, what with being related to...well, kind of…never mind!
Prologue
"She's not my daughter!" the man roared. His victim flinched as if physically struck.
"She is," she replied quietly.
"Don't defy me, woman! She has no birthmark. No birthmark. I bring you all the way out of the countryside so I can take a look at my girl and this is what I get?" A vein in his forehead looked as though it were about to pop as he continued to get himself worked up.
"Shhh," the woman said desperately. "I know we're outside, Victor, but she might hear. If you would just please-"
"Mom?" A little girl stepped out of the house. "What birthmark are you talking about?"
"Nothing, Flora," the woman said quickly, still in hushed tones. "Your hair's still wet. Dry it."
"A birthmark," Victor thundered, not to be led astray, "that should be on your stomach!"
Flora frowned. "I don't have one, daddy. But I know a girl at school who does."
Victor suddenly lowered his voice and leaned in close to Flora. "You do?"
Flora nodded slowly, backing away slightly. "Her name's Darcenia, but everyone calls her Darcy, and-"
Victor narrowed his eyes as Flora's mother closed hers in a silent prayer. "Where does she live?" he interrupted.
"63 Gilbert Road."
Victor laughed insanely and ruffled Flora's light brown hair in the closest he could get to affection. "Good girl," he said, and went in pursuit of Darcenia.
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"Darcenia, is it?"
She shook her head, her brown curls fall over her face. "Nobody calls me that. My name's Darcy."
Victor shrugged as if it didn't matter to him. "Where are your parents, child?" he asked the little girl, baring his teeth in a twisted grin.
Darcenia stared up at him apprehensively. "They're not here."
"Good. May I come in?"
"No," she replied, trying in vain to block the entrance. "This is my house. You're not allowed here."
Victor belted a little laugh and shoved her aside, ignoring her indignant protests. He walks into the living room, with Darcenia in tow, and looked around. They were very rich folk, with a lot of comforts, just like how he planned to live. He sank into the leather couch and rested his legs on the coffee table, enjoying the luxury, and keeping one eye always on Darcenia.
She frantically pulled at his hand, trying to make him get up. "This is my house, my family's sofa. You can't sit there. Get up." She finally grew tired and was content to sit on a wooden chair nearby and glaring at him.
He sat up straight and looked her dead in the eye. She looked so much like him, and so unlike her stupid mother. "You want to order me around?"
"This is mine," she repeated resolutely. "You can't sit here."
"Do you know who I am?" he snarled. "Do you want to know who I am??"
"No!" she said loudly, starting to get aggravated. "I don't want to know anything. You're not supposed to be here. Get out!"
His patience snapped in two, Victor stood up, and grabbed the girl by the waist. She kicked and screamed and struggled but it was no use. They were alone. He brought her into the bathroom, held her face up in the mirror, and pressed his own against it for her to see.
"There!" he whispered. "We are exactly alike. You are my daughter! And I have proof! The birthmark you have will prove it!"
Darcenia was quiet.
He dragged her back to the living room and stared at her. "You're not supposed to be here. And once I prove it, this family you have isn't going to want you around anymore. Oh no. They'll want their real daughter, and I have her in my possession. Make one false move and I can take everything you have and break it on my knee."
Darcenia stood there, contemplating. She seemed like an intelligent girl, no more than ten. She left the room for a few minutes and came back with a piggybank. "I'll give you all my money," she said, trying to sound meek.
Victor shook his head. She was trying to bribe him, bribe him to keep silent. He knew she was smart. "That's not going to be enough."
Darcenia left again and scurried back with a jewelry box. Not waiting to see his reaction, she came back with a knife and a fresh mango. She started cutting it. Victor's smile turned into a grin. He wasn't sure when the parents would be back but it didn't matter. For a short period of time, he was going to enjoy the lavishes of having a maid.
Once she finished slicing up the mango and placing them in orderly pieces around the plate and clearing the skin into a wastebasket, a strange, determined look came about her face. Her expression and grip on the knife hardening, she brought it down on the left side of his face.
He yelled in shock and outrage. She meant to murder him! They were more alike than he thought. Howling in a mad combination of disbelief and mirth, the attack having barely grazed his cheekbone, he stared at her with new eyes. "You really are my daughter," he intoned softly.
He then proceeded to shove her to the ground as hard as he could. He felt her yelp in surprise. He quickly snatched the knife from her and raised it so she couldn't reach it, even if she was to get up.
It was at this moment that her grandmother arrived. He glanced at he doorway, the gash in Darcenia's forehead and the knife in his hand. He dropped it with a clang and bolted.
(Tell me, was that too extreme? Darcy is sort of cruel in here, but then again, look at her father. Plus she still keeps her personality from the show. The one thing to get out of this is that Flora and Darcy's parents got them mixed up at the hospital.)
TWELVE YEARS LATER
"She looks like mom," Riven said simply. "What she looks like in the pictures, that is."
"Yes," Odessa said softly, thinking of her lost daughter. "I understand. Bring her here this afternoon."
"Bring who here this afternoon?" Darcy inquired. "A new girlfriend? Good for you, Riven. I never liked that Japanese girl. She had too much attitude."
"'That Japanese girl,'" Musa said from behind, gritting her teeth and balling her fists, "is right here, and going out for lunch with Riven today."
Darcy glanced uncaringly at her before saying, "Oh. Too bad," as her mind worked furiously to break them up, like it had since the day he brought her home without his sister's consent.
Musa growled in an undertone. Oh, how she hated that woman! She didn't know why Riven and Odessa gave in to her every time. He seemed so arrogant and sure of himself at school. She, herself, was the only decision he made without his sister's approval.
"Be nice, Darcy," Odessa said absently.
Darcy's tone immediately became fakely sweet and innocent. "Of course, grandma. I'm just trying to do the best for Riven. I have to go anyway. There're some things I have to do."
"Weren't you supposed to help her with her garden?" Musa asked in a superior voice. "I had to do it last time."
"That's right, Darcy," Odessa said with a small frown, remembering.
Darcy pulled a face. She despised manual labor. "But grandma," she protested, using the whiny voice she had perfected when she was ten. "I promised Kyler." She managed to give Odessa a pleading look without showing any true emotions.
Odessa smiled and shook her head wearily. "I suppose, just this once, Musa can cover for you. I'm sure she's free."
"Just this once?" Musa asked incredulously.
"Thank you, grandma!" Darcy chirped.
She gave Musa another look of distaste as her grandmother went into the kitchen, who duplicated one of her own, before she left.
"Riven," Musa said, exasperated, once Darcy was gone, "why do you always let her have her way?"
Riven sighed and put an arm around her. Musa, I'm really sorry."
"Why?" Musa persevered. "She knew we had plans. Why do the both of you let her run the house?"
"I told you this before," Riven said. "She was two when mom died. And it was because of me. I owe it to her to make sure I never get in her way."
"Which also includes being her lapdog?" Musa inquired, her eyebrows raised.
"Look, can we just get going?"
Musa glared down at him from her combat boots haughtily. "Weren't you paying attention at all? I have to help Odessa water her plants!"
"Musa, don't be that way!" Riven said. "And what do you mean, I'm her lapdog?"
Completely uncharacteristically, Musa sneered. "Oh please. She snaps, and you jump. Same with Odessa. You'd think your whole lives revolve around one bitchy woman!"
"Musa!" Riven cried. "Grandma will hear you!"
"I don't care!" Musa yelled, letting off steam. "I'm getting out of here. Why don't you go water Odessa's plants if you owe Darcy so much?"
She stormed out, furious. Ever since the first day she and Riven met, everything constantly had to be convenient for his sister, or had to be fine with his sister. She had held her tongue for a while but what she had seen in this family was pathetic.
Darcy peered out from her car window and snickered at Musa's hostile form. Still laughing slightly, she drove down to the hospital to pop in on Kyler.
I know people probably seem very OOC right now (especially Musa, but if you were her, I swear you'd be crabby too) and 22-year-old Flora is nowhere to be seen but she is mentioned. :)
I feel like I must warn people though. I'm going to work on this really hard for maybe a week and then slack off. Plus I'm moving in the summer so I won't have too much time to update. And I have TONS of other fics I'm working on that I am slightly behind in. I've had rather successful stories and neglected ones before and I really hope this one will be enjoyable somewhere down the road…