Ch 1: Cinderella is Found…Unwilling to Marry the Prince
"Here she is Sire. We found her hiding out back in the kitchen by the fireplace," said a
guard bringing in a rather unwilling maid.
"Excellent," said the prince. "Bring her over."
"Look, you really have the wrong person here. I wasn't the girl you danced and fell in love with at the ball. You want my first cousin, Ella, on my mother's side," the girl said as she struggled to break free from the guard's grip.
"Nonsense, lass. There's no need to be frightened. I won't harm you," said the prince.
The guard was practically dragging the girl over to the chair where the prince waited on one knee with a glass slipper in hand.
"It must be the presence of her step-mother and her two step-sisters. Evil step-relatives can be very intimidating," said the chamberlain.
"I resent that remark!" retorted the only woman who could've been mistaken for an evil step-mother. "I am Elaine's actual birth mother, and these are her two sisters! And I will not stand to be referred to as 'wicked' or 'evil' much less 'step!'"
"Have them removed immediately!" ordered the prince paying no attention.
"How horribly rude!" sniffed one of the sisters.
"It is a mistake to assume that all princes are charming," added the other.
"Elaine, please clear this matter up quickly in time for dinner," said the mother as she and her daughters flounced huffily out of the room escorted by a guard.
Elaine was unceremoniously forced to be seated. The prince began pulling at her left foot, but Elaine continued to resist him.
"Okay, I'm going to tell you right now that the shoe is going to fit, but I am not the girl from the ball! I don't even fit the type of girl required by the story; if you let me explain, I'll tell you why I'm not that girl but yet the shoe fits."
"Of course you fit the type of girl," replied the prince undeterred. "You're young, beautiful and have a step-mother and two step-sisters who have forced you to slave away for them as a scullery maid. They made you hide in the kitchen by threatening to beat you if you didn't stay out of the way when I arrived."
"I was in the kitchen by the fireplace because I was cooking, you dolt!" said Elaine furiously, giving a mighty kick that hurled the prince back some distance.
"I understand, they made you cook, clean, mend, and do all sorts of dirty, heavy chores. If you just allow me to put this slipper on your foot, you will be officially announced as the girl at the ball and my future bride. You'll never have to work again."
"Damn, I just went for the open bar. I wasn't expecting any drama to come of it," thought Elaine. Aloud she said, "For the twenty-millionth time, you want my cousin Ella. She has an evil step-mother and two evil step-sisters and a dead father, whereas I just have a mother and two sisters and a father who's very much alive though away on business. People get us mixed up all the time and to top it all off we even wear the same shoe size, so I can understand your confusion."
The prince, still on one knee, looked thoroughly befuddled. "But, but, the shoe, you, step mother, sisters, equation, story," he sputtered for a few moments. Finally he regained his composure and stood up tall and proud. "I understand you're rather bewildered and over-excited by all that has happened in the past few moments, so I will pardon your obvious and rather dreadful lying—which would be considered a serious crime in any other situation. You should consider yourself a very lucky girl."
Motioning to the footman, he said, "Put the shoe on this young lady's foot." The prince moved behind Elaine and placed his hands on her shoulders which, to the casual onlooker, appeared to be a sign of comfort but in actuality was a method of restraint. The prince was not going to see his long sought prize get away. Following tradition, the shoe fit and Elaine was whisked off in the royal carriage to the palace where plans for a grand and most importantly swift wedding were being made.
AN: So this is kind of both an orignal fiction piece and fanfiction piece. It's also very much a work in progress. I posted this on fictionpress, but since there was a fairytale category on FFN, I figured it wouldn't hurt to post it here too. Besides, I have better chance of obtaining feedback as I'm a bit more known on here. This is what's kind of been occupying my time instead of Wicked--sorry to all my OWFU fans. I will pick back up on it sooner or later. As always suggestions and constructive criticism are greatly valued.
--Lan