And the much awaited update to Jacqueline!

Sorry if it was a long wait, I didn't have the movie on DVD until now and the whole prologue was completely from memory. Anyways, here we go!

For the small kingdom, color was now a rare thing. Since the good King Heath's disappearance, all the land had been claimed by an eternal winter; the trees remained barren, farms' soil remained frozen and un-usable and the grand lake that the castle overlooked was permanently frozen. The sky seemed to be daily cloudy and a clear day rarely came.

For the castle household, time seemed to be at a midway passing point, it did a haunting dance, a slow one at that. Their king's disappearance left their new queen completely in charge and that, they had yet to determine, was either a good thing or a bad thing. There was a clear difference in how Nefera and Heath ruled, instead of focusing on the people's happiness; Nefera's goals were purely selfish, demands for lavish, expensive parties, beauty treatments and the like were now a common thing in the castle.

But for one girl, things were different. Forced to remain mostly in her room within a tower, Princess Jacqueline found herself opening her miniature balcony to look out on the once beautiful land that she had been proud to call her home. Once, lush, green could be seen filling every which way, flowers and dirt paths giving it a form beauty, but now nothing but white as far as the eye could see.

The young princess, now eighteen, had grown into a lovely, hair falling a little past her shoulders in waves of black tipped with a bright blonde that matched her bangs. Her stepmother's selfishness didn't stop with her takeover of the castle and its lifestyle, but also with her own things.

She had little left in terms of things, a simple roomset of gold, complete with a small desk, a couple of candles. Her wardrobe was even more pathetic, but Jacqueline didn't really care about fine gowns like her stepmother did and was fine with the abnormally plain, sweetheart dresses she took to wearing. Her true joy was in the instruments her stepmother thankfully didn't touch; her violin, her cello, her flute, her clarinet and her piano.

Like any other day, Jacqueline was on her balcony, staring out into the cold white of her kingdom. How she missed being able to roam and explore, she missed the colors and the warmth of the sun on her face. Mostly, she missed her father and his warm laugh, his smile. Whenever she thought of him, she'd watch what few birds were left fly about, free as they could be, wondering how long it would be until she could join them in such freedom.

Jacqueline was broken out of her thoughts by a particularly loud chirp and blinked as one such bird, a small swallow, flew right by her into her small room and perched itself on the chair of her desk.

She smiled gently at it, "Hello there…"

Stepping off her balcony, Jacqueline walked over as it continued to twitter and chirp. Sitting on her bed, she asked, "Would you like a treat?" She reached over to where her friend Draculaura had left her an apple earlier and took out the seed.

She feed it to the bird, her smile never leaving her, "Here you go," But then, a fanfare began to play from downstairs, catching both the bird and the princess' attention, "Oh, I think the party's started."

And she was right, for down in the wide hall of the ballroom, a party was going on. Though, it wasn't the kind of party where people were dancing, laughing and chatting, it was the kind where games were played. A life-sized diagram was temporarily drawn on the floor.

Placed about the checkered diagram were various lords and ladies wearing large ship models atop their hats, playing the part of human (well, monster in a few cases) game pieces. One side were dressed in burnt orange suits and gowns, matching the brown and burnt orange models atop their hats. The other side were dressed in dark blue that matched the sails of their models.

Sitting atop the lavish, plush throne was a the very definition of exotic beauty, bronze-tanned skin and lilac-purple eyes. Time had done nothing to ravage Nefera's appearance; her dark teal blue and streaked hair was pulled up in an elegant ponytail. She wore a strapless, teal green dress that was several shades darker then her hair with a see-through, black, veil-like material, wrapping around her shoulders that matched the over skirt that flared out around her legs, lavishly flowing around her feet.

To her right, her opponent, was a large, pale gray gargoyle noble with short blue hair dressed fittingly in a deep purple suit trimmed with lavender. To her left, sitting on a stool, was a strikingly handsome, male vampire with pale pink skin and black hair with red streaks in a shaggy short of style that was oddly befitting and bright violet eyes that were tinted with a light touch of pink. He was dressed sophisticatedly in a wine red tunic over a long-sleeved, white shirt with ruffles at the ends, a pair of black dress pants, dress shoes and a long cape hung from his collar.

Nefera's cold, yet semi-board voice cut over the strings of the musicians, "F to D-9."

One of the burnt orange-dressed men, a greyish-white furred werewolf with brown hair and green eyes, instantly moved to the right to follow his queen's move. However, what he failed to realize he went in the wrong direction and thus was confused by the sudden pause.

Nefera sighed and informed him, "To your left, Lord Romulus," Romulus blinked and looked around, lost for where he was supposed to be, until one of the other nobles pointed it out for him as Nefera's disappointed plea seemed to echo through the room, "If someone would please teach Lord Romulus his left from his right, I would be oh so, very grateful."

Romulus blushed at his mistake as he moved to the correct spot, before bowing in apology to both the higher noble and his queen, "Excuse me, Highness."

But then, the gargoyle noble called out, "B to J-12," And as a human woman dressed in blue moved to her new position, he spoke to the Egyptian Queen in a much lower voice tone of, "My lady, I feel it is my duty to tell of the rumours that I've been hearing lately."

"Rumours, Baron Rocco?" Nefera inquired with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at him. The vampire also inclined his head, just slightly, in interest.

"Well," Rocco spoke while keeping his eyes mostly on the game, trying to remain impassive, "There have been rumblings that the kingdom is close to destitute," He then gave a dismissive shrug, "Say if you were to join with one of the higher noble households in marriage…"

However, both Nefera and the vampire caught on to the hidden suggestion. While Nefera openly scoffed, the vampire simply rolled his eyes as Rocco continued, "…I feel the gentry would be more reassured that the kingdom was stable once again."

In response to his logic, Nefera tipped her head back and let out a laugh that made several servants, the vampire included, jump a bit. She then turned her head toward said vampire and said, "Valentine, a word, please."

The vampire, who is also the Royal Advisor, Kieran Valentine, immediately stood and walked closer to his queen, while smiling politely as he replied, "Yes, Your Majesty?"

All Nefera said was, "Loose lips, sink ships."

Clueless, Valentine nodded in complete agreement, "Yes, indeed, Your Majesty, exactly," Having misunderstood, he turned to the game and asked, "Which ship would you like sunk?"

"It's just an expression, Valentine," Nefera light-heartedly groused, before adding before he could respond, "A royal decree, take it down."

"Ah," Valentine said in a slightly strained voice, his smile tight as he quickly fetched a short scroll and feathered pen, "Marvellous."

It was at this point that Jacqueline arrived, keeping behind a pillar so she could see the party. Her plain, full-length, silver dress made it easy for her to hide.

"Any busybodies…" Nefera began while glancing at a nervously smiling Rocco, "…caught rumouring, gossiping, whispering or even thinking," Valentine looked up at that last one in a bit of surprise, but Nefera's smile never faltered as she finished, "Shall be put to death."

Both males looked at her with mild alarm as she smirked, "How does that sound?"

"It…" Valentine stuttered nervously, "It's decisive." As he walked off, it was then Jacqueline went to get a closer look, causing Nefera to catch her.

She called out, "Jacqueline."

Said princess inwardly cringed at being caught by her stepmother, but turned toward her and the higher royal beckoned her over.

Obediently, Jacqueline walked over and sat at the foot her stepmother's throne as the older woman inquired, "Is there a fire?"

Jacqueline blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry?"

"Is your bedroom on fire?" Nefera asked again, but this time didn't wait for a reply, bringing a finger to her cheek in thought, "Because I'm searching for an explanation as to why you would be out of your bedroom and in here," She gave a casual shrug, "And my first guess was fire."

"Oh, well…um, stepmother," Jacqueline stammered as her cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment as she fiddled with a piece of the white veil-like material over her gray skirt, "I-I thought maybe I could come to the gala, since…" She gained a hopeful smile, "…since today's my eighteenth birthday."

"Is it, now?" Nefera said adopting a look of feigned shock, pretending to be surprised, "Oh my, oh my," Turning her attention to the game, she called, "E to F-3, please."

She then shifted so she could rest her head on one hand, letting out a thoughtful hum, "Jacqueline, maybe it is time I ease up on you, hmm?" Her step-daughter said nothing, but kept her hopeful smile, "After all, you've done nothing to me, caused no problems…." She then held up a delicate, slender, ringed finger in mock-realization, "And yet…there is just something about you that's just so…incredibly…irritating."

That final word caused the smile on Jacqueline's face to fall into a disappointed, yet hurt and all the more confused frown. After all these years of not causing any trouble what so ever, there can't still be something that offends her.

"I don't know what it is," Nefera shrugged as if discussing the weather, before randomly guessing, "The slumped shoulders," Causing Jacqueline to immediately straighten her back, "The hair, that voice…" The queen suddenly realized what it was, "Mm! No, I know what it is."

While Jacqueline was trying to figure out what it was, she was startled by her stepmother's next words, "I think it's the hair."

Without warning, Nefera, with her other hand, grabbed a fist full of the princess' hair and pulled on it harshly, causing Jacqueline to let out a startled, but pained gasp as she looked up at her stepmother in shock, eyes watering a little. But Nefera had a cold look of cruel-indifferent as she pulled her step-daughter up a bit more by her hair and whispered harshly, "I don't care if its your one-hundredth birthday, don't ever sneak into a party like this again."

Rocco was quick to divert the queen's attention by calling out, "B to F-6."

Nefera, without letting go of Jacqueline, responded, "C to D-4," As the two nobles moved to their next positions, Nefera let out an amused laugh, "Baron Rocco, you've been beaten for the last five minutes and didn't even know it."

As she spoke, one of her ships was across from on of Rocco's. Her ship slowly opened its side cannons and fired at the opposite model, causing the human who was wearing it to flinch before it folded itself over. With the end of the game and Nefera's win, the nobles all turned to their queen and applauded her victory.

Rocco gave a light clap as well, "Bravo, Your Majesty."

Nefera smirked as gave a sharp tug to her step-daughter's hair, causing her to whimper before Jacqueline glanced up to meet her cruel, lilac eyes flashing with malicious-glee as she said in a soft, mocking tone, "Its important to know when you've been beaten. Yes?"

All Jacqueline could do was close her eyes and nod in defeat. Once again, a victory for Queen Nefera.

Okay, possibly not my best ending point for a chapter, but hey, gotta end it somewhere and I plan to use the next chapter to introduce our prince!…and the person that plays the cowardly companion…I forget his name, LOL!

But on a brighter note, at least I'm finally updating this, let me know what you guys think! Kudos!