Hey guys, thanks for all the amazing reviews and the constructive criticism. They mean so much and keep me writing – JJ X x
A Unicorn – it means a lot that you took so much effort to review and I appreciate your comments. However please take into account that it was only the second chapter and I don't want to give too much away too soon. As for the name thing I picked it at random because I liked the sound of it, I'm not really up for changing it and I hope that small detail doesn't put you off. Thanks so much for your suggestions and I hope I did you proud and you continue to enjoy and review – JJ X x
The spring sun shines down on the dark castle, making the black marble goblins hanging on the building shine brightly, the garden is starting to bloom and the crisp scent of spring flooding the air, the housekeeper is busy at work polishing the fossilized ornaments in the garden, once people brave and stupid.
"Excuse me?" an unfamiliar voice questions
The girl turns to see a man, sully and meager "yes, what do you want?"
The peasant fiddles with his hat nervously, much to Clarissa's annoyance "I was looking for… I mean I …"
"Do you wish to make a deal?" she barks with a fold of her arms, growing bored
He gives a wary nod and she nods, a strange little smile forming on her face "then follow me…"
Once inside the castle she leads him to the main dining room and she calls in a sing song voice "Oh Rumpelstiltskin… you have a visitor"
He turns to her from his spinning wheel and smiles maliciously at the sight of the man "well… how very brave you are, coming to my home or how very desperate"
The man takes a step past the brunette girl and stands timidly in the presence of the demon "please sir, it's my wife…"
"Desperate then… what do you bargain?" Rumpel stands and strides over to the man
The pauper lowers his head and stammers "I'm not a rich man but I have this…"
The man pulls something from his shirt; Clarissa takes a step over to them and a seat on the table and he pulled out a jar with a small sparkling fairy flapping around inside
"Now where oh where did you get this little pretty?" the golden skinned demon asks while flicking the jar
The man swallows hard and goes to answer only for the doe eyed girl to jump off the table "a spring fairy… creatures that ensure the coming of season, crops and growth"
Her small porcelain hand gliding over the glass with a whimsical smile as she looks to her master who smiles over "you think this is a suitable price for you wife's life? …tut, tut, tut, thing is barely a trinket"
"But she's so very pretty" Clarissa taunts playfully
Rumpel gives her a raised eyebrow and asks "don't you have chores to do?"
She pouts and leans into the pierced jar "don't worry… he's a pussycat really" and she skip's away with a stern look from the golden man and a giggle on her lips
Clarissa sits in the garden, finishing her polishing when the man comes out, he sends her a weary smile and nod before leaving and she looks up to the window, seeing the pleased man smiling out at his latest deal…
That night Clarissa is heading to the dungeon, but there's a note on her door. She looks at the parchment in wonder and reads the fine script 'go to the south wing…'
She follows as instructed, finding another note on the south wing stairwell, then another on a large white oak gold trimmed door… 'Open'
She unlocks the door and gasps in awe; it's a large bedroom, the door is black on the opposite site, but with the same golden trimming's, floor is the same marble that covers most of the house, but with a black bear skin rug next the four-poster bed that was center stage of the room, large windows letting moon and star light flood into the dark room and an on-suite bathroom, in the corners where a ebony wardrobe, chest of draws and large vanity dresser.
Clarissa looks around in confusion and sees yet another note on the cotton soft crimson pillow, she gingerly walks over and opens it, a gleeful smile on her lips as she reads 'my part of the deal done. Enjoy the room dearie'
A couple of days later and Clarissa is dusting Rumpel's vast collection; she knows he got more than some silly fairy out of his deal the other day but he won't seem to tell her, she turns as he enters the room and smiles "how are you today?"
He doesn't answer and simply goes to his wheel, this unsettles her and she turns to him with a tilt of her head "you're upset"
He doesn't reply and begins spinning the gold, Clarissa's face sets into a deep frown and she asks "Rummy?"
"You were snooping in the west wing. What did you find?" he asks without looking at her
She shrugs and answers simply "just some children's clothes, why are you so upset?"
He seems to snap then and his yellow burning gaze snaps and he stands, rounding swiftly as he towers over her "I told you never to go there… I have tolerated your insolence so far but I won't be disobeyed"
He leans into her, face merely an inch away and bites "we're not friends; this isn't a vacation dearie… I. Own. You!"
Her blue orbs burn into him as he grabs her arms in anger and she can't stop herself at his tight grip, her scream echoing throughout the house as it roars from her small body. Rumpel steps back in shock, unsure of why she's screaming and suddenly the tea set shatters, the cabinets and windows splintering.
He looks to her in wide eyed shock while she pants for breath and then darts from the room, not stopping until she's safely on the other side of her bedroom door. When she's there she slumps to the floor beside it, streams falling from her eyes as a memory flashes before her eyes…
~~~ It's late, the stars are shining as the music flows and a small girl is running through the grand halls of the palace, crying and furious in her white dress, always white "Clarissa come here at once!"
She just runs faster at the sound of the voice but her new shoes on perfectly waxed floors are cruel and she slips, hitting the floor hard only to be dragged up and held in a bruising grip, raging eye sweltering into her "you will get back into that room and apologize to your sister this instant!"
"I will not, you can't make me!" she yells back, the surrounding vases and windows beginning to shutter, as well as the glass of her nanny's spectacles
The vice grip tightens and the girl only retaliates by biting the woman's hand hard and attempting another escape, but the old woman is quick and grips the girl, turning her to be met with a harsh slap "you insolent little devil! Just wait until the king hears of how insubordinate you are."
At the woman's words and sharp, painful hold, not to mention the coppery sting in her mouth the child uses her only asset… she screams, strident and thunderous.
The first on the scene is another little girl, her curls bouncing and horror evident on her face. The floor is lettered with broken glass from the vases and windows, a brisk breeze in the air and there sprawled on the floor is the nanny, the glass of her spectacles embedded into her brain through her eyes, heavy crimson pooled around her head.
The girl stands in shock horror and can already hear the footsteps of the castle guard, but then she hears a small sniffling sound and looks round the mental armor, her sister sitting wither head buried into her knees and muffles "It was an accident, it was her fault, she shouldn't have hit me!"
Belle runs to her sister's side holding her close "it's alright; I won't let them hurt you…"
Clarissa looks at her sister in amazement, not five minutes ago she'd giggled gleefully while ripping the stuffing from her sister's favorite bear and now here she was, ready to protect her, glaring down the guards and screaming in mutiny as they carted the girl away, but Clarissa didn't kick and scream as they dragged her down the hall, she just looked to her sister who was trying to get to her… she just didn't understand why… ~~~~
Meanwhile Rumpelstiltskin is looking to the mess around him in wonder and asks himself "what just happened?"
Later on and Clarissa walks calmly into the room, placing a new tea set on the table and then going to clean up the disarray of the old without so much as a glance over to him. The golden man stands from his spinning and says "care to explain dearie?"
She doesn't reply or even make a move to acknowledge him or the question. Rumpel takes a couple of steps over and kneels down, helping her pick up the broken glass, he hands her a larger piece and she takes it, staring at his hand as she says "I'm sorry, it won't happen again"
He watches as she leaves with the shattered tea set, her eyes never meeting his and a sad expression came to his face, he'd expected anger and sarcasm, but this… well he didn't like this, not at all
The rest of the week is quiet, malevolently quiet. Clarissa it seems has taken a vow of obedient silence, restricting her words to things such as 'yes, sir', 'no, sir', 'sorry sir' and not with some bitter antipathy but a dull tone, its empty and lacking in that usual hum… it was something he'd grown used to, something that told him playful banter was near… something he missed, her humming.
The imp walks into his trophy room and looks to see the vibrantly dressed girl cleaning his collection "I'm going out, seems there's a deal to be made in one of the south kingdoms"
She doesn't turn to him; he only sees the nod of her pony tail and her voice reply "yes sir…"
He swallows slightly as his eyes scan over his housekeeper; she hadn't looked him in the eye since that night and it was starting to agitate him "well… see you later then"
As he leaves she goes to the window watching as the carriage takes off, her face is vacant as her nails click against the glass. She walks calmly over to the cabinet and takes out the jar holding the small fairy that instantly panics
"It's alright, its ok. He's gone" the doe eyed brunette soothes the creature
The winged woman looks up to the reassuring face as the housekeeper smiles down on her as she opens the pin pricked lid. The fairy quickly fly's out and onto the shelf of the cabinet "what's your name, I'm Clarissa"
"Ava. Thank you Clarissa, you have freed me. When I get home, I shall send word for you to be saved from this beast" the small woman smiles to her new friend
The princess offers her hand out to Ava with a smile, the fairy jumping innocently onto the porcelain palm "thank you Ava that's very kind of you… however there is a slight problem with that plan"
The fairy looks to her confused and then in shock horror as her hand grips tightly around the small doll like body and Clarissa snarls "I don't want to be saved!"
Ava gasps for air as her frail body is crushed under the strength of the conquering grip, the fairy's eyes glisten with realization and she asks "why?"
"The world is a cruel place, not everyone gets a happily ever after, then theirs my favorite reason…" she tilts her head with a whimsical smile
Her grasp tightens tenfold and as the light of the creature fade she smiles, looking to the small body in her hand "…because I can!"
When Rumpelstiltskin arrives home that night what he's met with leaves him speechless, all the ornaments in the gardens are shattered, all the flowers ripped apart and the doors wide open, he walks inside to see all his covered mirrors shattered to a million pieces each. On entering the dining room he sees a small platter on the table, he walks in examining the room and lift the lid of the platter only to be met with the corpse of his fairy
"She thought I was saving her" a giggling voice comes from the doorway and he turns to be met with his housekeeper
Their eyes don't meet as she glides into the room "why have you done this?"
She twirls and laughs "because I can, because it's fun Rummy!"
He stands amazed, she didn't just break almost everything in and around the house, she killed, Princess Clarissa had murdered a little fairy in cold blood for no reason and he examines her with a finger to his lips and a tilt of his head "such a strange little thing you are dearie"
"But you like that about me don't you?" she smiles and skips to him
He realizes she's taken away one of his trophies, destroyed what is his and he can't seem to be angry with her as she goes to leave the room he calls "they were my son's, the clothes you found…"
She turns back to him, a small glint in her eyes and a curious expression "where is he?"
He doesn't blink as he answers "I lost him"
She nods with a sympathetic glaze, striding slowly to his side "I'm sorry… they hate me, the people in my kingdom, my family, they fear me… I'm not a good person and I've never pretended to be. That's one of the reason's they let me go, why they'll never come for me"
She stands before him now, raises her hand and touches his grey-gold cheek with a tenderness she didn't show Ava "I don't know what it is to lose a child, no matter what form, must be so painful… however I know what it is to be in pain because of others, to hate with such passion and take with such joy…"
Yellow tinted eyes and sparkling sapphire orbs locked as her fingers, so soft, brush his cheek and she looks to him in contemplation "my whole life I've never been understood by anyone… then I met you, but if you ever grab me like that again I'll burn you alive while you sleep"
He watches her then as she skips out of the room with a tune on her lips and Rumpel looks to the dead fairy and then the door, the humming flooding the broken rooms and laughs, rubbing his hands together "such a sweet voice you have my dearie…"
