Chapter seven, say hello to the readers. Readers, this is chapter seven. I hope you get along. Ace of Cyberspace, thank you for the reccomendation. Trudy, I sure do hope that you like it. Indy, I love you. You're absolutely fabulous.

Chapter Seven: But Her Mama Wouldn' Let Her Go

Right after Scott—the messenger, not you, kid—left, the girls went straight to work. Rogue was put to work extra hard every day leadin' up to the ball. She didn' have to focus so much on her chores 'round her house. Instead, Mystique wanted her to work extra hard on makin' Jean and Kitty pretty 'nough to win the prince's heart.

She had to help the girls find dresses, and that won' no easy task. They tried on a buncha them—women tend to do that—and were quite indecisive 'bout which one they wanted to be. Women tend to do that, too.

No offense, ladies. S'not a bad thing. A tad annoyin' but it is what it is and Remy has come to accept it. And boys, y'all better start gettin' used to it, too. It's not really relevant now. The girls are young. They pull on some dress wit' some skinny cartoon character on it, put their hair into pigtails and call it a day. But when they get older, all the sudden it gets way more complex.

Makeup, flat irons, and items they wear under their clothes that are very deceptive.

But that's jus' a 'nother one of those things you'll realize wit' age and you gonna think back on this day and 'member ol' Remy and think: That tall, handsome Cajun sure was right.

I'm always right 'bout things like this.

But wasn' I s'posed to be tellin' y'all a story? Where was I? Dang it—I mean dammit. I mean dang it—I forgot. Amy, what was I sayin'? Oh yeah.

Amy, you're gonna make some boy very lucky one day. Scott, maybe you outta take note of that 'fore it's too late.

No, Amy don' have cooties. No, Amy, Scott don' have cooties either. What do you mean how do I know? 'Cause I'm a grown up. Besides, they cured cooties 'bout seven years ago. You know how y'all gotta go the doctor and he starts pokin' and proddin' you wit' all sorts of needles? Well one of them needles is for cooties.

Yes, really. Why would Remy lie to you? Do I seem like the lyin' type to y'all? Uh…actually, I don' want you to answer that question. Let's jus' get back to the story.

Rogue went on more trips to the market than she could count. She hauled all sorts of dresses 'round for her sisters. And after they finally managed to settle on an outfit, she had to go home and help them get ready.

She would paint their finger and toe nails. She would fashion their hair 'til they found a fashion they liked. After that, Rogue had to 'member which style they liked the most. Then she helped her sisters get into their dresses and figure out how they had to be adjusted. Then she helped them outta their dresses and started sewin' 'em up so that they fit them jus' right.

Rogue worked very hard every day leadin' up to the ball.

She didn' have a moment for herself 'til she went upstairs late at night. When she got up to her room, she would pull off the black gloves she wore durin' the day and start workin' on controlin' them powers of hers. She was workin' harder than ever. She wanted to have them controlled by the time she went to the ball. That way, she didn' have to wear gloves and could dance wit' the prince.

She didn' know the man she saw in the market that day was the prince. She jus' wanted to dance wit' the prince because she thought it'd be nice to be able to touch someone on such a nice night an' not worry 'bout sendin' them into a coma for three weeks. So Rogue worked on controllin' her powers harder than she ever had tried in her whole life. And somehow, in between doin' all of that other stuff, she worked on a dress for herself.

She didn' have the money to buy one like Kitty and Jean and Mystique wouldn' lend her any. So Rogue had to make one herself. Now, Remy don' know from personal experience how hard it is to make a dress but I'm gonna go 'head and assume it ain't no easy task.

That Roguearella was a busy girl.

Meanwhile, back at the Quarter, Remy was gettin' ready for his big party. Everyone was losin' their minds tryin' to set up for it. There was a lotta food to make and decorations to put up. It won' no easy task. But Remy wasn' able to help out very much.

No. Not cause he was lazy. The prince was very nice and woulda been more than happy to help out but he had a bigger problem to deal wit'.

Belladonna.

She won' none too pleased to find out that her potential husband was tryin' to find a girl to replace her. So she came to the Quarter to bother him nonstop.

What? What did you say? Very good! Merde, indeed. Gosh, you even pronounced it right.

Remy is real proud of you right now.

Oh. But don' swear. Don' do that. It's bad. And don' steal. That's bad too. Jus' not as bad as swearin'. But you shouldn' do either. But mostly the swearin' one. That don' mean you can steal it jus' means…uh…

Remy started to confuse himself. How 'bout you kids jus' be good little chil'ren for you mamas and papas, eh? There we go.

See, Belladonna liked Remy not only 'cause he was a prince but 'cause he was jus' so dang—I mean damn. I mean dang. Dammit! I mean dang it! Don' swear, kids. He was very attractive. The most attractive male on the face of the earth. Not only the earth, but the whole universe too.

You really couldn' blame Belladonna for bein' completely crazy for the prince. Still. That ain't no excuse for bein' jus' completely crazy. Which she was.

Stupid diet sodas…that vase was very expensive…

Hmm? What? Oh. Sorry. Got caught up in a memory.

So as much as Prince Remy would have liked to help out wit' the party, he couldn'. He was too busy hidin' from Belladonna. The worse news was that the crazy lady planned on showin' up at the ball to scare away any of the girls who wanted to marry Remy.

It was a stressful time for both Rogue and Remy.

But they both got through it. The night of the ball, Remy had the Quarter all set up. It looked grand and was ready to house every single lady in Nawlins. And Rogue had made her two sisters look absolutely stunnin'—though not nearly as gorgeous as she was naturally. She helped Kitty into a pretty purple dress and Jean wore a pale pink dress.

After Rogue got her sisters ready, she ran upstairs to put on her own dress. She made one that was a dark purple and fell off hers shoulders jus' a little. She was kinda sad 'casue she hadn' gotten control of her powers yet. But she pulled on a pair of dark gloves and rushed downstairs jus' as the carriage that would take them to the Quarter arrived.

Mystique, though, she took one look at Rogue and wasn' very pleased. She asked Rogue what did she think she was doin'.

"I'm goin' to the ball."

Mystique shook her head. "No, you aren't."

Rogue's jaw pretty much dropped to the floor. But here's the difference between my version of Cinderella and that one that Disney made: Rogue didn' get all sad and start beggin' and pleadin' to go. Instead, she crossed her arms in front of her and demanded not so nicely to know why couldn' she go.

"Because you aren' fit to be in the same room as royalty."

"Oh, and you are?"

That kids, is what we call an "oh, snap" moment. Mystique got real angry when Rogue said that. They started fightin'.

"I've been workin' my butt off for the past several years and I was the one who got those two ready for the ball and now I can't go?"

Mystique nodded.

"Mom…maybe we should let her go," Jean said, lookin' in between the two women. Kitty was too busy tryin' to get out the house to try and help her sister.

"Keep out of this, Jean."

Jean frowned but closed her mouth.

Mystique and Rogue kept on fightin'. Rogue then pointed out that she made her own dress and that it wouldn' cost Mystique anythin' for her to go and that the invitation said that all the girls were invited.

Mystique looked her step daughter up and down for a very long moment. Then, all the sudden, she grabbed the top of Rogue's dress and tore it 'fore Rogue knew what was happenin'. Then Mystique went crazy. Wit' her bare hands, she tore the dress up 'til Rogue couldn' possibly wear it in public.

Don' be sad, kiddes. 'Member: a happy endin' is jus' 'round the corner.

But Rogue still had a ways to go 'fore she got to her happy endin'. Standin' there, she looked down at her shredded dress. She felt angry that Mystique was so cruel to her and she felt sad that Mystique didn' seem to love her. Rogue was mad enough to punch her step mama but she didn'. She was also sad enough to cry.

Jean looked pretty sad for her sister. Jean, she won' so bad. Jus' a goody-goody. She started to say somethin' to Rogue but Mystique stopped her. She told her daughters to go get in the carriage.

Rogue and Mystique stared at each other for a real long time. Finally, Rogue ran upstairs. Only when she got up there did she start cryin'. She didn' want Mystique to see how bad she had been hurt.

'Member that kids. Sometimes, people are gonna hurt you. But you can' let 'em see how bad. Don' give 'em the satisfaction.

Don' ask too many questions, a happy endin' is waitin' for you, don' ever stop tryin', no one has it perfect, don' run away from your responsibilities, learn French, don' hit a man in that one spot, don' always trust a pretty face, don' let the ones who hurt you have the satisfaction of seein' you upset, and somethin' about rats and birds.

What? Are you kiddin' me? Fine, fine fine.

Does anyone else need a potty break besides Scott? All y'all?

Fine. But hurry back.

Potty break time!

Thank you for reading. Keep submitting your ideas and I'll keep on submitting chapters. Once again, I can't thank you enough for the reviews. They make me smile.

NEXT CHAPTER: Rogue's fairy god person makes things better and more items get added to our growing list. (just for the record, I'm VERY excited for chapter eight. I've got a surprise for all of you...)

-M.A.