One Fairy Tale Too Many

cryst-mist

Chapter 10

"That's it!" Dan exclaimed abruptly the next day. He was met by Alice's questioning gaze.

"You see….I was wearing this mask and this big hat while dancing with the prince. SO he probably only saw my eyes and we both have the same eye colour.." He explained but stopped noticing that Alice was stifling a giggle. She was probably imagining him in some hideous dress.

"Focus…" he instructed her firmly. And then he told her every single occurrence of the party including the forgotten glass slipper. "Now… you can get Fabia back…You can tell the prince all of this…and then you can live happily ever after with him."

"Wait! You want me to pretend that I was… you!" she said, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Exactly."

"I…I can't do that." Alice stuttered.

Dan's lips were pulled in a taut line. "Then you will have to stand by and watch as Shun slips through your fingertips." Dan knew that he was being cruel saying that. But he knew that Alice wouldn't do this if it weren't for a strong push.

Alice considered. "I…Alright then…" she said and walked away without another word.

Dan rubbed his lamp and Ace appeared before him. "I'd like to make another wish." he told the genie.

"Yes?"

"Return to Shun all the memories of his birthday party." Instructed Dan. His face set in a serious expression.

Ace's mouth dropped open. "Wait! You were the one who asked me to remove those memories in the first place…That's why I made that HUGE egg drop out of nowhere."

"I know…I know…" muttered Dan impatiently. He knew that he was wasting yet another one of his wishes.

"Are you sure? This is your eight wish. You only get two more."

Dan nodded; he was still disappointed that Runo had rejected him. But he wanted Alice to live a happy life if he could help it.

Ace smiled silently and granted his wish. Shun immediately felt like something was exploding within his brain. He crouched down, clutching both sides of his head.

And just like that he remembered everything. He blinked a few times…. He remembered everything, that strange experience of meeting that girl, her vivid brown eyes, her mask, her gown….wait, brown eyes!

Fabia's eyes weren't brown, were they? And the things he remembered did not remotely match the description Fabia had given him. He found himself rushing into the parlor where he was positive to find Fabia.

Shun walked up to her with the fakest smile plastered on his face. But then, it disappeared almost instantaneously. Her eyes were definitely not brown, they were (insert Fabia's eye colour…I haven't watched Gundalian Invaders let alone seen Fabia…I just felt like making her one of the villains.) The moment he noticed this he slammed his fist on the ornately decorated table. Fabia was taken by surprise. "What's wrong my lord?" she questioned in a sugary voice.

"Never you mind." Shun thundered as he stormed out of the room.

And as if by lightning, something struck him… A pair of soft, kind brown eyes came distinctly into his memory. His mind was probing on the owner of those brown eyes. Alice… He remembered how distraught her face looked when he told her about Fabia. And then his brain reached the most far-fetched conclusion. 'Could Alice be her?'

And then who else should he come face to face with other than Alice.

He found himself rushing over to her half-frantically.

Alice hadn't expected to find Shun this fast. She was actually hoping to get some time to think things through….And this was totally unexpected.

"Good Evening." He greeted her.

She nodded, smiling a distant smile.

"Tell me…When was the first time you ever saw me?" he questioned.

She was surprised by his question. "Uh...At your birthday party, your majesty." She answered. It was perfectly true; she had seen Shun standing on the podium from afar.

Shun's face brightened up as he put his hands on Alice's either shoulder. "Was it you then? That girl who danced with me that night?" he asked her eagerly.

A blush dusted Alice's cheeks. All she had to say was one word… Just one word –Yes. That would do the trick. "Why…why do you ask me this all of a sudden, Sire?" she questioned.

"You see…Fabia…She was lying to me." stated Shun. His face was flooded with bitter resentment.

"I…." Alice opened her mouth but then closed it again in hesitation.

"Please Alice…Tell me, it was you, wasn't it?" he asked, now a bit impatient.

Alice's throat went dry as she nodded at him. Seeing her nod this intense happiness/relief flooded Shun's features.

He encircled his arms around Alice's waist and pulled her close to him. Alice's breathe hitched in her throat as the blush on her face deepened. She would have cherished this memory if it weren't for the gnawing guilt that she felt.

Shun caressed her face. "Why didn't you tell me sooner then?" he asked gently.

Alice was taken aback by the stark affection on the prince's face and she was unable to answer his query.

He chuckled a little; Alice had never ceased to amuse him. "And one more thing…" he whispered. He put his hand under her chin and pulled her face up so that she was looking directly at him. "Do you really think I'm a freak?"

She shook her head from side to side. The confused/embarrassed expression on her face wavered as the guilt slowly consumed her. But then, to be with Shun like this…No, she couldn't throw it all away. She knew that she could never forget or even begin to forget that ecstatic feeling.

"That's good to know." Said Shun… "Thank you." he whispered as their faces drifted closer to one another.

As their lips were mere centimeters apart Alice reflected on Shun's words. 'Thank you!' for what though? He was thankful? But she was lying …. She was a fraud.

Right before their lips made contact Shun felt something on his face.

Alice had clasped her hand on Shun's lips. She shook her head from side to side as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Shun's golden eyes widened in alarm. "I'm sorry…" came Shun's muffled voice.

Alice immediately removed her hand from his face and freed herself from Shun's now weak grip. She took a step backwards. Her hand was on the base of her neck as she tried to calm down her madly beating heart.

"I…I'm sorry Alice…I took things a bit too far too fast…I did not consider your feeling on the matter…Please, I only hope you will forgive m-"
Alice did not hear half of what Shun was saying, her head, her conscience was spiraling. She had never felt so disgusted with herself… She had lied to Shun, and now he was standing in front of her apologizing. He thought that he was the one who did something wrong.

More tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

"Alice…I…Please forgive me…"

Alice fought to find her voice. "It's…'s not that." She stammered weakly. "I…" her voice cracked. "Please excuse me." She begged as she shakily walked away.

Shun held onto her hand. "Are you in love with Daniel? Please just tell me that one thing."

Alice's chocolate eyes widened as she weakly pulled her hand out of Shun's grip. "It's not that…" she gulped. "I couldn't…I just couldn't go through with it!" she half-shouted.

"With what?"

"I was LYING; my lord." she half-shouted. Her shoulder slumped down as more tears escaped her eyelids. "I lied…just like….Fabia did. I tried to take advantage of you." she admitted, now crying bitterly.

Shun's expression was set in surprise, but then he realized what just happened and his face immediately darkened. "You… Alice…you were lying?" he asked, his voice drained of joy.

She could only nod.

"But WHY would you do that to me!" he exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I…"

"Alice…I never expected YOU to stoop to that level…And to think that I…" he did not speak anymore as he glared at her. "I feel….appalled to think that I ever trusted you with all my heart." He spoke harshly with cold eyes. He then walked away.

Alice stood there. She brought her palm to her forehead and clutched at her fringe as she sobbed.

That evening Dan was searching for Alice, he reached her door and knocked at it. No answer came so he took the liberty of opening it himself. The room was empty; he then remembered the little garden behind the fountain where Alice would normally go to. He had this queer feeling that he would find her there.

And sure enough there she was, sitting on the luscious green grass, crying.

Dan's brown eyes widened as he rushed over to Alice. "What happened?" he asked as he crouched down beside her.

She shook her head from side to side.

"Alice…Don't lie to me." He muttered warningly.

She lunged forwards and laid her face on his chest, she clung onto him desperately as she continued crying.

Dan gently stroked her hair. "What happened?" he repeated his question.

Alice related what happened from amidst her constant sobs.

"I couldn't….HOW could I lie to him? How could I deceive him so effortlessly like that! How could I betray him?" she wailed in vain. "He said he was disgusted at me…"

Dan sighed heavily. "I should've known that you wouldn't be able to lie like that…." He muttered. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have suggested it…I just thought that the both of you could…"

"Don't…"she said. "Don't apologize."

After about ten minutes or so Alice had thoroughly calmed down.

Runo was meanwhile going through a lot of emotional stress… What would she do? Dan had indirectly confessed to her and she did not react…She said that she needed time to think…About what though? What was there to think? She knew/suspected that she was in love with him.

But then, there was this minor drawback…Not only was she a mute but a mermaid by birth. Should she return home to the vivid ocean or just start a new life here with Dan?

But then he was a prince….well…In the end she ended up scolding herself rigorously as she ran, she ran despite her gown and high heels. She ran in a hope that she would find Dan. She pushed all logic to the back of her mind.

She felt the tip of the shoe slightly cutting into her toe but she paid no heed to that.

'I will lead you to him' came a mysterious voice.

Runo looked around and was surprised to fine a talking raven. The raven started flying and she mindlessly followed her. After all, never look a gift horse in its mouth.

And then the raven perched on a tree. Runo found herself standing amidst some extra leafy bushes. She pushed them aside and tried getting out. Her face was the first to emerge and then all efforts ceased.

Her aquamarine eyes widened as she saw Dan standing on the grass with Alice in his arms.

Runo watched as Dan languidly brushed a few strands of hair behind Alice's ear. He also had this affectionate, compassionate look on his face.

Runo felt her heart shatter into tiny little bits… 'So…He was only playing with me…' she thought to herself as she clenched her fists.

She couldn't really hear what Dan was saying though.

"Alice…I am so sorry, it's my fault that you are going through all this… Can you forgive me?"

"Of course…Why wouldn't I?"

Dan smiled at Alice. "I wonder why Runo didn't like me though…Was I a bit too sudden?"

Alice considered for a bit. "Maybe because she hadn't expected it…Maybe she wasn't able to react."

"Hm...possible." nodded Dan.

By now, they were sure that they were definitely not in love with one another. Yesterday's occurrences were just misconceptions.

Just then a sneeze echoed through the clearing.

"Bless you." said Dan.

"That wasn't me…" whispered Alice as she gazed into the bushes in front of them.

"Who's there?" called out Dan as he walked over to the bushes. As he parted the leaves he was met with an extremely unexpected sight. Runo was sitting on the ground, her gown flowing about gracefully. There were tears in her eyes and her face had a betrayed look on it.

"Princess! What are you doing here?" asked Dan, still in a daze.

Runo stumbled back to her feet, her hand trembling and her lips quivering as she stifled her tears.

Alice rushed over to her. "Runo, what happened? Why are you crying?" questioned Alice placing her hand on Runo's.

Runo shook it away roughly and pushed Alice away from her. If she had a voice, she would have screamed at Dan.

The raven opened it's mouth. "Allow me to translate." It cawed. For the moment no one questioned the talking bird, they just listened to it's words in alarm.

"Daniel, you traitor! You said you loved me…You said that didn't you? And now you are here with Alice… And I… I'm a fool for believing your words…You know I couldn't sleep all of yesterday because of the impact of your words..." spoke the raven.

Dan looked at Runo's fuming face and at once realized that the raven was indeed voicing her thoughts.

"Please, listen to me… There is nothing like that between Alice and I…We are just friends."

"I DON'T want to hear any of it…." Spoke the raven once again… "I can't believe….that I loved such a fraud."

Runo looked at the raven in alarm… She couldn't believe that it actually said that and Dan looked star struck.

Runo took his distraction as an advantage and ran away. She ran as fast as she could. Why was it that the mermaid who had lived her entire life without legs was forced to run so much and so fast?

Dan was about to take off after her but then the raven flew down the tree and started pecking at his head.

"Leave her to self-destruct alone." commanded the raven as he continued to peck at Dan.

Dan waved his hands wildly as he tried to knock the bird off balance. He could only briefly see Runo's figure disappearing.

Alice had found a log of wood lying around in the thicket. She took it in her hand and then concentrated. She whacked the raven to the ground. She felt sorry for hurting a talking animal like this, but then that hurt look in Runo's eyes haunted her.

"Thank you Alice…" said Dan as he squeezed her hand. "I have to get going now."

Alice nodded as she smiled. "GO get her…" she said encouragingly.

And so he started running.

He had no idea of what Runo was doing.

Runo continued running as more tears escaped her eyes. She had never felt so crushed in all her life… She felt as if her life had lost all meaning… Her brain had never before been so confusedly tormented.

And then she made the decision almost mechanically. She made her way to the beach and then to the edge of a cliff.

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the bottle of orange liquid that Joe had given to her.

She spent a few seconds just staring disgustedly at the uninviting luminous liquid, and without hesitating anymore she emptied it down her throat.

One more she felt pain flood her legs and throat. She could feel the transformation occurring. But this time it was more painful and for some reason her back was also hurting like hell. And then, the pain caused her to loose consciousness.

When Runo finally regained consciousness about an hour later she was about to jump back into the sea when she noticed something disturbing. She had not regained her beautiful tail; instead her feet were still there.

She saw this massive greenish thing near her and in it she saw her reflection. She looked the same as before but now she had a pair of fairy wings!

It was then that she realized what that reflecting green thing was…It was a bit of glass from a broken bottle. Not only was she given wings but she was shrunken to the size of a thumb. She had regained her voice though.

"Joe… What is this? A practical joke!" she shrieked into the salty air of the beach.

That's it for this chapter…

Alright, so how was it? It was long, that I admit… Hm what else? I think that I am running a brief fever. I could feel a headache penetrating my forehead as I wrote this down so I apologize in advance for any mistakes…

I hope you understand..Thankyou.

And please do leave a review.