Cinderella

Ella Tremaine was like Madonna. She had one name that everyone knew. Darling little Cinderella. She could still remember her stepsisters screeching with laughter. Cinder wench. Dirty Ella. Cinderella! She had the last laugh, though. She was now a queen, and Drizella and Anastasia were nothing. Lady Tremaine was dead.

When Chad was born, Ella Charming was ecstatic. Her family was becoming whole {Chad would never meet his aunts}. And Chad grew up and their family was happy and then Carla came along and she couldn't be more grateful. And Carla had a best, best friend in Spring Fitzherbert, and everyone was happy. Life was good. Ella Tremaine had her happy ending.

But then.

Carla got so friendly, so close, with Spring, and Madame Tremaine had always said that it was wrong {nevermind that Madame Tremaine had been executed for tampering with the Faerie Godmother's wand}. And she knew there was something strange about her girl, and her Prince Charming insisted they beat it out of her, and that worked, to some extent. Carla hooked up with some city boy and all was good {if Ella was so scared of her daughter's abnormal relationship choices, what would she think of her step-niece and nephew?}.

Carla died on the Day of Reckoning. The family had all of five minutes to mourn before they were carted away. To the feet of the new kings and queens. And when the four of them declared that Chad had immunity from the other VKs, Cinderella cried. When they dressed him like a serving boy and locked the shackles around his wrists, she mourned for her child. When they took him away to serve the Kings and Queens, she went silent.

Days later {she didn't know how many. The cell was dark and she was hungry and her Prince was silent and the Faerie Godmother was near catatonic} she was dragged by bound wrists onto a hastily-constructed stage. And High Queen Mal stood above her and grinned down at her. The Angelic Queen giggled at the scene from her throne, and the kings stood stoically to the side, talking to a darkly handsome couple like you'd see in a movie where the bad guys won. The woman had perfectly coiffed dark hair, with red lips and nails, pale skin and perfectly done makeup. Familiar diamonds rested around her throat and she was draped in silk. The man had defined cheekbones, and perfectly brushed dark hair. He wore a dark suit. They each had a ring on their left hand, Cinderella noted. The same ring. She vaguely heard Queen Mal's tirade, so focused was she on these familiar characters. And as the woman approached, it clicked. The Tremaine family crest. And she saw the resemblance, as she looked closer. The woman had Anastasia's eyes and her slight build. The man had Drizella's smirk and cheekbones. Her niece and nephew.

The two of them approached the Faerie Godmother with smiles on their lips and hatred in their eyes. The woman bent so gracefully and whispered into the fae's ear.

"Beg."

And oh, she did. The Faerie Godmother said she was sorry, said she didn't know, said she tried. And the beautiful woman laughed, and rolled her eyes, and kicked the snivelling fae creature. Then she turned, and her eyes lightened upon meeting Cinderella's. And she crossed over to Cindy.

"Do you know who I am?"

Cinderella and her prince and her Faerie Godmother were burnt alive, set alight, and died clawing at their skin and gasping for oxygen in smoke. They died while charming Chad was forced to watch them, stiff as a board, as his darling cousin sitting on his lap and kissing up his neck, whispering despicable things into his ear, leaving lipstick prints on his cheek, keeping both his hands bound in one of hers {one of the tricks she learnt on the Isle}. Her one true lover stood to the side, an amused smile on his face as he watched his fianceé's actions, and didn't regret this moment. Astoria deserved everything she wanted.

Cinderella deserved everything she got.

{You married someone you met at a ball to find him a wife. Did you really think that he loved you?}