The light that came through the tower window seemed too harsh, too cold. Cinderella sat on the bed, keeping her eyes downcast. A blanket had been placed over her shoulders. Several of the other girls had stayed up with her in turns all night, and through the next day. At the moment, it was Tiana who sat with her on the bed. Neither of them had said much.
"How did you know?" Cinderella finally asked her. Her voice was quiet and hoarse from all the crying she'd done.
Tiana didn't have to ask what she meant; they both just knew. "It was never gonna be Charming, but there had to be another way to break the spell. Then I started thinking back to that night during Fantasmic!, what happened after that… Cindy, why didn't you tell me?"
She tucked her knees up under her chin as she whispered, "There was never supposed to be anything to tell. He was just a distraction. It was never supposed to be real."
"But it was."
Cinderella nodded.
With a regretful sigh, Tiana told her, "It's really too late for me to be saying this, but I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"You were right before; you were doing just fine until I said something."
"No, it was my fault," Cinderella said, shaking her head. "I was being careless. I thought I could handle it myself."
"If I hadn't said what I did, you might have."
Cinderella shrugged a little. "It doesn't matter anymore. It's over."
"Is it?" Tiana caught her eye and went on, "I know you're still in love with him, whether you like it or not. And I always thought there was more to breaking that spell than just one–"
"Don't. Please don't." She couldn't bear for her friend to finish that sentence. Not after everything. Sure enough, Tiana stopped.
The door at the bottom of the stairs opened and Aurora appeared on the landing a few seconds later. Gesturing behind her, she said, "I can take it from here."
Tiana briefly patted Cinderella on the shoulder before getting up and heading for the stairs. Aurora took her now-empty spot and folded her hands in her lap. Neither of the two remaining girls said anything for a long time.
"Waking up is harder," she said softly after a few minutes. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Cinderella almost shook her head. What was the point? Still, she stopped herself. Not communicating in the first place had caused enough problems.
"I don't know who I am." Her voice was tight as she spoke. "Every time I think I've finally figured it out, it turns out that I was wrong."
"Are you sure you were wrong?"
"No."
That was the worst part, wasn't it? She couldn't ever be sure that she was wrong about what she'd been doing. All she was sure of was how things felt, and things had felt better before she'd hesitated. Before she'd tried to back out and everything fell apart. All because she couldn't ever make a decision on what to do with what passed for her life.
"Why did I have to be the weakest link?" she muttered bitterly, the words mostly meant for herself.
"You aren't weak," Aurora told her. "Maleficent manipulated you."
"I still took the apple. I had the chance to back down, and I didn't. Now I have to live with that."
What she'd done, and what happened afterward, had provided the answers to too many questions. Questions about herself, about the people around her. Questions that she hadn't wanted the answers for.
"You learn to. It just takes time." Aurora took Cinderella's hands in hers and gave them a squeeze. "I was serious when I said she manipulated you. That's what she does. She knows how to get inside your head and trap you in your own insecurities. And it was a trap, a very carefully laid one. But you've already heard all of this."
There was a knowing look in her violet eyes as her gaze met Cinderella's blue ones.
"You knew I could hear you that whole time, didn't you?" the latter asked.
Aurora nodded.
"So, was she right? Belle?"
The other Princess didn't answer at first. When she finally spoke, it was in a slow, measured sort of way.
"I think everyone's forgotten," she began, "but for the sixteen years before I came here my name was never Aurora. I was Briar Rose. That's what my aunts always called me: Rose. Then suddenly, just as I was getting what I'd been dreaming of, they told me that everything I'd ever known was a lie. I was a Princess, betrothed since I was an infant. They expected me to just start over and be someone else. The man I was so sure I'd been dreaming about I'd never be able to see again. I'd never get to go back to the home I'd known all my life. The world I found myself in seemed so cold and unforgiving. When Maleficent finally arrived, my life was over. Yes, Cinderella, I do understand."
Cinderella looked down again. "Do you regret it?"
"Every day."
She swallowed hard. All she could think about was that nothing she'd been trapped in. Unable to move, unable to feel. How much easier – how much harder – it had been. And the things that she'd seen in there.
"I dreamed while I was under. About Walt. About how all of this started." As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again. Strange. She'd thought the last of them had dried up hours ago. "It's the first time I've dreamed in fifty-six years."
"It's tempting. To make everything just… melt away until there's nothing left but your dreams, but there's more to all of this than just dreaming. You and I both know that."
She did know. She knew all too well. While listening to Aurora, she tried not to think of the other voice, the one she'd heard in that semi-aware oblivion. Jack's voice. Words spoken that, if she wasn't so certain it had actually happened, she would've sworn she'd only dreamt him saying.
"Whatever it was you were trying to accomplish, this wasn't the way."
The thought put a knot in her stomach and she pursed her lips. Much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Giving up wasn't the way. Not for her. It never had been.
"Mickey wanted to talk to you," Aurora was saying, drawing Cinderella back to the present. "He said it was too important to delay. I can try to tell him to wait a little longer, if you want."
"No. I trust him. If he says it's that important, then it is." Most likely he wanted to hear what had happened from her. She was the one Maleficent had approached, after all. And it wasn't as if she could blame him; this was the first time the Villain had actually made an appearance. "What do I tell him?"
Aurora shrugged one shoulder. "The truth, I think. That's all you can do."
There was a knock on the door. Both of the girls looked in the direction of the stairs. Aurora gave her hands another squeeze before letting her go. Cinderella got up from the bed and padded, barefoot, down the tower steps. Sure enough, it was Mickey standing there when she opened the door.
"Hi, Cindy," he said. He sounded nervous, and looked almost as worn-down as she was sure she did. "How are you feeling?"
The truth. "I've been better. Aurora said you wanted to talk to me, and that it was important."
"She's right." Gesturing toward Fantasyland, he asked, "Shall we?"
She followed him out into the plaza and the two characters walked over to a bench positioned in the shadow of the castle. When they sat down, Cinderella prepared herself for the inevitable barrage of questions from Mickey. Instead, he said something she did not expect.
"You asked me to reassign Fantasyland's lead to one of the other characters 'cause you didn't think you were up to it. I said no, but after everything that just happened I've changed my mind. I'm giving the job to Peter."
Cinderella could scarcely believe what she was hearing.
"Really?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yeah. I'm going to tell Peter what's going on. I just needed the go ahead from you first."
She nodded, feeling like a small bit of the weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Still, she couldn't help but ask, "Why did you pick me for the spot in the first place?"
"Well, if you really wanna know, it wasn't actually my decision."
"Then whose was it?"
"Walt's." At her look of confusion, the mouse went on, "The Council's based on a rough plan of his. He knew how much leeway he'd really given the Villains, and I guess he thought we might need something in place if they ever tried anything. It was never meant to be permanent, but I did what I could when I set the Council up. You're the only one who stayed at the right power level over the years to keep your spot. I didn't want to swap you out because of that, but I think it's time."
He awkwardly patted her arm before hopping off the bench and heading off in the direction of Peter Pan's Flight, presumably to inform the other character of the change. Cinderella sat there long after he left, staring blankly down at the pavement. She wasn't sure how she felt. She'd always assumed that Mickey had chosen her for some reason or another. To hear that it hadn't been him who'd singled her out at all, but Walt… She couldn't help but remember opening day. "I've got something special in mind for you," he'd told her. Not only had he placed her in the lead during the land's opening ceremony, he'd done it again. Why? Why her of all of the Fantasyland characters? She knew she wasn't going to get any answers, not that it really mattered anymore. It was Peter's turn now. Just like he and Ariel had wanted for ages. Maybe it was for the best.
She got up from the bench and headed back to the tower, where she was sure Aurora was still waiting for her.
Three days passed. Slowly, things started to creep back into some semblance of normalcy. Almost.
Tiana's arm was looped around Cinderella's as the two of them walked up the waterfront toward New Orleans Square. A strong breeze tugged at Cinderella's bangs and she shivered. Glancing at the river, she saw that it rippled the surface of the water as well. To her surprise, it somehow seemed even murkier than usual. There was an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she was fairly sure it wasn't just from going back into that side of the Park again.
They didn't head for Café Orleans. Instead, they headed down the street to one of the doors lining it. Tiana opened the door and they both headed up the stairs on the other side. Soon enough they were both sitting in her apartment overlooking the Square, clutching mugs. It was tea that day, not coffee.
"I heard about Peter," Tiana said after blowing lightly on her own cup to cool it off. "How're you holding up?"
Cinderella shrugged. "It's what I asked for. Besides, he wanted it more than I did."
"I guess. I still can't help but think it's a mistake."
"Even if it was, it's too late to take it back."
Tiana nodded, but Cinderella could tell she still wasn't happy about it. In a quieter voice, barely more than a whisper, she asked, "You've felt it, haven't you?"
So, it wasn't just her. That chill she'd felt outside by the Rivers of America hadn't just been her imagination.
"It's them, isn't it?" Cinderella asked, even though she already knew the answer. "The Villains?"
"Yeah. It's been like this ever since… well, since she popped up. We've been seeing the pirates more and more openly on the river, like they're waiting for something. Whatever the Villains are doing, they're doing it soon. This storm's about to break. And when it does, it won't be pretty."
That was an understatement. Cinderella pursed her lips. The Villains had proven that they were more than willing to kill with impunity to get what they wanted. Whenever they finally decided to launch their assault, it was going to be a bloodbath.
