AN: This fanfic is very basic and pretty short. I hope you like it. :3 Leave a review if you see fit.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or Cinderella.
"Wait! Miss!"
Prince Jericho dashed down the palace grand staircase.
"At least tell me your name!"
"I'm sorry!"
Pantha, the prince's favorite guard, burst through the door and sprinted after the beautiful stranger.
"Halt!"
The mysterious young woman missed the first step of the grand staircase in the foyer, stumbling but for a moment. Panicked and thinking only of one thing - midnight - the woman righted herself immediately. The tingle of cold marble on her foot could not register in her mind, for fear blocked out every sensation. Everything was in a haze. Nothing mattered but escape.
Prince Jericho would have pursued her, but the small gift she left him distracted him. He knelt on the second stair and framed the sparkling thing with his hands.
Pantha did not notice. She tripped over her charge and sent them both flying down the stairs. The marble landing caught them, and they writhed in agony while the fleeing woman stole away to her carriage.
Recovering quickly, Pantha ran down the steps to the empty street. Too late to stop the woman in the sparkling cobalt dress.
A pearly white shimmer glided through the forest beyond the palace grounds. The prince stood on unsteady legs and watched the white carriage tear through a field and then a thicket until it vanished.
"My eyes can't deceive me..."
Jericho marveled at the path the carriage tore in the countryside.
"Could she live in one of those hovels in the ghetto? She dressed too finely to live there."
"Sí," said Pantha, ascending to meet him. "The fancy girl from your fancy party."
"I can't help thinking about her."
"Joseph, do not be sad. You have known her for what, half of an hour? You danced once and spoke maybe ten words back and forth. This cannot be true love."
Jericho admitted, "I didn't realize how lonely I felt in my heart until she touched me and smiled. I felt her elation by the fluttering of her heart, the trembling of her hands, and the smile in her eyes."
"Do not be so dramatic."
"You don't believe in love at first sight?"
"You are like me. Slow to warm and slower to believe hollow feelings."
The familiar face of the prince could never lie. His emotions shone brightly to the world despite his own wish that they would hide from cruel, uncaring people. Anguish darkened his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were pulled downward into a tight frown.
Taking pity on him, she offered the prince her hand.
"Come with me back inside."
"Take this slipper. I can't stand to look at it."
The wondrous object he transferred to her paused her very breathing. It sparkled in the moonlight. Its magical glow made the clear slipper appear blue to the human eye. The sides, sole, and heel of the slipper were thin and delicately carved from purest crystal. Not a blemish or a flaw throughout.
An idea struck Pantha like lightning. Since no other girl in the kingdom compared to the beautiful maiden, surely no foot except hers could fit this slipper. There was hope to discover her! She would search the ancient castles with their ancient families, the stately townhouses the middle class possessed, and the shanty hovels of the less fortunate in order to find her.
"Wait!"
A red-headed damsel burst forth from the attic. In her hurry to reach the ground floor, she tripped on the second-to-last step.
Pantha raised an eyebrow.
"Please wait for me," pleaded the redhead.
She curtsied at the king's men, then amusingly at the palace guard.
Not accustomed to such genteel decorum, Pantha half nodded an acknowledgment.
Malcolm smiled sweetly.
"Of course, madam. Your name? For the record."
"Nickole. I'm sorry that I couldn't invite you in myself. I simply was not able."
"She is terribly stupid," interjected her Stepmother. "I did call for you to answer the door, not to dilly-dally on the stairs."
Nickole frowned, saying, "Tell them whatever suits you, Stepmother. It doesn't matter anymore."
Pantha marveled at her composure. If she herself had been insulted so hotly, she would have duked it out with the woman directly. Nickole bore the woman's terrible manners with a grace that Pantha almost envied.
Garfield gulped. What a bold statement for a woman draped in rags, streaked across the face and legs with dirt and soot. Nickole's face pinched at the cheekbones and sunk where her blush should have stood firm. She cut a thin figure with hunched shoulders, twiggy legs, and generally small stature. Garfield felt genuine sympathy for the poor working girl.
Hatred boiling, the evil Stepmother committed the single most underhanded, malicious deed she could think of. As a sinister grin twisted across her mouth, she kicked out her boot from beneath her grand skirt. With pride, Stepmother watched Garfield trip and the precious slipper clatter upon the hard-packed dirt floor. A teacup would have disintegrated on the hardwood floor, but the slipper emerged pristinely beautiful.
Garfield promptly retrieved the crystal slipper.
"It didn't shatter!" he shouted in wonder.
"Be more careful!"
"That hag tripped me!" Garfield protested Malcolm's scolding.
With utmost care, he placed the slipper back onto its pillow.
"I did no such thing," replied Stepmother coolly.
If Garfield hadn't been the recipient of her hatred, even he may have believed her lie.
Nickole's eyes shone with tears.
"Why are you making this so difficult, Stepmother?"
Her stepsisters whined, "What does she mean, Mother? What does she mean? Tell the brat to mind her tongue!"
"I mean to say that I will end the hunt for the prince's bride. For I am the one who Prince Joseph is looking for."
With a flourish, she produced from the pocket of her apron the crystal slipper's twin.